Pont Séjourné viaduct, Fontpédrouse, Pyrénées-Orientales, France

We woke at our campground beside Spain's border with Andorra, after the northbound run from Mar de Pulpí through Valencia, Barcelona and Lleida. Damp pines, dew on Shehzadi and the occasional squeak from Chetak gave the morning a suitably mechanical soundtrack. It was peaceful enough to make the day's border count look like someone else's problem.

Coffee fixed the first problem. Then we rolled out with Shehzadi, our 2024 Toyota Tundra, and Chetak, the Odyssean Journey's Toyota Hilux Invincible-X. The plan was Andorra for fuel and coffee, then back through Spain and into France before ending near Lyon.

Our campground near La Farga de Moles, below the Pyrenees and just south of the Andorra border

After crossing from Morocco to Algeciras and driving back through southern Spain, we paused at Mar de Pulpí before turning north again. The rest was brief. Shehzadi had apparently mistaken our driveway for a fuel stop.

In June 2025, we joined the Odyssean Journey and Chetak, their Toyota Hilux Invincible-X, and turned north along Spain's Mediterranean corridor before climbing into the Pyrenees toward La Farga de Moles at the Andorra border.

Ksar es-Seghir

Fresh from Chefchaouen, the Vagabond Couple and Shehzadi turned back toward the Strait. Our map traced a compact Morocco leg through Tétouan and Ksar es-Seghir before Tanger Med put the Atlantic-Mediterranean doorway back in front of us.

This was the closing act of our Morocco loop: an Andalusian city, a fortified port on the Strait, one vehicle ferry, and then a very long Spanish drive home. Morocco had been generous with history. Spain was about to contribute mileage.

Morocco was familiar territory by then, although this route was new. On our earlier 2023 journey we had come through Casablanca and taken the train to Marrakech, crossed Tizi n’Tichka and Aït Benhaddou to Ouarzazate, continued through Tinghir and Todra Gorge to Erg Chebbi, and then crossed from Merzouga through the Ziz Valley and Atlas ranges to Fes. The 2025 loop had approached the country from the opposite direction, in Shehzadi and by ferry, which was a considerably larger way to carry the luggage.

The Rock of Gibraltar rising above the strait between Spain and Morocco

This Spain to Morocco overland leg carried us from Mar de Pulpí in Almería to Tangier, with Shehzadi, our Toyota Tundra, doing the usual diplomatic work of making border officials stare at Georgian plates as if we had arrived from a cartographic prank.

The map, because we enjoy making geography look mildly accused, is here: MAP. It followed directly from our Greece to Spain via Italy ferry crossing. The next practical problem was the Strait of Gibraltar: drive south through Spain, put Shehzadi on a ferry, and resume on Moroccan roads.

Igoumenitsa Ferry Terminal, Greece, where Shehzadi waited for the overnight ferry to Italy

After our Skopje loop, the previous leg brought Shehzadi through North Macedonia and back into Greece, ending at Igoumenitsa on the Ionian coast. The Silk Road story was about to take a maritime intermission: two vehicle ferries, one cross-Italy drive, and several ship garages designed to make a full-size pickup reconsider its dimensions.

From Igoumenitsa, we sailed to Ancona, drove across Italy to Civitavecchia, took the second ferry to Barcelona, then turned south through Spain to Mar de Pulpí in Almería. The full route map is here: MAP. Three countries, two ferries, one American pickup. Europe had become a very large board game with fuel receipts.

Passive Multiplexer in European Apartment

Inside the "telecommunications cabinet" of our new Spanish apartment at Mar de Pulpi, we found a wifi router that is also a ONT for fiber-optic internet service, and this "Multiplexador pasivo" 1 in 8 out RJ45 UTP Cat 6 thing with 8 ethernet cables connected to its outputs and nothing connected to its input.

Optical Fiber ONT and WiFi Router in European Apartment

All rooms in the apartment have at least one RJ45 wall socket (the place for the TV has two). We had our own gaming wifi router that we wanted to daisy-chain to the main router. So we connected one of the RJ45 outputs of the ONT/Wifi router (Uplink GP542Z GPON / EPON ONT terminal 4x GE 1x USB SC/APC WiFi AC1200) to the input of the "passive multiplexer" and the gaming router to a wall RJ45 plug. As expected, it did not work. We were wondering how in the world would a "passive multiplexer" route data packets.

It turns out this "passive multiplexer" is a telephone device and is used for connecting landline telephones all over the apartment, using RJ45 to RJ11 cables. Indeed there was a RJ45-RJ11 cable lying around inside the telecommunications cabinet as well.

However, the ethernet cables that run from the passive multiplexer to all over the apartment are indeed CAT6 network cables. Therefore, all it takes to distribute the computer network to the RJ45 wall sockets is a network switch. We unplugged the network cables from the passive multiplexer and plugged them into a 8-port network switch along with a network cable connected from one of the ports on the switch to the existing ONT/WiFi router. We were then able to daisy-chain a second WiFi router from another RJ45 wall socket as well as have copper ethernet connections to laptops and other devices from other RJ45 wall sockets.

We found the relevant manuals online for the Passive Multiplexer and ONT/Wifi Router.

Who uses landline telephones in multiple rooms in 2024?

Mar de Pulpi

When we decided to make the move to Mar de Pulpí in San Juan de los Terreros, we were not just looking for a new apartment; we were searching for a lifestyle. Nestled along the sun-drenched Costa de Almería in southern Spain, Mar de Pulpí offers a harmonious blend of tranquility, natural beauty, and vibrant community living. Here’s a glimpse into what it’s like to call this gem of a place home.