The Status of Overlanding Today

[wltrmtty]

I understand "Overlanding" as vehicle-based travel and exploration - you can be driving anything from a Prius to a Class A motorhome or the decked out 4Runner pulling a trailer. If you stay in a motel once a week, or even twice, or if you eat at a restaurant a few times a week, it's still overlanding in my book. Heck, I'm planning a trip to follow the Lincoln Highway. It will be vehicle-based and we'll drive on paved roads, but it's still overlanding, IMHO. Why do we have to be so narrowly legalistic. Frankly, some overlanders I see are actually just rock crawling with a tent. If they want to call it overlanding, go for it.

I didn't start overlanding 50 years ago. We did occassional car camping, but it wasn't an 'event.' We just went out in the woods and camped. That said, it wasn't my passion. I started out in aviation, first soloing in 1972 at the ripe old age of 16. Back then, homebuilt airplanes were much the same as car camping (overlanding) was. People built their airplane in their garage, test flew it, and improved on it. The planes were very basic - steel tube construct, fabric, and maybe a radio. By the late 90's, I saw money and good old marketing feed the desire, want, and NEED for faster, bigger (more expensive) airplanes. Tube and fabric planes with a top speed of 80mph were replaced by sleek composite jobs topping 250mph. It was a real turn-off. But, alas, the overlanding community is going the same direction and much faster, I might add.

Don't blame the companies that make the stuff 'we' are demanding. Don't blame the YouTubers that review and explain the latest thing - I could name more than a few things. The stuff I'm interested in, I'll watch, but the more experience I get in this culture/hobby, whatever, the more I know where my niche is and I move past the stuff that doesn't apply to me. Evidently, there are a LOT of people interested in the stuff or these companies wouldn't be hiring people to demonstrate/review it and the manufacturers wouldn't be manufacturing it.

 

[nickw]

Can't stand what I see on a daily basis, but realize that may be equal parts curmudgeon (aka ME) and equal parts things getting out of hand.

I remember the days of Camel Trophy – got caught up in Tom Sheppard and bought a couple of his books, Turtle Expedition and loved reading some of the epic stories on this site (like the couple that drove through the Congo), if there are people out doing that, I don’t hear about them as much as all the folks glamour posting their rig 2 miles off the highway on a dirt road.

The sheer amount of crap I see from time to time online is staggering, massively overloaded trucks, tires way bigger than one needs, snorkels that offer little to no benefit (snubas as the GF calls them), lifts and all the other silly stuff that gets bolted on is mind boggling. I bet I see 3-4 Tacomas A DAY that follow the same exact strategy:

1. Heavy front bumper w/winch
2. Fake beedlocks of some-sort
3. 285/75 MT tires
4. Snorkel
5. Bed rack + roof top tent
6. Rotopax + crap on side of bed rack
7. Rear tire swing
8. Some sort of silly overlanding sticker

I do a lot of dirtbiking and I see these guys out in the mountains parked at the staging areas getting ready to go on “Expeditions” on the weekends, typically round up in parking lot at 9am, coffee, airing down tires and talking shop for an hour….I’ll see them on some mild offroad trails during the day in a big long conga line, then back at staging area in afternoon, grills out, whipping up some food over some good micros, I’m sure there is a lot of #expedition#lookatme involved. Nobody cares, truthfully. We did that back in the day in our stock trucks without $2000 computers mounted to our dashes, it’s ‘offroading’, it's fun, but it doesn't need to be something it's not.

To me a “Cool” vehicle is one with nothing more than it needs, no ego, no cutsie stuff…..skinny tires, simple mods, sometimes NO mods, getting after it. A “Cool” overlander is somebody who doesn’t boast, brag, constantly yell look at me and gets after it with potential risk and/or unique travels involved….but those folks also don’t have time to play around with marketing themselves.

At the end of the day if you have to call yourself an Overlander or need a sticker screaming it to the world…..guess what, ya aint in my book.

It’s a mindset – but if I can see it online and your are posting about it all the time in an ego driven way, you don’t get it IMO. I’m not even on social media (at all) but get enough of it just from online articles, links and other websites to get a glimpse of what’s out there….

 

[nickw]

I understand "Overlanding" as vehicle-based travel and exploration - you can be driving anything from a Prius to a Class A motorhome or the decked out 4Runner pulling a trailer. If you stay in a motel once a week, or even twice, or if you eat at a restaurant a few times a week, it's still overlanding in my book. Heck, I'm planning a trip to follow the Lincoln Highway. It will be vehicle-based and we'll drive on paved roads, but it's still overlanding, IMHO. Why do we have to be so narrowly legalistic. Frankly, some overlanders I see are actually just rock crawling with a tent. If they want to call it overlanding, go for it.

