What makes a Land Rover Expedition?

[Alaska Mike]

Still, there must be something beyond the nuts and bolts that drives one to go to Land Rover, something that makes the experience unique. A style of travel that makes any other marque feel somehow wrong in that context.

Or is it the rock-solid reliability of Lucas that endears the common man?

For me, it's the legacy of the colonial era and the Camel Trophy that draws me, that style of travel where out of the dirt and sweat of a journey a bit of civilization appears for a while, only to disappear as the vehicle moves on. Civilization in a can, so to speak. The level of civilization is up to the user, of course. Shower or wet naps, your choice.

I'm historically a Jeep guy. However, in the last 6 or 7 years the build level of "hardcore" trail vehicles has gone beyond me. Guys are building rigs that roll over terrain that would provide a challenge to a mildly-built vehicle, to find terrain that is difficult enough for their current build level. I don't see the point. If the Camel Trophy showed us anything, it was that mega-machines weren't the only way to get across obstacles, and using mildly built rigs actually makes it a little cooler- at least to me. Pulling cable is fun.

 

[overlander]

This must be the point where I admit to:

- Using reusable cloth napkins instead of disposable paper ones as part of my minimum impact camping style

- Having stemmed glass wine glasses for my wine (the glasses used by bars are thick & sturdy)

- Matching plastic plates & bowls with a lovely pattern from an oriental supermarket (plastic allows hot food to retain their heat longer)

- Matching pattern flatware from a second hand store (including both dinner & salad forks)

- Cloth place mats. My refrigerator is my inside dining table and it helps keep everything clean.

- When I expect wild flowers I pack a small bud vase so I can have flowers at my dining table.

AHAAA!!! It seems time is showing that I am not alone in the more refined approach towards adventure! I think stemware, cloth napkins/mats and matching anything parks you closer to my camp!

I am no more guilty than anyone with an awning or RTT with 3" matress! If you prefer to sleep on dirt and eat canned process meat by choice, we're not on the same page.

To choose to suffer during travel for enjoyment is for those who do not have, and the infantry...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Still, there must be something beyond the nuts and bolts that drives one to go to Land Rover, something that makes the experience unique. A style of travel that makes any other marque feel somehow wrong in that context.

All of that feeling you are trying to put a finger on is more or less exactly why I drive my Toyota. I read "Who Needs A Road" back in about 1999 and knew I needed a Land Cruiser. Even though my FJ40 was pretty much worn out by the time I owned it, it still pulled through places I had no right going and limped home through conditions I should never have asked it to. I was absolutely sold on Toyota trucks because of that truck and can't imagine ever straying from them.

http://www.haroldstephens.net/?q=whoneeds

Then there's that cool Arthur Godfrey radio spot about the Land Cruiser...

http://www.armbrusterweb.com/public/music/TLC_commercial.mp3

 

[craig]

A Land Rover expedition is what you imagine it to be. Because Land Rover has a huge history there is a lot of inspiration. Interesting vehicles, exploration, carrying royalty, military use, modern Land Rover luxury lifestyle, Wild Kingdom, Camel Trophy, Bowler hybrids, etc. None of it is ordinary, and all of it is about embracing life. All of it is seasoned with British culture and history.

The picture seemed appropriate given earlier comments:

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I really like that Rovers have such a dedicated following, that is very cool. But you can substitute in your statement as follows for the Toyota lifestyle and it's not really far off.
wine bottle = beer bottle
Shiraz = Aizu Wakamatsu Heukmi
game meat = fish taco
Cameroon leaf Churchill = left to one's blunt imagination...

My coffee was just left very close to my keyboard

Yet one more great thread on this site. What a wonderful site...

 

[DaveInDenver]

My coffee was just left very close to my keyboard

Yet one more great thread on this site. What a wonderful site...

BTW, someone asked me what Aizu Wakamatsu Heukmi was. Aizu Brewery is located in Fukushima, a town northwest of Tokyo. One of their beers is the Heukmi, which is a black rice beer. I've seen it once here in Denver, but at the time I did not know anything about it. When I went back, the two bottles the store had were gone and I haven't seen it again.

If anyone can read Japanese, here's their website. The Heukmi is the lightest beer at the top of the beer page (top roll over on the main page).
http://www.aizubeer.com/

Sorry for the thread drift, back to the gin and tonic talk.

