Often we meet people as we travel who would love to explore as we do but have one serious problem: their spouse hates camping. If this is your problem then we suggest that you try the following Travel Indoctrination Campaign (TIC) utilising Behaviour Modification Training (BMT). It would be a shame to go through all…
Deep Ozarks
White caps, like the peaks on my great-grandmother’s meringue, fill the road ahead. The waters are high and raging at a usually benign stream crossing deep in the Ozarks. It is late April and a wet and stormy spring in Arkansas. We had another downpour last night, the rain is still falling, and we’re in…
Where the Mountains Meet the Desert
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Gear Guide 2019. It’s springtime in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains. The wildflowers are out, birds cheep, and there’s a soft warmth in the air. My flying visit here is capping off a satisfying bout of winter travel in North Africa. A few weeks prior, I’d joined…
The Sonora Rally’s Guided Trek Through Mexico’s Gran Desierto de Altar
A true Dakar-style adventure, the Yokohama Sonora Rally has emerged as the premier cross-country rally venue in North America. This multi-day event provides the ultimate challenge between competitor, machine, and terrain, testing navigation and off-road racing skills while being immersed into the unique Sonoran landscape and culture. It is also North America’s only “Road to…
From Scratch – How we came to terms with our everyday lives when the adventure ended
It might seem strange, but one of the things Dave and I missed most while traveling around the world on motorcycles were our pillows. Okay, strange. But the pillows were symbolic of more than just memory foam. If we had our pillows, it meant we would have a bed, which meant we’d have a place….
Driving the 660-Mile East Mojave Heritage Trail
Descending the steep switchback into the canyon below, we heard the sudden and distinct noise of metal clanging against metal. I prayed it was nothing serious, but instinctively knew it was. Taking stock of the rear shock mounts, we discovered one had cracked to a dangerous degree, the other snapped in half. We were 55…
You Just Got Back From an Epic Journey—Now What?
“The real work of an expedition begins when you return.” –Louise Arner Boyd Many of us put in the work to plan, save for, and finally embark on a long-term adventure without a single thought as to what we’ll do when we get home. At the time of departure, the last thing you want to…
London to Singapore in a 1954 Land Rover With a Family of 5
“What do you mean the boat is late? How late?” A combination of mechanical delays, bad weather, and agent apathy meant that our 1954 Land Rover (Series 1, 86-inch station wagon) was going to arrive a month late in the UK. This set the tone for two things that happened over and over on our…
A Touch Of Camel Trophy: Towing a Land Rover Through Canada’s Whipsaw Trail
What do experienced overlanders do when a disabled truck needs to be recovered on the trail? Some of North America’s best off-highway driving instructors and vehicle recovery experts showed us their skills when they recovered a disabled truck from the historic Whipsaw Trail in July 2019. My husband, Steve, and I have driven Whipsaw four…
Hastings Overland Expands to the Southwest United States
You may recall a story we published several months back on a Canadian-based company called Hastings Overland. (You can read it here.) This small business rents fully built Jeep Wranglers equipped with everything from roof tents to kitchens, but they also do something much cooler: help you explore a new region like a local. By…
Happy Holidays!
As we round the final bend into 2020, we wanted to take a moment to wish you and your families a joyous holiday season. Wherever you are, whatever you’re celebrating, and whoever you’re celebrating it with, we hope you’re making memories as warm and inviting as a campfire on a cold day. Happy Hanukkah, Merry…
Say Hello To The United States’ Newest National Park, White Sands!
The stunning gypsum sand of New Mexico’s White Sands National Monument has intrigued and inspired generations of visitors since it opened in 1933. But you can bet things are about to get a whole lot busier because last Friday White Sands officially became our nation’s newest National Park! The changes come as part of the…
Why Add the Pamir Highway to your Overland Adventures?
Crossing high-altitude deserts with snow-capped mountains rising on the horizon, meandering through gorges along vertical rock walls. And that for 766 miles! How can that not be attractive to any overland traveler? The largely unpaved road alternates with smooth asphalt and paved stretches that have turned into washboards and potholes, so you never know what…
Skills: PreFense for Travelers
Be free to explore with the skills and confidence of a protection professional.
Slow Is the Way to Go
We were recently reminded that the unquestionable fundamental principle of off-road driving—drive as fast and necessary, as slow as possible—applies equally to overland on-road driving. Nigeria is a difficult country to travel overland: the roads are either terrible or okay, the police either horrific or friendly and relaxed, the heat sucks the energy from your…
From The ExPo Vault: Dust and Snow in the American West
Five months. That’s how long it took me to crack. Just five months and the concrete jungle surrounding my Dallas apartment had driven me insane. A train rolled by every 15 minutes, passing cars echoed in a constant hum, and the view outside my window was nothing but a continuous reminder of the city in…
An Overlander’s Real Christmas List
Dear Santa, I hope all is well up north; I hear that it is unseasonably warm up there. It has been a while since I last wrote you a letter, about 34 years to be precise. My older brother told me then that you didn’t exist, but he also told me that the bottom of…
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Expedition Portal and Overland Journal staff would like to take a moment to wish our readers and their loved ones a very happy Thanksgiving, and to say THANK YOU for your continued support of our publications and this community. We’d also like to extend a special thank you to those men and women serving our country…
Is the Rebelle Rally the Most Important Off-road Competition in North America?
OFF-ROAD RACING, YEAH!! The smell of gasoline, the sound of thunderous exhausts, the teeming energy drink representatives, and million-dollar tube-chassis race trucks. The Rebelle Rally is, well, none of that. In fact, it’s not a race at all, but rather a competitive and inspiring navigation and driving challenge. Four years ago, when Emily Miller and…
Crossing the Gobi Desert to Camp at the Flaming Cliffs of Mongolia
We have seen our share of empty landscapes in South America: Patagonia, the Atacama Desert, Bolivia’s Altiplano—but all of them pale when compared with the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia (and stretching into northern China). The Gobi is intimidating—so immense and seemingly boundless, driving here was claustrophobic at times, making me wonder, worry even, if…