Indholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2014 i Overland Journal

Seeing the Elephant Three companions and I recently completed the emigrant trail from Susanville, California, to City of Rocks, Idaho. It was a wonderful trip thanks to the Trails West markers and books. We also completed the Pony Express Trail from Ibapah, Utah, to Austin, Nevada. We all greatly appreciate Overland Journal’s articles about trips and gear. Our vehicles were a 1995 Bronco, 2003 Jeep Rubicon, 1989 Montero, and a 1975 Toyota FJ40. George Johnston 1995 Ford Bronco Kid in a Candy Store After three years of trying to get to Overland Expo, I finally made it last year and had an absolute blast. I have been four-wheeling since I was a teenager in the 1980s, but have been quite limited for opportunities to really get out and explore due…

Held in hand, Winkler’s products exude a subtle yet undeniable trustworthiness. Winkler Knives II Traditional hand-forged knives from a master bladesmith. Daniel Winkler, who started making knives in a high school shop class, brings nearly 40 years of experience to the craft. In 1993, he received the prestigious American Bladesmith Society’s Master Smith (MS) stamp for his diligent efforts. The society’s MS procedures include testing physical performance in highly abusive trials, as well as rigorous evaluations by other Master Smiths. A deep understanding of form and function is paramount. Continuing in his hand-forged tradition, Winkler began making limited production knives and axes for members of the military’s special operations community. To ensure they receive the best knives and axes available, he founded Winkler Knives II, a small yet evolving operation…

The past decade has seen thousands of physically and mentally wounded soldiers return from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other military operations around the world. Upon returning home they undergo extensive treatment and are released back into the civilian world. As a wounded veteran himself, retired Captain Vincent Gioielli knows all too well that the healing process extends beyond hospital rooms and physical therapy. He decided to join forces with fellow wounded veterans Jonathan Langford and Tom Trotter (and their canine mascot Zelda) to found Overland Veteran. They’ve committed themselves to sharing the world of overland travel with other combat-wounded soldiers—the ultimate outpatient therapy. Overland Veteran, which is to launch in late 2014, will be a multiphase program beginning in the U.S. and extending gradually into Central and South America, Africa, Europe,…

Pros: • Three-ply sidewall• Good damping and deflection on dirt• Classic all-terrain design Cons: • Poor adhesion• Poor wet traction performance• Excessive lug chipping and tearing• Did not complete rock climb BFGoodrich (BFG) has been a stalwart brand in the overland and 4WD communities for four decades. The All-Terrain T/A, which was released in the late 1970s, claimed countless awards and desert racing championships. I have used BFG tires for years and several hundred thousand miles, and currently have a set on our project Land Rover Discovery. Despite the reliability I’ve experienced with this tire, technology has advanced well beyond its current design. As a result, these classic standbys are fading into the past. On Road In the highway evaluation the All-Terrain was busy and noisy. The Jeep tended to follow grooves and generally imparted a harsh…

Pros: • Good lateral on-pavement grip• Direct and accurate at speed• Excellent grip at speed on dirt• 60,000-mile warranty Cons: • Did not complete rock climb• Firm ride quality• Poor straight-line braking performance Over the past few years General Tire has made an aggressive move into the SUV and off-highway market. In 2011, their race-inspired Grabber (mounted on the FabSchool-General Tire Ford Raptor) brought home a class win from the grueling 14-day Dakar Rally. Editor Chris Collard, who was the team’s media manager, said, “Aside from a bead-locked set we used in the Atacama dunes, we finished the entire 6,500-kilometer race with the same tires we started with.” The AT2 has a classic five-row tread pattern featuring interlocking lugs and generous siping. The Overland Journal team has been abusing a set of AT2 s for over a…

Navigation Vietnam If you have a smartphone, Vietnam has surprisingly good 3G coverage. You can buy a local 3G SIM card and navigate using the mapping software on your phone. If you prefer the old-fashioned way there are a number of decent road maps available online. Laos Laos is a little trickier, as there are no paper maps with anywhere near the level of detail you’ll need for a proper Ho Chi Minh Trail ride. Golden Triangle Rider offers the best (gt-rider.com). I took a Garmin eTrex and loaded it with an invaluable $50 SIM from Laos GPS Map. Made by Laos-based biker and Ho Chi Minh Trail junkie Don Duvall, it has every route you could wish for (laosgpsmap.com). Cambodia In Cambodia, 3G coverage is patchy, and a mixture…

One of my most embarrassing moments happened about 10 years ago in the Sahara. At the time, I was driving an embassy Land Rover (don’t ask, I won’t name to which country the embassy belonged) that I used regularly to travel into the desert from my home in Cairo. The truck was an old, underpowered 2.5-litre petrol Defender 110, tough and reliable. The caveat to all this is that because I was not an official diplomat, I was kind of driving it, er, illegally. On this day I was in the desert early, before sunup, to meet my Texan friend Mike at a Neolithic site we had discovered around 80 miles from the city. The plan was to explore a Stone Age village built when this area of the Sahara…

