No, I didn’t know diesel fuel gels when it gets too cold, preventing the van from starting. I did not find this to be common knowledge before this all went down. We should have probably thought things through a bit more or at least paid attention to the below-freezing temperatures the night before when the…
Modern Explorers | Mac Mackenney
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal‘s Summer 2020 issue. All men dream, but not all equally. Those that dream by the dusty recesses of the night, awake to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes and make…
Maiden Voyage | Tail Lamp
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Summer 2020. I woke up to find my tent in my face. Why had my shelter collapsed, leaving me wrapped up in a lasagna of damp nylon? I lay motionless, listening for any clues that might suggest the cause of my predicament. It was early and quiet,…
Montana by Land Rover
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Summer 2020. Even by the standards of Montana Land Rover clubs, this idea seemed like a pipe dream under the paired influences of Scottish ale and mid-winter cabin fever. The proposal was such: a weeklong overland foray in early May into some of the most remote country…
XOVERLAND :: Arctic Solo Series, Ep 2
Expedition Overland’s newest series, Arctic Solo, tells the story of Richard and Ashley (@DeskToGlory) as they finish their Pan-American road trip by completing the final leg of their journey: Canada’s Northwest Territory to the Arctic Sea. Episode one gave us a rundown of the trip and the rig Richard and Ashely are driving to…
Overlander Lubricant – Drink Responsibly
It has been a long, hot, and trying day. The rig has been behaving badly, the last of 20 checkpoints involved a locked and loaded Kalashnikov, your convoy partner has been very hard work, and there is a difficult multi-day remote mountain pass ahead. It is at times like these that all an overlander needs…
Retracing the Butterfield Route Across Oklahoma
If I could travel through time, I’d go back 160 years to Indian Territory in days antebellum. There, concrete and steel would dissolve into wagon ruts and stone, hewn logs and flowing springs, a landscape familiar in its essence but alien in its rawness. Though I lack a time machine in the H.G. Wells sense,…
The Road Chose Me Volume 2 Book on Kickstarter
After years of working a desk, I realized that life wasn’t making me happy and I needed to make a change. I began dreaming, saving, and planning, and finally quit my job and sold all my stuff. Back in 2009, I wound up driving 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina, and I’ve been hopelessly hooked…
Some of The Best Overland Routes In The USA
Each year, our staff members spend months exploring some of the best backroads our planet has to offer, from the red sands of the Simpson Desert to the frozen expanses of Greenland. Along the way we’ve discovered there’s no lack of breathtaking adventures to be had, but believe it or not, some of the best…
COLOSSAL 2019 – The Recipe for Adventure
In 2018, I wrote a short article after Colossal titled “It’s All About the People,” in which I reflected on one of my Dad’s many wise insights into life: people are the most important part of everything we ever do. Year after year, I relate more to that ideal as it seems to solidify for…
Deep Ozarks
White caps, like the peaks on my great-grandmother’s meringue, fill the road ahead. The waters are high and raging at a usually benign stream crossing deep in the Ozarks. It is late April and a wet and stormy spring in Arkansas. We had another downpour last night, the rain is still falling, and we’re in…
From Scratch – How we came to terms with our everyday lives when the adventure ended
It might seem strange, but one of the things Dave and I missed most while traveling around the world on motorcycles were our pillows. Okay, strange. But the pillows were symbolic of more than just memory foam. If we had our pillows, it meant we would have a bed, which meant we’d have a place….
Driving the 660-Mile East Mojave Heritage Trail
Descending the steep switchback into the canyon below, we heard the sudden and distinct noise of metal clanging against metal. I prayed it was nothing serious, but instinctively knew it was. Taking stock of the rear shock mounts, we discovered one had cracked to a dangerous degree, the other snapped in half. We were 55…
London to Singapore in a 1954 Land Rover With a Family of 5
“What do you mean the boat is late? How late?” A combination of mechanical delays, bad weather, and agent apathy meant that our 1954 Land Rover (Series 1, 86-inch station wagon) was going to arrive a month late in the UK. This set the tone for two things that happened over and over on our…
A Touch Of Camel Trophy: Towing a Land Rover Through Canada’s Whipsaw Trail
What do experienced overlanders do when a disabled truck needs to be recovered on the trail? Some of North America’s best off-highway driving instructors and vehicle recovery experts showed us their skills when they recovered a disabled truck from the historic Whipsaw Trail in July 2019. My husband, Steve, and I have driven Whipsaw four…
From The ExPo Vault: Dust and Snow in the American West
Five months. That’s how long it took me to crack. Just five months and the concrete jungle surrounding my Dallas apartment had driven me insane. A train rolled by every 15 minutes, passing cars echoed in a constant hum, and the view outside my window was nothing but a continuous reminder of the city in…
Overlanding the Olympic Peninsula
Thirty-six Hours of Adventure :: The Olympic Peninsula Presented by ARB USA One of the great joys of traveling in the continental United States is the fantastic diversity within our borders, the transition from the densely populated and wooded Northeast to the arid and mountainous…
Crossing the Gobi Desert to Camp at the Flaming Cliffs of Mongolia
We have seen our share of empty landscapes in South America: Patagonia, the Atacama Desert, Bolivia’s Altiplano—but all of them pale when compared with the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia (and stretching into northern China). The Gobi is intimidating—so immense and seemingly boundless, driving here was claustrophobic at times, making me wonder, worry even, if…
Overland Routes | Anza-Borrego State Park
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Spring 2017. Anza–Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP) is a remote moonscape that beckons the adventurer with technical terrain, expansive geology, and the solitude of desert campsites. It is named for the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and borrego (bighorn sheep). At 600,000 acres it…
Training Our Limits
“Driver training should be one of the first things we buy for our overland vehicle.” A 36 Hours of Adventure Presented By :: 5.11 Clothing and Bags The most elite units in the world rely on training, best-practice, and continuous improvement; yet many overland travelers skip this critical first step towards competency and safety in…