Innehållsförteckning för Fall 2009 från Overland Journal

That Italian Company We’ve heard a lot about Fiat recently, in its new role as Chrysler’s co-signer. Let’s face it, to American consumers who remember the products, the company rarely evokes fond memories (notably excepting a few gems such as the 124 Spider). So consumer reaction to the acquisition was guarded at best. But what is the average consumer reaction to a Ferrari? Or a Maserati? International Harvester? Case? They’re all Fiat, or more precisely, part of the Fiat Group, which since its inception in 1899 has been involved in almost every imaginable aspect of modern industrialism, from typewriters to airplanes—and, of course, in all aspects of the automotive industry. So what do Ferrari and Maserati have to do with overlanding? A lot less than another Fiat brand you might…

Cascade Designs Platypus Cleanstream Gravity Filter System $90 Pumps take effort, but gravity is free and ubiquitous. The Cleanstream Gravity Filter System is light, compact, very easy to use, and defies categorization. I placed it with the group filters because of its large single-treatment volume, but it’s lighter than several of the personal systems. The Cleanstream comprises two heavy-duty zip-closure bags, one for dirty water and one for clean, connected by tubing and a 0.2-micron hollow-fiber membrane filter. Fill the dirty-water bag, hang it in a suitable location, open the shut-off clip, and walk away. Flow through the filter is surprisingly quick at 1.75 L/min, so the full capacity of four liters can be filtered in just over two minutes. As the filter ages, the flow rate will decrease, but…

The mid-winter storms were being heralded as some of the best in a decade, blanketing the West with record snowfall from Washington to New Mexico. Utah was hit particularly hard: Interstates and mountain passes had been closed with blinding blizzard conditions. If I had been there to ski or snowboard I would have been beaming, but I was there to explore the rock art and slot canyons of the San Rafael Swell with my frequent traveling companions Marc Olivares and Steve Rupp. The snow had shut down I-70 for several days, keeping us sequestered in Salt Lake City waiting out the soon-to-be-historic storm. A hot Dutch oven meal of fresh vegetables, meaty potatoes with bold spices, and hearty chicken prepared by Steve is a welcome treat. The sounds of micro…

Simple and green There is truth to the axiom “simple is better,” even when cleaning up messy oil and grease that inevitably comes with working on our vehicles. We were pleased to get a call recently from the makers of Simple Green, which many of us in the U.S. know for their excellent all-purpose non-toxic cleaner. Turns out they are fans of Overland Journal and are eagerly counting the days until Overland Expo.2010. We also learned a lot more about the extensive product line offered by Simple Green, including many more products perfect for overlanders—and all of them non-toxic, biodegradable, non-corrosive, and non-flammable. Of particular note are the Extreme Simple Green Motorsports Cleaner and Degreaser, Simple Green Car Wash, and Simple Green Concrete and Driveway Cleaner (Land Rover owners note…

Breakfast is our favorite meal when camping. The old classic eggs, bacon, and toast is hard to beat, but if you want to try something really different, very elegant (who says you can’t be elegant while camping?), and surprisingly easy, try this variation on a dish we discovered at La Posada Hotel’s Turquoise Room (laposada.org, and theturquoiseroom.net) in Winslow, Arizona. Called the Corn Maiden’s Delight by chef and owner John Sharpe, his version is made with fresh steamed spinach and fire-roasted corn and tomato salsa—but these ingredients are hard to come by when camping, so my version is a little less involved. The flavors of corn and chile blend sublimely with the acidic tomatoes and creamy egg yolk. For overlanders, nearly every continent has some type of corn-meal staple (white…

Graham Jackson Graham Jackson was born in Lesotho in southern Africa. He grew up racing motorcycles in the dirt as well as helping his father design, build, and race all-terrain buggies. Graham completed his first safari across the Kalahari at age 10 in a Range Rover with his family. This trip planted the seed for Graham’s lifelong overlanding obsession. In 2004 he completed a 30,000 mile overland adventure from London to Cape Town. He has guided expeditions in Africa and the American West and has been an active supporter of the global overland community. Sinuhe Xavier Sinuhe Xavier started his photography career in front of the lens as a sponsored skier for The North Face in Bozeman, MT, working with National Geographic photographer Gordon Wiltse. While studying architecture and photography…