Within any pursuit there are machines that achieve greatness, that rise above all others as the benchmark of excellence, desirability, performance, and heritage. Whether courting a Holland and Holland double rifle or Mercedes Geländewagen, the discerning buyer can find equipment refined to a higher standard. The BMW GS Adventure is one of these products, and while not perfect, it achieves a level of performance beyond its specifications. It is the most popular adventure-class motorcycle ever produced, with BMW just completing their 500,000th GS with the boxer engine. During the past few months I have lived on a 2014 GSA, ridden it down single tracks, and gotten it stuck in deep alpine snow. The following is my assessment of how the all-new Adventure performs and how it compares with other bikes…

We were four days into the Canning Stock Route, the longest unsupported overland track on the planet, when an event occurred that would become known as the “Worm Hole.” Our team was attempting the 1,800-kilometer crossing in late summer, and ours were the first tracks of the season through the 1,000-plus sand dunes that bisect Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Though temperatures can reach 110°F at times, summer in this part of the world is the tail end of the wet season, which can be a welcome challenge or potential curse. Standing water, the remnants of heavy rains that had pounded the desert, pooled in low-lying areas between the dunes. As we neared Lake Disappointment on day four, we encountered the first mud —— a slippery top layer that gave…

Pros: • Good lateral on-pavement grip• Mechanical keying on rock from large tread lugs• Deep tread Cons: • Did not complete rock climb• Unpredictable at high speeds on dirt and pavement• Poor straight-line braking performance Dick Cepek, a passionate outdoorsman, purchased a Land Rover in 1958 to explore the California deserts. Unsatisfied with the tire options available, he tracked down Armstrong, who produced a tractor tire he felt was suitable for desert terrain, and talked them into making one that was DOT approved. It was introduced in 1961 and christened the Hi-way Flotation tire. Dick Cepek is one of the original names in recreational four-wheel drive tires, and their product line still reflects this ethos. The Fun Country tire is an aggressive all-terrain with large shoulder lugs and wide tread spacing. On Road The Fun Country…

Pros: • Quiet and stable on the road• Fastest slalom average• Highest lateral g on skid pad• Excellent braking characteristics Cons: • Limited grip in all dirt conditions• Did not complete rock climb• Overshoot after countersteer Goodyear is a quality tire manufacturer who has placed a recent emphasis on durability and puncture resistance. Their Kevlar and SilentArmor technologies have fostered a deserved reputation for reliability on the trail. The Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure Kevlar was chosen for its multi-condition design, light truck construction, and DuPont Kevlar-wrapped carcass. We have used these tires extensively on various Jeep vehicles and have experienced no punctures or other damage. On Road On the highway the Wrangler provided a quiet ride, but did exhibit more low-frequency vibration than the other tires in the test. With limited lug deflection and a compact tread pattern,…

My name is Bruce Dorn. I’m a professional photographer, cinematographer, and director, and this is my asp kickin’ truck. You might recognize my name from photo and story bylines right here in the Overland Journal. I’ve ridden shotgun with Scott Brady across four continents as the Expeditions 7 team’s primary cinematographer, but if you read mainstream magazines or watch TV, you’ve seen my work more or less continuously for the last 40 years. I’ve shot editorial spreads for all the major magazines and produced print and television campaigns for an alphabet soup of Fortune 500 companies. I’m a bit of a rarity in the world of commercial image making in that I’m a “specialist” in a broad spectrum of seemingly unrelated styles. One day I might be shooting fashion or…

Stanley was an illegitimate child from a Welsh workhouse. Livingstone was the son of an impoverished tea peddler from Scotland. Look what they made of life. “Would you like to see Stanley’s compass?” It was a gray, drizzly morning in southwest England. The man standing next to me opened a small wooden box, removed a weathered brass compass, and carefully handed it to me. I queried, “Henry Morton Stanley?” He replied, “Yes, this is the compass Stanley was carrying when he found Livingstone. It was a gift to me from the family.” Casting an eye around his charming home-office I noticed display cases of medals, photos of my host with dignitaries, crocodiles, and elephants, various artifacts, and maps from around the world. I became aware of Colonel John Blashford-Snell in…

Veggie-Stuffed Beef Rolls Serves: 4 | Cook time: 50 minutes Equipment: Toothpicks, small pot, grill or sauté pan 1 lb beefsteak, sliced ¼-inch thick2 cups julienned vegetables Toothpicks2 tbsp oil2 tbsp soy sauce2 tbsp water2 tbsp white or rice wine vinegar2 tbsp sugar or honey For overlanders heading south, crossing the Mexican border means giving up more than state-sponsored campgrounds and Starbucks—most Latin American countries have a completely different definition of steak. You’re in carne asada territory now, and family packs of inch-thick USDA prime rib eyes are long gone. The good news is that if you’re destined for South America, all is not lost. Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil will more than make up for Central America’s thinly sliced beefsteak. Until then, our advice is to pick up a few…

