Hourless Life: Documenting Our Global Overland Adventure

[Hourless Life]

June 28, 2021 Update:

We left Denver on June 25. Our first night just west of Santa Fe, NM is pictured above.

On the morning of the 26th we stopped by our "secret shop" to get some advice on the suspension portion of our build. Then we headed down to Tucson.

Today on Monday June 28, we rolled DAUNTLESS into Sonoran Expedition Collective, shop 3 of 4 in our build. @brien Wankel is tackling a dozen or more items for us here.

But the big ticket item is the addition of our Long Range America unleaded tank for the Jeep Gladiator. This is a separate tank that provides an additional 17 gallons of fuel. It transfers the fuel over to the main tank which is controlled from within the vehicle. The Long Range America tank sits underneath the rig on the drivers side. The stock tank on the Gladiator is on the passenger side and holds 22 gallons. So effectively we'll be able to carry up to 39 gallons of fuel.

Here are a couple photos of the process.


This is the Long Range America tank standing by to be installed. The team at Sonoran Expedition Collective had to relocate the exhaust and prepare the space for the addition of the tank.


So much work has been done on this rig since June 7th. We are hopeful that the build will be complete by the end of July to early August.

Then we'll take it on some shakedown runs and eventually up to Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, CO at the end of August where it will be on display in the Showcase area. After that we'll take it to Oveland Expo West where it will be in the Goose Gear booth. Then we'll head back to Texas to give hugs to family and head south of the border to begin our global expedition.

In other news, I heard today that our Overland Journal Podcast episode will be airing soon. It was so awesome to sit with @Scott Brady and chat for a bit about our upcoming adventure.

More to come as I have details. ~ Eric

 

[Hourless Life]

One of the questions we get asked most frequently regards concerns about Caspian's upbringing, his education, and socialization. I've answered this multiple times on various sites. But it is a legitimate question. Here are some of my thoughts in a response I posted this morning that I've copied and pasted below:

"This is a comment we get quite a bit. It usually has to do with the limitation of our general understanding of anything different than the "norm."

Caspian is extremely well socialized and has friends all over the USA, and soon all over the world. We are intentional about maintaining these relationships.
Does it look different than what we were used to growing up? Yes. Is it better or worse than what we experienced? Or is it just different?

There are a lot of considerations and we've actually put quite a bit of thought and research time in as parents into all of this. We want nothing but the best for our son. As I'm sure most parents want for their children. For us, we simply don't think that being behind a screen for entertainment, being within four walls for general education, or doing the same things repetitively is the best for development.

I'd rather teach him the history of the Roman Empire in Rome than have him read it out of a text book, or watch a YouTube video or Netflix series on it. At four years old, he's already light years ahead of most of his peers which is evident whenever we take him to a playground. Just the other day he was talking about the autonomy of the toy vehicle he was holding because it didn't have a driver. To quote Caspian, "so it must be autonomous."

He's already been to all lower 48 states, most of interior Mexico, all of the Baja Peninsula, some of Canada, and over half of our Nation's National Parks. For us as parents we see this as more beneficial to him than eating oranges after a session of t-ball and then going to McDonalds to then be followed up by going home and playing Minecraft. But others may not see it that way.

At the end of the day we each just need to make the best decisions for our children that we can, and hope to give them a better life and start than we had. Hope that makes sense. I'm definitely nobody's judge. But I am responsible for the upbringing of my son, and in my mind and heart, I'm doing the best I can for him."

 

[WFOORBUST]

You are giving your child so much more then an education could and I agree with your thinking. He will have a much better understanding of the world and it's people, how to interact and communicate with others. Don't for a minute let others make you feel bad about what you are doing, most of them live in the corporate sponsored world that the media has laid out for them. If you want to see a family that has been doing what you are setting out to do, checkout Bumfuzzele, two well rounded kids that have never been to school!

 

[SVTRIT]

We homeschooled our kids. Our definition of “socialization” is different than the masses. Our kids are all doing very well and don’t have some of the baggage that comes with “normal” socialization. No kids are raised perfectly. We all do the best with what we are dealt.

Your son is very lucky! He will be much more capable of handling real life based on his experiences growing up traveling.

Safe travels to you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hourless Life]

Don't be fooled. This is hard. Here are some raw thoughts...

There is so much that goes into a proper global overlanding build on a vehicle. We are now in shop 3 of 4. Yesterday was a 16 hour day, today we're working on 14 hours and counting. We have 4 more back to back to back to back days like this ahead of us at this shop and then a drive across the Southwestern United States to the next shop.

But at least the external fuel tank is now in place and being wired. Progress is made inch by inch, moment by moment.

At some point, Brittany, Caspian, and I will cross the border south, and folks will say, "Wow that's really cool that they just up and went!"

But what they won't see is the years of planning, the endless hours of discussion and preparation, the meticulous saving up for the build, the sacrifices made, and the innumerable amount of research and spreadsheets. They won't see how we did our best to take care of family and set things up so that things were in order as best as we could before we departed.

They won't understand the assistance of all of the people who have gone out of their way to minister to us during this time, or provide temporary shelter for us in various cities while we worked on the build.

They'll have no idea about the countless phone calls, emails, messages, and scheduling difficulties. The delays, and the challenges that come along with every decision. The folks and companies that have gotten behind us and have done their best to support us during this portion of the build.

There is so much that is going into this global journey, and I write this more for myself to remember than for anyone else.

This period between February of this year and this coming October is a hard press, a challenging juggling act, a constant deluge of new information that shifts daily and causes a domino effect that must be figured out.

Some day in the not too distant future, they'll say, "There they go. They are so lucky. I wish I could do that."

Are we lucky? I don't think that is the correct descriptor. We are determined, tenacious, focused, driven, and we are dreamers who fearlessly put thought into action.

For my friends and fellow overlanders that took the time to read this, when we cross the border to the south, remember that we didn't just wake up one day and decide to take off around the world. There was more...much more.

Just some raw thoughts that are going through my head this evening. Thank you for reading and for being part of our community. ~ E

 

[Hourless Life]

We have an incredible overlanding electrical system onboard our Jeep Gladiator and we're excited to show it to you.

In our video that goes live in about 40 minutes (at 11:00 Pacific Time) we'll go through all of the components that make up the electrical system.

You can find our YouTube channel here if you are interested.

We talk about storing power, receiving power, how the system itself works, and how we use that power.

Items featured in this video that are part of our overlanding electrical build:

• RedArc Manager30
• RedArc RedVision
• Renogy Solar 170AH Lithium Battery
• Cascadia4x4 VSS (Vehicle Solar System)

Our time for starting our overlanding journey around the world is coming near. We hope you've been enjoying all of our videos in our Jeep Gladiator Overland Build Series on our YouTube channel.

As always, any questions let us know!

~ Eric + Brittany + Caspian

 

[longhorn1]

Now I have all my bases covered following you guys here, Facebook, and Instagram. Safe travels. I think Caspian is very lucky to have parents like you both and have an opportunity of a lifetime.

 

[Hourless Life]

Now I have all my bases covered following you guys here, Facebook, and Instagram. Safe travels. I think Caspian is very lucky to have parents like you both and have an opportunity of a lifetime.

Haha. Thanks for following our adventure. Wait, I don't know who this is, but I see the Longhorn handle... so I'll just say "Hook'em" unless you want to reveal yourself. ? \m/ ~ Eric

 

[Hourless Life]

It has been a rough week this past week.

Brittany and my hearts are hurting for family and friends that have gone through so much (and are still going through things) and we’re in constant prayer for them.

We’ve had family pass away, friends lose their loved ones, other international friends struggling in a way in which we cannot even imagine with the pandemic, and family that has been going through some of the most challenging portion of their lives.

To say that it has been difficult for those we love is an understatement.

Also it has been really hot down here in Tucson, and we’ve barely seen one another. We are so not used to that. Brittany, Caspian and I thrive best when we are together and usually we are, ALL.THE.TIME. But this has been a strange season during the build and we feel displaced.

Brittany and Caspian have been holding down the fort at our airbnb while I’ve been at the shop typically from 7AM to as late as past midnight on the daily for the past week.

We took a short break yesterday where I was only in the shop for an hour and a half or so. We were able to go to a nice brunch spot, and have dinner at a Texas Roadhouse together. It was really refreshing.

But now it is Monday and I’m back in the shop. We have a few more days of this. Possibly as little as two, and maybe as much as three.
We are hopeful that by the middle of this week, we’ll have wrapped up in Tucson and can start making our way toward Central Texas.

Once in Central Texas, I’ll be taking Brittany and Caspian down to her parents place in Corpus Christi, dropping them off, and then turning right back around solo to head to Austin, Texas for the final shop in our build process. I anticipate that it will take about a week in Austin, though who really knows until we get in there.

We’re hopeful that by the end of July / early August we’ll be back to being together as a family on the daily.

Then we have family flying in to Texas to see us, we hope to take a flight to see other family, and then get back to our rig and start making the trek back towards Denver for the first of three events that we’ve committed to attending. After that it is back down to Texas to hug family one more time before we head south of the border and start our global journey.

Nobody said this was going to be easy. It isn’t a permanent vacation. These are the steps we have to go through to pursue our dream. Let it never be said that Brittany and I didn’t pursue our dreams with everything we have.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Just getting these thoughts out there. It helps me to wrestle with how I’m feeling and the things that have been going through my mind. ~ E

 

[sabjku]

Eric, met you, Brittany and Caspian a couple of times. BROG's Rooftop Tent Rally was the most recent, in 2020. It's interesting to watch this next chapter that you all are about to take on! And Caspian is one smart kid! Heck, he's more social than half of the adults that I know!? You can tell that you and Brittany are fantastic parents!

 

[Hourless Life]

Eric, met you, Brittany and Caspian a couple of times. BROG's Rooftop Tent Rally was the most recent, in 2020. It's interesting to watch this next chapter that you all are about to take on! And Caspian is one smart kid! Heck, he's more social than half of the adults that I know!? You can tell that you and Brittany are fantastic parents!

Super kind of you to say. Appreciate the love on Caspian. We're so blessed to be his "rents," every day he makes us smile. ~ Eric

 

[Hourless Life]

Wednesday and we're still here in Tucson. Our 2020 extruded aluminum was lost in shipment and delayed. We ordered some from another source that is supposed to arrive by 10pm this evening. We have 3 things left to tackle. Checking the exhaust which we feel needs to be tightened. The bar that is being built to hold our camp kitchen hanging bags, and the addition of the extruded aluminum inside the Canopy Camper so we can add a few places to hang some bags when camp is set up. It is all in the details, and we debated not waiting on the 2020 but we have a place to stay in Tucson and a shop to do it in. So... we extended.

Unfortunately that means it will be a mad dash from Tucson to Corpus Christi leaving on Friday. We'll need to make tracks. Then once I've dropped off Brittany and Caspian in Corpus, I hope to make the drive back up to Austin to Just Jeeps and be there on the morning of the 12th to start the mechanical portion of the install. ~ Eric

 

[Hourless Life]

7/12/21 UPDATE:

On May 31 we picked up our stock Gladiator from the dealership.
On June 1st we took it to shop #1 Juniper Overland in Denver Colorado
On June 26th we left Denver and headed to Albuquerque for shop #2 (secret shop)
On June 28th we delivered the Gladiator to shop #3 Sonoran Expedition Collective in Tucson, Arizona
On July 8th we left Tucson and made a mad dash for Corpus, Christi, Texas. We arrived on July 9th.
I dropped off Brittany and Caspian at Brittany's parent's place in Corpus and headed up to Austin on July 11th.

Today, July 12th, I arrived at shop #4, Just Jeeps in Austin, Texas where we'll be doing the majority of the mechanical work.

Here is a list of what we're having done:

1. MOPAR 2" lift
2. TeraFlex 3" rear coil springs
3. TeraFlex bump stops
4. Air Lift Adjustable Air Springs for rear coils
5. Hellwig Rear Sway Bar
6. ARB Diff covers
7. AEV Snorkel with A-Pillar Mount
8. AEV Snorkel Sy-Klone pre-filter
9. Rock Hard 4x4 Aluminum Front Bumper with Lowered Winch Plate
10. WARN 9.5xp winch
11. Spydura rope for winch
12. Hub Wireless Controller for winch
13. ARB air compressor and mount
14. Rigid Industries fog lights install
15. WARN Diamond Cutter Wheels
16. BFG KO2 34.1050 tires

We are hopeful that if all goes well, we'll have this part of the build done by the end of this week and we can start shakedown runs of the vehicle.

I'm pretty exhausted, but things are getting there. More updates to come. ~ Eric

 

[Hourless Life]

And so the mechanical portion of our build begins at Just Jeeps in Austin, Texas.

 

[Hourless Life]

One piece at a time…

Today is day 4 at Just Jeeps in Austin, Texas and DAUNTLESS is growing up just a bit.

Nothing huge, just enough to keep the tires sourced globally as much as we can and still give us the ride and traction we need. But check out them wheels tho.

(We are running the BFG KO2 AT 34.1050 (basically a 33.5" AT tire) and the WARN Diamond Cutter wheels.)

The team here at Just Jeeps is killing it. Really blasting through an immense list of modifications.

I’ll still be here all day today and likely most of tomorrow I’m guessing. I’m hoping it will be done before the weekend, but you simply can’t rush something like this. ~ E