Freshly returned from the Pan American Highway, Overland Expo can’t wait to hear Gordon and Megan Mueller’s stories. But mostly, we can’t wait to hang out with their six-year-old Goldendoodle, Gus, while they’re busy presenting “My Dog’s Been to More Countries Than Your Dog: Traveling the Pan Am with Gus” at 3pm on Friday in the Overland Essentials Area Sponsored by Midland Radio Corp. In 2023, the Muellers put all their belongings in storage, quit their jobs, and headed south for a grand adventure. After making it to the tip of Argentina with Gus in tow, they returned home in April, 2025, and are thrilled to share anything they’ve learned along the way in hopes of helping to encourage other travelers get out there. According to the Muellers: “The world is too big and interesting to not explore beyond your own borders.” We have to agree! To learn more about the Muellers, keep reading.
Tell us about your rig(s):
2019 Dodge Promaster self converted (thanks Youtube) camper van we call Falkor after the friendly luck dragon in Neverending Story.
All-time favorite campsite?
Always a tough question but one pops up first. It was in Guatemala called Finca la Escondida. One of those campsites you plan for one night and we stayed for four. No wifi, no one around, lots of hikes nearby, and at 9 p.m. the volcano Fuego would erupt and we could see it glow from our van. And fireflies danced in the night skies. It was magical, peaceful and sticks in your heart.
What’s your go-to overlanding meal?
Puttanesca — it’s easy to have a jar of olives, capers (the star of our trip), an onion, some tomatoes, and if we’re lucky some form of parmesan cheese on top of any shape of pasta. Add in wine if you’re feeling sophisticated.
Best silver-lining story?
We quickly learned what the rainy season means in Panama as we pulled into our campground spot and promptly SANK. Oh that dreaded feeling! We broke out the sandboards for their inaugural use, forward, backward, reposition, try again…. and got ourselves covered in mud. Finally after about an hour of trying, we broke down and asked our neighbors with a Unimog if they could help. The guy said to us, “Yeah I saw you stuck, but thought I’d let you struggle a bit first, I’ll get you out of there right quick.” Sure enough we were out in a jiffy, and later brought them a bottle of wine as a thank you. We shared it together and formed a friendship that lasted seven more countries, and we saved them a few times too from other potential disasters. Lessons learned, always have beer or wine on hand for a thank you, and in the rainy season park next to a Unimog!
READ MORE: Gain Offroad Driving Confidence at Overland Expo PNW
What is an area of overland travel that you think you have nailed?
Our dog Gus is a 75-pound Goldendoodle who would literally stop traffic and have people asking “¿Que raza es?’ What breed is he?” They had never seen anything that looked like him, so gigante. When they asked his name we would say Gustavo and it would garner so many laughs, and “Nooo, really that’s not his name! My cousin/father/son is named Gustavo!”
It took us about four months to realize why his name got such a reaction – in Latin America you don’t name your dog human names, they are like Negra, Blanco, Canela, Brownie, so Gustavo was a star! He made us so many friends, so I think we mastered in Spanish all the questions we’d ever get about him and the small talk of meeting new people and learning about their dogs. It was such a pleasurable way to connect with others. Dogs are the best!
An area we can use improvement in is continuing to grow in going with the flow and not over-planning! Also, staying longer in places, we always got excited for what was next, it would be good to slow down even more.
What does your “division of labor” look like while traveling?
We quickly learned that even though we had a blog, we didn’t want to spend any more time on the computer than we had to — and that our trip was for us, not for other people. We kept up on the blog for six months and just decided that we really didn’t want to do it, so stopped. And being freed from the shoulds of life feels, well, freeing.
Gordon was in charge of the mechanics of the van, filling the water, and most importantly mapping and getting us to the places we wanted to go. He did all the tricky driving in big cities or crazy ass roads. And we learned not to trust google so his instincts on direction were invaluable.
Megan was in charge of communications with others in English and Spanish, finding us places (campsites or AirBnBs), loading up good podcasts or books, and meal planning.
We both shared the grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning as it’s more fun to share!
Article written in collaboration with Megan and Gordon Mueller. All photos courtesy Megan and Gordon Mueller.
To meet the Muellers and listen to their helpful tips on traveling with a pet — including international overlanding — be sure to come to Overland Expo PNW, just around the corner from June 27-29 in Redmond, Oregon. To learn more purchase tickets, click the button below!
