No one foresaw becoming a shutterbug stuck at home. As we bide our time through a strange, new “normal,” we must make the most of what we’ve got—in the comfort of our home and on our doorstep. In such unprecedented times, more than ever, we need a creative outlet for ourselves. In the UK, while…
How Good Are You Really?
Photo: Christina Tkacs It’s been a long day. The sun is sinking low, and camp is still 30 miles away. One rider drags behind, struggling to keep pace. Fortunately, the ride leader is counting heads at every turn, but tension mounts as darkness approaches. If you ride off road, chances are you’ve been “that…
2021 Free Virtual Women’s Outdoor Summit
March 8 is International Women’s Day and March itself is Women’s History Month. To celebrate, Teresa Baker, founder of In Solidarity Project, has organized a Women’s Outdoor Summit, this year running Thursday, March 11 to Saturday, March 13. Partnering with Jam Collective, a social media networking group, and Ravel Media, editorial providers for outdoor and…
The Pandemic and International Overland Travel
When the pandemic bore down, our family had recently completed a journey across West Africa. Our plan was to remain in South Africa for a few months, recover our finances, and prepare the Land Rover for a trip from Cape Town to Vladivostok. In March 2020, we left Cape Town as news of Covid-19 rang…
Bikepacking During a Pandemic
Let’s start with a riddle: what’s invisible, arrived in 2020, caused global chaos, and begins with the letter ‘C’? Ah yes, Covid. It has been a rather strange episode here on Earth, and there aren’t many of us who’ve not been affected. It’s all too easy to curl up on the sofa, grab a tub…
Tips for Your First Bikepacking Trip
In today’s instalment, we’re going to look at 11 top tips for your first bikepacking ride and hopefully get you excited about your pedal-driven adventure. I want this series of articles to create a solid base for beginners but also offer experienced riders some useful considerations for their upcoming trips. As we continue to deep…
Boost Your Confidence Through Motorcycling by Alisa Clickenger | Book Review
Boost Your Confidence Through Motorcycling by Alisa Clickenger Non-fiction, instructional $20 Alisa Clickenger was a shy, depressed housewife when she decided to reinvent herself and learn to ride a motorcycle. Reeling from a painful divorce, Alisa found that learning to ride was not only cathartic, she was also developing skills to rebuild the confidence missing…
Armorlite Expands its Protection for Jeep
Nothing says “Adventure Tough” better than protecting your floors. Well, Armorlite has just announced that is has expanded its flooring protection into the Jeep JL and JT platforms! A complete flooring replacement has been produced to protect the interior of your Jeep, allowing for full-floor coverage to reduce heat and cabin noise while channeling all…
MotoVentures New Adventure Bike Challenge Course
MotoVentures, based out of Anza, California, has added a new adventure bike challenge course to their 350-acre track. The course includes “…short steep climbs, tight turns, hill turns, a log crossing, a narrow beam ride, loose sidehills, sand wash, uphill switchbacks, down-hill slalom, a hill climb, downhill rain ruts, and a hill turn slalom.” That…
The Shakedown Trip
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Christian M. Simon and Phoebe P. Simon Are you planning to overland? Will you cover significant distances and camp in remote places, maybe accompanied by kids, pets, kayaks? Have you invested in a rig with still-unfamiliar anatomical parts such as recovery points, solar controllers, and onboard air?…
One for the Road
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2020 Issue. Let’s accept that adventure motorcycling means long, unsupported journeys across the world’s developing nations, lately redefined as the Global South. Overlanding is another word for it, as distinct from regular touring vacations or even gnarly domestic adventures that aren’t hard to have…
Assembling a Cold Weather Vehicle Emergency Kit
Here in the Rocky Mountains (I live in Colorado), we have plenty of winter hazards that can slow you down on the road. Whiteout conditions due to high winds, avalanches, and, of course, heavy snow are all possibilities that could disable your vehicle or force you to spend an unplanned night in your rig, waiting…
Rust Repair and Lizard Skin Insulation on a 1985 Troop Carrier
In the process of building our Land Cruiser Troop Carrier into a proper 4×4 tourer, we realized the long-term sustainability of the vehicle would be based upon our comfort. Driving a vehicle from 1985 is inherently less luxurious than a modern ride, but it would be foolish of us not to do what we can…
How We Began Our Overland Journey and What We Learned
Two weeks before the start of our overland adventure, my mother and I went to Spain for a week. Coen was flabbergasted. Buried in a list of things he felt needed to be done, he couldn’t understand why I went on vacation. On the other hand, I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about….
Vintage Camper Restoration Dangers and Considerations
Editor’s Note: We elected to feature this editorial as a service to our readers, recognizing that so few of us know the dangers of asbestos in older vehicles, often encountered during the restoration process. No matter where you go to camp, it seems like you can’t go without spotting a restored vintage camper these…
Traveling Around The World by Motorcycle : A Female’s Perspective
When people learn my husband, Dave, and I traveled around the world by motorcycle, the assumption might be I sat on the back of his bike. I enjoy mentioning there were two bikes. Dave rode a BMW F 800 GS. I was on a G 650 GS then upgraded to an F 800. I’m not…
Radio Communication for Overlanders
By Scott Jensen Editor’s Note: This article was penned nearly a decade ago, and it remains just as relevant today. It is also important to note that the 2 meter frequency 146.460 has become ubiquitous, and unfortunately has been adopted and promoted among groups without attribution. The frequency originally gained popularity nearly 15 years ago…
Modern Explorers | Mac Mackenney
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal‘s Summer 2020 issue. All men dream, but not all equally. Those that dream by the dusty recesses of the night, awake to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes and make…
Mystic Myanmar on Dirt Bikes
To live in South Africa as an adventure biker has many advantages. It is a great place to get your motorcycle fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as a great starting point for an expedition to some of the wildest and most beautiful countries in Africa, such as Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania, and Rwanda….
Expedition Portal Celebrates 15 Years of Adventure
June 25, 2020 :: Press Release In late June 2005, expeditionportal.com (known as ExPo) went live, serving initially as a community forum, and now as one of the world’s largest online overland resources for the vehicle-based adventure traveler. While the website has grown continually since 2005, growth has accelerated in recent years because of the…