Photography courtesy of nationalmcmuseum.org In 1911, a true motorcycling legend, Betsy Leonora Ellis, was born in Kingston, Jamaica; she would later go by Bessie and take on the last name of a spouse. She was tragically orphaned at a young age, then adopted and raised by a well-off Irish woman who would raise her Catholic….
Humanity:: From Russia with Love
Inside the world’s largest country, you’ll find elderly ladies baking bread in wooden houses with painted window frames; large, prosperous cities and honking horns; children riding bicycles on gravel roads, and some of the most industrious, approachable people on the planet. Russia scares many travelers. Bad things happen there, just like bad things happen in…
Memoir and Travel Diary: Van Living 1971, by Gay & Jack Reineck
These days the term vanlife is hardly ever mentioned independently of web-based social media platforms, but the truth is that van living predates the internet. So who were the early pioneers? And what did the early days of van living look like? Gay and Jack Reineck might just have the answers to those questions and…
From India to London in a Toyota Fortuner :: Interview with Amarjeet Singh, The Turban Traveller
As a teenager in New Delhi, Amarjeet Singh longed to roam free and travel the world. He dreamt of meeting people and sharing ideas, food, and culture. But when Singh told his father of his plans, his father became upset. “This is not the time for you to travel,” his father said. “This is the…
Leave No Trace—Outdoor Ethics for Riders, Overlanders, and Other Land Users
I was camping in eastern Washington a month ago. We had a gorgeous spot right on a river and plenty of space for three vehicles and six dirt bikes. On arrival, I jumped out of the truck and headed into some trees to relieve my water-filled bladder. Walking a few feet away from camp, I…
A Self-Drive Adventure Through Botswana
In January 2021, my wife, Kirsten, and I went on a self-drive safari in Botswana in a vehicle from Chobe 4X4. We are camping idiots and always depart with a slight sense of trepidation that we may not return. It is not being in the wild that worries us; it is our profound mechanical ignorance. …
Pioneers of Moto History: The Van Buren Sisters’ 1916 Ride Across America
Photos courtesy of vanburensisters.com In August of 1916, sisters Adeline and Augusta Van Buren found themselves stranded in Skull Valley, an arid expanse of desert between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Reno, Nevada. Despite being part of the Lincoln Highway, the desolate track along which they navigated their three-speed Indian Powerplus motorcycles had vanished. Their…
Field Tested: Melanzana Micro Grid Hoodie
Editor’s note: This article was originally posted in Overland Journal’s Spring 2021 Issue. The Micro Grid hoodie from outdoor clothing manufacturer Melanzana has developed a cult following over the past decade and a half. Perhaps it’s because this synthetic hooded pullover achieves the perfect balance of comfort and technical performance or because its two-tone…
Going Home to Africa: Interview with Author and Solo Traveler Dot Bekker
In November 2018, Dot Bekker sat in front of her computer, about to purchase a ferry ticket from Barcelona to Tangier Med in Morocco. As she stared at the glowing screen, doubt crept in. “Did I want to do this, was I fooling myself, could I do this, should I do this, why was I…
Expedición de las Américas: Crossing the Darién Gap in 1979
Photography by Mark A. Smith Off-Roading Inc. Amidst a steaming, mosquito-filled jungle, Mark Smith wrestles with the steering wheel of his orange Jeep CJ-7, bouncing over rocks, damp earth, and the roots of tall ceiba trees. The skin beneath his white-brimmed hat is drenched with sweat, and several weeks’ worth of unshaven silver beard…
Is This the Golden Age of Overland Travel?
Some of us were born in the wrong decade, and some were born in the wrong century. If you had asked me years ago which period in history I would have liked to inhabit, my knee-jerk response would have been the Viking Age. But then I would have thought for a while and realized that…
Travelling the Incense Route with Barbara Toy
Photography from Barbara Toy’s A Fool Strikes Oil and Travelling the Incense Route “I travelled for the love of travelling. All too often these days people say they’re going to cross something like the Sahara Desert and all they want to do is get to the other side as fast as they can. That’s…
Moki Dugway—a Father-Daughter Ride on Two Very Different Bikes
With Father’s Day approaching, I’m reminded of the one and only long-day ride my dad and I did together in 2014. I was on a BMW G 650 GS while Dad rode a Harley Davidson Classic. Neither of us cared about the oddity of being on two very different bikes. Although this late September day…
Don’t Go There; You Will Die
Have you ever wondered why planning for and embarking on a modern, maiden, extended overland journey is so stressful? Well, prolific overland travelers (myself included) are partly to blame as we tend to focus more on the adventure than ease of travel, which creates a false impression. Let me explain. I, and many of the…
Being a Location-independent Traveller During Covid-19
Words by Lisa Morris, photography by Lisa Morris and Jason Spafford When the World Stopped It happened almost in the blink of an eye as the news of the spreading virus slapped the taste from our mouths. From March 2020, a new precedent emerged in the desperate hope to curb an Earth-wide spread. Save…
Forest Road
Photography by Michelle Francine Weiss and Roy Rudnick Mirny is a city as isolated in the middle of the Russian expanse as many others in the far east of the country. But it has a strong reason to exist in that place: 25 percent of the diamonds which circulate the world come from its…
Humanity :: Pay It Forward
My family has been on the road for a long time now, almost a quarter of our adult lives and the majority of our children’s lives, through thick and thin. There has been an abundance of spectacular thick and inexplicably regular suffering of thin. You soon realize as you travel to foreign continents far, far…
Jeopardy and a Jeep: Africa Conquered by Two Women Professors
Words By Ashley Giordano, photos from Jeopardy and a Jeep by Dorothy Rogers During the summer of 1954, two American college professors named Dorothy Rogers and Louise Ostberg pulled their Willys Wagon into a mechanic shop in Tripoli, Libya. They had arrived from the North African desert, where they battled endless flats and ruined…
Overland Journal Podcast: Episode 45, Interview with Explorer and Archeologist Bryon Bass
In this episode of the Overland Journal podcast, Scott sits down with the “real-life Indiana Jones,” Bryon Bass, for a second interview (previous interview here). This time, they dive deeper into every-day carry (EDC), keeping yourself out of trouble on the road, tools, and watches. We also explore Bryon’s passion for wine, watches, and Toyotas,…
South African Surf: An interview with Frank Solomon and Sacha Specker
Photos by Sacha Specker Remote sandy tracks, wild temperature swings, howling ocean winds, and great white sharks are just some of the challenges that South African big-wave surfer Frank Solomon and surf photographer Sacha Specker had to overcome while filming their recent Find Anywhere spot with Front Runner Outfitters. Frank is a pro surfer…