In just a few short years Overland Expo has grown from a small gathering of a few hundred people to one of the West’s most popular and well-attended shows. Each year, thousands of overlanders from across the country and around the world make an annual pilgrimage to Flagstaff, Arizona, to participate in overland seminars and training. As popularity has grown, demand for an East Coast event prompted promoters Roseann and Jonathan Hanson to set a date for an inaugural Eastern version of Overland Expo. Overland Expo EAST will take place October 3-5, 2014, amongst the rolling and wooded hills of Taylor Ranch near Asheville, North Carolina. Like its Western brethren, it will offer dozens of overland activities including driving courses with professional instruction by Land Rover’s legendary Camel Trophy team,…

In nearly three circumnavigations of the globe and hundreds of thousands of overland miles, I have never had a puncture—not a single tire flattened by rock, stick, screw, or nail. This is not to say I have not experienced a flat or two, but it has usually been in sand dunes (a lost bead) while running very low air pressure. This does not necessarily merit bragging rights, as I have been entirely bemused by my luck. However, is it luck, or have variables contributed to my good fortune? There are critical factors that influence a tire’s puncture-resistance and tractive performance. For this comprehensive review, we will expose the side-by-side results of seven leading all-terrains. Tire Performance for Overland Travel While reliability is arguably the greatest consideration for an adventure driver,…

Pros: • Class-leading dry rock traction• Excellent initial grip on dry pavement• Smooth and quiet on the highway Cons: • Vague on-center feel• Trends towards oversteer on dirt• Fast wearing due to soft compound and lug pattern depth Though Falken is new to the all-terrain segment, they have a rich history in heavy-duty truck and high-performance street tires. This marriage of engineering acumen has resulted in the most unique tire in the test, one that exhibits a number of class-leading attributes. Since its introduction we have collectively put over 30,000 miles on various sets of WildPeak A/Ts. They are currently mounted on the Editor’s Mobile Office Tacoma project as well as on our long-term Land Rover LR4, and we have experienced no punctures or failures on either vehicle. On Road On the highway the Wildpeak A/T…

Pros: • Good line-holding on dirt oval• Excellent carcass and lug deformation• Smooth and quiet on-highway• Excellent on- and off-pavement braking performance Cons: • Lowest overall pavement performance• Poor wet traction performance• Shallow tread depth In 1966, Toyo was the first Japanese tire manufacturer to establish a subsidiary in the United States. Though they initially focused on passenger tires, the introduction of their Open Country line in 2003 planted them firmly in the off-highway sector. Acceptance of the Open Country amongst enthusiasts grew rapidly, particularly when their desert racing campaign, which included a multi-year sponsorship with Robby Gordon, started bringing home class wins from events such as the highly-revered Baja 1000. On Road On the highway the Open Country exhibited low NVH, which is reflective of its all-purpose tread design and advanced noise-cancelling. The A/T II provided…

9° N The Badjao, an indigenous ethnic tribe in Tagbilaran, on the island province of Bohol, the Philippines, have been oppressed for decades and forced to live as sea gypsies in homes suspended above the water. They have lived this way for generations, feeding their families by spearfishing in the local waters. Recent policies have outlawed fishing in their waters, and they now not only have to find new forms of income and food, but also have to change their entire way of life. The non-profit organization Badjao Bridge was developed to assist the Badjao in developing education initiatives and to open doors for alternative job opportunities. Find out more at badjaobridge.org. Austin Mann is a visual media storyteller who leverages the power of imagery to connect people for positive…

This innovative program is redefining ethical, elephant-based tourism in Thailand. Sarot Salangam, an elephant handler in Thailand, had a special relationship with a lively elephant named Nung Ning. They would walk through the village hand-in-trunk, and if anyone spoke to Sarot for too long, she would squeeze in, grab his hand, and lead him away. Unfortunately, Surot did not own Nung Ning, and after a few years she was sold, removed from Sarot’s care, and trucked away to a life of uncertainty. Though the elephant is considered sacred in Thailand, three quarters of the 4,000 left live in captivity, and many of those in substandard, squalid conditions. Recently, when work in the logging industry disappeared, many mahouts (handlers) turned their elephants into beggars on tourist-laden streets or sold them to…

You’re going to need a proper HD video camera. The good news is that you probably already have one, as almost all modern digital cameras have 1080p HD video. You’re probably reading the Overland Journal because you relish compelling stories of adventure and love seeing beautiful imagery from exotic places. Perhaps, like Walter Mitty, you even secretly dream of your own adventures—traveling, capturing one-of-a-kind images, and becoming a professional storyteller. Guess what? It’s absolutely possible. While demand for still photographs has been declining, the meteoric growth of web and broadcast delivery systems has resulted in an insatiable demand for short, high-quality narrative and documentary films. Look at any webpage; if you see a still photograph I assure you that it’s only because a more compelling and information-rich video clip was…