Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Alison DeLapp on Exploring the World, and Giving Back Along the Way

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Alison DeLapp on Exploring the World, and Giving Back Along the Way · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
0:06
Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and I am here with Alison D.
0:09
Speaker 1: Lap who is the executive director of the Overland Expo Foundation,
0:13
Speaker 1: which is an incredible organization that we're going to talk
0:16
Speaker 1: about a little bit more as the podcast goes on,
0:18
Speaker 1: but before you started that you are one of the
0:21
Speaker 1: most prolific travelers in this segment, and you've spent years living, traveling,
0:26
Speaker 1: adventuring in South America and other places around the world.
0:29
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
0:31
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, and.
0:33
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Speaker 1: you covered Thanks Moonshade. What I'd love to do is
1:17
Speaker 1: kind of paint the picture of how you got to
1:19
Speaker 1: the point of being the executive director of the foundation,
1:24
Speaker 1: what you learned about your travel. So talk a little
1:26
Speaker 1: bit about where you've traveled.
1:27
Speaker 2: In the world. Let's see, I started traveling in Los Angeles,
1:31
Speaker 2: or I should say as a starting point in Los Angeles.
1:33
Speaker 2: Is that where you were born in southern California? Okay,
1:35
Speaker 2: I lived and worked in Los Angeles for a long
1:37
Speaker 2: time in the entertainment industry, and so I had my
1:39
Speaker 2: summer's free, and so I would take two three months off.
1:43
Speaker 2: I traveled around the Southwest first, and then that's when
1:46
Speaker 2: it finally started where it's like, okay, I got to
1:48
Speaker 2: keep doing this. And then the next summer it was
1:50
Speaker 2: up to Alaska and back this summer after that, it
1:53
Speaker 2: was like okay, I'm just I'm broken. Yeah, like I
1:57
Speaker 2: just need to keep going. And it just made sense
1:59
Speaker 2: to continue south. I ended up packing everything up, leaving
2:02
Speaker 2: Los Angeles and amazing basically for six months, traveled through
2:06
Speaker 2: Central America and then down to South America to Argentina.
2:09
Speaker 1: When you were traveling in the desert Southwest, was that
2:12
Speaker 1: on motorcycle or did you travel by other means? What
2:14
Speaker 1: was the first motorcycle that you traveled on? AKLR six
2:17
Speaker 1: fifty perfect. It was wonderful, It was the amazing. I
2:21
Speaker 1: could fix it anywhere. Sure, That's the main reason why
2:23
Speaker 1: I chose that bike. It doesn't do anything well, it's heavy,
2:27
Speaker 1: it's cumbersome, but it gets you there. I've always called
2:29
Speaker 1: it like the land Cruiser of adventure bikes because they're
2:33
Speaker 1: so reliable, they're ubiquitous, they're around the world, They're easy
2:36
Speaker 1: to work on. Big fuel tank.
2:38
Speaker 2: Big fuel tank, yes, which comes in handy.
2:40
Speaker 1: At what point in your Southwest travels did you realize, like,
2:44
Speaker 1: I want to go further afield or did it just
2:46
Speaker 1: was it a moment or was it it just kept building.
2:48
Speaker 2: It was actually an interaction I had with a couple
2:51
Speaker 2: in Wyoming that had asked me they were just curious
2:55
Speaker 2: where I was. Like around the Southwest had been interesting
2:58
Speaker 2: because a lot of people stopped and they wanted to
3:01
Speaker 2: know one was I solo traveling? Like how did I
3:03
Speaker 2: feel safe?
3:03
Speaker 1: In? A wrong?
3:04
Speaker 2: Question I got was was I packing? And I was like, yeah,
3:06
Speaker 2: I packed my clothes.
3:07
Speaker 1: Yes, what am I going to do? Am I going
3:10
Speaker 1: to get a shoot out in the middle of it?
3:12
Speaker 1: Does hearty?
3:12
Speaker 2: I was having this wonderful for conversation with this couple
3:15
Speaker 2: and they were like, oh, well, have you been up
3:17
Speaker 2: to Alaska? And it was just like, no, I haven't.
3:19
Speaker 2: They're like, you should go next summer, and it was like, okay,
3:21
Speaker 2: well why not. It ends up being conversations with other
3:23
Speaker 2: travelers along the way that make that little spark happen,
3:26
Speaker 2: and then you're on your next trip.
3:28
Speaker 1: So I planted the seed of I'm going to go
3:30
Speaker 1: to this place. Now. How was Alaska in the summer?
3:33
Speaker 2: I actually left very late, so I left on the
3:36
Speaker 2: trip late August, so I was in Alaska during September.
3:40
Speaker 1: Okay.
3:40
Speaker 2: And the reason why I think that's the most beautiful
3:42
Speaker 2: time is one all of the summer travelers are heading south,
3:46
Speaker 2: so it's pretty vacant, there's no Mosquitos, and the fall
3:49
Speaker 2: folioge is starting to come in. It pops yeah, so
3:51
Speaker 2: it's just beautiful time of year. It did snow once,
3:54
Speaker 2: but it was like sixty five degree days most of
3:57
Speaker 2: the time and then just a futirely at night. But
3:59
Speaker 2: could easily find campsites, easily accessible to everything except for gas.
4:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, that could be a challenge.
4:05
Speaker 2: The rule is anywhere you see an open gas station.
4:08
Speaker 1: Go ahead and fill up. Now did you take the
4:10
Speaker 1: Alcan up or did you take the Kazir or did
4:12
Speaker 1: you hop on the ferry?
4:13
Speaker 2: I hopped on the ferry going see what did I do?
4:16
Speaker 2: I took the Kazir all the way up and then
4:18
Speaker 2: I hopped on the ferry coming back because I needed
4:21
Speaker 2: a rest.
4:21
Speaker 1: I really liked the Kazir. It was a nice departure
4:24
Speaker 1: from the Alcan and it was actually some locals that
4:27
Speaker 1: I remember when I did one of my first trips.
4:29
Speaker 1: I was went up the Alcan and I just figured
4:30
Speaker 1: I'd be going back down the Alcan. They said, why
4:32
Speaker 1: wouldn't you take the Kazir? And I look on the
4:34
Speaker 1: map and it was amazing. It was wonderful. Yeah, very
4:36
Speaker 1: very beautiful and lightly traveled. Where did you travel in Alaska?
4:41
Speaker 1: Did you go to Denali or did you go up
4:42
Speaker 1: to Prudo Bay.
4:43
Speaker 2: Or went to Denali. The intention was originally to go
4:47
Speaker 2: to Prudeo Bay, but because I left so late in
4:50
Speaker 2: the season, the roads were starting to ice over, and
4:53
Speaker 2: luckily I meant some other travelers that had just had
4:56
Speaker 2: to turn around because the motorcycles and they weren't able
5:00
Speaker 2: to get all the way to Purdue Bay.
5:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. I can very quickly turn challenging for a bike. Yeah,
5:05
Speaker 1: in me, you've got studs on the tires.
5:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, wasn't putting stuffs on the tires. And I really
5:09
Speaker 2: didn't want to pick up the bike the many times.
5:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that makes sense. Well, for a future trip,
5:13
Speaker 1: maybe you'll go do that. Finish it up, so then
5:15
Speaker 1: you do Alaska? And how is that starting to change
5:18
Speaker 1: your perceptions of travel now that you've done this longer trip.
