THE BIG TREK
 
After a shakedown trip through Morocco, photographer and artist Norbert Guthier and his wife Bettina undertake an extended odyssey through the Americas in a expedition-rated Mercedes-Benz Atego truck
 
Article Norbert Guthier with Gary Anderson
Images Norbert Guthier
 
Traveling has excited me ever since I was a very young boy. Even during my communication-design studies at Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany, I managed to get out into the natural world by buying an old Mercedes-Benz MB406 that had been used as a delivery truck by the German Parcel Service and converting it into a camper truck.

However, I never got that chance for a long trip because I started working as a self-employed advertising photographer in Frankfurt immediately after graduation. Back then, traveling was just not possible: I had to establish my company and build a working studio.

I did get the exciting opportunity to take photos for a German incentive magazine, traveling to locations such as South Africa, Dubai and Australia for those stints. Then, about 10 years ago, I also started working pro bono for the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Those research projects took me to more remote locations – Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Peru, Vietnam, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Congo, all of which fed my travel bug.

I was also excited by the interaction between photography and painting, and in 2003, I started a co-operative work project with Christian M. Knecht, a painter from Aschaffenburg, Germany. Since then, such artists as Matthias Bolz, Günter Ludwig, Alcis Szabo-Reiss and Nuno Evaristo have become part of the project.
But my desire to travel, which I now share with my wife Bettina, was still alive. Together, we started to think about combining travel with our collaborative painting and photography project, working together with artists in other countries. We might even go all the way around the world.

So two years ago we decided to rent out our studio and found a used Mercedes-Benz Atego 4x4 expedition truck. There aren’t many expedition trucks around with a suitable interior design and layout, so I was happy to find this one that was just four years old and had only 35,000 km on the odometer.

We had the Atego modified for long-distance travel: larger fuel tanks attached on both sides to increase travel range; a roof rack welded on the cabin to carry a second spare tire; air-cushion seats installed for long-haul comfort; and solar panels on the roof to provide a 220-volt hookup for the computers, monitors and hard drives.



The truck may be large, but Bettina has no difficulty driving it.

With its separate living and sleeping compartments, complete with cooking facilities, shower and toilet, the vehicle is large enough to live in comfortably for years, and with its high clearance, maneuverable in challenging off-road situations. There is direct access from the living area to the driver’s cabin, which is helpful in bad weather. Taken together, these attributes make such specialized trucks exceptionally useful for scientific expeditions as well as for personal recreation.



The living and working area accessible from the driver’s cabin includes cooking facilities as well as a working and eating area that can be converted to a bed;



of course, it’s never this neat when we’re working on the road.


The separate lavatory area is as complete as in many hotels.

The vehicle is diesel powered with active all-wheel drive, including low-range gearing for difficult terrain. That may not be necessary in the United States, but it’ll be very helpful when we find ourselves in the jungles of Central and South America.

With modifications on the Atego completed, we set off on what became a successful trial run to Morocco and the Sahara Desert. We then had the Atego shipped to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to begin our expedition across North America. With the truck serving as both our base camp and transport, Bettina and I set out to discover this vast land as well as American artists who might be interested in our collaborative project. Working with them, we could perhaps connect the two worlds in an artistic way – Old World meets New World.



Our maiden voyage was made across Morocco on a zoological expedition; with its 4-wheel drive, the Atego was completely at home in the desert dunes of the Sahara Desert on our way to Erg Chebbi.


One night in the desert near Erg Chigaga, I positioned the vehicle exactly underneath the North Star and took a one-hour time exposure under the stars to produce this cosmic effect.
 
Since arriving in the New World, we have traveled down the East Coast of Canada and the United States, across the country from Florida to Arizona, and then up to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I am writing this article. Our plan is to continue up to Alaska, travel down the West Coast into Central America, and then to South America as far south as Patagonia to visit artists we already know – and meet new ones.



Photographing the scenery around the truck never ceases to feel fresh; here, the man-made nature of the vehicle contrasts with the natural beauty around us in the Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick province in eastern Canada.



The Mercedes-Benz Atego Expedition truck is as much at home in an urban setting – here atop a parking garage near the Baltimore harbor – as in a rural location.

So far, the trip has been amazing and our experiences with the artists we have encountered, in combination with the stunning landscapes and national parks, are far beyond our highest expectations.

Our vehicle definitely stands out here, and we often attract attention, hearing greetings like “Quite a rig!” and “You can go anywhere!” all the time. Bettina and I often find notes and letters tucked under the truck’s windscreen wipers when we have parked the truck and have been away for a few hours. I applied a large decal of my name and the QR code that directs people to my website on both the front and back of the truck, and this has worked well. We get greetings and receive invitations to visit from locals via email. We have left a trail of good friends in America and stay in contact with many through Facebook. Some of them even visited us when we took a two-month travel break in February and March this year to return home to Germany.

I initially announced our trip to America on Facebook, which has been a great communication tool for meeting new artists. By “friending” artists here, I can become familiar with their artwork before contacting them. It’s always amazing to be welcomed with open arms and huge hugs from my Facebook friends – former online acquaintances who have immediately become close friends.



Though we can cook in the living area, an open fire in a camping area – here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee – is always a delight.


Occasionally, I take photos or videos while these new friends are working, and it fascinates me to see how different artists work, think and feel. It’s a great privilege to be accepted by them and allowed to post those photos and videos on the Internet for those interested in my own work.

One interesting experience was with the famous robot called “hitchBOT” and its inventors. While on its initial task to hitchhike across Germany, it visited us in Frankfurt. The hitchhiking robot is an art project created by David Harris and Frauke Zeller, intended to answer the question, “Can robots trust humans?” HitchBOT met us again in Halifax and rode with us for a day before it headed west across Canada as we headed south, and has now traveled 6,000 kilometers across Canada to Victoria, British Columbia.



We couldn’t pass up the chance to visit Area 51 near Roswell, New Mexico, though the only little green man we saw was in the museum there.

We’ve only had a few technical problems, and even those often work out for the best. In Phoenix, for example, we had trouble with the AdBlue monitoring system. With a recommendation to stop at Atwood European, we met Mercedes-Benz mechanic Andrew Atwood. Atwood introduced us to The Star magazine, leading to this article.
You can easily follow our trek at my website, guthier.com, as we relate our travel experiences on our blog – accessible from the travel blog icon – and display the co-op artwork created with artists Guy Levesque, Ken Grimes, Calvin Grimm, Emilio Martinez, Barbara Fisher and Matt Sesow; click the co-works icon. We’re hoping that exhibitions will follow in America and Europe, and would be pleased if some of our artworks find homes in Germany, Canada and the United States.

You can see examples of the artists with whom we work, as well as following us on our travels, at guthier.com/blog or on our Facebook page.