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Category Archives: Overland Journal
Royal Enfield to the Dig Tree
In 2015, I had some fuel buried in the Western Sahara by a Belgian couple on their way to Mauritania. A few weeks later, they sent a picture of a thorn tree with “CS” carved on the trunk. “Mark two meters north, and dig,” it said. “We left you a mystery gift.” I nicknamed it…
Agile Offroad 3.5-ton Scissor Jack with Axle and Frame Adaptor
Various common jacking systems can work for changing tires off-highway. Hi-Lifts are manual, demand solid jack points on the vehicle (steel frame-mounted rock sliders and bumpers), can be very hazardous in unfamiliar hands, and if you do use it to swap a tire, you’ll also need a jack stand. Bottle jacks are simple and have…
Living Legend :: Lois Pryce (April 22nd, 2020)
Smitten with life, UK adventuress Lois Pryce has always been on the move. At 13 years of age, an unchaperoned, week-long trip on bicycles through Cornwall’s back roads with friends introduced her to the possibilities of travel by design. And also to the idea of minimalist travel, taking shelter where you can find it, and…
Understanding Overlanding: Defining the Adventure
Overland Journal Podcast’s Scott Brady and co-host Matt Scott discuss what “overlanding” means and why defining it matters as the hobby and industry grow. Drawing on conversations with experienced long-distance travelers and Overland Journal’s long-standing definition, they argue overlanding is an activity—vehicle-supported, self-reliant adventure travel—focused on travel, remoteness, and often cultural interaction, not on owning…
Living Legends: Interview with Elspeth Beard
Elspeth Beard tells how motorcycling around the world at a young age set her on track for a life of challenge and achievement.
Overland Skills :: Travel Planning and Safety
Even diehard overland travelers and expeditionary personnel will eventually need to stay at hotels, inns, or various private accommodations. You might need to overnight during the trip bookends, as you fly into a country and stage your gear, or prepare to depart back home. Arrangements can vary widely by country, continent, and culture. A concierge…
Sea to Summit Nails Comfort With Their New Deluxe SI Mat
A year ago, the thought of an air mattress was enough to make me cringe with memories of a sore back and uncomfortable nights on the ground. Their poor designs and habits of deflating had ruined my image of inflatable beds forever, or so I thought, but thanks to the Comfort Deluxe mat and Aeros…
Podcast #16 :: Rooftop Tent or Ground Tent or Wedge Camper for Overlanding?
The Overland Journal Podcast #16 Principles of Overlanding :: RTT vs. Ground Tent vs. Swag vs. Habitat vs. Sleeping in the vehicle Summary: For this Principles of Overlanding podcast, Matt and Scott discuss the best sleeping solutions for an overland camp. They review the options of a Rooftop Tent (RTT) vs. a Ground Tent vs….
Rev’it Women’s Fullseason Riding Suit
One challenge I had as I prepped for a round-the-world motorcycle trip was deciding what riding suit to wear. Two suits—one for hot weather, one for cold—would have been ideal but was cost and space prohibitive. I liked the Rev’it options and bought the Sand jacket (the current model is called the Sand Urban jacket)…
Garmin Drive GPS with Open Street Maps
Garmin has been at the forefront of vehicle-based GPS systems for over two decades, and it shows in their latest flagship range, the Drive series, available in 5- or 7-inch screen sizes. The touch screen is bright and responsive and automatically dims to a high-contrast night mode to preserve night vision. Garmin’s mature route-finding algorithms…
The Brüder EXP-6 Off-Road Review
Everything I knew about towing a trailer told me we were screwed. The ledge was too tall to roll over, our speed was too high to swerve, and our angle of approach was a perfect offset to flip the trailer. Even if we miraculously managed to stay upright over the jump, the dip and mud…
Classic Kit | The Pelican Case
Dear Meriwether, Here are a few things I’d like for you to do while you’re out West: Explore the Missouri River, map it, take a look at its southern tributaries, find a Northwest Passage, establish friendly relations with the natives, study the soil, the animals, the geology, the climate, the plant life. Oh, and find…
Retracing the Butterfield Route Across Oklahoma
If I could travel through time, I’d go back 160 years to Indian Territory in days antebellum. There, concrete and steel would dissolve into wagon ruts and stone, hewn logs and flowing springs, a landscape familiar in its essence but alien in its rawness. Though I lack a time machine in the H.G. Wells sense,…
Feature Vehicle: TAV Toyota Tacoma
Every vehicle has a story, some born from necessity, some from vanity, and some even from tragedy. For Walt Wagner, owner of Tactical Application Vehicles (TAV) in New Mexico, it was the loss of his cousin, Vincent, in 2013 that inspired this project. When Vincent passed away, Walt offered to purchase his much-loved 2009 Tacoma…
Some of The Best Overland Routes In The USA
Each year, our staff members spend months exploring some of the best backroads our planet has to offer, from the red sands of the Simpson Desert to the frozen expanses of Greenland. Along the way we’ve discovered there’s no lack of breathtaking adventures to be had, but believe it or not, some of the best…
The Best Coffee Grinders for Camping
Using a manual coffee grinder as part of your morning java ritual not only gets the blood pumping, it also promotes conversation and fuels campsite camaraderie. Forget noisy electric grinders requiring an inverter, or lowering the bar completely and milling those beans at home before the trip. If you’re a discerning overland javascenti, interested in…
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…
Meet Aloha Wanderwell, the first woman to drive around the world
The year was 1922, and the casualties of WWI were still fresh in everyone’s minds, contributing to a nothing more to lose attitude of the public at large. The women’s suffrage movement had just succeeded in 1920 of obtaining the right to vote, and if you were a woman, your job opportunities, aside from motherhood,…
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…