5:21
Speaker 2: It's infectious. It kind of just gave meaning. It was
5:24
Speaker 2: also an interesting time in my life of just like
5:27
Speaker 2: rediscovering independence and wanting to know that I could just
5:32
Speaker 2: do things for myself.
5:33
Speaker 1: Sure, what a proof of that? Like, I'm going to Alaska.
5:36
Speaker 1: That's awesome, that's amazing.
5:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a wonderful experience and I
5:40
Speaker 2: met I met some other female not necessarily writers, but
5:43
Speaker 2: just other female travelers that it was like it kind
5:46
Speaker 2: of sparked them as well, that like, oh they can
5:48
Speaker 2: do a motorized type of travel and still be self
5:51
Speaker 2: sufficient and be okay.
5:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally absolutely. So you finish up Alaska and now
5:56
Speaker 1: you're still working in the entertainment industry or are you what?
5:59
Speaker 1: At what point did you start to decouple from that
6:02
Speaker 1: like that nine to five in a way.
6:03
Speaker 2: Luckily I was freelance very long days, but that allowed
6:07
Speaker 2: for freedom at other times. I think when I started traveling,
6:11
Speaker 2: it was probably when it was like, okay, like, how
6:13
Speaker 2: do I get out of Los Angeles as like a
6:15
Speaker 2: final departure. Never fully my city. It's really busy and congested,
6:19
Speaker 2: and I loved the motorcycle roads around there because you
6:21
Speaker 2: could be to the desert, to the ocean, or to
6:23
Speaker 2: the mountains within an hour. I do miss that part
6:25
Speaker 2: of it. I didn't miss the hustle and bustle of
6:27
Speaker 2: the life, and I wanted to just experience something that
6:32
Speaker 2: was more than the everyday life in Los Angeles.
6:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I grew up there. I grew up in Short Oaks,
6:38
Speaker 1: so so you know, there's a lot of traffic it's
6:40
Speaker 1: very difficult to do much, you know, and just to
6:43
Speaker 1: maintain connections because it's an hour to go ten miles
6:47
Speaker 1: and I'd never really felt like it was home for me.
6:49
Speaker 1: So yeah, when I left, I never decided I was
6:51
Speaker 1: never coming back. You leave southern California, and is that
6:54
Speaker 1: when you left on your trip through Central America?
6:56
Speaker 2: So that's when I packed everything up? Same klr uh huh.
7:00
Speaker 1: That's so great. You still have it.
7:02
Speaker 2: I don't. I actually sold it in Puntinas, Chile.
7:05
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome. Okay, we'll get to that. That's good. Okay,
7:07
Speaker 1: So you start start heading south.
7:09
Speaker 2: So I start heading south. I met up with a
7:12
Speaker 2: few other riders at a Horizon's Unlimited event. It was
7:15
Speaker 2: one of those like okay, like we we all kind
7:17
Speaker 2: of put out feelers like do you want to cross
7:19
Speaker 2: the border together, because it was all five of us
7:22
Speaker 2: solo travelers, and we're just like we just we need
7:24
Speaker 2: to push each other to just make that first step
7:27
Speaker 2: of going to that foreign country because keep going. Yeah,
7:30
Speaker 2: being in traveling around the Southwest, going up to Alaska
7:33
Speaker 2: through Canada, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.
7:35
Speaker 2: Even though the Tijuana border was closer in proximity. That
7:39
Speaker 2: seemed like the bigger deal to actually get going. And
7:41
Speaker 2: so it was probably like a week after we returned
7:43
Speaker 2: home from the event that they somebody put out at
7:46
Speaker 2: text of like are we doing this or no, because
7:48
Speaker 2: everybody was just waiting for everybody else, like sure, I
7:50
Speaker 2: don't know, are we going to do this? And so
7:52
Speaker 2: we ended up meeting down at the gas station right
7:55
Speaker 2: before the border and cross together and we across it
7:58
Speaker 2: to kat Or in Tijuana. Intia, Oh, that's great.
8:01
Speaker 1: Yeah.
8:01
Speaker 2: We just rode around for maybe like all of Baja
8:04
Speaker 2: crossed over to the mainland, and probably wrote around for
8:06
Speaker 2: maybe ten ten fourteen days together. And then that was
8:10
Speaker 2: about the time where we kind of worked at the
8:12
Speaker 2: kinks in our writing patterns and just what each of
8:15
Speaker 2: us needed, and then we kind of went our separate ways.
8:18
Speaker 1: And did you feel like that you you were looking
8:21
Speaker 1: forward to breaking off on your own, Were you starting
8:23
Speaker 1: to enjoy the camaraderie of a group. What was your
8:26
Speaker 1: feeling at that point.
8:27
Speaker 2: That's a very good question. Well, so, being the only
8:30
Speaker 2: female in a group of five guys, there was a
8:34
Speaker 2: little bit of big brotherness, I'll call it. Sure, A
8:36
Speaker 2: couple of guys would go off on their own. It
8:39
Speaker 2: was the of the idea we made up with them later.
8:40
Speaker 2: You know, one other guy took off, but there was
8:42
Speaker 2: always one guy who seemed to want to like make sure, yeah,
8:46
Speaker 2: make sure that I was okay, and wanted to travel
8:48
Speaker 2: with me. Make sure that, you know, we all got
8:49
Speaker 2: to the same location. And so it was I think
8:52
Speaker 2: finally a point where I was just like, I just
8:54
Speaker 2: need to be by myself for a while. And I
8:57
Speaker 2: woke up at six am for everybody else was awake,
9:00
Speaker 2: and I just wrote a little note like perfect, see
9:02
Speaker 2: you guys later, Blia, I got I gotta go. So
9:06
Speaker 2: I wanted to just experience that for myself. I've always
9:08
Speaker 2: been a solo traveler, and that's what this trip was
9:11
Speaker 2: about for me.
9:12
Speaker 1: What was your defining solo travels before that? I mean,
9:16
Speaker 1: were they not motorcycle related? Were you traveling, you know,
9:19
Speaker 1: just internationally, or you talk about yourself being a solo
9:22
Speaker 1: traveler over some of the bigger solo travels that you
9:24
Speaker 1: did before this trip to Central America, just.
9:27
Speaker 2: The motorcycle travels.
9:28
Speaker 1: I see, that's what you're saying.
9:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's kind of what sparked all of it.
9:32
Speaker 1: What were some of the highlights for you in Mexico?
9:34
Speaker 1: What did you really like?
9:36
Speaker 2: Wahaka was amazing, It's incredible. Yeah, the food is amazing there.
9:39
Speaker 2: The people were wonderful. We were actually trying to make
9:42
Speaker 2: it to Wahaka for Dadlas Martos because it lined up
9:45
Speaker 2: and like it was just too much riding. We couldn't
9:47
Speaker 2: get there, So we ended up going to this one
9:50
Speaker 2: town kind of nearby, Zakatappa I think it is. They
9:53
Speaker 2: had this just cute little town celebration of Diadalas Martos
9:57
Speaker 2: and it felt so intimate just to be a part
10:00
Speaker 2: of that rather than the huge one. Sure, Hawk and
10:03
Speaker 2: I still would love to go visit that one day.
10:05
Speaker 1: And were they all just hanging out having lunch in
10:07
Speaker 1: the cemetery and like you can see that, Yeah.
