We recently featured Rick Schamper’s truly extraordinary 1968 Volvo Valp, and today we’re taking a look at his two-part film Overlanding Trip to Lapland. Rick is an offshore engineer and mechanic based in Norway, but when he’s not working, he’s traveling in his expedition-ready Laplander. Over the years, he’s taken this rig to Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium,…

Last week, Overland Journal launched Episodes One and Two of a three-part original fly-and-drive video series titled Destinations: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This series follows the adventures of Richard Giordano and myself (Desk to Glory) as we travel through Saudi Arabia in a rented Toyota Fortuner. The complete series is now live on Expedition Portal’s YouTube channel.  The final…

Earlier this week, Overland Journal launched Episode One of a three-part original fly-and-drive video series titled Destinations: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This series follows the adventures of Richard Giordano and myself (Desk to Glory) as we travel through Saudi Arabia in a rented Toyota Fortuner. Episode Two is now live on Expedition Portal’s YouTube channel.  This episode sees us…

If you had any doubts that a 470 horsepower (and 470 foot-pounds of torque) Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a Hemi and a retractable roof would deliver a fun driving experience, let Scott Brady clear things up. “I can attest to the fact that it goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. This is such a fun truck and its got all of…

We know that you all love classic Toyota platforms, and few are more endearing or coveted than Ashely and Richard Giordano’s 1990 Toyota pickup, lovingly named Little Red. But this truck is more than just an object of admiration, it’s a proven global travel platform. Richard and Ashely drove it from Vancouver Island all the way down to Argentina. What…

Photo courtesy of Anthony Fleming In 1959, Anthony Fleming, Rex Yates, and Collyn Rivers climbed aboard a modified Bedford QLR off-road military vehicle bound for South Africa. Rivers had purchased the truck, which was unused and cost a mere hundred pounds, and outfitted it with five 180-liter fuel tanks, five 20-liter jerry cans, and 700 liters of water for the…

The Wyoming Backcountry Discovery Route (WYBDR) is number eleven from the BDR non-profit organization, and as of February 1, all route information is available on their website. Along with free GPS tracks, travel resources, and waterproof Butler maps, you can also find the WYBDR film, showcasing highlights from the route, such as: the Sierra Madre and Medicine Bow Ranges the…

Ex-military vehicles often look the part, but in reality, many fall short of the mark in terms of real-world dependability and usability. An army mechanic once told me that in the field, they expect 40 percent of their vehicles to experience some form of breakdown (even over relatively short distances) and that generally, they’re not vehicles he’d entertain for long-term…

In 1957, Canadians Bristol Foster and Robert Bateman traveled 60,000 kilometers through 19 countries and four continents in their Land Rover Series I nicknamed The Grizzly Torque. The focus of their trip was a result of their backgrounds (Foster is a biologist and ecologist, and Bateman is a well-known Canadian artist and naturalist), so they spent much of their time…

Expedition Overland is heading back to Alaska with two newly-built Tacomas, a 5th-generation 4Runner, and an enthusiastic seven-man team. The Last Frontier begins with a four-day journey through the inside passage, before officially kicking things off in Whittier, Alaska. Trips like this don’t happen at the drop of a hat; this adventure required seven months of planning. But that effort has…

We first chatted to Richard Villacres back in 2018 when he was about to embark on his journey across the USA and abroad, gifting portraits to people living on the margins of society, branding his journey as JackDaw.Love. Richard was a full-time photographer working for Central Washington University until he purchased, Hella, his 1954 Dodge M152 command truck from Canada,…

Levi Allen, the founder of Leftcoast Media, accomplished film director, explorer, and all-around good guy, creates some of the most beautiful adventure films on YouTube. In this episode, Levi shares five days of camping in his Mercedes-Benz Sprinter on Mount Washington, Vancouver, during a huge snowstorm that sees temperatures plummet to -19°Fahrenheit. This instalment includes a tour of his custom…

Drew Simms has become very popular on YouTube (with some videos reaching over 3,000,000 people) thanks to stunning production, epic adventures, amazing storytelling, and, of course, a badass go-anywhere rig. His recent “Snow Storm” has already been viewed over 600,000 times and provides a fascinating insight into living in a compact 4WD vehicle during wintertime. From Jacksonville, Florida, Drew has…

Saudi Arabia’s annual Dakar race has started and as always, the event is packed full of adventure and intrigue—including a not so favorable caught-on-video display of mean sportsmanship between Toyota driver Giniel De Villiers when he hit and almost ran over rider Cesar Zumaran while the latter was stopped with bike issues. That video can be seen on ADV Pulse’s…

At age 77, rally car driver, automotive mechanic, and businesswoman Heidi Hetzer decided to drive around the world in a 1930 Hudson Great Eight. Over 31 months, she traveled through Eastern Europe, across China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Mexico, Central, and South America. She then sailed to Africa and drove north to Germany. The journey was not uneventful:…

The island of Socotra is located in the Indian Ocean, just off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia. While it is an unlikely destination for paragliding, that fact couldn’t deter this group of four highly-skilled test pilots from trying their luck on remote sand dunes rugged cliffs. Much more than a film about flying, this is a story about adventure,…

Some of us are sitting here in the dark days of winter dreaming of sunnier riding climates. Arizona and Utah rarely see a day without sun, and this video shot at Valley of the Gods and Moki Dugway from Got2Go is just what I needed on this rainy Pacific Northwest afternoon. Not only does the clip contain plenty of sunshine,…

I’m sure many of you will already be familiar with Chad DeRosa’s Youtube channel Living the Vanlife; after all, his “Winter Storm in a Van” episode received over 14,500,000 views. During the pandemic, Chad transitioned from his trusty 1990 2WD Vanagon Westfalia to a Mercedes Sprinter 4WD with the goal of creating “the ultimate overlanding vehicle possible on the Sprinter…

Have you ever wondered if an electric motorcycle can really go the distance off the highway? Well, they can. And Tucker Neary has proof. Riding two Zero DSR electric motorcycles, Tucker and his friend Mark traveled and documented over 1,000 miles in seven days along the rough and rugged Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route. They wanted to prove such a feat…

Of all the epic desert races, the Baja 1000 is one of the most infamous, drawing competitors from across the globe. It’s a spectacular sight to watch their fully-customized race trucks bombing through the course at full speed, but in a way, it’s even more impressive to watch class 11 – the stock Volkswagon Type One Beetles – complete the…