 

[TeriAnn]

To choose to suffer during travel for enjoyment is for those who do not have, and the infantry...

I've long since come to the conclusion that the measure of one's success at expedition preparation and camping logistics is the length of time that one can stay on the trail before the comforts of home or a motel & restaurant start looking better than staying on the trail to see what's beyond the next bend.

Anyone can put up with anything for a short time. But the longer you are on the trail the harder it is to feel enthusiastic in the face of discomfort and food that does not measure up to what you like. I think long distance travel for enjoyment is all about comfort and keeping everything maintained.

If you can stay on the trail for a couple months and face the next day wanting to stay there and see what's just over the horizon then I'd say your camping & food set up is pretty good. Folks who think fondly of getting home at the end of a long weekend usually have not found the formula for traveling and camping that is right for them.

Having a nice home cooked meal in comfort at the end of a long day on the trail just makes the next day that much more attractive. But one doesn't have to be ostentatious about it.

Land Rover folks are a varied group & there's bound to be many of us who can happily go for months on end eating out of cans, sleeping on the dirt and just making due without much of anything. I'm just not one of them.

 

[Yorker]

To choose to suffer during travel for enjoyment is for those who do not have, and the infantry...

That is nonsense. It is simply another philosophy. Who says it is suffering? I don't want a radio with me. I don't want a ton of extra crap- cots, mattresses, refrigerators, camp stoves, etc. I don't want to play house when I am travelling. When I travel it is to get away from the life at home, I bring what I need and little more. It isn't because I don't have, it is because I don't WANT. If it makes the journey more of a challenge so be it, others before me have done with less and it is nice to know that I can too. For me it is an integral part of the experience, low impact, minimalist, ultralight camping, or whatever you want to call it. I still might bring some much appreciated creature comforts, and using a Land Rover does help facilitate that, however I'm not going to drag roorkhee chairs with me and order new clothes from J.L. Powell to go with it.

 

[Alaska Mike]

For me it is an integral part of the experience, low impact, minimalist, ultralight camping, or whatever you want to call it. I still might bring some much appreciated creature comforts, and using a Land Rover does help facilitate that, however I'm not going to drag roorkhee chairs with me and order new clothes from J.L. Powell to go with it.

While I do dig the stylin' clothes (but can't afford them), I agree that not everything has to be bound with rich leather and stamped with a Land Rover logo, or made in a small village in a 3rd world nation (I can't afford that either). I doubt anyone is advocating that.

 

[Yorker]

While I do dig the stylin' clothes (but can't afford them), I agree that not everything has to be bound with rich leather and stamped with a Land Rover logo, or made in a small village in a 3rd world nation (I can't afford that either). I doubt anyone is advocating that.

I'm just using that as an example- perhaps it is extreme but in the end I don't think that being into LR's has to be to the exclusion of other vehicles, if they are Jeeps, Toyotas or whatever. I know there are those who blindly believe that everything LR is the acme and ultimate when it comes to 4X4s and LR never does anything wrong. And there are those who buy into the upmarket lifestyle that seems inextricably linked to LR's nowadays in the US. However the LR enthusiasts are a much more diverse group than people outside realize. If there is a single common thread amongst LR enthusiasts in the US it seems to be a strong sense of individualism, we all march to the beat of a different drummer in some way and their choice of a LR is an extension of that in some way for us.

Being a LR enthusiast isn't about chiraz-tablecloths or canned bully beef or crappy axles- it is about being who you are and enjoying your vehicle and your adventures- wherever they may take you.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That is nonsense...I don't want to play house when I am travelling...It isn't because I don't have, it is because I don't WANT.

Glad you said this stuff. That statement didn't sit right when I read it, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I think what you're saying is the root of what bugged me. I'd never really realized what I was missing until people started tell me about it all. Gosh love 'em for it, but all these trucks with every conceivable this or that, just not sure why simplifying is so hard to do anymore. Anyway, whilst me truck isn't from Solihull, I reckon ya got a kindred spirit with a beep-beep hooter (that's the right word for car horn, right?) under the bonnet.