10:10
Speaker 2: Like the towns were covered in the merrygold huddle designs
10:15
Speaker 2: and so just being able to walk around that with
10:17
Speaker 2: everything lit up with candles and it almost looked like
10:20
Speaker 2: a prom, like a day day listen march of prom
10:22
Speaker 2: where everybody was in like full skeleton makeup and amazing
10:26
Speaker 2: full fancy outfits, and it was just wonderful to be
10:28
Speaker 2: able to experience that well.
10:30
Speaker 1: And you're a photographer. And for those that are listening,
10:33
Speaker 1: Allison has a photography book. What's the name of the
10:36
Speaker 1: book that's mostly photography. It's one of your most harmony.
10:40
Speaker 1: That's it. When you think about your travels as a photographer,
10:42
Speaker 1: what are you trying to capture? Are you trying to
10:44
Speaker 1: capture your own memories or are you looking for fine art?
10:47
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about your photography.
10:49
Speaker 2: I think it was a little bit of both. Like
10:52
Speaker 2: I was trying to capture what I was feeling on
10:56
Speaker 2: the road. Sometimes it was just like jammed on a
11:00
Speaker 2: where it was just kind of this overwhelming feeling of
11:02
Speaker 2: how do I even get out of here because there
11:04
Speaker 2: are so many people around me, to these wide expanses
11:07
Speaker 2: and just following the curves of the road as lines
11:10
Speaker 2: on paper. So I just wanted to kind of share.
11:13
Speaker 1: So you were looking yet to kind of give it
11:15
Speaker 1: from your word's eye, because so many people will do that.
11:18
Speaker 1: It'll be like the point of view photograph, and for
11:21
Speaker 1: others it's the photograph of them in the environment, the
11:24
Speaker 1: selfie that we see now so often. That's what I
11:26
Speaker 1: liked about your images is it gave the sense that
11:29
Speaker 1: I was there I thought that was really strong.
11:31
Speaker 2: Thank you.
11:31
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was really great. You leave Mexico and
11:34
Speaker 1: where did you go next?
11:35
Speaker 2: Let's see Mexico and then through Guatemala, Honduras. I skipped
11:39
Speaker 2: Al Salvador, going down to Costa Rica and then Panama
11:43
Speaker 2: before catching the boat. And the one thing I'll say
11:46
Speaker 2: about kind of traveling that route that I found very
11:49
Speaker 2: funny was in talking with locals, especially in Mexico. They
11:52
Speaker 2: were asking, you know, where are you going next, and
11:54
Speaker 2: so I'd say Guatemala and they're just like, oh no,
11:56
Speaker 2: that's so dangerous. It's so dangerous. I'm like, oh, we'll
11:59
Speaker 2: have you've been there. They're like, no, no, we wouldn't dare.
12:02
Speaker 2: Just be careful. So then it was Gualdmala. They were like,
12:04
Speaker 2: oh no, you're going to hunter us like be careful,
12:06
Speaker 2: be careful, and so it was just funny that every
12:09
Speaker 2: single country they were just scared of their neighbors. You know,
12:11
Speaker 2: I said, well, you know, what, how do Canadians think,
12:13
Speaker 2: bringing that full circle of yeah.
12:15
Speaker 1: That's true.
12:16
Speaker 2: What's in the media.
12:17
Speaker 1: Did you ever ask them what they thought about Canada?
12:19
Speaker 2: I will next time, like.
12:21
Speaker 1: Flip the script the whole other, like does do you
12:24
Speaker 1: think Canada's dangerous? That'd be really What year was this
12:28
Speaker 1: that you did that trip?
12:29
Speaker 2: So this is twenty twelve, twenty thirteen.
12:30
Speaker 1: So then you make it all the way down to Panama.
12:32
Speaker 1: Did you already know that you were going to go
12:34
Speaker 1: to South America or you had not decided yet?
12:36
Speaker 2: Anyone was going to South America? And there was a
12:39
Speaker 2: limited time going through Central America because I needed to
12:42
Speaker 2: catch the stall rats and.
12:44
Speaker 1: That's the sailboat got it. How was that experience?
12:47
Speaker 2: Amazing? Okay, amazing?
12:49
Speaker 1: So I love the sailing thing.
12:50
Speaker 2: So of just riding right up to the dock and
12:53
Speaker 2: watching them with ropes just hoist your bike over the side,
12:56
Speaker 2: and you're like, I just really hope it doesn't drop
12:57
Speaker 2: into the ocean because that's the end of it. I mean,
12:59
Speaker 2: they've done it so many times that they know what
13:01
Speaker 2: they're doing and they put it on board. And it
13:03
Speaker 2: was I think three days, four days something like that
13:06
Speaker 2: to get down to Colombia.
13:08
Speaker 1: And how big is of a boat is that? Oh?
13:10
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
13:11
Speaker 1: I mean, do you remember, like how many people were on.
13:14
Speaker 2: Let's see, there were I want to say twelve motorcycles.
13:18
Speaker 1: That's a lot. So it's a big boat. Yeah, and
13:20
Speaker 1: they're just kind of like lashed to the four deck
13:22
Speaker 1: or cool.
13:23
Speaker 2: They just lashed to the railings and you know, covered
13:26
Speaker 2: with tarps.
13:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fantastic. And then what did you think about
13:29
Speaker 1: that experience being on the boat?
13:31
Speaker 2: I loved it. It's one of those kind of pinch
13:33
Speaker 2: points in the trip where you get to meet a
13:36
Speaker 2: lot of travelers. Sure, because there's only so few ways
13:39
Speaker 2: to cross the dairy and a gap. You had to
13:40
Speaker 2: kind of exchange information with these people and you know,
13:43
Speaker 2: where are you going? Next? Where you going? And you
13:44
Speaker 2: know fom other little pods of like travel groups, I
13:47
Speaker 2: should say. And once you get off the boat, like
13:48
Speaker 2: some people went into Venezuela, which I did, and then
13:51
Speaker 2: other people went into Colombia and south because they had
13:55
Speaker 2: limited time.
13:56
Speaker 1: Where did you land with the sailboat Cartagena? And then
13:59
Speaker 1: you took off and you're like, I'm going east to Venezuela. Yeah,
14:02
Speaker 1: at that time you would have still been able to
14:04
Speaker 1: get in. Around that time, I tried to get a
14:06
Speaker 1: visa and I couldn't even get a visa. Being prior military,
14:09
Speaker 1: they wouldn't let me go.
14:10
Speaker 2: It was an interesting time being in Venezuela. It was
14:14
Speaker 2: right after Chavez died. S Dua Maduro was I think
14:19
Speaker 2: that's trying to get elected. You could just see the
14:22
Speaker 2: struggles that were starting with everybody there. And I mean
14:26
Speaker 2: they say gas is cheap, Gas was so cheap, but
14:29
Speaker 2: actually getting gas was very difficult. It was the kindness
14:33
Speaker 2: of Venezuelan's that actually allowed me to get gas because
14:37
Speaker 2: you had to have like certain credentials in order to,
14:39
Speaker 2: I see, actually go up to the pump, and so
14:42
Speaker 2: some people like would just you know, motion me over
14:44
Speaker 2: and let me use their time at the pump, so
14:46
Speaker 2: to speak.
14:47
Speaker 1: Amazing. Yeah, and what else were your takeaways from Venezuela
14:51
Speaker 1: on a bike? How was that? What was the highlight?