I didn't start overlanding 50 years ago. We did occassional car camping, but it wasn't an 'event.' We just went out in the woods and camped. That said, it wasn't my passion. I started out in aviation, first soloing in 1972 at the ripe old age of 16. Back then, homebuilt airplanes were much the same as car camping (overlanding) was. People built their airplane in their garage, test flew it, and improved on it. The planes were very basic - steel tube construct, fabric, and maybe a radio. By the late 90's, I saw money and good old marketing feed the desire, want, and NEED for faster, bigger (more expensive) airplanes. Tube and fabric planes with a top speed of 80mph were replaced by sleek composite jobs topping 250mph. It was a real turn-off. But, alas, the overlanding community is going the same direction and much faster, I might add.

Don't blame the companies that make the stuff 'we' are demanding. Don't blame the YouTubers that review and explain the latest thing - I could name more than a few things. The stuff I'm interested in, I'll watch, but the more experience I get in this culture/hobby, whatever, the more I know where my niche is and I move past the stuff that doesn't apply to me. Evidently, there are a LOT of people interested in the stuff or these companies wouldn't be hiring people to demonstrate/review it and the manufacturers wouldn't be manufacturing it.

I just bought that domain name; rockcrawlingwithatentportal.com

 

[nickw]

Hey Niks,
I remember these sorts of trip as well, but we were over here already in Canada, and my Dad would load up the 66 Galaxie or the 71 Impala with mom,dad, 2 kids and all the remaining Grandparents (always with a 2 door hardtop) jam the massive trunks with everything we would need,coolers,pots and pans ect and off we would go to New Jersey or the East coast of Canada for a couple of weeks camping. The car would always have a major fit in some sort of way on the way,and Dad would figure out how to get the old beasts moving again.
It was always magic, and it was always fun!

When I was a newborn in Portugal, my Mom would head to the campround in the Algarve for the entire summer and my dad would take the train down from lisbon for the weekend,then head back on Monday morning. I am told I took my first steps in that Campground.

I did the same with my Kids, we "overlanded" with an Econoline and a Bonair pop up to the east coast every year,beach time was important !!! We later bought a 25ft Tag along, the 6 cyl Econoline struggled with that, but it just took a little longer to get there.

Now the kids are basically all grown up,married,moved away ect. So I get to try to plan our new lives.

Next week I am shipping a 1992 4 Runner to the UK, and taking 4 weeks to drive it down to Portugal, when time and the borders permit, the next step is into Morocco and Mauretania ,see the desert and experience the Sahara for real (something I have wanted to do since I can remember)

My little truck has no lift, no fancy remote reservoir shocks,just good new tires and an Amazon fold up mattress to sleep in the back,No fridge,nothing fancy at all. The only "modification" I did was putting Lok rites, both front and back, main reason is, I once wrecked a 4 runner due to do leaking vacuum hose in the front diff actuator,so I know first hand that a 1 wheel drive 4 Runner is pointless and scary .

I will be taking the road less travelled, no autoroutes or Highways and hope to explore a good chunk of the interesting dirt roads all through the Pyrenees in Spain and then the tracks in Portugal.

Ill report back if that was "overlanding" or not .

Paulo

Following a sim strategy to Tom Sheppard, no fridge, stock sized AT tires and he generally slept on the ground or in a cot....

 

[nickw]

I love this ad..

Note the ladder to access the box lol

View attachment 696327

I remember when the truck box was designed for ease of access.

View attachment 696328

So yes, the state of everything has gone backwards.

I have a 2021 Dodge 2500 4x4, the &$(#ing thing is WAY too tall, why have trucks gotten so tall? I had a late 90's Ford F150 and I bet it was a good 12" lower....which makes (as you point out) everything easier, loading, unloading, throwing stuff in bed, pushing motorcycle up a 20 degree ramp vs a 45 degree one...aggravating.

 

[WeLikeCamping]

I have a 2021 Dodge 2500 4x4, the &$(#ing thing is WAY too tall, why have trucks gotten so tall? I had a late 90's Ford F150 and I bet it was a good 12" lower....which makes (as you point out) everything easier, loading, unloading, throwing stuff in bed, pushing motorcycle up a 20 degree ramp vs a 45 degree one...aggravating.

Oh, man, this. Heck, mine is a 2012 and it's still too tall for me to get into the bed without a stepladder. I will admit to some mods thought - a bolt on bike rack for the MTB, a plastic trash can for firewood, airbags and what I feel is a tasteful collection of stickers

 

[billiebob]

I'm forever a guy who wants to drive what no one else is driving so... this is my dream truck..... today.

