Overlanding -

What the heck is “overlanding?”

According to Wikipedia, “Overlanding or 4WD Touring is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal.” Sounds awesome!

I started in what I would consider “overlanding” back in the late 80’s. When I turned 16 I got my dads 1952 Dodge Power Wagon. It was an old military truck, an M-37. I drove it to high school and all over town, getting nowhere fast since it had a top speed of 52 mph.

But driving around town wasn’t enough for me so I came up with this idea of driving a couple of hours south on a surf trip. I was in Va. Beach, VA but down in Nags Head, NC you could drive on the beach and the waves were better.

So with my buddies in on the adventure, we loaded up boards, gear and food to drive south to look for waves and camp on the beach. It poured on the way down there. Not just poured but monsoonal rains poured. Driving a truck in a monsoon that had air operated windshield wipers is quite an adventure itself, but add that on to not having any sort of defrost except a rag to wipe the window, dropping down to 40 mph because I couldn’t see, all while trying to keep everyone convinced that we didn’t need to turn back, and now we really were on an adventure!

After an exhausting drive that seemed to never end we finally hit the sand. I got out and locked the hubs before pulling the lever on the transfer case to lock it into 4WD. I can remember letting out the clutch and feeling like I was on an expedition in some exotic land. My old truck drove like a buckboarded dream for miles and miles down that beach. Every time one of my buddies saw good waves and wanted to stop I’d say, “nah, they’ll be better further down”, just because I wanted to keep driving. My intro to “overlanding” had begun.

So now what?

Since that trip down the beach I have owned and driven many different trucks and SUV’s, even a Subaru wagon. I grew up exploring the east coast, lived in Colorado for a year, Arizona for 15, 2 in California and 7 in Nevada. I’ve been lucky to explore both coasts, vast deserts, high mountains and everything in between. Through the years one theme has remained the same, keep adventuring!