Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Spring 2019. Photography by Jake Hamby and Alex Manne We rolled up the 20-foot-tall garage door a little bit before 3:00 a.m. The temperature inside the WWII-era steel Quonset hut plummeted as the wind forced snow and ice in around us. One by one we…
Expedition 65
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Gear Guide 2018. Photography by Alfonse Palaima, Scott Brady, and Colin Evans Expedition 65 was not a tour; it did not even have a leader. While some might view that as a recipe for ending friendships, it played into a grand experiment and ultimately a…
Until the Break (of Dawn)
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Spring 2018. Dusk is settling into the hills along the Sea of Cortez. The sky is a bruised purple, still streaked with veins of red and yellow, a reminder of the brilliant but difficult day behind us. Our band of friends rides west leaving the coast behind,…
Wonderland
Mr. Xavier tries out the new BMW R nineT Scrambler and finds that as with any motorcycle, it’s where it takes you that matters.
Great Plains Drifter
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Winter 2017. Like all young boys, my childhood was filled with fanciful tales of soldiers clad in shining armor, new lands explored, and the quest for treasure. As a resident of Glasco, Kansas, I assumed such exploits only unfolded in places distant, if not imagined….
Bonafide Moto Adventure to Sani Pass
When we planned this recent adventure we had these crazy ideas and high hopes to summit Sani Pass in the middle of winter with snow all around us. Thankfully that was not the case and somehow we managed to pick the perfect weekend that gave us a nice mix of slightly warm weather in the low lying areas and some very cold moments up at the top of the pass.
Triumph’s Adventure Experience
After the first day, my arms were absolutely wrecked! The rain had been coming in sideways, stinging my face. Visibility was only 100 meters, blocking out the highly anticipated scenery. My gloves were squishy, my toes were wet, and a stream of water had infiltrated the small gap at the top of my jacket’s zipper….
The Utah Traverse
Exploring the depths of America’s most captivating landscape.
In Search of Swazi Gold
A Bonafide Moto Adventure from South Africa to Swaziland.
Five Reasons to Ride in Bolivia
If you want to get a reading on a place, it’s always best to ask the people who have traveled there. What’s even better, is to ask someone who has traveled there, and just about everywhere else. Someone like Antonia. She has driven a pink tuk-tuk 12,500 miles from Bangkok to Brighton, is a founding…
I Can. I Will. Women Overlanding the World
Before we left, we were repeatedly discouraged by others and by the media. Everyone said these were not safe countries for women to travel in, that a trip like this would be too physically demanding for women, one person even said we would come home in pine boxes. Despite these messages, we overcame our fears and…
Adventure Motorcycles
Overland Journal reviews the best “Big Bike” options for exploring the globe on two wheels.
From the ExPo Vault: Yo Hablo Moto
Exploring Colombia’s backroads and villages with Elephant Motorcycle Expeditions
Riding Full Circle: Playing in Traffic
When I threw the fist-sized rock in my hand at the Bolivian man’s car door, his eyes opened wide, forcing salt-and-pepper brows, like fat caterpillars, to scurry up and be eaten into the creases of his forehead. Clearly this was more surprising to him than what prompted his first response to me, spat out in…
Swapping the life conventional for the ride of a lifetime
Many daydream about making a road trip across continents. There may be real or perceived hurdles in the way, so what does it take to actually do it? For anyone whose life’s jigsaw pieces can coalesce around such a dream—and respectfully, not everyone’s can—a commitment to the decision is all it takes. Then comes doing…
36 Hours of Adventure: Pines, Saguaros, and a Russian Motorcycle
I must have a thing for symmetry. As I wiggled and twisted down the road, the Ural beneath me seemed determined to thwart my best efforts to ride a straight line. I started to mentally catalog all the asymmetrical things in the world, most of them annoying to me. There’s the fiddler crab with his…
Rent a Bike and Go to Baja Before They Build That Wall
Before this wall gets built, I want to spend as much time in Mexico as I can. Surfing, camping, eating tacos, taking in the sights, and just otherwise unplugging from the Great American Life. But when I say Mexico, what I really mean is Baja—that slim peninsula stretching into the Pacific Ocean just south of…
Beyond the Truck (Motorcycle): off-bike adventures for RTW riders
Heather and Dave of Riding Full Circle take time off from riding around the world to make some turns.
Westx1000: It’s Never too Soon to be a Snowbird
Kyra and Justin of Westx1000 discover the perfect antidote to the winter time blues.
Deadwood and the 2016 KTM Rally
If Sturgis isn’t your thing, South Dakota has plenty of other ride options on offer.