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…
Get Out There and Travel
“Get out there and travel”. It’s a seemingly simple statement, but it takes a lot of courage for many women to take the leap, whether they are single, a wife, and/or mother. I know because I hit the road hard more than a decade ago and have never looked back. Well, to be honest, after…
DefenderX – The Last Great Overland Adventure?
In an age where it has all been done before, there remains one great overland challenge. A team of explorers has set out to drive two prepared Land Rover Defender 110’s from London to New York, without the aid of airlifts or boats. Currently the team has made it all the way to Tjita, Russia…
Nimbl Camper Factory Visit
Nimbl Campers was born out of the remnants of XP Campers which was sold at auction in August 2019. Jon Turner, Judd Newman, and investors saw an opportunity and invested in a business that they rightly believed had incredible potential. Currently, the company’s order book is full, and plans are afoot to expand production by…
Thoughts On Humanity and The Coquina
On my annual pilgrimage to Cape Lookout, Outer Banks, in my Land Cruiser, Hannibal the Hundy, I found myself contemplating the waves, the dunes, the sunset. I was also struck by the coquina clam, a mollusk that lives in the sand. Being in nature always brings revelations and is one of the main reasons I…
Chad DeRosa – Living the Vanlife
Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and over a billion hours are consumed per day. It begs the question, how does a creator get their voice heard when the metrics are stacked against them? I sat down with Chad DeRosa, full-time overlander, award-winning filmmaker, and professional YouTuber (Living the Vanlife),…
Avoidable Missteps Teach a Serious Lesson About Carelessness
As we look back at nearly eight years of full-time, vehicle-based travel, we consider ourselves fairly experienced travelers. So it’s embarrassing to admit we make rookie mistakes from time to time. We should know better. Over the past weekend, we completed a whirlwind but magical tour of La Huasteca Potosina, a tropical region in interior…
The First Ineos Grenadier Overland Test in Morocco
For those with a love of adventure travel, there are few new vehicles that elicit the sense of exploration like the Grenadier. Its space efficient shape, solid axles, metric ton payload (2,200 pounds), and triple locking differentials all serve to reinforce its built for purpose ethos. However, we have not seen the Grenadier out in…
Auto Hotels: What Does Luxury “Love” Accommodation Have to Do with Overland Travel?
After a long day on our motorcycles, my riding partner, Dave, and I, were in Guanajuato, Mexico, looking for a place to stay. We found a hotel on the side of the road, just out of town. The place looked nice—possibly too expensive for our budget, but we decided to see how much a night…
Video of the Week: Lea Rieck Rides Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway
Some of us are sitting here in the dark days of winter dreaming of sunnier riding climates. Arizona and Utah rarely see a day without sun, and this video shot at Valley of the Gods and Moki Dugway from Got2Go is just what I needed on this rainy Pacific Northwest afternoon. Not only does the…
36 Hours of Adventure :: Grand Canyon Overland Trail Ride
This 36 Hours of Adventure is Presented by: Red sand clings to the deep treads of our Defender as it slowly claws its way up a steep, rocky stretch of trail above the ghost town of Grafton. We’re just outside St. George, Utah. Originally homesteaded in 1859, Grafton’s population topped 168 individuals at its…
Driving the 2021 Copperstate Overland Rally
Photography by Tom Leigh/Tommy Gun Images On a late October afternoon in Northeast Tucson, at one of America’s old-time ranches, “old-time” vehicles made their way through dark wooden gates, past the horse barns, and toward the main house of the Tanque Verde Ranch. The participants of the 2021 Copperstate Overland have gathered for a yearly…
No Time to Burn
I’d never heard such thunder, and it was getting closer—I could feel each crash reverberate in my chest. It was like enemy mortar shells finding their range. Then there were the punches of lightning, so close they seemed only feet away from my rooftop tent. Maybe the tires on my ’99 4Runner would insulate me….
Finish and Publish Your Moto Travel Stories
Do you have an incredible tale of adventure? Have you been told you should publish your stories? Does the thought of pitching to magazines or publishers sound daunting? If so, you need to check out Carla King’s Your Moto Diaries writing workshop. I took the YMD workshop at the beginning of 2021 to help with…
Telkwa Pass—British Columbia’s “Shortcut” between Smithers and Terrace
Photos provided by ridingfullcircle.com, Uncle “M” (advrider.com), and Jillian Kofoed (Totem Auto Group) He’s about to suggest riding something I won’t like and will do everything he can to convince me. Dave’s been scouring Google Earth and paper maps for a few hours now and has found a little side tour over Telkwa Pass—a rugged 71-mile…
36 Hours of Adventure: It’s The Airstream Life For Us
This 36-Hours of Adventure is Presented by: Just Say Yes I’ve approached life a little bit differently than most. I say yes to a lot of opportunities, for instance, waking up at two in the morning to climb a 1,000-foot-tall rock spire, eating grilled sausages with complete strangers as the sun rose in the Black…