14:52
Speaker 1: What was the location that you went to that you
14:54
Speaker 1: really loved.
14:55
Speaker 2: Well, I'll admit that we didn't get as far as
14:57
Speaker 2: we wanted to because the on the road they basically
15:01
Speaker 2: kind of at checkpoints they did stop us and say
15:05
Speaker 2: that it wasn't safe to go on ahead, and so
15:08
Speaker 2: we were turned around several times. And so it's like
15:10
Speaker 2: it was one of those things we just didn't really
15:12
Speaker 2: want to test.
15:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't know, like it could actually be very
15:16
Speaker 1: well informed and it's going to be a problem. So
15:18
Speaker 1: then you head back into Colombia. What were the highlights
15:21
Speaker 1: of Columbia for you?
15:23
Speaker 2: My memories are deceiving me because I lived in Panama
15:26
Speaker 2: and Columbia for a time. I'm trying to remember which
15:29
Speaker 2: ones were which I see traveling through Columbia. I mean,
15:32
Speaker 2: the people were just amazing.
15:34
Speaker 1: They are amazing there.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe. I went to Mediine, beautiful city. Yeah.
15:38
Speaker 2: I loved just all these arts there.
15:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, like to go out at two in the morning,
15:43
Speaker 1: there's families out and about. I mean that's how you
15:45
Speaker 1: always know places safe because there's kids running around and.
15:48
Speaker 2: That's just it. It was just anybody and everybody.
15:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:51
Speaker 2: I really just loved the kind of very upfront culture.
15:55
Speaker 1: Yeah that it was. And great food and like you
15:58
Speaker 1: can find it. You can find an excellent cappuccino, and
16:01
Speaker 1: like it's surprise. I mean for those that are listening,
16:03
Speaker 1: it's we were a programmed for so long to view
16:05
Speaker 1: Columbia in a certain way, and it is not that
16:08
Speaker 1: country anymore. I mean it is very modern, very safe,
16:12
Speaker 1: but it still has these fantastic backroads, the twistiest asphalt
16:16
Speaker 1: that's super fun on a motorcycle or the most challenging
16:19
Speaker 1: dirt track, but then you can stay in a great
16:21
Speaker 1: hotel and have a great meal at the end of
16:22
Speaker 1: the day. Yeah, it's really special.
16:24
Speaker 2: There's we're already in a few years for when I
16:26
Speaker 2: traveled there a second time on motorcycle, I probably should
16:30
Speaker 2: This is one of those moments where I should have
16:32
Speaker 2: stopped because the sun was setting and we were, you know,
16:35
Speaker 2: just passing through a town. We're like, no, let's just
16:37
Speaker 2: go a little bit further, and it's turned into a
16:39
Speaker 2: dirt road and we thought, oh, might just be a
16:41
Speaker 2: few miles. No, it actually ended up being switchbacks along
16:44
Speaker 2: a mountain with lories coming the other direction, unable to see. Yeah,
16:50
Speaker 2: around the other side, And I didn't know this was
16:53
Speaker 2: the trampoline of death was what it's called in Yeah.
16:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, it's called the Colombian death Road. I
16:59
Speaker 1: almost got on that road, but it was by this
17:01
Speaker 1: guy from Idaho. He was hiking his ford, full sized
17:04
Speaker 1: truck with a camper, and he comes and I'm on
17:06
Speaker 1: a BMW and I come around the corner slowly and
17:09
Speaker 1: he's flying up the hill because he's afraid he's gonna
17:11
Speaker 1: lose traction or whatever, and he sees me and his
17:13
Speaker 1: eyes are this big a round and he comes and
17:15
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm so sorry, and I'm like it's no problem.
17:17
Speaker 1: And he stops and he's like, of course, I answered
17:19
Speaker 1: in English. I just remember the license plate like sticking
17:22
Speaker 1: out in my mind of like this Idaho plate and
17:24
Speaker 1: this giant, full sized truck nearly running me off the road.
17:27
Speaker 1: But that's a great road.
17:28
Speaker 2: It is a great road. I ended up doing it
17:30
Speaker 2: at night, and there was part of I did not
17:32
Speaker 2: do it at night. I really wished that I had
17:34
Speaker 2: done it during the day. I have a fear of heights,
17:36
Speaker 2: and so part of me was very glad that I
17:37
Speaker 2: did it at night and didn't know what kind of
17:39
Speaker 2: drop off was.
17:39
Speaker 1: Maybe there's just what it was supposed to be. Ye, Now,
17:42
Speaker 1: when you were in that area, did you get into
17:44
Speaker 1: the Tatakoa Desert at all? Oh? Yes, it's amazing. Love.
17:47
Speaker 1: People don't even know that it's there. Yeah.
17:49
Speaker 2: No, going up into that area and then continuing further
17:52
Speaker 2: all the way up into the northernmost point of South America.
17:55
Speaker 1: Along Wahita Peninsula.
17:57
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you. Yeah, it was just gorgeous, awesome, not
18:01
Speaker 2: traveled too nearly enough?
18:02
Speaker 1: Yes, so great? You make it all the way down
18:05
Speaker 1: to Ushuaia along the way. I mean for me, I
18:08
Speaker 1: did a trip motorcycle trip kind of like yours, where
18:10
Speaker 1: I started off with a group of people and then
18:12
Speaker 1: I split off and I go down to Lima by
18:14
Speaker 1: myself over the Andes and then kind of make my
18:16
Speaker 1: way back up to Columbia. And it ended up being
18:19
Speaker 1: personally very transformative, changed a couple different directions in my life.
18:23
Speaker 1: When you're traveling solo, what are you realizing about yourself?
18:27
Speaker 1: How are you seeing yourself start to change because of
18:29
Speaker 1: these interactions in these experiences.
18:31
Speaker 2: It's very enriching. Beyond just this realization that as a
18:35
Speaker 2: female I can do this myself, I think what had
18:38
Speaker 2: the most impact was meeting other young women along the
18:42
Speaker 2: way that don't have as many opportunities as I do
18:45
Speaker 2: here in the US. And you can kind of see
18:48
Speaker 2: it in their eyes, like when I take my helmet off,
18:50
Speaker 2: that oh my goodness, you're a woman and you're doing this,
18:53
Speaker 2: like maybe there is something more than just this life
18:56
Speaker 2: that set out for me. See, And so that was
18:59
Speaker 2: really just a powerful experience for me. Meeting a lot
19:02
Speaker 2: of locals, and also the kindness of locals.
19:06
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
19:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, being a solo traveler, especially compared to traveling with
19:11
Speaker 2: a partner, you're seen.
19:12
Speaker 1: As you're more exposed. As a solo.
19:15
Speaker 2: Traveler, you're more exposed, and you're less intimidating, sure, and
19:19
Speaker 2: so more people come up to you and want to
19:22
Speaker 2: know what it's all about. Where are you going, where
19:24
Speaker 2: are you coming from? I was invited into many people's homes,
19:28
Speaker 2: whether it was just for dinner or they had an
19:31
Speaker 2: extra bed for me to sleep in. You can tell
19:33
Speaker 2: from just how they approach you they want to give
19:36
Speaker 2: as much as they can, and usually they have way
19:38
Speaker 2: less than we have here in the US. Their priorities
19:41
Speaker 2: are about family and taking care of their community, and
19:44
Speaker 2: so even if you're just momentarily entering their community and
19:47
Speaker 2: then passing through, they're kind of welcoming you.