 

[nickw]

I'm forever a guy who wants to drive what no one else is driving so... this is my dream truck..... today.

View attachment 712793

Love it.

I still have a dream to get a nice clean patinaed older chevy 2wd, throw a nice FI crate engine in it, get a new transmission from one of the outfits that makes them new, FF rear axle and good to go.

 

[Todd780]

I'm forever a guy who wants to drive what no one else is driving so... this is my dream truck..... today.

View attachment 712793

Make that truck a shade lighter with light blue wheels, a mighty 307 V8 (lol) and that was my dad's 1st truck.

Still remember going with him to cut firewood as in it as a little guy. Believe it got replaced by a 70's red and white F150 with a 460 - 4 speed.

Edit:

Here's the old Ford. Looks like I'm color matched to the truck....


Speaking of old trucks, I wish this would be updated. Loved that build:

1968 Chevy K10 SWB Overlander

I just inherited this 1968 Chevy K10 SWB (Short Wheel Base) from my Granddad. He bought it brand new. When one of the windows broke, he parked it and never drove it again; because of this, the truck's inline 6 only has 21,000 miles on it! It has been in New Mexico its entire life, so is...

expeditionportal.com

 

[AbleGuy]

Make that truck a shade lighter with light blue wheels, a mighty 307 V8 (lol) and that was my dad's 1st truck.

Still remember going with him to cut firewood as in it as a little guy. Believe it got replaced by a 70's red and white F150 with a 460 - 4 speed.

When we still lived in the Rockies, everyone either had an old beater truck as their “wood truck” or knew a friend who had one they could borrow.

It was often a community thing* to get together and go cut firewood, often trading labor for hauling help.

The more beat up the wood truck was, the more cred the owner had. Today I guess it goes the other way, with the pretty trucks somehow meaning some kind of social superiority ?.

*remember when neighbors helped each other out with stuff like this, instead of fighting over political yards signs, etc.?

 

[billiebob]

Here's the old Ford. Looks like I'm color matched to the truck....

Looks like a twin to mine. Mine had a straight six and independent steering...... Good thing Alberta never had inspections when I had it.
300K miles of oil field work before I bought it left 180 degrees of play in the steering wheel..... The Chevies all died long before that.

 

[Todd780]

Looks like a twin to mine. Mine had a straight six and independent steering...... Good thing Alberta never had inspections when I had it.
300K miles of oil field work before I bought it left 180 degrees of play in the steering wheel..... The Chevies all died long before that.

My dad bought a mint green 70's F150 after that red and white one. I *think* it was a 300 straight 6. But, I can't recall.

 

[BritKLR]

 

[MOAK]

Yet here we all are complaining about something we're all doing. To be honest between here and ob seems that's all overlanders do is complain about others doing the exact same thing as them. Maybe a more expensive or less expensive rig it don't matter either way both complaining about each other.

The offroading community was already balkanized before overlanding became a trendy word. Jeep and truck people didn't get along so much before, now we do. There was a time when if you were caught on a trail in a crossover suv( rav 4 was pretty much it back then) you'd have risked getting assaulted and at very least insulted for bringing something like that on a trail. Now its encouraged to do so with the small family crossover suvs that barely even have 2wd much less 4x4.

If you've got a problem with it either quit and move on or get over it, it is not changing back.
Same thing with those who complain about new vehicles are unreliable, easy don't buy one and shut up about it.

Calm down. There is a huge difference between making an observation and complaining. One can’t help but observe that they haven’t seen another vehicle for days on end and wonder aloud, gee, where are any of those 41,000 people. That’s an observation, as I’m pleased they are not there. I observe that so many spend so much money on stuff they’ll never use properly, an observation, as I’m grateful for their spending so much on so many things as it creates competition among suppliers and lowers to cost of high end gear.

 

[nickw]

Calm down. There is a huge difference between making an observation and complaining. One can’t help but observe that they haven’t seen another vehicle for days on end and wonder aloud, gee, where are any of those 41,000 people. That’s an observation, as I’m pleased they are not there. I observe that so many spend so much money on stuff they’ll never use properly, an observation, as I’m grateful for their spending so much on so many things as it creates competition among suppliers and lowers to cost of high end gear.

It's a bit hypocritcal (I kinda agree with him) but at the same time it's pretty obvious "Expedition" trucks are a trend that has spiraled completely out of hand. There are guys doing cool stuff in 2wd rigs, there are guys with Unimogs that just drive to Starbucks....but in general, what I see is a ridiculous trend and IG 'builds' that use the same 2-3 platforms that get sold 2 years after they get built....ad naseum