Hourless Life: Documenting Our Global Overland Adventure

smlobx

Wanderer
That's awesome! I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are with your unit as well! Any chance you'll be out west this spring/summer? Would love to connect if you are.

As far as suspension, the answer is yes. But we don't know what we'll be doing exactly until we know the weight of everything we've installed. Having heard from so many experienced international overlanders, we've taken payload capacity of the vehicle very seriously. We've also taken the advice to wait until we have everything completely loaded as we plan to take it around the world and then weigh it. At that point we'll determine the suspension requirements based on the weight. We may also add airbags which have been recommended as well. We'll see, but I'll definitely update on this thread. Thank you for subscribing to our channel. I look forward to getting to know you. ~ Eric

We are going to South Texas mid April for a few weeks but will be in our other expedition vehicle (F-350 with a Hallmark camper). We hope to go to Canyonlands and Zion NP’s in September With the Glad.

We have airbags in our truck camper because we don’t keep the camper on it full time. It has worked great for us including an almost 15K trip to Alaska last summer. If I was keeping the rig fully built I would lean more towards upgraded springs and like you I am waiting to get my Gladiator completely built and weighed before we make any changes.
Best of luck!
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Thought Journal 003 - 04/08/21

So much has happened since our last update.

Where to begin? On March 7th, we started our lives as full-time overlanders living out of our Jeep as a family of 3. We left Texas and headed to Southern Arizona with a stop in Las Cruces, NM along the way.

Here in Arizona we connected with several overlanding groups who have been kind to us and have extended invitations to run trails and camp. We've camped with quite a few folks and made some new friends.

We've explored a bit of the Tucson area, a lot of the Phoenix area, and some of the Cottonwood, Jerome, and Prescott areas.

One of the owners of Turtleback Trailers found out we were in the area and reached out to invite us to come out to their shop and host a meet and greet type event.

So on April 3rd we hosted a meet and greet at Turtleback Trailers HQ in Chandler, AZ. Around 100 people and 40-50 overland rigs were in attendance. It was really nice to be able to re-connect with community after so long of a hiatus. Turtleback was kind enough to give us a set of MaxTrax to give away at the event.

What else has happened?

We're happy to announce that we picked up Goose Gear as a gear sponsor and we have another sponsor which we'll be announcing soon for this build. We've been incredibly humbled by the kindness and generosity of so many great companies in the overlanding space that have gotten behind us.

Today (April 8) we were interviewed by Scott Brady for the Overland Journal Podcast. We are guessing that the episode will go live around the end of August when we head south of the border on our launch for the global journey.

Our biggest current challenges:

Right now the challenge is to figure out all of the logistics for the build itself. Our Gladiator is being built out in 4 different cities at 4 different shops. So getting the right pieces of the puzzle to the correct folks, and doing so in a timely fashion with COVID delays consistently throwing us curveballs has been a challenge. But I believe it will all work out in the end. The good news is that we got the official word from Jeep, that our Gladiator has arrived in Denver 1.5 months ahead of schedule. So at least that part of the puzzle is in place.

Where we are:

Right now I'm sitting in the Prescott National Forest, next to a river beneath a canopy of tall ponderosa pine trees. The weather is perfect, the sound of the river calming and I feel like I'm wiped. I may call it an early night. My brain is fried and my eyes are heavy. But my 4 year old and my wife are collecting a bit of dead wood...so I see another fire in our near future.

How I feel:

Honestly a bit overwhelmed. It is a lot to juggle and prepare for. I always feel like I'm forgetting something critical. Like I'll make some error that will inevitably delay our trip. It is this haunting feeling that lingers over me like a black cloud following Eeyore everywhere he goes. But somehow the pieces of the puzzle keep falling into place. My wife Brittany is an organizational genius and she keeps us on track. I'm so thankful for her.

Summary:

Well, that's it for now unless folks have questions for us. Please don't hesitate to comment and ask. We do try and be as open and transparent as possible. Ultimately we're just regular folks with an incredible dream which we are pursuing with everything we are and step by step making the dream a reality. ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
An excerpt from some thoughts that I had written a few weeks ago in Arizona for anyone interested in reading my drivel:

"The refreshing and cleansing power of the common shower has not enveloped my body for the past six days. It doesn’t bother me as it would most of my fellow Americans. Instead, the lack of rejuvenation a shower typically provides has become routine in the lifestyle I have undertaken.

I am not unapproachable.

The underlying scent of sweat and body odor which is surely present is hardly noticeable even at the closest of intervals despite the four mile hike through Black Canyon in the Table Mesa region north of Phoenix, Arizona that I took on yesterday. My odor is arguably pleasant. My skin is permeated with campfire smoke and sealed in the silty desert dust of the American Southwest. It is a musky smell, one that speaks to anyone downwind of a life well lived.

I have always craved adventure. As far back as I can remember, I’ve longed to live a life worth living, a story worth telling, and an existence where the time I was given was spent wisely. While most of my peers pursue financial wealth and the trappings of material possessions, I reject that this is the end goal, or the mark of a fulfilled life. Money is an interesting asset however, in that even by its expenditure it is possible to accrue more. This seems to be the misplaced mark of success in our capitalist society. I fear that as a gross generalization we’ve been duped into perpetuating this lie where “he who dies with the most toys wins.” There is nothing that can be gained through financial acumen that we’ll carry on past our time on this earth.

As a comparison, time is not the equivalent of money, it isn’t even remotely close in value. Unlike the accumulation of financial wealth, where there are the potentials of gain and loss, the truth about the asset of time, is that once spent, it can never be recovered. There is no creating more of it, there is no method of accruing it. Thus the chief nemesis of life is time poorly spent in the pursuit of possessions which in the end are meaningless. In my opinion, time itself is the most valuable asset we’ve each been given in relatively equal measure, the use of which determines the legacy of our lives."

That was written weeks ago not too long after my last "Thought Journal" entry above.

Where are we now?

Currently I'm sitting in Moab Utah. This past Sunday we went out to a remote dispersed campsite with our friend Chris Shontz of Venture4WD. That experience was relaxing and refreshing as we swapped stories while enveloped in a canyon which was a welcome refuge from the winds which had picked up in the area.

Over the past 3 days I've been constantly working and focused on our global build. We are just over a month away from picking up our Gladiator and delivering it to the first of four shops who will have their hands on it.

I've been buried in emails, phone calls, and spreadsheets. The list of tasks seems endless. The time so short. The journey so worth it.

We're immensely thankful and humbled to have picked up a few more sponsors including Alu-Cab, RedArc Electronics, Juniper Overland, MaxTrax, Sonoran Expedition Collective, DMOS Collective, and Renogy Solar. Our full list of sponsors for this global trip can be seen here: Hourless Life Sponsor List.

I know some folks get bent out of shape when someone says they are sponsored. But for those that may question it, please understand that we are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a 20 year military veteran whose family lives on a small pension which I've earned through service to my country. So any sponsorships (that are companies we were going to purchase gear from anyway) are a huge financial blessing to us. Further, we are purchasing the vast majority of what we have and are taking. We are very selective on our gear for this journey as it is anticipated to be a 10-15 year journey and we need the gear to last, and be of such quality, as to be dependable and reliable. There is no company that we are sponsored by that I wouldn't personally recommend their gear to others. And furthermore, no company on our sponsor list which if they were not a sponsor wouldn't be part of our build. Simply put, the gear we are taking was going on this journey whether it was sponsored or not.

We are debating whether or not to extend our departure by a month and a half to attend both Overland Expo Mountain West, and Overland Expo West. But that is still a consideration. We have so many friends in the overland community that we'd love to see, so many sponsors we've never met that we want to thank, and we'd really enjoy meeting new folks as well. Also it would give us the only real opportunity to show the vehicle we'll be taking around the world to others who may be interested before we actually leave the USA. By the time we get back, everything on it, all the technology and even the vehicle itself will be 10-15 years old.

I've made a commitment to update this thread whenever I have the time. This will potentially be a very LONG thread of just me rambling, but it is a good place to put down thoughts that might spark something in a fellow adventurer, or if nothing else, something I can reflect on years from now.

I suppose that's it for now. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. The community here is so important to me. ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
We are going to South Texas mid April for a few weeks but will be in our other expedition vehicle (F-350 with a Hallmark camper). We hope to go to Canyonlands and Zion NP’s in September With the Glad.

We have airbags in our truck camper because we don’t keep the camper on it full time. It has worked great for us including an almost 15K trip to Alaska last summer. If I was keeping the rig fully built I would lean more towards upgraded springs and like you I am waiting to get my Gladiator completely built and weighed before we make any changes.
Best of luck!
Did you make it to South Texas? Heading out to Padre Island National Seashore? ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
We've officially decided to delay our departure so that we can participate at Overland Expo Mountain West and Overland Expo West. We'll be at both events and we'll have our Gladiator available for folks interested in taking a look. We'll be speaking at both events as well. Details to come as I have them.

Since my last entry, we hung out in Moab with our friend Chris Shontz of Venture4wd. Also hung out at Grand Canyon Parashant with our friend Maverick. We did 395 from Ridgecrest to Bridgeport and visited Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks.

Now we're in Gilroy, CA visiting family. Then we head out to Denver to pick up our Gladiator and drop it off at Juniper Overland for the start of the build. ~ E
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Hi,
wow you have a very exciting trip, I would be grateful if you could tell us something about Gilroy ... how do you? What interesting places are there?
Thank you

Welcome to Expedition Portal. I can see you just joined on Tuesday. Gilroy, California is known as the garlic capital of the world. Just pulling into town you can smell the cloves of garlic that permeate everything in the city. Also famous for the Gilroy Garlic Festival which unfortunately was marred by a mass shooting in 2019.

Honestly, overall I'm not really a fan of Gilroy, but I have older children who live in the area and so I've been here quite a bit to visit with them and enjoy a little family time. Arguably the best thing about Gilroy (besides seeing my family) is the proximity to other points of interest in California. Also there's a little dive burger joint called "Super Burger" that is really pretty fantastic. But other than that, there's not much to it that I've discovered.

Hope that helps! ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
We picked up our Jeep Gladiator today! May 31, 2021.

We purchased it through Autonation Chrysler Jeep Arapahoe near Denver, Colorado. Our salesman was Mason Shevland. Great guy to work with by the way. Everything went really smooth, in and out in two hours.

I got to drive it first! It was so little compared to our built up "GUARDIAN" our North American rig. It was low to the ground and felt like driving a sedan by comparison to our JKU.

I drove it to my brother-in-law's home here in the Denver area where we are staying during the first part of the build. It is really strange to have four walls, running water, AC, and heat. Oh and laundry! The little things right?

Tonight after we laid Caspian down to sleep, Brittany got to drive it for the first time. She drove around town a bit, and we ended up at a Sonic Drive-in which was one of the spots we used to go to on dates together when we were first together, so it was pretty special.

Interestingly enough, it is the only time either of us will ever drive the Gladiator stock other than tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we drop off the Gladiator with Josh at Juniper Overland here in Denver and the build process begins. ~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Nothing ever seems to go as planned. Stopped at Juniper this morning and though they were ready for us, the truck with the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper hasn't arrived yet. As far as we know it is still in New Jersey loaded onto a truck but the holiday weekend has disrupted communication between the driver and the shop. So now we are in standby mode waiting on a call from Josh at Juniper to get the Gladiator back to him.

Good news is that my brother-in-law's place is only 10 minutes from Juniper Overland so it is really easy for us to get over there if we get the word that the truck is arriving.

As we used to say in the military, "Stand by to stand by."

~ Eric
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
Had dinner tonight in Denver with Brian Fulton, the owner of Goose Gear. We had a really nice time and got to check out his new 60 series Land Cruiser that he just picked up. Pretty sweet. Tomorrow we start filming our build series on the Gladiator for our YouTube channel which is documenting our global journey.

Also we went camping yesterday and spent the night with about 20 other overland enthusiasts. Super nice to sit around a campfire with folks who have a similar passion as we do. ~ E
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
June 9, 2021 Update:

There was a delay in the shipping (not on the part of the companies) for both Alu-Cab and Goose Gear. But on June 7th everything arrived at Juniper.

The build began in earnest. It is incredible to see the transformation of this vehicle. We're still dealing with logistics on some parts, but overall things are coming together.

In other news. We now have 18 videos on our YouTube and 11,000 subscribers. We're pretty blown away. Tomorrow on June 10th the first video in our Jeep Gladiator Overland Build series goes live. It is an overview video of what we are doing to the vehicle to prepare it for the trip around the world.

If you are interested in checking that out, tune in tomorrow on our YouTube, I'll link it here ~> Hourless Life YouTube

And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! ~ E
 
I watched your introduction video this morning. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to watching you guys travel the world. I've got myself a small property now in southwest Montana that you're welcome to camp on if you make it this way. We offer incredible ice cold well water, no toilet, amazing sunrises, and 2 Golden Retrievers.....it's still a wonderful world out there.....enjoy and stay safe.....
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
I watched your introduction video this morning. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to watching you guys travel the world. I've got myself a small property now in southwest Montana that you're welcome to camp on if you make it this way. We offer incredible ice cold well water, no toilet, amazing sunrises, and 2 Golden Retrievers.....it's still a wonderful world out there.....enjoy and stay safe.....
Sounds like y'all got yourselves a little slice of heaven! Thank you for the invite. Though we don't have plans to head to Montana anytime soon, you never know what curveballs may be thrown our way and I appreciate your offer of hospitality. The community here is so kind. ~ Eric
 

LocoCoyote

World Citizen
I have been following and enjoying your updates…thanks for sharing….once you get to Germany, look me up and I’ll buy you good folks a beer…or coffee if that’s more your style.
Have you considered adding a quick jaunt north once you reach Europe? Scandinavia is a “don’t miss”!
 

Hourless Life

Well-known member
LocoCoyote, we'll take you up on that drink. Heck we'd love to have you show us around. As far as Scandinavia, well it is on my personal bucket list. I'm half Norwegian (on my father's side) and I've never been to "Ol' Country" so I'd love to explore. Also my step-father was Finnish and I've heard nothing but beautiful things about that country as well. ~ Eric
 

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