 

[Alaska Mike]

Still, I've seen a difference when groups of enthusiasts are together or travelling. Maybe they're just buying into a packaged ideal or a collective sense of belonging, but your average Rover driver (trail user, not upper class soccer mom) and your average Jeep driver (again, a wheeler) approach the hobby very differently. That goes from the Series/GPW to the Range Rover/Grand Cherokee.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Still, there must be something beyond the nuts and bolts that drives one to go to Land Rover, something that makes the experience unique. A style of travel that makes any other marque feel somehow wrong in that context.

Or is it the rock-solid reliability of Lucas that endears the common man?

For me, it's the legacy of the colonial era and the Camel Trophy that draws me, that style of travel where out of the dirt and sweat of a journey a bit of civilization appears for a while, only to disappear as the vehicle moves on. Civilization in a can, so to speak. The level of civilization is up to the user, of course. Shower or wet naps, your choice.

I'm historically a Jeep guy. However, in the last 6 or 7 years the build level of "hardcore" trail vehicles has gone beyond me. Guys are building rigs that roll over terrain that would provide a challenge to a mildly-built vehicle, to find terrain that is difficult enough for their current build level. I don't see the point. If the Camel Trophy showed us anything, it was that mega-machines weren't the only way to get across obstacles, and using mildly built rigs actually makes it a little cooler- at least to me. Pulling cable is fun.

I agree with all of this. What drew me to the brand was the colonial era adventures and Camel Trophy expeditions. No other brand has that image for me. I guess Toyotas get the job done all over the world... no doubt. But they do it a little too quietly for me. There's no fanfare, and that makes a difference for me.

It's the same reason why my favorite car brand is Subaru.

And I also agree that the build level of some vehicles (Jeeps and Sammies come to mind) just starts to eclipse rationality. I bought a Disco because I wanted to be able to travel down ANY "road" (not trail) in a stockish vehicle, in comfort, and without having to spend a second fortune on new parts.

I want to go places. If the build of the vehicle starts to take away from the comfort or safety of driving that vehicle TO the location, then I just don't really get the point. For me the whole journey is the destination, not just the trail at the end. If the trail was the destination, I can then jump on my stock Yamaha, and leave any rig in my dust, have a lot more fun, and the machine costs less than a set of wheels and tires for the rig.

Maybe what defines a Land Rover Expedition is when the goal is to go somewhere to see something. Not just testing what the vehicle is capable of. It's about the whole experience, not just the truck.

 

[stevenmd]

I've long since come to the conclusion that the measure of one's success at expedition travel is the length of time that one can stay on the trail before the comforts of home or a motel & restaurant start looking better than staying on the trail to see what's beyond the next bend.

Anyone can put up with anything for a short time. But the longer you are on the trail the harder it is to feel enthusiastic in the face of discomfort and food that does not measure up to what you like. I think long distance travel for enjoyment is all about comfort and keeping everything maintained.

If you can stay on the trail for a couple months and face the next day wanting to stay there and see what's just over the horizon then I'd say your camping & food set up is pretty good. I've seen a lot of folks who start thinking fondly of getting home at the end of a long weekend. I just know their camping set up is not right for them.

Having a nice home cooked meal in comfort at the end of a long day on the trail just makes the next day that much more attractive. But one doesn't have to be ostentatious about it.

Land Rover folks are a varied group & there's bound to me many of us who can happily go for months on end eating out of cans, sleeping on the dirt and just making due without much of anything.

This is such a powerful statement. This is how I look at camping with my family. If I can make it as comfortable as possible for my wife and as fun as possible for my kids, then we get to "go out" more often for longer periods of time.

We have a 5 day Oregon trip coming up at the end of May/beginning of June - that is 5 days completely off road, traveling everyday. That might not seem like much to some people but to my wife that is forever. I am planning everything down to the last detail that I can, including the toilet and shower issue, just so she is comfortable... because when mamma's not happy, daddy's not happy!:bike_rider:

 

[tdesanto]

I've long since come to the conclusion that the measure of one's success at expedition preparation and camping logistics is the length of time that one can stay on the trail before the comforts of home or a motel & restaurant start looking better than staying on the trail to see what's beyond the next bend.

About the most succinct statement about the issue I've ever read. Very well stated and right on the mark. :REOutArchery02: