Overland Expo 2015: a view by an outsider

There may be recently unexplored areas all around the world, but I see most of them as not worth the challenge. Take central america: Most of the main roads are negotiable by 2WD, 2 or 3 axle trucks. That would leave the headroom we need for TC travel. Many of the lesser roadways and jungle trails drop off fast and are overgrown quickly prohibiting easy travel by overlanding type vehicles. Take the Darien Gap. Several have made it thru this 100 mile swamp, but it could be considered EXTREME in the extreme. I don't bemoan the fact that it is not paved or upgraded. Many see pavement and good transportation as the killer of ancient civilizations.
The other consideration is political. There are many good reasons NOT to get to far off road, even if it is allowed.
Overland was the sub title of my 1949 Willys Utility Wagon, here pictured in Baja near San Quintin in June of 1965. Is that 50 yrs. ago? I"m starting to feel like one of those old civilizations just now. We drove all day @ 10 mph to get to this seaside town down the hot and dusty road.

In N. America, the political factions have slowly strangled any real overlanding possibilities. In my lifetime I have seen many wonderful jeep trails and wild cross country routes crossed right off the map bowing to political concerns. This is much less true in 3rd world countries or countries that have a relatively small population (no matter their geography) as the human pressure on the terra is less and hence less control needed.
I have been all through Baja and it still remains primitive and worthy of TC travel. Hey, it's close (geographically), with a small-ish population of fine indigineous people...... Except along the border.
When I was 22 yrs. old, (50 years ago) the tuba player in our orchestra and I plotted to take an expedition from Capetown to Nairobi by Land Rover. Ah, the draw to a far away place and the ACTUAL Expedition by land rover. Sleeping on the ground and letting the bugs crawl on you; trying to avoid being eaten by a Lion. The smell of ozone. Near the edge. What could possible go wrong? It never came off because we were working stiffs playing 250 concerts a year with the LAPhil.
regards, as always, jefe

ticki2 wrote:


Hey Bill , 'm not getting your pics . Where on the Golden road did you go .

Were you in Plymouth last Wed. or Thurs. ?

Hey Bob, we were up around Abol bridge and then at Katahdin Iron Works/Pleasant River/Gulf Hagas area.
Beautiful trip.

Plymouth NH? Not really...drove up Wed 6/17 via 495/95.

Made 3 trips in/thru NH in June...it was a busy month!

I could name and highlight on a map at least 21 regions from Canada's north, down to Argentina, that are seriously RECENTLY unexplored by motorized vehicle (since the mid 20th Century). Many have been surveyed by aircraft and satellite reconnaissance, but VERY sparingly by foot and nearly not at all by motorized vehicle since the 1950s.

Seven of the 21 are located in: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Getting "near" any of these "unexplored" regions could be considered "extreme adventure travel", and certainly getting "through" any of these 21 regions would be considered a fairly insane endeavor; some requiring the hiring of off-duty military personnel as protection!

...I had always wanted to write a book (with my illustrated maps included) of America's most recently unexplored regions (by "Americas", I mean: North, Central and South Americas)...

As Robert wrote, there are many unexplored regions of Australia (remember the ancient rain-forest discovered in Australia in the mid '90s housing an enormous expanse of ~~40 million-year-old tree species almost unchanged genetically ??!! ). Africa also has many large expanses of little-explored territory. Large tracts of Namibia; there are large tracts of rainforest in Zaire that even local indigenous Africans have never explored (local superstitions preclude)

bka0721 wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

Bka071 wrote:
As amazing as these vehicles (overlanders/Earthroamers) are, I have NEVER seen a single one on the back roads or remote areas I find myself in and or frequent. Many know I am out there, so I am just as amazed as you are

You will not find them in the U.S.or Canada but common outside. TC's are reasonably rare outside the U.S, bit like COE HDT Trucks are rare inside North America, but everywhere outside it

Sadly, a large portion of these vehicles are purchased here in the USA and are never taken outside USA, Mexico and Canada. Also, the owner and founder of Earthroamer once lived in my neighborhood.

I will say the majority of the Overland Vehicles I see in the U.S. National Parks are foreign registered and operated by non U.S. people.

b

Getting parts for US sourced vehicles is a big problem, not so much in South America, although still very much a problem, but virtually impossible in other parts of the World

RobertRyan wrote:

Bka071 wrote:
As amazing as these vehicles (overlanders/Earthroamers) are, I have NEVER seen a single one on the back roads or remote areas I find myself in and or frequent. Many know I am out there, so I am just as amazed as you are

You will not find them in the U.S.or Canada but common outside. TC's are reasonably rare outside the U.S, bit like COE HDT Trucks are rare inside North America, but everywhere outside it

Sadly, a large portion of these vehicles are purchased here in the USA and are never taken outside USA, Mexico and Canada. Also, the owner and founder of Earthroamer once lived in my neighborhood.

I will say the majority of the Overland Vehicles I see in the U.S. National Parks are foreign registered and operated by non U.S. people.

b

Bka071 wrote:
As amazing as these vehicles (overlanders/Earthroamers) are, I have NEVER seen a single one on the back roads or remote areas I find myself in and or frequent. Many know I am out there, so I am just as amazed as you are

You will not find them in the U.S.or Canada but common outside. TC's are reasonably rare outside the U.S, bit like COE HDT Trucks are rare inside North America, but everywhere outside it

jefe 4x4 wrote:
I'll have to make a disclaimer here. I posted a piece on the ExPortal how I thought this "Expedition" thing was entirely in your mind and had no basis in the here and now; with so many trying to get the "Expedition" look over any practical considerations and nowhere to take said rigs out to see if they really work, short of another Overland Expo. I was nearly drummed out of the corps with comments like, "you have an old beat up camper on an old oil burning truck: how can that be a good idea compared to my shinny new JK Rubicon with a roof top tent", etc. That's fine. I resemble that. The fact is Overlanding and Expeditioning are in the past. There are no places left yet to explore, unless you follow in the tracks of most of the truck campers on this forum. The new tack is, "Adventure Traveling". Isn't this what we've done for many moons? It must be the mystique of the term Expedition, only to be wistfully done in a 1965, Perkins diesel Land Rover 110. The best part of the ExPortal is the off-road camping trailer page; simply the most outrageously inventive people out there. Another great aspect is the world-wide allure of expedition travel. It's good to read about other folks solutions to staying out there, self-contained, for a length of time from Goler Wash to the Gobi. I cannot call them poseurs because they ARE living their dream.
regards, as always, jefe

There are NEW places to explore in Australia and other countries. Long way from running out of places to go

Mello Mike wrote:

jefe 4x4 wrote:
I'll have to make a disclaimer here. I posted a piece on the ExPortal how I thought this "Expedition" thing was entirely in your mind and had no basis in the here and now; with so many trying to get the "Expedition" look over any practical considerations and nowhere to take said rigs out to see if they really work, short of another Overland Expo. I was nearly drummed out of the corps with comments like, "you have an old beat up camper on an old oil burning truck: how can that be a good idea compared to my shinny new JK Rubicon with a roof top tent", etc. That's fine. I resemble that. The fact is Overlanding and Expeditioning are in the past. There are no places left yet to explore, unless you follow in the tracks of most of the truck campers on this forum. The new tack is, "Adventure Traveling". Isn't this what we've done for many moons? It must be the mystique of the term Expedition, only to be wistfully done in a 1965, Perkins diesel Land Rover 110. The best part of the ExPortal is the off-road camping trailer page; simply the most outrageously inventive people out there. Another great aspect is the world-wide allure of expedition travel. It's good to read about other folks solutions to staying out there, self-contained, for a length of time from Goler Wash to the Gobi. I cannot call them poseurs because they ARE living their dream.
regards, as always, jefe

I'm with you, Jeff. I don't care what it's called as long as it's done in a truck camper. :)

I suspect I am able to respond from a point of experience here and a more than casual observer. As amazing as these vehicles (overlanders/Earthroamers) are, I have NEVER seen a single one on the back roads or remote areas I find myself in and or frequent. Many know I am out there, so I am just as amazed as you are.

