The Camel Trophy, which was also known as “the Olympics of 4×4”, was, without doubt, a stroke of marketing genius. The sight of international groups of Tom Selleck lookalikes plowing the world’s greatest 4WD vehicles across jungles and rivers, and deserts were enough to inspire every schoolboy and his parents while cementing the reputation of…
Twisties, Curves, and Canopies: A Journey Through the Ozarks
It’s All in the Planning We had planned the trip for a couple of months, poring over the details, making inventories of what we had and would need for a long-distance moto journey across the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. I would need to bring a new set of tires for my BMW F 750…
Roof Loading for Overland Travel: How Much is Too Much?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Summer 2022 Issue. Many of you likely remember the Ford Explorer rollover lawsuits of the early 2000s. We were inundated daily with news reports about the dangers of the Explorer and the risk to society that SUVs posed in general. Fast forward 20 years, and though…
Children of the Road, A Life of Unconventional Norms
Heidi and Jens, full-time overlanders for 15 years, are the real deal. They’ve crossed rivers in Mongolia, the Canning Stock in Australia, and the salt flats of Bolivia. Jens boasts a Unimog tattoo from a parlor in Shanghai; Heidi cooks Kashmiri curry and speaks five languages. We met in Oaxaca, Mexico, in one of those…
Trail Fire Grill, High-Elevation Cooking the Campfire Way
I knew I liked the Trail Fire Grill when I saw creator Mark Ritchie demo it at the Overland Expo in Flagstaff, Arizona, this past spring. He had made a bacon and eggs breakfast for me and showed me how this camping grill serves as a barbecue, wok, and oven. I took the grill home…
Is 4WD Essential for International Overland Travel?
Traveler friends Thomas and Sabine from Bavaria, Germany, recently sent me a typically entertaining message. “Next week, I’ll have a talk to around 100 interested people on Explorer-Ostsee-Camp concerning the question 4WD in Travel Reality—How much 4WD do you really need? My personal thoughts about that are only some of all possible. I’d love to add…
Pon Steyn 4X4 – Where Classic Land Rovers are Reborn
If you are a Land Rover Defender Classic fan, you will have noticed that over the last few years, more and more of these vehicles are being restored and sold internationally, some changing hands for ludicrous amounts of money. As someone who has traveled the planet and lived in a Defender for more than a decade, I…
Land Cruisers of the Drug War
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. First synthesized in the late 1850s, Sigmund Freud was an early advocate of cocaine in addition to being an addict, prescribing it for depression and other conditions. In the late 1800s, coca leaves found themselves on the ingredient list for Coca-cola, and in…
Getting Wayout There :: Dometic Trail Ride 2022
The sun dipped below the horizon hours ago, but we’re still driving. The Gladiator’s off-highway lights cut through clouds of dust, abruptly pitching up and down with the front end of the rig. I swallow two painkillers to stave off the pain behind my left eye—my own fault, and the consequences of neglecting calorie and…
Searching for Nothing
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Gear 2022 Issue. I was excited like a schoolboy in late June on the verge of a wild summer. It was a feeling I’ve had so many times, on so many big adventures, but oddly, different. For most of my adult life, my outdoor aspirations have…
2008 Toyota Tundra TRD Off-Road Staff Project Vehicle Introduction
Editor’s note: To learn more about preparing the first, second, and third generation Tundra for overland travel, please enjoy the Overland Journal Podcast Episode 94: Principles of Overlanding :: The Toyota Tundra for Overlanding. I just spent the last six weeks and 3,000 kilometers exploring the Baja California Peninsula with Ashley (my wonderful wife and…
The Pace of Change in Outback Queensland
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. Within the hour, paradise would fade into the distance. Every kilometre we put between us and the coast would melt into the afternoon sun. Once the rainforest canopy crumbled into open plains, a trail of dust would leave months of an unplanned pause…
Overlander Mexico
When you face the unknown—whether people, places, or concepts—the talons of fear have a way of gripping down relentlessly. The year was 2018, and my husband and I were facing doubts before overlanding into an unfamiliar country for the first time. We would have experienced less of a mental rollercoaster were it not for our…
Overlanding Norway’s Southern Fjordlands
For as long as I can remember, Scandinavia has held a particular magnetism for me. In my teenage days, I dreamed of the vast snow dunes of Lapland, fire crackling in the unforgiving cold, the northern lights showing the way through the endless night. The first time I traveled solo, I looked for the landscape…
Video of the Week: Van Life in The Artic with Living The Van Life
Chad DeRosa’s travels around the USA and Baja have been well documented for more than a decade. This video beautifully demonstrates that Chad is not only an excellent storyteller but also a courageous explorer, daring to take on the winter Arctic in his Mercedes Benz Sprinter. With temperatures dropping to -30F, Chad takes us on…
Overland Iran
After extensive travelling in many parts of the world, we more and more started to look for areas less travelled, especially since we started venturing in our Land Rover Defender. When focusing on the Middle East, we were intrigued by Iran. Once part of Mesopotamia and known as Persia until 1935, this “far away” country…
Overland Journal Presents: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a 3-part Video Series by Desk to Glory
I am thrilled to announce that Overland Journal has launched Episode One of a three-part original fly-and-drive video series titled Destinations: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Episodes two and three will be released later this week via the Expedition Portal YouTube channel on Wednesday, March 23, and Friday, March 25, 2022. This series follows the…
Marking the 10-Year Anniversary of Expeditions 7
“First is forever,” reverberated through the air on the night the Expeditions 7 team celebrated becoming the first to drive a 4×4 vehicle on all seven continents. The moment Expedition Leader Scott Brady congratulated his team, those in attendance simultaneously played a personal reel, mental images flashing in quick succession: narrowly avoiding jail in Russia;…
US Presidents and Their “Overland” Rigs
Today, we celebrate the presidents of the United States, many of whom were adventurous souls (including my seventh great uncle President Washington). Over the past 120 years, they were also driving various vehicles worthy of the classic road trip or even a lap around the globe. Certainly, some presidents were more “car guys” than others,…
Mojave by Defender
“Daddy! Those motorcycle guys are giving us the thumbs-up!” my 5-year-old said. We were only an hour into the first off-road adventure of our new Land Rover Defender, and I knew it was going to be a good trip. The Mojave Desert has always been a favorite area of mine in Southern California. I spend…