Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Principles of Overlanding: Planning Your First Overland Journey

Transcript

Principles of Overlanding: Planning Your First Overland Journey · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the over Enginal podcast. I am
0:08
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I'm here with my co
0:10
Speaker 1: host Matt Scott and today's episode is brought to you
0:15
Speaker 1: by Danner Boots. This is a product I have used
0:18
Speaker 1: personally around the world, so has Matt. I have some
0:22
Speaker 1: great memories of crossing the Namib Desert in some of
0:25
Speaker 1: their desert boots. But today we're going to talk about
0:28
Speaker 1: the new Logger nine seventeen, which was inspired by the
0:32
Speaker 1: classic pattern and lines of Danner's original cocked logging boots
0:37
Speaker 1: made in the Pacific Northwest. Built with Danner's trusted quality
0:40
Speaker 1: and durability, the Logger nine seventeen is designed to ensure
0:44
Speaker 1: you're comfortable and dry wherever your overlanding takes you. With
0:49
Speaker 1: a gore Tex waterproof liner and Vibrum spe rubberized Eva midsoul,
0:55
Speaker 1: the Logger ninety seventeen offers performance, waterproofing and lightweight comfort,
1:00
Speaker 1: all in a rugged yet refined style. So thanks again
1:04
Speaker 1: to dan Or for supporting this podcast, and let's get
1:07
Speaker 1: on to the episode. And we're not only recording for
1:11
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and everywhere else that you may choose to
1:14
Speaker 1: listen to a podcast. We also now have YouTube. We
1:17
Speaker 1: have live video people YouTube. Yeah, so that's why I'm
1:22
Speaker 1: wearing a hat, just to spare you all because I
1:25
Speaker 1: wore a hat. No, it's mostly the glow from my
1:28
Speaker 1: bald head is what I'm wearing a hat.
1:30
Speaker 2: I was trying to hide my luscious blonde locks, but
1:33
Speaker 2: you know.
1:33
Speaker 1: I do not have locks of any kind. What what
1:35
Speaker 1: can we do? So we what are we going to
1:37
Speaker 1: talk about today?
1:38
Speaker 2: We're talking about planning your first overland adventure. And I
1:42
Speaker 2: really like this that this concept. I mean, I think
1:44
Speaker 2: that we do tend to pontificate about international travel and
1:48
Speaker 2: these significant explorative trips, but it all starts somewhere like
1:53
Speaker 2: I remember my first overland trip, my first four wheel
1:56
Speaker 2: drive trip.
1:57
Speaker 1: What was your first notable overland trip, the one that
2:00
Speaker 1: you really remember being afraid and underplanned? And I mean,
2:04
Speaker 1: you know, I'm originally from Chicago for those that don't know,
2:08
Speaker 1: and my my first real thing was when I moved
2:10
Speaker 1: out here to work for Exbistion Portal like ten years ago,
2:13
Speaker 1: and I honestly have to say it was loading up
2:15
Speaker 1: my super super janky TJ, which at the time I
2:19
Speaker 1: didn't even know was janky. I thought it was I
2:24
Speaker 1: thought it was the panty dropper. It was.
2:27
Speaker 2: Ignorant cool, but it had like a eight inch long
2:32
Speaker 2: arm lift in thirty five's and like I remember, probably
2:35
Speaker 2: had some kind of tube.
2:36
Speaker 1: Door on it. It broke a lot.
2:39
Speaker 2: I remember going through like Mexican hat Utah, which is
2:43
Speaker 2: now a place that I don't even link to go through,
2:46
Speaker 2: and I'm like, oh my god, if I break down here,
2:49
Speaker 2: I'll be on expedition. But the point that I'm going
2:54
Speaker 2: is everybody starts somewhere. And I think that we've both
2:59
Speaker 2: made a lot of miss I mean, you were saying
3:00
Speaker 2: that you had enough, you had enough fuel to go
3:03
Speaker 2: to Cleveland when you did, and you did your first trip.
3:06
Speaker 1: My first memorable longer distance overland trip was El Camino
3:11
Speaker 1: del Diablo in southern Arizona, and it is about one
3:14
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles or so between fuel points, and
3:18
Speaker 1: you do get fairly remote. You run a lot of
3:20
Speaker 1: it along the along the Mexican border. And I definitely
3:24
Speaker 1: had enough fuel to do the trip probably four four times.
3:28
Speaker 1: I had it strapped to the I had every like
3:31
Speaker 1: lawn gasoline container and they were all the wrong size,
3:36
Speaker 1: and like none of them was a natocan. They were
3:38
Speaker 1: all they all leaked and none of them would strap down,
3:42
Speaker 1: and they all swelled because of the corrugations and the
3:45
Speaker 1: heat and everything sure changes. Yeah, and I towed a
3:48
Speaker 1: trailer filled with a bunch more stuff that I didn't need.
3:52
Speaker 1: I mean, it's amazing that that little trip. Do you
3:54
Speaker 1: have your ice axe with you for the desert? I
3:56
Speaker 1: think I did. I think I did. I think I
3:58
Speaker 1: had an ice axe and about five compass and yeah, everything. It.
4:04
Speaker 2: The point here is that you can you can do
4:06
Speaker 2: a lot with surprisingly little. And I think that that's
4:10
Speaker 2: really what we're both trying to say, is that you
4:12
Speaker 2: don't you don't have to be overprepared. You just have
4:16
Speaker 2: to not be under prepared. I think that that's that's
4:19
Speaker 2: a big thing, and it's it's totally okay to recognize
4:24
Speaker 2: that you have anxiety about doing, you know, your first
4:28
Speaker 2: extended off road trip.
4:30
Speaker 1: I certainly did. I remember feeling like that I didn't
4:34
Speaker 1: have enough information. I was worried I was going to
4:37
Speaker 1: get lost. I didn't know I didn't know what was
4:39
Speaker 1: going to happen if I broke down. I do remember
4:41
Speaker 1: feeling that anxiety and I and I Also, I think
4:46
Speaker 1: it's just important for people to also give themselves some grace.
4:49
Speaker 1: If you do take enough fuel to go to Cleveland,
4:51
Speaker 1: it's just.
4:51
Speaker 2: Okay if that is what enables you to do the trip,
4:56
Speaker 2: you know, cause I think one of the things that
4:57
Speaker 2: we were talking about is it's it's generally not just
4:59
Speaker 2: the driver. You know, there's a lot of other people
5:02
Speaker 2: involved in the trip. And you know, let's say your
5:05
Speaker 2: wife's driving and you're the one in the passenger seat
5:07
Speaker 2: that is absolutely terrified of running out of gas. If
5:10
Speaker 2: that makes the passenger more comfortable, yeah, bring some more
5:14
Speaker 2: fuel along, bring some more fuel whatever. Like it's it's
5:16
Speaker 2: not going to hurt anybody, sew the people who are
5:19
Speaker 2: overly critical, because I assure you ninety percent of those
5:23
Speaker 2: people just probably haven't.
5:26
Speaker 1: Done half the things they claim to do.
5:28
Speaker 2: Maybe that's the wrong way to say it, but they're
5:30
Speaker 2: not as experienced as they'd love to portray to be.
5:33
Speaker 2: There are a lot of Internet experts, so.
5:36
Speaker 1: Just yeah, be gentle on yourself and recognize that we've
5:40
Speaker 1: all started from somewhere. Even that person on the Internet
5:43
Speaker 1: that's espousing all of their knowledge, they started with their
5:47
Speaker 1: first trip as well. And I do remember being anxious,
5:50
Speaker 1: and I remember being worried, and I remember over planning
5:55
Speaker 1: some parts of it and underplanning other parts of it.
5:58
Speaker 1: One of the things that we wanted to talk about
6:00
Speaker 1: on this podcast is just go local first. Yeah, go
6:04
Speaker 1: close enough to home where if something doesn't work, the
6:06
Speaker 1: tent breaks or the stove doesn't light or whatever, you
6:10
Speaker 1: can drive home and still enjoy the rest of your
6:13
Speaker 1: weekend and learn from that. And it doesn't mean don't
6:16
Speaker 1: go for it. I mean there have been people. I
6:17
Speaker 1: think about the first overland trip, those guys that drove
6:20
Speaker 1: from from London to Singapore, they had no real experience.
6:23
Speaker 1: They just set off Karen and khon the Wubbles that
6:28
Speaker 1: have that yellow FJ forty five that we all admire
6:32
Speaker 1: and not only adore their vehicle, but they've had these
6:35
Speaker 1: amazing trips. When they left on their overland trip was
6:38
Speaker 1: the first time they had ever done a trip. So
6:40
Speaker 1: they left their home and started driving east to take
6:44
Speaker 1: the Silk Road and they had never overlanded before of
6:48
Speaker 1: any note. So that's amazing to me. It just shows
6:51
Speaker 1: that sometimes if you don't know what's coming, that can
6:54
Speaker 1: also empower you to just do it and I think
6:56
Speaker 1: savor that first trip.
6:57
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm talking about that trip when I drove
7:00
Speaker 2: about West for my first time and I'm camping here
7:02
Speaker 2: and I'm doing this, and I went through Moab and
7:05
Speaker 2: I thought Moab was this crazy place. Now, I I
7:13
Speaker 2: wish I could have that. I'm not saying I wish
7:15
Speaker 2: I could have the anxiety that came along with planning
7:18
Speaker 2: for that, but I wish I could have that excitement
7:21
Speaker 2: that this trip, your first overall and trip has the
7:24
Speaker 2: potential to be your best. Right, you know, savor savor
7:29
Speaker 2: the things that go wrong. You know, there's that saying
7:31
Speaker 2: adventure doesn't start and and something goes wrong, But it's
7:37
Speaker 2: kind of true. I mean, I I've we've both been
7:39
Speaker 2: on trips where you know, we've we've done this a
7:42
Speaker 2: few times, and we plan them to the nth degree.
7:45
Speaker 1: And I don't want to say that they're boring. They're
7:47
Speaker 1: very enjoyable.
7:49
Speaker 2: But I but I but I missed those those rookie mistakes,
7:53
Speaker 2: those those new things that you know you can't replicate
7:59
Speaker 2: seeing something for the first time in such a different way. Sure,
8:02
Speaker 2: I mean, I was a kid from the Sebres of
8:04
Speaker 2: Chicago that you know, had dreamed of driving past the
8:08
Speaker 2: continental Divide. I had never really camped, I had never
8:12
Speaker 2: really done, you know, a lot of the things that
8:14
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. But you know, you you just
8:18
Speaker 2: you have to do your first trip, yep, and don't
8:21
Speaker 2: hold yourself to be too critical. I think that that's
8:24
Speaker 2: that's that's just super important.
8:26
Speaker 1: And I love it that I still make tons of mistakes.
8:29
Speaker 1: I mean when I when I did the bigger, maybe
8:33
Speaker 1: more serious trips where there was a lot of consequence,
8:36
Speaker 1: I probably overplanned because it was necessary.
8:39
Speaker 2: Like when you're in Greenland, though, yeah, and you have
8:41
Speaker 2: to underplan. Legitimately people can die, yeah, right, And that
8:48
Speaker 2: was definitely true of Antarctica, and it even regulations required
8:52
Speaker 2: a certain degree of planning. But I do like it
8:55
Speaker 2: now when like, for example, when I did that trip
8:58
Speaker 2: on the motorcycle to Swaziland and I've got a little
9:00
Speaker 2: just one bag strapped to the back and we've kind
9:03
Speaker 2: of spread our tools out between the three of us
9:05
Speaker 2: and we really don't have a plan and we were
9:07
Speaker 2: getting lost, and it was just it was perfect because
9:11
Speaker 2: it felt comfortable to be in that state of chaos.
9:14
Speaker 2: And I think that that's one of the things that
9:16
Speaker 2: I wanted to talk about on this podcast is that
9:20
Speaker 2: inherently things will not go as planned, and it's okay
9:24
Speaker 2: because we oftentimes have people with us. We have our
9:28
Speaker 2: our partner, we have our kids, possibly our families with us,
9:31
Speaker 2: maybe a parent that when things don't go well, or
9:35
Speaker 2: that brand new GPS stops working, or or we forget.
9:39
Speaker 2: I mean the last trip that I went on, I
9:40
Speaker 2: forgot all of my maps, and at first I got
9:43
Speaker 2: frustrated with myself, and then I just thought, I'm doing
9:46
Speaker 2: something wonderful with somebody that I care about.
9:48
Speaker 1: Why shouldn't I just let that go? And if I
9:52
Speaker 1: get lost, It's okay because I've got an in reach
9:55
Speaker 1: and I've you know, I'm I'm on the mogi on rim.
9:58
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get that lost. Actually, I'm going
10:00
Speaker 1: to bump into a.
10:01
Speaker 2: Road eventually there will be, Yeah, a UTV filled with
10:04
Speaker 2: cors light.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure, for sure. Yeah.
10:08
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you kind of talked about family
10:11
Speaker 2: in the process, and I think that that's something that
10:15
Speaker 2: you know that I've learned, is it's it's just important
10:18
Speaker 2: to involve other people in the planning, you know, It's.
10:24
Speaker 1: It's not all about the person behind the wheel.
10:26
Speaker 2: And I think that if more people knew that going out,
10:33
Speaker 2: more people would be doing this.
10:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, the more you engage your family, like, for example,
10:38
Speaker 1: if if your husband he's hesitant to go camping, he
10:41
Speaker 1: doesn't know how to drive a manual, it's not really
10:43
Speaker 1: an outdoors guy, and you're you're like, I really want
10:47
Speaker 1: to go on this trip. Take him out and show
10:48
Speaker 1: him how to drive a manual. Make that be part
10:50
Speaker 1: of the fun. Show him a little bit more of
10:53
Speaker 1: how the camping gear works, how to light the stove
10:55
Speaker 1: or whatever, so that he feels more comfortable as your
10:58
Speaker 1: passenger when you take him out in to the back
11:00
Speaker 1: of beyond.
11:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and learn how to shit in the woods.
11:03
Speaker 2: I know that that sounds that's a really big thing.
11:06
Speaker 2: But did I know how to effectively and properly do
11:09
Speaker 2: that when I first started going camping.
11:11
Speaker 1: No, But it's like one of those things like, oh,
11:13
Speaker 1: he doesn't know how to go in the woods, Like, yeah, okay, cool,
11:17
Speaker 1: you'll learn.
11:18
Speaker 2: It's something that I have been doing for a really
11:21
Speaker 2: long time. You know, it does kind of come naturally
11:24
Speaker 2: once you Yeah, it does come naturally, so you know.
11:26
Speaker 1: But but maybe that was a crude example.
11:30
Speaker 2: But the point being that, well, you always talk with
11:33
Speaker 2: a Dunning Krueger effect. You know, it's the the more
11:37
Speaker 2: you know, the more you know that you don't actually
11:41
Speaker 2: know as much as you think you do. And there's
11:43
Speaker 2: this weird bell curve of people that love to talk
11:48
Speaker 2: smack to beginners because they were one five minutes ago,
11:52
Speaker 2: five minutes ago. So you know, don't listen to those people.
11:56
Speaker 2: You know, recognize people's fears, recognize people shortcomings, and figure
12:02
Speaker 2: it out.
12:02
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe that.
12:03
Speaker 2: Means that you go, you know, you go camping in
12:06
Speaker 2: a state park next to your house for a night
12:09
Speaker 2: just to sort stuff out. How do you set the
12:12
Speaker 2: tent up and how you figure out how to put
12:15
Speaker 2: the car into low range or whatever. That means, just
12:21
Speaker 2: don't be afraid of the first time. I mean, certainly,
12:26
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of people in the community
12:29
Speaker 2: that you know, would love to help.
12:32
Speaker 1: But yeah, absolutely, And I think also what I recognized
12:37
Speaker 1: in the beginning was that I was doing a lot
12:40
Speaker 1: of the trips that I was doing a lot of
12:41
Speaker 1: the activities around the trips that I was doing, was
12:44
Speaker 1: I was emulating people that I either aspired to be
12:47
Speaker 1: or I deeply respected, and I realized that that that's
12:52
Speaker 1: often a mistake. That the best thing to do is
12:54
Speaker 1: sit down with your partner, sit down with your family,
12:57
Speaker 1: sit down with yourself if you're solo traveling, and really
13:00
Speaker 1: decide what it is that makes you happy, that gets
13:03
Speaker 1: you excited about being a traveler. Is it that you
13:06
Speaker 1: love history, Is it that you really love good food
13:09
Speaker 1: and in crazy places? And yeah, you've watched a lot
13:12
Speaker 1: of Anthony or Bordain, who's a great person to aspire
13:15
Speaker 1: to be.
13:15
Speaker 2: A huge motivation for me was was the food. I
13:19
Speaker 2: look at people that have like Mountain House little freeze
13:23
Speaker 2: dried meals when they're camping, and they like, they're convinced
13:26
Speaker 2: that that's cool.
13:28
Speaker 1: Like, you don't need it. I mean, maybe you have
13:30
Speaker 1: a couple of them for an emergency, but never Yeah,
13:33
Speaker 1: I mean, and there's better and brother starve. Yeah, I
13:36
Speaker 1: figure I can. I could probably last a while out
13:39
Speaker 1: there in the back.
13:40
Speaker 2: Of the Always bring water, don't bring freeze dried food
13:43
Speaker 2: when you have a car to transport real food.
13:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. But then other people like, if you're
13:50
Speaker 1: comfortable with that totally, Yeah, if it makes you feel
13:52
Speaker 1: like that you're a little more prepared, or if you're
13:54
Speaker 1: going someplace super remote again back to Antarctica and Greenland.
13:58
Speaker 1: There's only so much fresh food that you can take
14:01
Speaker 1: along for over a month of travel, so I think
14:06
Speaker 1: we did. We did have some some Shackleton's whiskey for
14:10
Speaker 1: the South Pole, thanks to Chris Collard, So yeah, but
14:14
Speaker 1: we did.
14:14
Speaker 2: We didn't have much as far as like back just
14:16
Speaker 2: started in the state park next to your house. So yeah, yeah,
14:19
Speaker 2: what are the things that actually interests you? Right, you know,
14:22
Speaker 2: and and we're going to kind of move into how
14:24
Speaker 2: to plan that trip? And I think that this is
14:27
Speaker 2: I guess maybe a little bit of an interesting of
14:28
Speaker 2: a segue for sure, but ahead a plan. But you know,
14:32
Speaker 2: I love Google My Maps. It's basically a feature within
14:37
Speaker 2: Google Maps, and it allows you to I mean, I
14:42
Speaker 2: guess safe way points.
14:44
Speaker 1: You can save pois, you can save way points. You
14:46
Speaker 1: can import XML files, you can import KML files, you
14:50
Speaker 1: can export both of those file formats as well. You
14:53
Speaker 1: can plan and draw entire routes. It's super it's super accessible, free.
14:59
Speaker 1: Two that for most things that I feel a beginner
15:04
Speaker 1: is going to do. It allows you to actually see
15:07
Speaker 1: on the map where the gas stations are, where the
15:10
Speaker 1: grocery store is where the state park, you know, where
15:14
Speaker 1: the state park check in office is where you know,
15:17
Speaker 1: all of these things, like the world is on Google Maps.
15:20
Speaker 1: If it's not on Google Maps, it it doesn't essentially exist. Now,
15:24
Speaker 1: I will say that if you are planning a more
15:27
Speaker 1: technical four wheel drive route, like you're going to go
15:29
Speaker 1: and you're gonna, man, I don't I don't.
15:33
Speaker 2: Know Kenzie trail or yeah, something in a little bit
15:36
Speaker 2: more core, you might be better served by Gaya or
15:40
Speaker 2: Onyx or or something like that. But when it comes
15:42
Speaker 2: to just compiling data for travel, not necessarily purely off road,
15:49
Speaker 2: you know, recreational sport, four wheel driving, I always start
15:54
Speaker 2: in Google and then I will transfer things elsewhere, you know.
15:58
Speaker 1: And it translates. You can do all of that planning
16:01
Speaker 1: in Google my Maps, which, by the way, for those
16:04
Speaker 1: of you who are subscribers to Overland Journal magazine, when
16:08
Speaker 1: you see a map in Overland Journal, they were all
16:11
Speaker 1: create all of the base files were created in Google
16:14
Speaker 1: my Maps because it's such an easy way to share information.
16:17
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and you can collaborate with people, you know, again,
16:21
Speaker 2: pulling on that community. One of the things that even
16:24
Speaker 2: I do, I'll use Baja for example. I really love
16:27
Speaker 2: Baha Baha as a place that you can spend a
16:30
Speaker 2: lifetime going to and you could never on your own
16:33
Speaker 2: compile a sufficient amount of knowledge. It's oh, take this
16:38
Speaker 2: little track to this little beach where you're going to
16:41
Speaker 2: meet this guy and he's going to unlock the gate
16:43
Speaker 2: for you.
16:44
Speaker 1: You know.
16:44
Speaker 2: With Google My Maps, you can literally go to somebody
16:47
Speaker 2: that maybe you know that has been down there a
16:50
Speaker 2: few times and hey, this is where we're thinking about going.
16:53
Speaker 2: Could you mark a few places on the map for me.
16:55
Speaker 1: You can share it with them.
16:56
Speaker 2: It can be collaborative and it and since it is
16:59
Speaker 2: Google and it's not a more uh specific app, it's
17:07
Speaker 2: accessible to everybody. Everyone can use Google. Not everybody is
17:11
Speaker 2: going to have on X or Gaya or a variety
17:16
Speaker 2: of these thingshema if you're in Australia or something. It's
17:20
Speaker 2: just it's really easy to plan.
17:23
Speaker 1: You know.
17:24
Speaker 2: Obviously we're we're recording this during the whole COVID thing.
17:28
Speaker 2: You know, we were hoping to be in Alaska basically now,
17:32
Speaker 2: you know for a few months this summer and one
17:35
Speaker 2: of the things that I've been going back and I'm
17:36
Speaker 2: adding to this Google My maps like that's how I'm planning,
17:40
Speaker 2: particularly those trips where you're you're covering long distances where
17:44
Speaker 2: you have to interact with civilization, you have to know where, Okay, cool, Well,
17:49
Speaker 2: if I'm going to go to Quino City in the
17:51
Speaker 2: middle of the Yukon, I actually need to know where
17:53
Speaker 2: I need to get gas. And that's really really easy
17:56
Speaker 2: to do it on Google My Maps. That's not something
17:59
Speaker 2: that you could do on Gaya or Onyx. They just
18:01
Speaker 2: don't they don't have that data available.
18:06
Speaker 1: And I love how you can switch back and forth
18:08
Speaker 1: between satellite images and their base maps. So if you're
18:11
Speaker 1: a little uncertain, okay, where does that trail peel off
18:14
Speaker 1: from the highway, you can switch over to satellite and
18:17
Speaker 1: sure enough it's right there, plain as day. You can
18:19
Speaker 1: drop a waypoint and then you can take that whole
18:22
Speaker 1: project and export it as a KMO file, KMZ file,
18:26
Speaker 1: XML file as well, And most of those can be
18:31
Speaker 1: consumed by both Gaya and on x or ema if.
18:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you want a dedicated device, I mean,
18:38
Speaker 2: some people just don't want to have things on their phone.
18:42
Speaker 2: Like that Garment Overlander. You can plan things, I think
18:45
Speaker 2: on Garment's website correct. I have a lot of friends
18:48
Speaker 2: that use that. I think it has ioverlander built in,
18:51
Speaker 2: it does all those pois. Yeah, an ioverlander is a
18:55
Speaker 2: fantastic application in a website.
18:58
Speaker 1: I use it frequently.
19:02
Speaker 2: I think, you know, again, not to keep bringing up anxiety,
19:06
Speaker 2: but I think there's a lot of anxiety that comes
19:08
Speaker 2: into your first Overlain trip and knowing where you're camping.
19:12
Speaker 2: As far as planning a route, I think that that
19:16
Speaker 2: is that is where you start. You have to you
19:18
Speaker 2: kind of have to know where you're sleeping. I think
19:21
Speaker 2: once you've done it a few times, you can kind
19:23
Speaker 2: of learn to go with the flow and oh, yeah,
19:26
Speaker 2: well we made it a little bit further. So we're
19:27
Speaker 2: going to find another spot up here or wherever that
19:31
Speaker 2: may be using tools like I overlander two three years ago,
19:37
Speaker 2: it was not the resource it was now. If you
19:40
Speaker 2: want to find cool you know, vehicle based camping specific spots,
19:45
Speaker 2: I overlanders wonderful.
19:48
Speaker 1: I use it all the time now. I started using
19:50
Speaker 1: it only this year. I did a trip because of
19:54
Speaker 1: again the scenario that we're in right now as a
19:57
Speaker 1: as a global community, I have able to travel internationally.
20:01
Speaker 1: So I hopped in an Earth Cruiser and started going
20:04
Speaker 1: up and down the Oregon coast, and I was just
20:07
Speaker 1: letting it totally be serendipitous. And sure enough you pull
20:10
Speaker 1: up I Overlander, and here's a perfect little camp spot
20:13
Speaker 1: right there on the coast. And there is one thing
20:16
Speaker 1: that comes to mind though on a lot of these
20:17
Speaker 1: community based tools, is we have to be very careful
20:21
Speaker 1: around overuse. We have to be super cautious to leave
20:25
Speaker 1: places better than we found them. If you see trash there,
20:29
Speaker 1: it is your responsibility to pick it up, because there's
20:33
Speaker 1: no question about that. I wouldn't consider any argument to
20:35
Speaker 1: the contrary. If there is trash at an Ioverlander spot,
20:39
Speaker 1: you are an Overlander that's using a tool to get there,
20:41
Speaker 1: and it's the place has been trashed, take the fifteen minutes,
20:45
Speaker 1: pull out a trash bag and clean it up, because
20:48
Speaker 1: people that are in that local area are going to
20:50
Speaker 1: associate I Overlander and Overlanders with that trash, whether it
20:54
Speaker 1: came from an Overlander or not. And also, if you
20:57
Speaker 1: can find other camp sites nearby, don't camp at the
21:00
Speaker 1: one where the pin's been dropped to start to distribute
21:03
Speaker 1: some of the the impact into other locations as well.
21:08
Speaker 1: So we do have responsibility as travelers when we use
21:11
Speaker 1: tools like that.
21:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think I overlander is it's just a
21:17
Speaker 2: hugely powerful tool, very helpful to be able to plan.
21:21
Speaker 2: Oh well, there's a little turn off here where you
21:23
Speaker 2: can camp outside of town. It's it's just huge and
21:26
Speaker 2: I think, you know, try to not set the expectations
21:30
Speaker 2: for your first adventure, for your first overland journey too high.
21:34
Speaker 2: If you are, you know, thinking that you're going to
21:38
Speaker 2: be Renel finds the first time you leave Iowa, You're
21:43
Speaker 2: probably not.
21:44
Speaker 1: It's not lose a few more fingers than he did.
21:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the point being keep yourself comfortable, keep
21:51
Speaker 2: yourself sane. You know, consider everybody that is in your
21:55
Speaker 2: entire party. They may not have the same you know,
21:59
Speaker 2: tough constitution that you do. So don't feel like you
22:04
Speaker 2: have to write off the bat. Go for the most remote,
22:06
Speaker 2: most technical trip. And I think it goes with that
22:10
Speaker 2: saying like if you are going to go off road
22:12
Speaker 2: and you don't have a lot of experience, you know,
22:14
Speaker 2: look up the I for WDTA. It's the International four
22:17
Speaker 2: Wheel Drive Trainers Association. They are a great place to
22:20
Speaker 2: start for getting proper training. If there isn't an IFO
22:24
Speaker 2: WDTA person. I'm not saying that they have to be
22:27
Speaker 2: an I for WDTA person.
22:29
Speaker 1: They are really the.
22:30
Speaker 2: Only major governing body governing body, so it's a great
22:34
Speaker 2: place to start for recommendations. But you know, find a
22:37
Speaker 2: local four wheel drive club, find a a local guide
22:42
Speaker 2: or a local trainer. I shouldn't say guide, find a
22:44
Speaker 2: local trainer.
22:45
Speaker 1: That is.
22:46
Speaker 2: You know, they're going to be a great resource for you.
22:48
Speaker 2: Take a class with them and they'll.
22:49
Speaker 1: Give a lot of confidence for those first couple trips. Yeah,
22:54
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting if we if we engage the people
22:57
Speaker 1: that we travel with in the process, it all ways
23:00
Speaker 1: seems to go better. Yes, the more that we silo
23:04
Speaker 1: our goals and desires and don't engage our families or
23:09
Speaker 1: our partners, it tends to go much worse. So people
23:13
Speaker 1: just want to know people want to be involved with
23:15
Speaker 1: the planning. They're taking their time to ask your kids
23:18
Speaker 1: what they want to see. Yeah, maybe maybe your daughter
23:21
Speaker 1: wants to see the world's biggest ball yarn and it's
23:23
Speaker 1: only a twenty mile detour. Got the ball, go to
23:27
Speaker 1: the go to the ballyarn and enjoy that part of
23:30
Speaker 1: the experience by doing that with your family.
23:32
Speaker 2: I think it's really important. You know, you may enjoy
23:37
Speaker 2: the trail. I think people tend to, you know, I
23:40
Speaker 2: think at a very broad level, what is the difference
23:43
Speaker 2: between overlanding and four wheel driving. It's the things you
23:46
Speaker 2: see outside of the trail totally that might be controversial.
23:50
Speaker 2: But if you're going and you are you're just going
23:55
Speaker 2: to do Hell's Revenge and Moab or you're just going
23:58
Speaker 2: to do you know, fins and things, you're not overlanding.
24:02
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
24:03
Speaker 1: I know if you're just.
24:06
Speaker 2: And there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're going
24:08
Speaker 2: to go and you're going to do Lockhart Basin, well
24:12
Speaker 2: maybe somebody in your car is really into hiking and
24:15
Speaker 2: there's some amazing places once you get back there that
24:18
Speaker 2: have Colorado River access that are that are great hikes.
24:21
Speaker 2: That adds to the trip that is overlanding.
24:23
Speaker 1: That is it is.
24:24
Speaker 2: It is a more holistic travel based view at you know,
24:29
Speaker 2: remote vehicle.
24:31
Speaker 1: Travel and stop, take a hike, go check out the
24:35
Speaker 1: petroc lypts. I was so horrible with this when I
24:38
Speaker 1: first started.
24:39
Speaker 2: I I wouldn't get out of the car, you know,
24:42
Speaker 2: the idea of of taking my you know, at the
24:45
Speaker 2: time ground tent and placing it otherwhere anywhere next to
24:49
Speaker 2: my car. You know, maybe there's a better campsite that
24:52
Speaker 2: your car can't get to be open. I think is
24:56
Speaker 2: I think is really all we are advocating.
24:59
Speaker 1: For and.
25:01
Speaker 2: Really try to figure out what everybody in the car
25:04
Speaker 2: wants to do.
25:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, honor the desires of the people that are with you,
25:08
Speaker 1: and you'll end up with a better result for sure. Yeah.
25:10
Speaker 2: Because a car of unhappy people getting bounced around a
25:13
Speaker 2: rocky four wheel drive trail, it's going to come back
25:16
Speaker 2: to bite you. It's going to come back to bite
25:18
Speaker 2: you like it's it's just not fun, but right.
25:22
Speaker 1: So one of the things that I think is helpful
25:25
Speaker 1: and I still enjoy to this day is buying a
25:29
Speaker 1: couple guide books, buying a couple overlanding getting started with
25:33
Speaker 1: overlanding books. Yeah, we've handled those of you that are
25:37
Speaker 1: here that are watching the videos. So this one's done
25:40
Speaker 1: by Graham Bell. It's it's beautifully designed. Yeah, great photography text.
25:46
Speaker 1: I wish it open to an image and a bunch
25:48
Speaker 1: of and a bunch of great insights into travel. With
25:51
Speaker 1: a family, they traveled around the world, four of them
25:54
Speaker 1: in a Defender one pint thirty, so a lot of
25:57
Speaker 1: great lessons in that, and then of course the evergreen
26:00
Speaker 1: Chris Scott Overlander's Handbook. It does certainly go into the
26:04
Speaker 1: weeds of things that you would need for big global travel,
26:08
Speaker 1: but it has tons of practical considerations. One of the
26:12
Speaker 1: things I really like about Chris Scott is he does
26:16
Speaker 1: not spend money where it doesn't need to be spent.
26:18
Speaker 1: He spends the majority of his money on the experience.
26:21
Speaker 1: So there's lots of insights into spending less, going further
26:26
Speaker 1: with your budget.
26:27
Speaker 2: I think he's really practical, very practical, very very practical guy. Great,
26:31
Speaker 2: great dude. And let's not forget actual paper maps. There's
26:36
Speaker 2: such joy in having those. I have to say that,
26:38
Speaker 2: you know, there's all of this talk about how I
26:41
Speaker 2: love Google Maps and these apps. One always have paper
26:46
Speaker 2: maps because your cell phone can fall, and it can break,
26:49
Speaker 2: it can run out of charge, you may have to
26:51
Speaker 2: leave your vehicle. I'm not trying to paint like this
26:55
Speaker 2: terrible picture of all of these things that can go wrong,
26:57
Speaker 2: because you know, ninety nine point nine percent of the
27:00
Speaker 2: time nothing is. But I think that there's something special
27:03
Speaker 2: to kind of just like opening a map and you're
27:05
Speaker 2: like you see a different scale, right, yeah, like oh, okay, cool,
27:08
Speaker 2: Well this town is close to this town and then
27:12
Speaker 2: there's this road. Let's check it out. Always, always, always
27:17
Speaker 2: have paper maps. And in today's day and age, maps
27:20
Speaker 2: are cheap. This is twenty two dollars and you know
27:25
Speaker 2: this one particular one is for the state of Montana,
27:28
Speaker 2: but it is it is quite detailed. They make these
27:32
Speaker 2: for most western states, where.
27:36
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, I think it's just good to have
27:38
Speaker 1: them in the vehicle and include some of the neighboring
27:41
Speaker 1: states as where well, because you never know if you
27:43
Speaker 1: want to extend by a couple of days, I'll use
27:46
Speaker 1: the paper maps to kind of start the day. I'll
27:49
Speaker 1: sit down with those that I'm traveling with and say, oh,
27:51
Speaker 1: this is kind of where we're going, and it gives people.
27:53
Speaker 2: They're great for kids, they're great for your partner, they're
27:56
Speaker 2: great for whoever you're planning the trip with to just
27:59
Speaker 2: you know, because looking at your own screen, like there's
28:02
Speaker 2: that anxiety of handling somebody your phone or your iPad
28:05
Speaker 2: or whatever, god for bed. They look through your internet history,
28:08
Speaker 2: but there's no internet history with paper maps. So it's
28:12
Speaker 2: just a wonderful thing to plan with. I really really advocate.
28:15
Speaker 2: I know it sounds like a really basic thing, but
28:17
Speaker 2: it's super important, you know, make sure that their topographic maps,
28:21
Speaker 2: make sure that they are targeted towards backcountry travel. A
28:26
Speaker 2: lot of the generic atlases that you get from Rand McNally,
28:30
Speaker 2: those are oriented for highway travel. That's really what they're
28:34
Speaker 2: meant and designed for, and that's fine.
28:38
Speaker 1: That's one of the things that I like about the
28:40
Speaker 1: Benchmark maps is that they have they indicate what it's
28:45
Speaker 1: private land, public land, national forests. In Arizona, for example,
28:50
Speaker 1: you have to have a permit to be on state
28:52
Speaker 1: trust land. That's true of many states, so, you know,
28:56
Speaker 1: and Onyx certainly helps with that team.
28:58
Speaker 2: Honest as the best as far that I found, as
29:00
Speaker 2: far as whose land are you want? Can you actually
29:03
Speaker 2: be there? I think their background is in hunting, you know.
29:06
Speaker 2: The the Onyx app is wonderful. We've talked about Google
29:11
Speaker 2: My Maps, We've talked about Gaya. I think that Onyx
29:15
Speaker 2: is really really beneficial for people that are starting from
29:18
Speaker 2: the beginning. When I pull it up in Prescott here,
29:21
Speaker 2: you know, they've kind of digitized the forest roads and
29:25
Speaker 2: trails and some of the forest roads that aren't just
29:30
Speaker 2: generic roads that like let's say Smiley Rock, which is
29:33
Speaker 2: a trail by us, will actually kind of be a
29:35
Speaker 2: user review and you can see some photos of where
29:38
Speaker 2: you're going to.
29:38
Speaker 1: Go, how you're going to do it.
29:39
Speaker 2: It's a great a great entry level tool, and not
29:43
Speaker 2: just entry level, because yeah, I mean I use it
29:45
Speaker 2: all the companial level.
29:46
Speaker 1: I don't care.
29:46
Speaker 2: I still use it, you know, And that's an app
29:50
Speaker 2: that is from a I mean, I think, a pretty
29:52
Speaker 2: reputable company that has some cool things coming out.
29:54
Speaker 1: In the future.
29:56
Speaker 2: But we should probably get into like the basic equipment
30:00
Speaker 2: that you should bring with you.
30:02
Speaker 1: That's right, and we do have a fairly thorough podcast
30:06
Speaker 1: it's podcast number twenty where we talk about basic equipment
30:10
Speaker 1: that you need to bring for overland travel. But I
30:12
Speaker 1: think it's important to touch on those key pieces because again,
30:17
Speaker 1: the goal here is just to encourage everyone and even
30:20
Speaker 1: ourselves to remind mad and myself that the key is
30:23
Speaker 1: just to go. Just go and travel the world, see
30:26
Speaker 1: what you want to go see, and don't make it
30:28
Speaker 1: about the gear, don't make it about the vehicle. It
30:30
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what car you've got. You can go around
30:33
Speaker 1: the world in the Subaru go around the world in
30:35
Speaker 1: Hana Civic for that matter. So it's really about getting
30:38
Speaker 1: out there. But there are things that as we start
30:41
Speaker 1: to get outside of the infrastructure of paved roads and
30:44
Speaker 1: cities and travel and logistics routes that you need to
30:50
Speaker 1: take into consideration.
30:52
Speaker 2: And I think it's just a matter of being responsible
30:55
Speaker 2: and self sufficient. You don't want to be a burden
30:58
Speaker 2: on the system. You don't want to be going to
31:01
Speaker 2: I mean, how many people go to Moab that are
31:03
Speaker 2: just woefully ill prepared. You know, they don't have any communication,
31:08
Speaker 2: they don't have any maps or navigation, they no emergency supplies,
31:11
Speaker 2: no tools, nothing. You know, they become a burden. And
31:16
Speaker 2: we don't want this community to be a burden on
31:18
Speaker 2: local areas. I think that that's really important.
31:21
Speaker 1: And just recently Nina Barlow from you know Barlow they
31:26
Speaker 1: do jeep rental Marlow Adventures. Yeah. Yeah, she wrote a
31:29
Speaker 1: story about one of their clients that died recently in
31:33
Speaker 1: the Canyon Lands area because he didn't go prepared, he
31:36
Speaker 1: didn't have enough water. He got back to within a
31:39
Speaker 1: half a mile from his jeep before he died. I
31:41
Speaker 1: mean that is so tragic. Yeah, to not just take
31:44
Speaker 1: that extra step of making sure you have good communications
31:47
Speaker 1: or something with it.
31:48
Speaker 2: And that is not a reflection on Nina. Nina's business
31:51
Speaker 2: as one of the foremost outfitters I think, no question.
31:54
Speaker 2: I mean, she's an I FORWDTA trainer. She leads a
31:57
Speaker 2: lot of training. She's a very prepared woman, very talented trainer.
32:02
Speaker 2: You know, she would have run this guy through totally,
32:06
Speaker 2: through through all of the processes. It sounds trivial, but yeah,
32:10
Speaker 2: so many people die because they don't bring enough water,
32:14
Speaker 2: particularly in the Southwest. They you know, they're they're you know,
32:18
Speaker 2: I don't want to paint a picture, but typically they're
32:21
Speaker 2: coming from a city or or something like that. I mean,
32:24
Speaker 2: they don't even have to be they can be anyone,
32:26
Speaker 2: but they you know, they they don't figure in they
32:30
Speaker 2: affected the altitude that's going to happen. They don't affect
32:33
Speaker 2: the dryness in the air on the west coast. They
32:36
Speaker 2: don't affect you know, consider the effect of the sun
32:39
Speaker 2: and you can.
32:40
Speaker 1: The difficulty of the terrain and the fact that you're
32:42
Speaker 1: walking through sand. Uh. Yeah, and you know wrote the story.
32:46
Speaker 1: It was actually on expedition portal. She wrote it as
32:48
Speaker 1: a cautionary tale. Her her team members had asked a
32:52
Speaker 1: bunch of questions and the guy lied about a lot
32:54
Speaker 1: of it or misrepresented himself in a lot of it.
32:57
Speaker 1: He said he was going with a group, He went
32:58
Speaker 1: alone those kinds of things, and he paid the ultimate price.
33:01
Speaker 1: So when we're talking about basic equipment, this is just
33:04
Speaker 1: to be mindful, not only evations.
33:07
Speaker 2: Like the easy solution there was the guy should have
33:10
Speaker 2: brought enough water. I'm not getting into the politics of it.
33:12
Speaker 2: You know, we're obviously very very sorry that this person
33:15
Speaker 2: passed away and our condolences to their family. But an
33:18
Speaker 2: easy way around that is a spot or an inReach,
33:22
Speaker 2: a personal locator beacon. You know, spots and inReach I
33:26
Speaker 2: really like because, well, some spots, but I believe all
33:29
Speaker 2: in reaches allow two way text message communication. That's a
33:33
Speaker 2: very succinct, accurate way of relaying information. Sometimes when you
33:38
Speaker 2: have a radio, there may not be a person on
33:41
Speaker 2: the other end, and you may not have the skills,
33:44
Speaker 2: so you may not be a ham operator to know
33:48
Speaker 2: how to reach those people, how to do the repeaters,
33:50
Speaker 2: et cetera. So like an in reach, I think all
33:53
Speaker 2: day long, almost no one has an excuse to not
33:56
Speaker 2: have one.
33:57
Speaker 1: I don't I need to get one.
33:59
Speaker 2: A lot of the garments Garment recently purchased in Reach
34:02
Speaker 2: from Di Lormer. They bought Alarm or something, you know,
34:05
Speaker 2: like the garment Overlander. I think even links with it.
34:07
Speaker 2: It's kind of cool. But you know, those things are
34:11
Speaker 2: something that anyone can go by. They subscribe to the
34:14
Speaker 2: service and they work. They allow that communication if you
34:19
Speaker 2: want to have something that doesn't require a subscription. Personal
34:23
Speaker 2: locator beacons work on triangulation of frequencies. You know, those
34:31
Speaker 2: are those are fantastic too. Just don't expect you know,
34:35
Speaker 2: I don't want to say that that's those are very
34:37
Speaker 2: one point zero and now we have the two point oh,
34:39
Speaker 2: which is which is that in reach?
34:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're the personal locator beacons are extremely effective. But
34:47
Speaker 1: oftentimes when someone is under duress, they want more than
34:50
Speaker 1: anything in the world, to know that somebody got the message. Yeah.
34:53
Speaker 1: And if you use a garment in Reach, which is
34:56
Speaker 1: what I like to use, it's based on the Iridium
34:58
Speaker 1: satellite network. It works everywhere in the world if you
35:01
Speaker 1: have a clear view of the sky and you can
35:04
Speaker 1: get that ping back saying and maybe it's just that
35:07
Speaker 1: you you have too many flat tires and you can't
35:10
Speaker 1: repair them, and you need to get a hold of
35:12
Speaker 1: a buddy to bring you out. Just for them to say,
35:14
Speaker 1: no problem, we've got your message, we're on our way.
35:18
Speaker 1: That settles all of those concerns down. You can be
35:21
Speaker 1: very specific about what you need. Maybe you've injured yourself
35:27
Speaker 1: and you need someone to bring an extra driver. You
35:29
Speaker 1: can communicate those specifics.
35:30
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe you just need a belt for your car.
35:34
Speaker 2: It's a serpentine belt, you know, you don't. You don't
35:37
Speaker 2: need the proverbial cavalry to fly in right. You need
35:41
Speaker 2: a You need the local you know, four wheel drive
35:44
Speaker 2: recovery guy to bring you a belt totally or or
35:46
Speaker 2: or whatever that is. You know, navigation, we've kind of
35:49
Speaker 2: covered that's really important. Have some redundancy though, have redundancy, don't.
35:57
Speaker 2: I really like the the apps. I like Guya, like
36:00
Speaker 2: on X. I have yet to have a app. Now
36:04
Speaker 2: this is my experience. I have yet to have an
36:07
Speaker 2: app not fail in the field. The offline maps, I
36:14
Speaker 2: mean they're they're they're good, but I have had several
36:19
Speaker 2: significant adventures where I get out day one and all
36:22
Speaker 2: of a sudden there's been an update I mean you
36:25
Speaker 2: you just had that with an app.
36:27
Speaker 1: You know, there's been an update.
36:29
Speaker 2: Whether it's the app that was updated or it was
36:32
Speaker 2: Apple or Android.
36:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, it was the iOS update killed killed
36:37
Speaker 1: one of the apps and it wasn't recording a track properly.
36:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so again, paper maps I think are
36:44
Speaker 2: huge and and have a common sense idea of where
36:47
Speaker 2: you're going. You know, don't be one of those people
36:49
Speaker 2: that follows the arrow and never knows which way is
36:53
Speaker 2: north or anything like.
36:54
Speaker 1: That, and let other people know. Let a couple of
36:56
Speaker 1: people know where you're going. So that way, if you
36:59
Speaker 1: don't show up in a week, there's somebody that starts
37:02
Speaker 1: looking for you and they at least have an idea
37:03
Speaker 1: of where to go.
37:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, emergency supplies, we just kind of went over that
37:07
Speaker 2: with you know, that unfortunate guy that passed away in Utah.
37:10
Speaker 2: But water water water people always have a bunch of
37:15
Speaker 2: food with them.
37:15
Speaker 1: They never bring enough water, you know, I having enough
37:19
Speaker 1: medications for example, having a properly stocked medical kit and
37:25
Speaker 1: the training to use it. Those are the kinds of
37:27
Speaker 1: medical supplies and emergency supplies that we need to have
37:31
Speaker 1: going along with us. We don't need to be total preppers.
37:34
Speaker 1: We just need to be able to handle those thirty
37:37
Speaker 1: six hours ish of problems or that injury that happens,
37:42
Speaker 1: the sprained ankle or the or the.
