After research all around the world we have decided to use an Earth Roamer.  Our Earth Roamer is second-hand and has done about 10,000 miles (16,093Kms).  For further details on the vehicle see http://www.earthroamer.com

The reasons we chose this vehicle are numerous.  Firstly, for safety reasons we believed it was better to purchase a left hand drive vehicle.  This is because most of the driving will be on the right hand side of the road.  For safety, especially when overtaking, it is far better to have the driver on the left – this is just commonsense.

The Earth Roamer offers a combination of a vehicle that can drive at good speeds on the open highway, but can also operate off road and on very bad roads – which we are likely to traverse. 

The Earth Roamer does not require outside power.  The internal systems (such as the stove and heaters) are diesel operated.  All of the electrical equipment is from solar power and from engine operated alternators.  Even the air conditioning is operated from an inverter from the battery bank.

We decided to go to the Crew Cab model with four seats as it allows us to take friends with us from time to time on the trip. The vehicle is equipped with an Iridium satellite telephone, and even a satellite television because Dick likes watching his TV.  Just how he will go in Russia we don’t know!