Editor’s Note: This article was originally featured in the Spring 2020 issue of Overland Journal As a child, there were a few things I “knew” about what lay beyond the borders of Texas. In the States, the Southeast was a land of sugary sand beaches and muggy afternoons; the Northeast was home to big cities,…
Caught Up in the COVID-19 Crisis in Saudi Arabia
A life on the street, a life in a van—after more than four years in Africa, we thought that nothing and nobody could stop us. But then came coronavirus. Africa We spent 1,561 formative days on the African continent, and every country left its mark—a total of 36 countries, 49 border crossings, and countless roadblocks…
Across the Deserts in Kazakhstan
The world was gray without any visible contours of clouds, making it impossible to see where the horizon separated the earth and the sky. It was a depressing start to our off-road journey across the Aralkum Desert and the Mangystau Plateau to the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. Driving Around and Across the Aral Sea Our…
The Art of Volunteering While Overlanding | Interview With Candice of Be Old Later
If you ever come across Candice of Be Old Later, you’ll likely find her in the midst of various art supplies, drawing cartoons, catching up on freelance artwork, or teaching a group of children how to draw. Her enthusiasm for art developed at an early age, eventually leading her to become a professional illustrator and…
How an Elite Marine and Afghan Dog Saved Each Other
Craig’s candor caught me off-guard as he described the experience of narrowly avoiding death in Afghanistan, but then again, elite Marine Corps members have a unique lens through which they interpret their experiences. Craig went overseas as a CI/HUMINT (counterintelligence/human intelligence) operative, but little did he know that going to Afghanistan to serve his country…
The Sweat Box in the Gambler 500
The Gambler 500 inspires some amazing vehicles—the 1955 Desoto “Chupacabra” and Lightner Racing 911 Rally Porsche both come to mind. If you don’t yet know, the Gambler 500 is an off-road rally adventure challenge with weird cars, weird people, and, most importantly, an epic trail cleanup. This year at the OG Oregon event, based near…
Sustainable Electric Transportation on Aotea with Motubikes
Aotea, also known as New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island, is a Southern Pacific adventurer’s paradise. If you’re planning a visit, you’ll quickly learn that Aotea is a destination of diverse environments, with remote beaches, windswept sand dunes, rugged hill country, old-growth forests, and wetlands. When exploring a pristine environment like this, it feels most…
Lagunas Route | Total Eclipse if We Start
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…
Lessons From A 35-Year-Old Land Cruiser
The morning frost had begun to melt on the sage and bunchgrass steppe that stretched to the horizon. A thick cloud of dust billowed from our tires, diffusing into the otherwise tranquil air. Inside the cabin of the Troopy the atmosphere was thick with corrugation-induced vibrations and the voice of Jack Johnson trying to cut…
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…
The Migration
This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Summer 2019 Prior to witnessing the Serengeti migration for the first time, I thought I had more of an understanding of what it entailed. I had dreamt about seeing this phenomenal sight for many years, only to realize the scale of how it all threaded together was…
Video of the Week: Tiny Home Adventure Season 3 Stoke Reel
Andrew Muse spent two years of his life creating a DIY Earthroamer-style overlanding vehicle from scratch (check out his build thread in the ExPo forum). It was a humbling experience that tested his ingenuity and patience, but he and his girlfriend, Ashley, saw the vision through to completion and now they have a one-of-a-kind adventure…
Mystic Myanmar on Dirt Bikes
To live in South Africa as an adventure biker has many advantages. It is a great place to get your motorcycle fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as a great starting point for an expedition to some of the wildest and most beautiful countries in Africa, such as Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania, and Rwanda….
Overlanders Share Their Favorite Apps
Mobile apps are designed to improve our lives and provide us with readily available information. This is especially helpful while travelling. Hundreds of new apps are popping up left, right, and centre, so we connected with our fellow overlanders to help narrow down the search. Google Maps, iOverlander, and Maps.me were crowd favorites, and nearly…
Jessi Combs Posthumously named “Fastest Woman on Earth”
Jessi Combs, who died tragically in 2019 while attempting to raise the bar on the women’s land-speed record, has officially been named the fastest woman on Earth posthumously by Guinness. Combs’s fatal accident occurred in Oregon’s Alvord Desert on Aug. 27, 2019, where her two runs in the jet-powered car that she piloted averaged 522.783…
What I’ve Learned About Full-time Travel From Shelter-in-Place
Lead image by Amber Baldwin Perspective through being forced off the road for the first time in over six years. Cliché as it may be, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” certainly applies to this period of sheltering in place, the longest my husband, Eric, and I have stayed anywhere in more…
Expedition Portal Celebrates 15 Years of Adventure
June 25, 2020 :: Press Release In late June 2005, expeditionportal.com (known as ExPo) went live, serving initially as a community forum, and now as one of the world’s largest online overland resources for the vehicle-based adventure traveler. While the website has grown continually since 2005, growth has accelerated in recent years because of the…
Featured Adventurers :: Jamie aka ‘Captain Manicorn’ & Sandra
Sometimes you have to hit rock-bottom before you can realize your true potential, and for Jamie Leibert that meant landing in federal prison. This incredible low taught him what can happen when you lose your way. But after serving his time, Jamie decided to completely turn his life around. He abandoned his vices and took…
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…