What I have seen is a plethora of these Overland Vehicles/Earthroamers in the Safeway parking lots, campgrounds at Sunset Crater National Monument and plying the paved roadways of Yellowstone and other National Parks. What I have seen is hundreds of Oil Burning XTC rigs, Sportmobiles, Jeeps with Tents on Top and the typical Trucks with Toppers and sleeping in the back. So be it that they are out there, but the possibility might remain that they are working hard to make the payments on their Overland Vehicles and dreaming about their next/first big adventure. To me? That leaves me all alone out on the Burr Trail. For which I am thankful.

b

jefe 4x4 wrote:
I'll have to make a disclaimer here. I posted a piece on the ExPortal how I thought this "Expedition" thing was entirely in your mind and had no basis in the here and now; with so many trying to get the "Expedition" look over any practical considerations and nowhere to take said rigs out to see if they really work, short of another Overland Expo. I was nearly drummed out of the corps with comments like, "you have an old beat up camper on an old oil burning truck: how can that be a good idea compared to my shinny new JK Rubicon with a roof top tent", etc. That's fine. I resemble that. The fact is Overlanding and Expeditioning are in the past. There are no places left yet to explore, unless you follow in the tracks of most of the truck campers on this forum. The new tack is, "Adventure Traveling". Isn't this what we've done for many moons? It must be the mystique of the term Expedition, only to be wistfully done in a 1965, Perkins diesel Land Rover 110. The best part of the ExPortal is the off-road camping trailer page; simply the most outrageously inventive people out there. Another great aspect is the world-wide allure of expedition travel. It's good to read about other folks solutions to staying out there, self-contained, for a length of time from Goler Wash to the Gobi. I cannot call them poseurs because they ARE living their dream.
regards, as always, jefe

I'm with you, Jeff. I don't care what it's called as long as it's done in a truck camper. :)

jefe 4x4 wrote:
I'll have to make a disclaimer here. I posted a piece on the ExPortal how I thought this "Expedition" thing was entirely in your mind and had no basis in the here and now; with so many trying to get the "Expedition" look over any practical considerations and nowhere to take said rigs out to see if they really work, short of another Overland Expo. I was nearly drummed out of the corps with comments like, "you have an old beat up camper on an old oil burning truck: how can that be a good idea compared to my shinny new JK Rubicon with a roof top tent", etc. That's fine. I resemble that. The fact is Overlanding and Expeditioning are in the past. There are no places left yet to explore, unless you follow in the tracks of most of the truck campers on this forum. The new tack is, "Adventure Traveling". Isn't this what we've done for many moons? It must be the mystique of the term Expedition, only to be wistfully done in a 1965, Perkins diesel Land Rover 110. The best part of the ExPortal is the off-road camping trailer page; simply the most outrageously inventive people out there. Another great aspect is the world-wide allure of expedition travel. It's good to read about other folks solutions to staying out there, self-contained, for a length of time from Goler Wash to the Gobi. I cannot call them poseurs because they ARE living their dream.
regards, as always, jefe

Agreed 100% Jefe... I have a core group of friends that can appreciate that I drive an 11 year old truck, with a 27 year old hard sided truck camper. They all can respect that, as we all enjoy the same places. There are a few I've camped with, outside that core group, and I get laughs and snickers from the lot of them, but they are driving shiny new rubicons with roof top tents, that have been opened and off road, maybe twice. It's all about image for them, and I'm not about image, I'm about adventure and enjoying the outdoors.
Scott