“Filthy water cannot be washed.” - West African proverb While the lesson of the proverb probably had nothing to do with water, the originators might be surprised to know that we actually do have the technology to wash water. Every overland excursion, from a day-trip in the mountains to a multi-year expedition around the world, relies on the availability of clean water. Although thousands of travelers every year trust to luck, and complete epic journeys with no trouble simply drinking whatever is available, thousands more suffer repercussions ranging from unpleasant to immediately life-threatening. In this review we’ll cover water treatment systems, both filters and purifiers. Both are designed to deliver potable water, and their breadth of technology and internal complexity rivals the most complicated systems on any expedition vehicle. We…

Synopsis: After three decades with another brand, this was the first trip in my new Mercedes G-Wagen, and a return to the Algerian Sahara after a 10 year absence. The Merc had just cruised through an uninhabited 560-mile desert sector seeking long-disused French tracks, and had reached Tamanrasset. It was the maps’ fault, of course. Isn’t it always? Twenty-three days and 2,900 miles after leaving home in the U.K., crossing France, the Mediterranean (there was a ship for that bit), Tunisia, and a reasonable chunk of the desert—all without serious incident—I was now fed, watered, showered (filmed, too, as it happened), and perusing the cartography for the return north. The Mercedes had conducted itself in a sober, reliable, remarkably economical way, and its smooth, well-equipped driveline conferred a degree of…

POST CARD Getting kids outdoors: Thanks to NEMO, the innovative New Hampshire-based outdoor equipment manufacturer, a lot more kids will be introduced to the great outdoors this summer and beyond. NEMO Equipment, Inc., donated over $13,000 in backpacking and mountaineering tents to youth outdoor programs in 2009. “We’re aware of the reports indicating a declining number of youths participating in outdoor activities, and feel that as an outdoor gear manufacturer, we can help change that,” said Cam Brensinger, founder and president of NEMO. The lucky kids are part of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Youth Opportunities Program (Boston & New York City), Explorer Post 58 (Portland, OR), and Club Chameleon (Newmarket, NH). A combination of 2- and 3-person tents, including some of NEMO’s AirSupported tents, were given to the organizations. “The…

Then there’s Rolex. And there’ssomethingspecialabout Rolex. A little bit of magic. There’s something about watches, isn’t there? And don’t the advertising people know it. Think of those inspiring images you see in magazines; the pristine outward manifestation of all the eye-watering precision that comprises a modern watch. If you have that streak of the perfectionist technophile in you—and it’s probable that 90 percent of Overland Journal readers have it in spades—your neurotransmitters and receptors will be stirred to a degree of involuntary turmoil at the sight of such exquisite engineering. The Bell and Ross on the hard-hat diver; the Breitling on John Travolta in front of that shiny Griffon-engined P51 with the contra-rotating propellers; Lewis Hamilton on the Formula One podium wearing a TAG Heuer; the Panerai, the Seiko, Longines,…

In this issue you’ll find what I believe is Overland Journal’s finest technical equipment test yet: Graham Jackson’s comprehensive, laboratory-backed investigation of water filters and purifiers. Graham didn’t just see which systems were easiest to use at a nearby creek. He procured a large batch of clinically contaminated water, arranged to use some extremely sensitive analytical equipment, and found out exactly which units lived up to their manufacturer’s claims for removing or killing hazardous organisms—and which didn’t. (See his sidebar to find out what happens when you accidentally get sprayed in the face with lab water laced with a seething colony of Escherichia coli.) Since I’ve conducted at least four or five reviews of water filters over the years (although mine were strictly in the try-them-at-the-creek category), I was particularly…