37:45
Speaker 2: Because the reality is that most of the stuff that
37:47
Speaker 2: you're going to encounter is really minor. It's going to
37:50
Speaker 2: be you got stung by be you had an allergic reaction,
37:54
Speaker 2: you got to cut that got infected, you fell in
37:59
Speaker 2: script to me, right, yeah, totally, it's going to be
38:01
Speaker 2: that stuff. Make sure make sure you're make sure your
38:04
Speaker 2: bases are covered. You know, there's always going to be
38:07
Speaker 2: somebody out there that is going to be the prepper
38:09
Speaker 2: that is like, well, why don't you have a paramedic
38:13
Speaker 2: level kit with you? And it's like, well, because I
38:16
Speaker 2: don't have the time to become a paramedic. Yeah, a
38:19
Speaker 2: lot of paramedic. I don't know how it seems like that.
38:23
Speaker 1: Oftentimes, when when people don't travel a lot, when they
38:26
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of trap, they focus on those
38:29
Speaker 1: check marks of equipment like that I've got this, this,
38:32
Speaker 1: this and this, and then their vehicles way over payload,
38:35
Speaker 1: Whereas I think the more that we just get out
38:37
Speaker 1: and enjoy it and have fun and laugh with our family.
38:40
Speaker 1: The more we just don't care. Just just just bring
38:42
Speaker 1: the basic basic to get out.
38:44
Speaker 2: You do not need a lot of the stuff that
38:49
Speaker 2: people are going to tell you that you do need.
38:51
Speaker 2: You need basic tools. You need to be able to
38:54
Speaker 2: You need to know how to change a tire. You
38:56
Speaker 2: need to know how to make basic vehicle assessments like huh,
39:00
Speaker 2: my vehicle, my battery is dead. Why is my battery dead?
39:05
Speaker 2: Or how do I jump it? How do I jump it?
39:09
Speaker 2: You know, recovery gear is important. You know, I'm not
39:11
Speaker 2: saying that you necessarily have to know how to repair
39:14
Speaker 2: a flat tire. I think it is really handy to
39:16
Speaker 2: have a bottle of like that slime stuff because that
39:20
Speaker 2: can kind of nurse.
39:22
Speaker 1: Uh.
39:23
Speaker 2: You know, you have your one spare and if you
39:25
Speaker 2: have that slime and they even have ones that you
39:28
Speaker 2: can get from Walmart, that are you know, they have
39:30
Speaker 2: a little air compressor and stuff with them.
39:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're talking about Yeah, we're talking about version to
39:37
Speaker 1: one point zero of starting overlanding. Maybe in the future
39:40
Speaker 1: we'll have a two point.
39:41
Speaker 2: Oh maybe maybe then you'll have the built in air
39:43
Speaker 2: compressor into this and the that and whatever.
39:45
Speaker 1: But don't feel like, you've got to have all of
39:48
Speaker 1: this experience and all of this equipment to go. Have
39:51
Speaker 1: a good spare tire that's the same diameter as the
39:54
Speaker 1: rest of them, and it's checked that it's got air.
39:57
Speaker 1: Make sure you got an air compressor. It is a
39:59
Speaker 1: good idea to bring a long a tire repair kit
40:01
Speaker 1: and have show them show you how to use it.
40:03
Speaker 1: But if you don't, it's not a reason not to go.
40:05
Speaker 1: And I think this also comes back to that engaging
40:08
Speaker 1: the family and engaging your partner. Show them where all
40:11
Speaker 1: this stuff is, show them where the medical kid is.
40:13
Speaker 1: That's going to start to give them confidence in you.
40:15
Speaker 1: It's going to give them confidence in the fact that
40:17
Speaker 1: you've actually been planning this thing. So when you when
40:21
Speaker 1: your husband's nervous and he's his brows sweating because he's
40:24
Speaker 1: about ready to go on this big trip with you, you
40:27
Speaker 1: can show him. Look, dear, you know, I've got the
40:29
Speaker 1: medical kid here, I've got this training. I learned how
40:32
Speaker 1: to do the fuel drive thing. This is the locking differentials,
40:35
Speaker 1: this is where the tool kit is. And then he's
40:37
Speaker 1: going to feel a lot more comfortable about it.
40:39
Speaker 2: Learn how to lower your tire pressure. Yeah, those people
40:42
Speaker 2: take everyone comfortable, and there's a lot of resources on
40:44
Speaker 2: this stuff on Expedition Portal. You know, there's vehicle specific
40:49
Speaker 2: forums that have a lot of a lot of information
40:51
Speaker 2: as well, Like I hate much, I hatet is a
40:53
Speaker 2: great one, you know. I have to say for the
40:56
Speaker 2: moto guys out there, I find that adventure writer adv
41:00
Speaker 2: rider dot com. I can google or search for the
41:06
Speaker 2: most remote places in the world and there will be
41:09
Speaker 2: a thread for it on adv rider that says where
41:13
Speaker 2: the gas is. I don't have the range where the
41:15
Speaker 2: good eats are. The media, you know, so you know,
41:21
Speaker 2: use the oracle, use the internet, Yeah, totally.
41:23
Speaker 1: You know.
41:24
Speaker 2: Tires tires are super super important.
41:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're going to do one modification to the vehicle,
41:29
Speaker 1: make sure if it doesn't come with light truck tires,
41:33
Speaker 1: that you buy light truck tires. We're not saying you
41:35
Speaker 1: have to have LT tires to go, but if you're
41:38
Speaker 1: thinking about spending some money on the vehicle and you're
41:40
Speaker 1: looking for the first thing to do that with instead of.
41:43
Speaker 2: All terrains, tires has very little downside. You know, oftentimes
41:48
Speaker 2: they can double, you know, if you get the BFG
41:51
Speaker 2: KO two's or you get the falcon At three w's
41:55
Speaker 2: or a few other tires. Those are just the ones
41:57
Speaker 2: that I persure. It's not an endorsement. We're not sponsored
41:59
Speaker 2: by them. That's just what I've used. I like them
42:02
Speaker 2: because they're winner rated, So that's you know, if this
42:04
Speaker 2: is something that's new to you, Oh will these tires
42:08
Speaker 2: A can be better all year round? Yep, that's great.
42:11
Speaker 2: You know, recovery gear I think is important.
42:14
Speaker 1: It is. And bring along a way to help someone
42:17
Speaker 1: else get out, so that can be a kinetic strap.
42:21
Speaker 1: I like to bring along Max tracks for that. In
42:24
Speaker 1: full disclosure, Matt does import the Max Tracks into North America,
42:30
Speaker 1: so you can if you choose disregarding anything that I
42:32
Speaker 1: say regarding that, but I do bring along Max tracks
42:36
Speaker 1: because I can use them on my own vehicle, or
42:38
Speaker 1: I can walk down the trail even outside of winch
42:41
Speaker 1: range and help another vehicle get.
42:43
Speaker 2: Out if I was to remove myself from from who
42:46
Speaker 2: I am. They just don't really require much training and
42:48
Speaker 2: they have very little downside. A winch can cause can
42:53
Speaker 2: put you in a worse situation, A snatch strap can
42:55
Speaker 2: put you in a worse or kinetic rope can put
42:57
Speaker 2: you in a worse situation. I think if you are
43:00
Speaker 2: a beginner, look for things that have less consequence. That's
43:04
Speaker 2: all I'm going to say. Yeah, I think kind of
43:06
Speaker 2: remove myself from that. Yeah, And there's lots of tools
43:09
Speaker 2: out there. Use the thing that makes sense to you
43:12
Speaker 2: and fits for your environment. If you're going to go
43:14
Speaker 2: do a muddy trail where you know you're going to
43:16
Speaker 2: be winching multiple times a day, it'd be a good
43:19
Speaker 2: idea to bring a winch.
43:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. If you're going to be in the desert Southwest,
43:23
Speaker 1: you probably only need to set a max track. Yeah,
43:25
Speaker 1: and I think too.
43:26
Speaker 2: You know, I don't want to rag in this, but
43:29
Speaker 2: everybody's or you need a high lift jack. It's like
43:33
Speaker 2: eighty pounds of deadweight for most people, like five whatever
43:37
Speaker 2: it is, right, it feels like eighty It feels like
43:39
Speaker 2: eighty pounds and I pick up. They are very useful
43:41
Speaker 2: when you are trained on them. I will never argue
43:43
Speaker 2: against the utility of them, but for a first time person,
43:46
Speaker 2: it is it is crazy. How many people I see
43:49
Speaker 2: that have a jeep wrangler, let's say, and they have
43:51
Speaker 2: a they have plastic bumpers, they have no side sill protection,
43:56
Speaker 2: and they have a high lift jack.
