A flat motorcycle tire can stop a journey in its tracks. Having experienced plenty of them, I ride prepared for a roadside repair. Besides a spare tube, patch kit, and tire tools, my kit includes two items for inflating tires. One is an electric inflator, the other one is a bicycle hand pump. This redundancy…
Judged by Its Cover :: Coming to Terms With Passport Inequity
The centuries-old mansion on Puebla, Mexico’s central plaza had been converted into a restaurant on the bottom floor with new apartments above. We sit in the living room of one of those apartments on the second story. With its towering ceiling and decorative tile floors, it surely used to be the salon of high society….
Georgia, the Road Leads Back to You
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Winter 2022 Issue. Georgia—not the American state Ray Charles and Martin Luther King hailed from, but the little-known country located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe—is a mountainous place of wild and astonishing beauty. Monasteries, watchtowers, and fortresses dating to the Middle Ages stand…
Destinations :: Kyrgyzstan’s Karakol Region
Karakol is a convenient hub to explore the magical surroundings of its mountains and the immense Lake Issyk-Kul. It’s a great home base in Eastern Kyrgyzstan to stock up on food, water, and fuel; get your laundry done; take a rest (Riverside Guesthouse lets overlanders camp in the parking lot for a small fee); and…
Die Raat vir Elke Kwaal: A CJ-3B Jeep Sluks its Way Through Botswana
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Winter 2022 Issue. At a crossing in the wild country of the Limpopo River may be found Gatvanolfant, the elephants’ hole. Here is also Oerwoud Store with the Wiltshire, a pub established in past times by a British Army unit that once guarded the drift…
Overland Inspiration in 2022 :: Expedition Portal’s Top Ten Posts
Overland life evolved in exciting ways in 2022. As the global pandemic slowed or was increasingly ignored (depending on your perspective and general location), life gradually found a new normal. Schools re-opened, employees returned to their cubicles, and time spent on Zoom calls declined. Many predicted the unprecedented boom we saw in 2020-2021 in outdoor…
Five Reasons Japan Should Be on Your Overland Bucket List
It was with great joy this October that I read Japan was lifting its last Covid-19 travel restrictions and that the country would be open again to individual travelers. As of yet, Japan has been little visited by overlanders who bring their own vehicle, probably because it’s a long way from any of the main…
Overlanding in the Underserved Communities : Interview with Kirk Williams
Kirk Williams, a Coloradan, is an active outdoorsman, storyteller, and adventurer who courageously travels overland despite a physical mobility impairment. When Kirk was in his early twenties, he had an unfortunate mountain biking accident, broke his neck, and was relegated to a wheelchair. That, however, has not hindered his drive and zest for life. Kirk…
Destination: Laguna 69, Huascarán National Park, Perú
Photography by Richard Giordano Located within the central Peruvian Andes, UNESCO World Heritage Site Huascarán National Park is home to 27 peaks over 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) and the highest tropical mountain range in the world, the Cordillera Blanca. Hiking opportunities abound, but the most popular trek is to Laguna 69, a jewel-toned lake bordered…
The Camp Trap
It is inevitable that after a few arduous weeks or months on the road, you will eventually roll into an overland camp with the intention of staying only a night or two just to shower and rest or perhaps repair a limping vehicle. Blink and three weeks have flown blissfully by, grass may have grown…
Winter Solstice Road Trip :: Witnessing the Ancient Solar Event
North American adventurers will soon set their GPSs in the direction of New Mexico to watch the sun rise and set in the state’s barren desserts, endless landscapes offering ancient architecture aligned with the winter solstice. A little further south, there is a large labyrinth tucked into the hillside of New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains. The…
What These Toyota Engineers Want You to Know About Women in Motorsports and the 2022 Tundra
Photo by Tim Sutton Since its inception in 2015, the Rebelle Rally has seen fairly solid support from various original equipment manufacturers. From Jeep to Lexus, Rivian, and even Rolls-Royce, the event is touted as a proving ground for off-pavement testing, ideas, and concepts—but there’s one name that, until 2021, had been curiously absent: Toyota. …
Overlanding with Pets :: Roberto Sastre from Viajeros Perrunos
Roberto Sastre, a Spaniard from Madrid, is a well-educated individual who has taken on the significant challenge of walking and hitchhiking around the world with his two dogs for the last eight years. After backpacking Ukraine in 2010, Roberto realized he had found his inherent passion; he returned to University to complete his studies. Three…
2022 Overlanders of the Year :: Lisa Morris and Jason Spafford of Four Wheeled Nomad
Our list of candidates for 2022 included many worthy travelers, all mixing it up in a world that has been decidedly shaken rather than stirred these past few years. Ultimately, we chose long-time travelers Lisa Morris and Jason Spafford for their propensity to embrace change and create adventure no matter their whereabouts. Formerly known as…
Protecting Your Eyes from Snow Blindness
A Norwegian mountaineer successfully summited Mount Everest recently but soon after developed snow blindness and lost vision in both eyes. He was medevaced to safety. The same thing happened to a high climber from Ireland a few weeks earlier. The sun’s UV rays can harm your skin—and your eyes. If you want to avoid photokeratitis…
Modern Explorer :: Baptiste Gissinger
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2022 Issue. Baptiste Gissinger tells me he grew up on a farm in France, but I’m not so sure. I (not so) secretly think he’s a Viking sent back from Valhalla to teach us overlanders a thing or two. At 15 years old, I spent…
Feature Vehicle :: Eva zu Beck’s 2006 Land Rover Defender 110
Video creator Eva zu Beck admits she began traveling by vehicle for a change of pace. At times, a hectic YouTube travel schedule saw her bouncing from Turkey to Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, and while this was exciting, it was also draining. “I craved the freedom that comes with being able to roam anywhere by…
78 Days in an Indian Ashram
After 20-odd years of journeying together, Jase and I hit a curious crossroads. Our former lives of dive-guiding, motorcycling, and 4WD overlanding continued to amass in a Russian doll. Until, that is, we consciously decided to press pause on seeking stimulus from the physical world, turning inwards to pursue a different kind of journey to…
Overland Routes: The Trail of Kings
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2022 Issue. Arizona may be known for saguaro cactus, but it is also 26 percent timberland, and Humphreys Peak rises 12,633 feet into the southwest skyline. From the precipitous enclave of Jerome, and the start of this Overland Route, Humphreys Peak looms in the distance….
Chasing Singletrack in Utah
The trip began with a bust; a crunch, rather. I’d slung a nifty laundry tube from Radius Outfitters over the headrest of the driver’s seat in my Ram Promaster, wedging it carefully between that and the kitchen wall behind me. But when I hopped in the van for the first leg of an autumn journey…