19:50
Speaker 1: It feels like as a solo traveler, especially on a motorcycle,
19:53
Speaker 1: you take the helmet off and they see that you're
19:54
Speaker 1: all alone, and there's just something that for some people
19:57
Speaker 1: it will draw them to you to figure out why
19:59
Speaker 1: are you here or why are you all alone? Or
20:01
Speaker 1: maybe they feel like you might be lonely or you
20:03
Speaker 1: might need help.
20:03
Speaker 2: I remember this one time in Chile. Actually one of
20:05
Speaker 2: the riders I met on the stall rat I ended
20:08
Speaker 2: up meeting up with her farther south, and we ended
20:11
Speaker 2: up traveling together in Chile for a while long days
20:14
Speaker 2: since it was summertime down there and so we could
20:16
Speaker 2: just ride and ride and ride, and so we were
20:18
Speaker 2: needing to find a spot at the end of the
20:19
Speaker 2: day and found this one. It was a campsite, but
20:22
Speaker 2: it had closed because it was not quite or was
20:25
Speaker 2: the off season. Went up to the house and asked
20:28
Speaker 2: the woman like, Hey, we're just staying here for the night.
20:30
Speaker 2: Do you mind if we camp out? And she was
20:31
Speaker 2: like sure, like are you alone? And I was like no, no, no,
20:34
Speaker 2: I'm with another woman, and she didn't believe me. And
20:36
Speaker 2: so she and her two sisters and her brother and
20:40
Speaker 2: her brother's brother, like they all came down to see
20:43
Speaker 2: us at the campsite and they were just like goodness,
20:45
Speaker 2: like it's two women, Like this is not your boyfriend,
20:47
Speaker 2: You're not lying, Like this is just why are you
20:50
Speaker 2: doing this all by yourself? And so it was just
20:52
Speaker 2: like this such a heartfelt night just to spend it
20:55
Speaker 2: with them. And try to explain in broken English and
20:59
Speaker 2: broken Spanish about our travels. Try to have this conversation.
21:02
Speaker 1: It was and maybe that is that opportunity to show
21:05
Speaker 1: them that something else is possible, even if it's minor. Yeah,
21:08
Speaker 1: it could change the course of them and their future generations.
21:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, the kids that could grow up.
21:14
Speaker 1: No questions, see that anything is possible. And a special
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21:20
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21:23
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22:01
Speaker 1: did you find that you were starting to think about
22:03
Speaker 1: how do I begin to maybe write your first book,
22:06
Speaker 1: or what was starting to incubate in your mind around that.
22:09
Speaker 2: I had the idea to do a photography book before
22:13
Speaker 2: I left. I had kind of set up a Kickstarter
22:16
Speaker 2: back in the day as a way just to see
22:18
Speaker 2: to gauge interest for it and see if anybody like
22:22
Speaker 2: to know about it. So I had it in the
22:23
Speaker 2: back of my mind while I was traveling, and I
22:25
Speaker 2: honestly kind of wish I hadn't because it ended up
22:28
Speaker 2: making things feel a little bit like work because I
22:30
Speaker 2: worked in the photo industry, and then having to take
22:33
Speaker 2: pictures during my trip, it almost felt like it took
22:36
Speaker 2: a little bit away from where I needed to be
22:39
Speaker 2: in my headspace that need to be focusing on the trip.
22:42
Speaker 2: I'm really glad I did it so that I have
22:44
Speaker 2: something to look back on, right And I think I
22:46
Speaker 2: kind of had to come to terms with that after
22:48
Speaker 2: I came.
22:48
Speaker 1: Back, though, And have you since been able to do
22:51
Speaker 1: that trip where it was just for yourself.
22:53
Speaker 2: After I returned from South America, I ended up being
22:56
Speaker 2: in the US for a little bit, and then I
22:58
Speaker 2: moved to Panama and lived in Columbia a little bit.
23:00
Speaker 2: When I returned to the US, I was still wanting
23:03
Speaker 2: to travel by motorcycle, and so I ended up continuing
23:06
Speaker 2: to travel by motorcycle for several months until I found
23:09
Speaker 2: a spot that I wanted to settle down in.
23:11
Speaker 1: Oh that's great, so you were looking You're not only
23:13
Speaker 1: getting a chance to travel, but also look for where
23:16
Speaker 1: your home might be. M that's fun, because.
23:18
Speaker 2: I was determined not to return to Los Angeles.
23:21
Speaker 1: Not going back. Yeah, that's great. I think that's kind
23:23
Speaker 1: of how I ended up in Prescott. I just kept
23:25
Speaker 1: driving around until I thought, this is just the right
23:27
Speaker 1: distance to all the things that I want to go see.
23:29
Speaker 1: You make it all the way down to Ushuaia. Did
23:32
Speaker 1: you ship back at that point or what was? Did
23:34
Speaker 1: you sell the bike?
23:35
Speaker 2: Being the kind of minimalist traveler that I was, I
23:39
Speaker 2: had enough funds to get me down to the tip
23:41
Speaker 2: of Argentina, and then I needed to sell a bike,
23:44
Speaker 2: basically to buy a plane ticket back home.
23:46
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
23:46
Speaker 2: So I walked into a deal at that point. It
23:51
Speaker 2: was actually a group of lawyers who wanted to start
23:53
Speaker 2: a motorcycle riding club who wanted to buy motorcycles and
23:57
Speaker 2: so I think three or four of us from the
23:59
Speaker 2: group ended up selling our motorcycles to them incredible so
24:02
Speaker 2: that they could you know, have outfit and motorcycles down there,
24:05
Speaker 2: because just having motorcycles in general, I think was very
24:08
Speaker 2: difficult to get down there.
24:09
Speaker 1: One of the things that I loved about Ushway it
24:11
Speaker 1: was one of those things in my travels that kind
24:13
Speaker 1: of surprised me. I always felt like, Ushwaya is going
24:16
Speaker 1: to be that this like the Star Wars bar at
24:18
Speaker 1: the end of the road. It was going to be
24:20
Speaker 1: this like dusty little town, like there's just like there's
24:23
Speaker 1: no it's the end of the world. But it's not.
24:24
Speaker 1: It's like coffee shops and like a nice.
24:27
Speaker 2: Airport and wonderful restaurants.
24:28
Speaker 1: Totally that had nice hotels exactly. Well, I mean the
24:32
Speaker 1: stakes in Argentina are unbelievable. Yeah, that would be Actually
24:36
Speaker 1: I won't call him out on the podcast, but there's
24:38
Speaker 1: a motorcycle rider that I know that is a vegetarian
24:41
Speaker 1: and he actually decided to stop being a vegetarian in Argentina.
24:45
Speaker 1: It's the truth. Like, well, first of all, I couldn't
24:46
Speaker 1: really find many options as a vegetarian, but he's like,
24:49
Speaker 1: you know, if I'm gonna stop stop for a while,
24:52
Speaker 1: that's a place to do it.
24:53
Speaker 2: I mean, it's funny you say that. Why when I
24:54
Speaker 2: was leaving in Los Angeles, I was mostly vegetarian, sure,
24:57
Speaker 2: and I was like, Okay, if I'm going to do
24:58
Speaker 2: the South America trip, have to start introducing meat little
25:01
Speaker 2: by little, sure, because it's the majority of what they
25:04
Speaker 2: It's true down there.
25:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to find. I mean, if someone was
25:07
Speaker 1: a pescatarian, you could probably get away with it. Have
25:09
Speaker 1: more fish. You can't always find fish. Sometimes, those little
25:12
Speaker 1: roadsides stand they have one thing that they do well,
25:15
Speaker 1: like it's chicken that day or whatever. Yeah, so that
25:17
Speaker 1: was pretty interesting and he's like, yeah, it was kind
25:20
Speaker 1: of amazing. And then he went back to being a vegetarian, so,
25:23
Speaker 1: which is great. So, I mean he adapted to what
25:25
Speaker 1: he needed to do. You come back to the US
25:28
Speaker 1: and then you decide to go back. So what made
25:31
Speaker 1: you decide to go back to South America a second
25:33
Speaker 1: time as opposed to going to someplace else in the world.
25:36
Speaker 2: Man, okay, okay.
25:38
Speaker 1: Love can make us do crazy things.
25:39
Speaker 2: Oh, love does make us do crazy things. I met
25:41
Speaker 2: somebody at the end of my trip, and so he
25:44
Speaker 2: was a Colombian living in Panama and I ended up
25:47
Speaker 2: moving down to Panama for a while and we were
25:49
Speaker 2: planning to take a big trip and started out and
25:52
Speaker 2: then things didn't work out and I returned to the US.
25:54
Speaker 1: There you go. Yeah, well, what a great way to
25:57
Speaker 1: figure out it's going to work out or not go
25:59
Speaker 1: do a trip together?
26:00
Speaker 2: Exactly? Got it well together, no question.
26:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can shorten that whole learning process figure
26:06
Speaker 1: it out in a hurry. Well that's good. After that,
26:08
Speaker 1: you started to get involved with the Overland Expo.
26:11
Speaker 2: Oh actually while so.
26:13
Speaker 1: Still while you were traveling.
26:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, my so I returned for my trip in twenty thirteen,
26:17
Speaker 2: and then I ended up starting to work for Overland
26:19
Speaker 2: Expo at the end of twenty thirteen.
26:21
Speaker 1: Okay, and then what was your first role with Overland xpow.
26:25
Speaker 2: I came on as logistics manager. Ok just kind of
26:28
Speaker 2: helping Rosanne out with anything and everything that she needed
26:31
Speaker 2: help with.
26:31
Speaker 1: A big event. How do you manage it? Sure? No question.
26:34
Speaker 1: Did you start to do any other travels during that
26:36
Speaker 1: period of time, Like, were you able to take breaks?
26:38
Speaker 1: Because at the time there was only one or two events,
26:41
Speaker 1: so it was easier to get breaks away. Were there
26:44
Speaker 1: other places that you decided to travel?
26:46
Speaker 2: Mostly traveled around Panama?
26:48
Speaker 1: Okay nine.
26:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was actually when we started the East Show. Sure,
26:52
Speaker 2: and so it was kind of building up for every
26:55
Speaker 2: six months, and it was you know, a nice.
26:56
Speaker 1: Like a nice little break, Yeah, to be able to
26:58
Speaker 1: go and do some travel. Now your role has changed.
27:02
Speaker 1: You're now the executive director of the Overland Expo Foundation.
27:06
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what inspired that to happen.
27:10
Speaker 2: I interject with helping up to that. So, yeah, starting
27:13
Speaker 2: out as logistics manager in twenty thirteen. Then as over
27:17
Speaker 2: then Expo grew and as the events grew, kind of
27:20
Speaker 2: took on more and more responsibilities. So that's where I
27:23
Speaker 2: started to or became assistant director to Roseanne and took
27:27
Speaker 2: on more responsibilities producing the events. And then when loadstone
27:31
Speaker 2: A bought the events, took on kind of director operations
27:34
Speaker 2: just to continue what Roseanne was doing. Sure, I just
27:38
Speaker 2: wren many hats within this organization.
27:40
Speaker 1: And small business you do.
27:42
Speaker 2: It's just grown beyond our and our staff has grown
27:44
Speaker 2: beyond as well. When they said that they needed somebody
27:47
Speaker 2: to kind of head up the foundation, I was very
27:50
Speaker 2: happy to step into that.
27:53
Speaker 1: To make that shift. Yeah, well it might allow you
27:55
Speaker 1: to go travel more. It sounds like you've got other
27:57
Speaker 1: adventures that have been coming into your life. So yes,
28:01
Speaker 1: now you're the executive director of the foundation. So let's
28:04
Speaker 1: talk about what is the Overland Expo Foundation, what is
28:08
Speaker 1: its mission, and then let's get into what you're doing
28:11
Speaker 1: right now to make a difference.
28:13
Speaker 2: The OVERLEANXO Foundation was founded in twenty twenty. Twenty twenty
28:17
Speaker 2: was such the year it was. We really have only
28:20
Speaker 2: started getting things rolling within the past year. The main
28:23
Speaker 2: goal is to or the main mission I should say,
28:26
Speaker 2: is to give back to the Overlennexo community, because it's
28:31
Speaker 2: the community that has really made the events so wonderful.
28:35
Speaker 2: And so this is kind of our way of showing
28:37
Speaker 2: how we can do good with the community. Most of
28:40
Speaker 2: what the foundation is here to support our individuals and
28:45
Speaker 2: organizations that protect access to public lands or to improve
28:50
Speaker 2: public lands. We're looking for organizations that help foster education
28:54
Speaker 2: around how to overland responsibly, sure and just create a
28:58
Speaker 2: more conscientious community out keeping overlanding. I don't want to
29:02
Speaker 2: stay alive.
29:03
Speaker 1: It might be though that it's alive because as we grow,
29:06
Speaker 1: as the organization has grown. As the community has grown,
29:09
Speaker 1: our impact has grown. It has so if we don't
29:11
Speaker 1: educate people about how to minimize their impact, leave no trace,
29:15
Speaker 1: tread lightly all of these things that are really foundational,
29:18
Speaker 1: and they're important. I mean, just Moab recently shut down camping.
29:22
Speaker 1: Sedona has shut down camping in huge swaths of land
29:26
Speaker 1: because the amount of human waste and trash made it
29:30
Speaker 1: impossible for them to keep up or for the land
29:32
Speaker 1: to sustain it. As places start to close down, it'll
29:35
Speaker 1: concentrate that impact in other places, and then those will
29:38
Speaker 1: close down. So if we don't stop it now with
29:41
Speaker 1: efforts like yours, I think that we're in trouble. I
29:44
Speaker 1: think it could be does overlanding stay alive in North
29:46
Speaker 1: America if we don't start taking some responsibility, we're packing
29:50
Speaker 1: out all of our stuff, including our poop and everything else.
29:52
Speaker 2: So it's probably the one thing people don't want to
29:54
Speaker 2: talk about, but it's the one thing we do need
29:57
Speaker 2: to talk about because it has the most impact on
30:00
Speaker 2: the environment.
30:00
Speaker 1: It does, and if you go with the other one
30:03
Speaker 1: that I feel strongly about is group size. I would
30:06
Speaker 1: say that it's fairly irresponsible to go out with a
30:09
Speaker 1: group of fifteen to twenty people or fifteen to twenty cars.