43:57
Speaker 1: Now it lifts the vehicle from it.
43:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean, I guess you can use like
44:01
Speaker 2: the they had this wheel chalk adapter, so you could
44:05
Speaker 2: in theory pick a tire up to throw some stuff
44:08
Speaker 2: underneath it. But you know, you don't always have to
44:12
Speaker 2: have the things that everybody just bolts unto their car.
44:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a full tank of fuel, and
44:19
Speaker 1: it does require some training. Just YouTube highlift jack accidents
44:25
Speaker 1: and I think that that's all the description that we
44:27
Speaker 1: could ever give you.
44:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm all for highlift jacks, great company, you know,
44:32
Speaker 2: very very useful tool. You have to have training to
44:35
Speaker 2: use it, really, and that's.
44:36
Speaker 1: Where the vehicle needs to be prepared for using the
44:40
Speaker 1: high lift as well. It needs to have rocker panel
44:43
Speaker 1: protection that you can lift from that can take the
44:45
Speaker 1: weight to the vehicle, needs to have metal bumpers, especially
44:48
Speaker 1: ones that allow it to capture the high lift so
44:50
Speaker 1: it can't slide off. There's a lot that goes into
44:54
Speaker 1: using a high lift. Again, we're not bashing the product.
44:56
Speaker 1: We're just saying for your first overland journey, use that money,
45:01
Speaker 1: put it in the gas tank and go go a
45:03
Speaker 1: little further. And I think that really covers the basic stuff. Again,
45:07
Speaker 1: we do have a lot more in podcast number twenty,
45:10
Speaker 1: but I do have a couple thoughts as I wrap up,
45:12
Speaker 1: and I know Matt will have some of his own.
45:14
Speaker 1: But I and again, all of this comes from the
45:17
Speaker 1: fact that I have screwed all of this stuff up myself,
45:20
Speaker 1: both have. So many times. I've gotten upset, I've cut
45:25
Speaker 1: trips short because I was frustrated. I got frustrated at myself.
45:30
Speaker 1: And I have learned through the years to slow down.
45:34
Speaker 1: I've learned to expect less from myself and from the
45:37
Speaker 1: vehicle and from the trip. If you go into it
45:40
Speaker 1: with this expectation of being able to circumnavigate Africa in
45:43
Speaker 1: two months, you're gonna have a really bad time. If
45:46
Speaker 1: you choose to do Namibia and South Africa in two months,
45:50
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a fairly good time. So slow down,
45:54
Speaker 1: expect less, do less, don't be afraid to sleep in.
45:59
Speaker 1: You're not working anymore.
46:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to enjoy it this, enjoy it by
46:03
Speaker 2: nature a vacation.
46:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, stay up, you know, bask under the moon until
46:08
Speaker 1: two in the morning, read a book until you finish it,
46:11
Speaker 1: and sleep in. And you know, most of these roof
46:13
Speaker 1: tents and tents they have pretty good light light protection.
46:17
Speaker 1: You know, make a good meal when you have people
46:19
Speaker 1: with you, taking that time as a family to prepare
46:22
Speaker 1: a great meal that you sourced from local ingredients. Or
46:25
Speaker 1: maybe you went to the farmer's market in Bend, Oregon
46:28
Speaker 1: and you load it up before you went out to
46:30
Speaker 1: the steams and and you're using this local ingredients and
46:33
Speaker 1: you're making this great food. It just adds so much
46:36
Speaker 1: to the experience. Leave the mountain house for emergencies and
46:40
Speaker 1: make a great meals as a group, you know, and
46:44
Speaker 1: bring things that do enhance the comfort. There's no shame
46:48
Speaker 1: in having a big fluffy pillow along with you if
46:51
Speaker 1: you can fit it. When you're on a motorcycle that's
46:53
Speaker 1: a little more difficult. But bring bring the pillow that
46:56
Speaker 1: helps you sleep the best. Make sure that you have
46:59
Speaker 1: to sleep.
46:59
Speaker 2: You sleep like I bring my pillows from home that
47:02
Speaker 2: I put in my own too, because I sleep well
47:04
Speaker 2: with him, and I know I'm going to sleep well
47:06
Speaker 2: with them.
47:06
Speaker 1: It's that one little connection to home that helps us
47:10
Speaker 1: fall asleep and helps us remember that. You know that
47:13
Speaker 1: it's easy to sleep on this because we like it.
47:15
Speaker 1: Bring Bring comfy chairs. Now some of them can be
47:19
Speaker 1: ridiculously large, but bring chairs that are comfortable to sit in.
47:23
Speaker 1: So that way you can sit around the campfire for
47:25
Speaker 1: hours and drink that special whiskey that you got, or
47:30
Speaker 1: or finish the book that you wanted to read, or
47:32
Speaker 1: just sit and talk with your family. If the chairs
47:34
Speaker 1: like those little three legged stools that you forget that stuff.
47:37
Speaker 1: It's just terrible. You'd rather stand. Yeah, So bring a
47:41
Speaker 1: comfortable say, you don't have to suffer. Yeah, you really,
47:44
Speaker 1: that's that's the thing, you know. And like Matt said,
47:48
Speaker 1: don't be afraid to take a walk, get away from
47:50
Speaker 1: the vehicle.
47:50
Speaker 2: Take it, isn't it Barry Andrews, it's like I said remote,
47:53
Speaker 2: I didn't say primitive, that's right.
47:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. I definitely attribute that to him, his statement, And
47:59
Speaker 1: that's a great one for sure. Yeah.
48:01
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, for me, yeah, you know, it is.
48:04
Speaker 2: It is just just slow down, breathe in, breathe out,
48:09
Speaker 2: enjoy the time, you know, Recognize that you're going to
48:12
Speaker 2: make mistakes. And that's okay, like think think of them.
48:14
Speaker 2: Turn the negative into a positive. Oh man, I got
48:17
Speaker 2: stuck here. Okay, Well I'm.
48:19
Speaker 1: Going to opportunity. I'm going to realize what I did wrong.
48:23
Speaker 1: You had to take that photo from for the gram, right, Yeah, yeah.
48:26
Speaker 2: You know, just just don't take it too seriously.
48:29
Speaker 1: Be prepared.
48:30
Speaker 2: There's a difference between being prepared and being on, you know,
48:35
Speaker 2: a military death march. Like I I've been on trips
48:39
Speaker 2: with people before where they are it's seven point fifteen.
48:42
Speaker 1: We have to be on a camp and I'm like.
48:45
Speaker 2: Like, I don't know what it is with camping, and
48:46
Speaker 2: people get like very like primal and weird and militaristic.
48:52
Speaker 2: But just chill out and enjoy it because you are there.
48:55
Speaker 2: You're doing this for fun.
48:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's supposed to be fun.
48:58
Speaker 2: You are not on a scientific expedition. You're not, shockingly,
49:03
Speaker 2: you're not on an expedition. You're on a road trip.
49:07
Speaker 2: You're on an overlain trip. Call it whatever you want,
49:10
Speaker 2: but the point being, you're essentially on a vacation treated
49:13
Speaker 2: as such.
49:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, have fun, fun, smile, laugh, enjoy it, make some memories.
49:17
Speaker 2: Don't don't get mad at somebody because you know, maybe
49:21
Speaker 2: you've camped a bunch, maybe your partner hasn't. Don't don't
49:24
Speaker 2: get mad at him for that.
49:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't ye if he breaks the sport, don't don't
49:28
Speaker 1: be upset.
49:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't need it and you don't need a
49:30
Speaker 2: titanium sport to go overlanding.
49:32
Speaker 1: Let's just and on that bombshell. Thank you all for
49:36
Speaker 1: listening and we will talk to you next time. Take care,
49:40
Speaker 1: guys and girls,