While waiting on a few parts to arrive to get my engine temps under control, I'm perusing through some of our adventures. Our '04 SE7 has been part of our family for nearly 15 years, hoping for 15 more.

Taking a break by the river's edge in South Luangwa, Zambia

Camping in the Negev, Southern Israel.

Deep in the Zambian bush.

Northern Moldova, near the Romanian border.

Kids, a Discovery, and giraffe in Zimbabwe

Being chased by a pissed off elephant in Zambia while trying to hold my camera to take a pic of her.

Back paths between Jericho and Jerusalem, through Wadi Qelt.

Tree platform camping in Zambia

Kids, a Discovery, and zebra in Zimbabwe.

 

fantastic!

 

That's awesome. I have always wanted to do the expat experience with my family. Get them exposed and immersed in other countries cultures. Looks like you had it dialed in. Could I ask what you do that allowed that? Assuming its not secret like a international spy or assassin.

 

Very cool!

 

I would say that this thread pretty much wins the award for most epic adventure in a Discovery Series II. Great photos.

 

I worked for the Department of State, the Foreign Service - managing U.S. Embassy's business functions. Spent time at the embassy in Chisinau, Moldova; Lilongwe, Malawi; Jerusalem; Saudi Arabia; and the Philippines. Also spent 4 years in Nairobi, Kenya and a year in Islamabad, Pakistan. We typically have an allowance to ship a vehicle providing the gaining country did not have vehicle importation constraints like age or left-hand drive only. We could not take our Disco to Saudi due to its age so we purchased a 2009 LR3 for exploring western Saudi Arabia for the 3 years that we lived in Jeddah. It was a GCC-spec, built for the Gulf countries. Time in Kenya predates my digital pics and I lost my pics of my 1975 Series III, that was in the late 90s - a lot of knuckle-busting and wrench turning. Have had my current Discovery II since 2007, purchased it in Maryland when we lived in Washington DC, from the 1st owner w/ 33k miles, now it has 104k. Between Jerusalem and Saudi, I shipped it back to the US - we have a cabin in northern MN, I kept it there and only drove it in June/July for the past 5 years. That kept the mileage down but not being driven for 10 months of the year is tough on the mechanicals. I retired from State Dept a few months ago and relocated to Nashville, now Im w/ Amazon corporate and the Disco my daily driver. My other toy - my '04 Porsche 911 C4s - is on a ship coming from Manila, which was our last assignment before retiring. It is caught up in the backlogged seaport debacle, I had her for a few years in Manila but never really got to explore the Philippines due to COVID lock downs. I have done most of the wrenching on all my land rovers and my porsche - I have always leaned towards finding like-minded groups in the countries we have lived - camping, other land rover owners, sports car clubs, its always fun to meet up with like-minded folks regardless of their nationality, wrenching abilities, vehicle conditions, and sometimes the odd language barrier. I found that a passion is a passion, no matter where one is from. My wife's daily driver is a 2019 Honda Pilot - we don't like it and are leaning towards swapping it out for a newish Discovery or an LR4 (her preferences), or a Porsche Mecan (my preference), although I would not pass on wifey wanting another Land Rover.

Hope you enjoy a few more pics

My little helper at our house in Lilongwe, Malawi



Now 16, he's learning to drive in the same Disco.



Kids had no idea about how different their upbringing was - my daughter, now 15, was bored on safari in Zambia. As it turns out, my kids prefer the Disco over the Porsche 911.



At home in northern MN.



Boathouse repairs on Lake Vermilion in northern MN.

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures and stories. I have a 4 year old daughter and its always amazing to me that kids are the same all over, we can barely understand the notion of "being bored on Safari in Zambia" but somehow kids manage to pull it off! They are a ton of fun, every once in a while I'll take the D2 to work just to run it and pick up my daughter at day care. Her first question upon seeing the Disco is an excited "are we going camping?!"

 

What a great experience for you and your family. Thank you for your service. I'm happy my kids are in a French immersion school with international staff. Hopefully this will open doors to international opportunities for them. Being a fellow midwesterner (Kansas City) I would suggest adding some rust prevention if not done already. Especially if the truck is residing in Minnesota. I am a big fan of the woolwax system. You can find it on Amazon. Most pros consider the liquid oil/wax systems to be the only effective way to stop rust.