30:12
Speaker 1: Excuse me, because most campsites are not meant for that
30:16
Speaker 1: size of a group. When you look at campgrounds that
30:18
Speaker 1: have been around for a long time, especially remote camps,
30:21
Speaker 1: at most they're going to be one, two, three, four,
30:23
Speaker 1: possibly five vehicles. So in my mind, if we can
30:27
Speaker 1: reduce the group size first, that automatically starts to reduce
30:31
Speaker 1: the impact to the campsites. We don't get the campsites growing,
30:34
Speaker 1: destroying flora and fauna. I mean the fauna are impacted
30:37
Speaker 1: because there's a lot more noise and there's a lot
30:39
Speaker 1: more left behind it. Maybe there's food scraps. Too many
30:42
Speaker 1: food scraps left behind starts to have an impact on
30:44
Speaker 1: the animals as well. But if we can start by
30:47
Speaker 1: minimizing our group sizes, so I just really believe it's
30:50
Speaker 1: important for people to not have groups bigger than five cars.
30:53
Speaker 2: Kind Of along the same lines, one thing that we're
30:55
Speaker 2: trying to also just encourage is people not to share
30:58
Speaker 2: their location on social media. Yeah, sure, share pictures, what not,
31:02
Speaker 2: anything about the trip, but just not the exact location
31:05
Speaker 2: that you've taken hours exploring to go find this beautiful
31:09
Speaker 2: area in the back country, and if you share the location,
31:12
Speaker 2: then it just invites more use and it's not sustainable
31:16
Speaker 2: for that area because it's the same thing where it
31:18
Speaker 2: has too much impact and these areas aren't set up
31:21
Speaker 2: for that much use.
31:22
Speaker 1: How would you recommend then someone share their experience. Would
31:25
Speaker 1: they just talk about a region, so if they were
31:28
Speaker 1: in Moab area, they would just say Moab Utah. Yeah,
31:31
Speaker 1: so it's super general, kind of gives you a sense
31:34
Speaker 1: for where they're at on the planet.
31:35
Speaker 2: So join us, the GPNs points where come to this campsite. Yeah,
31:39
Speaker 2: because there's just been especially during these past few years,
31:43
Speaker 2: where more people are traveling domestically, there is been more
31:47
Speaker 2: use in these areas, which just creates more trash and
31:50
Speaker 2: as you said, more human waste, and just the ecosystem
31:53
Speaker 2: is not set up properly for it.
31:54
Speaker 1: And that's part of our responsibility is to preserve this
31:58
Speaker 1: stuff for future generation. So that way someone that's ten
32:01
Speaker 1: fifteen years old that's excited to go to be an
32:04
Speaker 1: Overlander someday and do their own travels, we actually get
32:07
Speaker 1: a chance to do it. This content is brought to
32:09
Speaker 1: you by Overland Journal, our premium quality print publication The
32:13
Speaker 1: magazine was founded in two thousand and six with the
32:17
Speaker 1: goal of providing independent equipment and vehicle reviews along with
32:22
Speaker 1: the most stunning adventures and photography. We care deeply about
32:27
Speaker 1: the countries and cultures we visit and share our experiences
32:31
Speaker 1: freely with our readers. We also have zero averatorial policy
32:36
Speaker 1: and do not accept any advertiser compensation for our reviews.
32:41
Speaker 1: By subscribing to Overland Journal, you're helping to support our
32:45
Speaker 1: employee owned and veteran owned publication. Your support also provides
32:51
Speaker 1: resources and funding for content like you are watching or
32:54
Speaker 1: listening to right now. You can subscribe directly on our
32:59
Speaker 1: website at Overland Journal dot com. So let's talk specifically
33:05
Speaker 1: about some of the ways that you're helping to facilitate that.
33:08
Speaker 2: Our main grant that we offer for the over len
33:11
Speaker 2: Expo Foundation grant is set up so that we want
33:14
Speaker 2: to fund organizations that have upcoming projects, be it trash
33:19
Speaker 2: removal or a restoration, something to kind of take care
33:22
Speaker 2: of a local area. So our first grantee that we
33:26
Speaker 2: just worked with was Natural Restorations based in Arizona. They
33:32
Speaker 2: just replanted and this is an ongoing project for them.
33:34
Speaker 2: The Bushfire burn scar in the Tanta National Forest, which
33:38
Speaker 2: is kind of Lower Peaks Sycamore area. Basically take they
33:42
Speaker 2: rescue these cacti that are going to be destroyed from
33:45
Speaker 2: construction projects and then they bring them to the burn
33:48
Speaker 2: scar and do it replanting. So they work. They actually
33:52
Speaker 2: have a core veteran based team that does a lot
33:55
Speaker 2: of the work. And then during the two weeks that
33:58
Speaker 2: we helped fund, they had a into Your event as well,
34:01
Speaker 2: so eighty seven volunteers came out to kind of help
34:04
Speaker 2: put the cacti in the ground, give them water, throw
34:07
Speaker 2: some wildflower seat approved wildflower seat into the air, take
34:12
Speaker 2: out some of the boofle grass. If I'm saying that correctly,
34:15
Speaker 2: sure which is native?
34:17
Speaker 1: Maybe?
34:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's invasive and it's kindling essentially fires. So they've
34:22
Speaker 2: been improving the areas that overlanders visit sure well.
34:26
Speaker 1: And just to give a acknowledgment to one of the
34:30
Speaker 1: first big projects I ever saw successful in that. You
34:33
Speaker 1: know Tim Huber and Tim when I first met him,
34:36
Speaker 1: this was back when Expedition Portal first started, but he
34:38
Speaker 1: decided that he was going to do this huge cleanup
34:41
Speaker 1: out in four Peaks. It's just absolutely amazing the amount
34:45
Speaker 1: of trash that we mean dumpsters full of trash that
34:48
Speaker 1: we hauled out of there.
34:49
Speaker 2: Yeah. So if you look on the stats for natural restorations,
34:53
Speaker 2: I mean it's something like millions of pounds of trash.
34:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, they remove. Yeah, it's incredible, amazing. How do people
34:58
Speaker 1: get involved to help? I mean, I'm sure that they
35:01
Speaker 1: can donate maybe some funds or donate to those locations
35:04
Speaker 1: or organizations. How do they help?
35:06
Speaker 2: There's a few ways to kind of get involved. They
35:08
Speaker 2: can apply for any of the grants that we offer.
35:10
Speaker 2: The Overlin and Expo Foundation grant is just one of
35:14
Speaker 2: the four ways that people can get involved. You know,
35:17
Speaker 2: you can volunteer with any of the organizations that we
35:19
Speaker 2: work with. We are also looking for ambassadors to come
35:22
Speaker 2: on kind of behalf of the Overland Expo Foundation and
35:26
Speaker 2: to help us out to kind of volunteer at live
35:29
Speaker 2: events or we need some year round help as well.
35:32
Speaker 1: Someone was to go to Overlandexpo dot com. Is that
35:34
Speaker 1: how they find it? Or is it they go to
35:36
Speaker 1: Overland Expo Foundation dot org.
35:38
Speaker 2: Or what's the so Overlindexpo Foundation dot org?
35:40
Speaker 1: Got it perfect?
35:41
Speaker 2: You can apply for any of these grants.
35:43
Speaker 1: Amazing, and so what would you say is your biggest
35:47
Speaker 1: need today? Like if we could catalyze our listenership, like
35:51
Speaker 1: how can we help you and what you're doing right now,
35:54
Speaker 1: what's the biggest need that you have.
35:56
Speaker 2: One of the programs that we're trying to kick off
35:58
Speaker 2: this year is leave the Trail Better Mini Grant. It's
36:01
Speaker 2: kind of our way of wanting the community to also
36:04
Speaker 2: be involved because it's the main thing that I hear
36:07
Speaker 2: about with all of these organizations that I'm talking that
36:09
Speaker 2: have been talking to is trash is the number one
36:12
Speaker 2: problem in the back country and it's going to be
36:15
Speaker 2: the number one cause to get things closed sure, And
36:18
Speaker 2: so if we want to continue to have access to
36:22
Speaker 2: all of these areas, we need to do our parts,
36:24
Speaker 2: even at some point we actually need to do more
36:26
Speaker 2: than our parts, because this is part of the educational
36:30
Speaker 2: process is whatever you you know, and this is a
36:33
Speaker 2: leave no trace principle originally, but the pack it in,
36:36
Speaker 2: pack it out, sure, And so we're kind of encouraging
36:38
Speaker 2: pack it in, pack it out and then some because
36:41
Speaker 2: there's always trash, you know, in any campsite that we've
36:44
Speaker 2: been to, they leave the trail better, minigrants, we are
36:47
Speaker 2: kind of offering to like, if you know that you're
36:50
Speaker 2: going out into the trail, you know, on a trail
36:53
Speaker 2: ride for the weekend to just you know, contact us
36:56
Speaker 2: and if you know we'll are willing to pick up
36:59
Speaker 2: trash along the way, then we're willing to kind of
37:01
Speaker 2: pay for up to five hundred dollars of the costs
37:04
Speaker 2: of to cover trash, bags, gloves, any kind of materials
37:08
Speaker 2: that you need for trash pickup, as well as you know,
37:10
Speaker 2: food and beverages. Too fantastic to kind of help out
37:13
Speaker 2: since you know, people are putting in their time and
37:16
Speaker 2: energy and we would love to just get more people
37:19
Speaker 2: from the community involved and make this kind of part
37:23
Speaker 2: of the lifestyle.
37:24
Speaker 1: Sure of being good stewards.
37:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, being good stewards.
37:27
Speaker 1: Oh, that's fantastic. Do you guys have an social media
37:29
Speaker 1: presence yet?
37:30
Speaker 2: For the we do?
37:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So how do people find that?
37:33
Speaker 2: You can find us on Instagram and Facebook at at
37:37
Speaker 2: over Lennexpo Foundation.
37:38
Speaker 1: Okay, and then how do people find out more about
37:42
Speaker 1: you and your travels? If you'd like people know more
37:45
Speaker 1: about you and your travels.
37:47
Speaker 2: I've kind of taken a step back, yeah.
37:50
Speaker 1: From less of the social media. I like that.
37:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'll let the foundation do social media.
37:54
Speaker 1: Okay, that sounds great. Well, Alison, thank you so much
37:57
Speaker 1: for being on the podcast. So it's been a play.
38:00
Speaker 1: Is there anything else that you would like to share?
38:03
Speaker 1: One of the things that we do like to ask
38:05
Speaker 1: is do you have a favorite book or do you
38:07
Speaker 1: have some book recommendations, travel books or anything else, something
38:10
Speaker 1: that's been really impactful for you, powerful for you. You'd
38:13
Speaker 1: say Jupiter's Travels, Eriel's.
38:15
Speaker 2: Does I know who did I read?
38:17
Speaker 1: So?
38:17
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, before my first trip, I think I
38:20
Speaker 2: read like Jack Kerouac. Yeah right, yeah, you know, this
38:24
Speaker 2: was before I knew about motorcycle travelers.
38:27
Speaker 1: Sure, and that's a great one.
38:28
Speaker 2: And then getting into the whole motorcycle travel world kind
38:32
Speaker 2: of opened it up. Yeah, I think it was. It
38:34
Speaker 2: was that.
38:35
Speaker 1: That's a great one. Now, if you if you were
38:37
Speaker 1: to sit down and have coffee with someone who had
38:40
Speaker 1: a life very much like you did in Los Angeles
38:43
Speaker 1: working in the entertainment industry, their solo traveler, and they
38:47
Speaker 1: want to go see the world, what would you tell them?
38:49
Speaker 1: What advice would you give them?
38:50
Speaker 2: Go and go slow?
38:51
Speaker 1: Because I love that.
38:52
Speaker 2: Although I took six months and it seems like a
38:54
Speaker 2: long time. I probably should have traveled maybe a third
38:57
Speaker 2: of the distance so that you can really slow down,
39:01
Speaker 2: take in the culture and just be in the environment
39:06
Speaker 2: and experience rather than rush through to the next I
39:10
Speaker 2: love it, so savor the experience.
39:12
Speaker 1: Well, is there anything else that you would like to
39:14
Speaker 1: share with our listeners or One.
39:16
Speaker 2: Program that's very near and dear to my heart that
39:19
Speaker 2: we just launched is the Change Your World Travel Grant,
39:23
Speaker 2: and so I'm very excited to share that. In speaking
39:25
Speaker 2: with Rosanna and Jonathan Hansen, who the original founders of
39:28
Speaker 2: over Lenexpo, they had created the Change World Fund back
39:31
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen to honor the memory of Alistair Farland,
39:36
Speaker 2: who correctly was a traveler who came to over Lenexpo
39:39
Speaker 2: East a few years prior to that. In discussing with them,
39:43
Speaker 2: as we kind of got some programs started with the foundation,
39:47
Speaker 2: we are excited that we are now taking over the
39:50
Speaker 2: Change World ethos and carrying on that program.
39:54
Speaker 1: Oh, that's wonderful.
39:55
Speaker 2: So we are motorcycle or vehicle at this point that
39:58
Speaker 2: are going above and be on the average overland journey
40:02
Speaker 2: and kind of giving back to either doing some sort
40:05
Speaker 2: of Stewardship project along the way, be it internationally. They
40:08
Speaker 2: can apply for a grant for up to five thousand
40:11
Speaker 2: dollars to fantastic help fund their travels because we want
40:15
Speaker 2: to help them in their travels as they give back.
40:19
Speaker 1: And then do you also provide some like technical support?
40:22
Speaker 1: With you being so well traveled, can you help these
40:24
Speaker 1: new travelers with logistics and advice and so that they
40:28
Speaker 1: can get support in leaving.
40:30
Speaker 2: And if I can't specifically do it, then we have
40:32
Speaker 2: a good network of people who can help answer questions,
40:35
Speaker 2: especially depending on the countries that they're traveling to.
40:37
Speaker 1: And then the Change your World they also find on
40:41
Speaker 1: the Overland Expo Foundation dot org. Okay, that's great. Yeah,
40:45
Speaker 1: that's exciting one. Yeah, very cool.
40:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're excited to carry on that name. Go
40:50
Speaker 2: to our website over Thenexpo Foundation dot org and see
40:53
Speaker 2: if anything sparks your interest because we'd love to have
40:57
Speaker 2: more people involved with the foundation.
40:59
Speaker 1: That sounds great and we hope hope that everyone does,
41:01
Speaker 1: and we hope that all of you go and that
41:04
Speaker 1: you go slow, and we thank you for listening. We'll
41:07
Speaker 1: talk to you next time.