Of all the greetings I could have received at the Pakistan border, I can say for sure that this was not one I had anticipated. The security officer on duty pointed to the apparent source of the smell, a wicker picnic basket, gestured for me to open it, then looked profoundly disappointed when it contained neither a deceased parrot nor confiscatable contraband. The offending article, a past-sell-by and leaking can of sardines, was eventually unearthed, whence it disappeared into the bemused crowd that had amassed to watch the spectacle of four foreigners rooting through three vehicles’ worth of luggage in the midday sun. It was a surreal start to our journey through Pakistan on the Karakoram Highway—but the good-natured curiosity of officials, omnipresent crowds, and unexpected experiences were to become…

MSR Sweetwater Purifier System $90 The Sweetwater system takes full advantage of multiple technologies to produce potable water. The main apparatus is a 0.2-micron silica depth filter with a carbon post-filter, all housed in a simple to use pump. For killing viruses post filtration, a bottle of Sweetwater Purifier Solution is included. This is three to five percent sodium hypochlorite, similar to household bleach. Add five drops per liter, mix and wait five minutes before drinking. The solution does have an expiration date, and no method for testing effectiveness. The recommended five drops I measured to be 0.2 mL, which will yield 2.85 mg/L chlorine at three percent and 4.76 mg/L chlorine at five percent. This is well in line with the World Health Organization recommended 2.5 mg/L chlorine for…

The idea for this test started just outside Telluride, Colorado, if I remember correctly, where the two-track on which Brian and I were riding turned to a quagmire of mud. I had never ridden in mud, so within minutes my KTM 950’s rear tire was caught in a rut, and the front tire was caught in a different rut. Too much throttle, and—bang, an idea was born. What is the toughest, best-designed soft luggage on the market? The Ortlieb panniers on the KTM did survive that fall, and several others, over 2,000 miles of abuse on the Trans-America trail. Their performance thus represented a known baseline. The question was, how would they stack up against the competition? Recently a few friends and I mounted up a total of six different…

Several years ago I was involved with a project doing road inventories for the state of Nevada. These inventories involved using fantastically expensive Trimble GPS units to precisely record the location and extent of every passable dirt road and 4WD trail in the area, including long-disused and overgrown trails I would never have traversed in any other circumstances. The effect on our tires was predictable: One day we suffered three punctures before 8:00 in the morning. In each case, we were back driving in less than 10 minutes, and never removed a wheel or touched the spare. How? We carried a comprehensive repair kit, including plugs, and a reliable, powerful 12-volt air compressor. Despite advances in construction that have made flats vanishingly rare compared to what automotive pioneers put up…

It started off just like any other beautiful day in southern Arizona: sunshine, moderate temperatures, lots of greenery (okay, more brown than green), and easy-to-follow trails. Who would have thought that in just a few hours we would be feel ourselves near death, scratching for our lives, after a brutal attack by . . . chiggers. I had taken my two daughters (aged four and six at the time) for a day trip to Sonoita Creek, near Patagonia, Arizona. We arrived at the parking area and prepared for our hike: fanny packs, water, hats, insect repellent on exposed skin. After a couple of hours exploring along the creek, it was time to head home. On the drive back we talked about the things we had seen, and what a memorable…

The Lost World of the Kalahari, by Laurens van der Post Very few overlanding books I’ve read could be described as “lyrical.” The Lost World of the Kalahari contains very few passages that aren’t. Published in 1958, The Lost World is the account of van der Post’s 1955 journey by Land Rover—one of the earliest African Land Rover expeditions—into the heart of the Kalahari Desert in search of the remnant San Bushmen living there, refugees of centuries of persecution by both black and white Africans. Commissioned by the BBC to produce a multi-part television documentary (a copy of which I have tried in vain for years to locate), Laurens and a small party entered the desert near Maun, during the hottest and driest part of the year, and penetrated deep…

Many years ago I got a call from an acquaintance who knew I had some experience in wildlife rehabilitation. The fellow told me he had found a red-tailed hawk by the side of a road, apparently stunned from a collision with a vehicle, but displaying no obvious external injuries. It was in his garage, he said, and acting “ . . . like it was completely tame. I threw a towel over it to catch it, but now it just sits and watches me even if I walk right up to it.” I suspected one of two explanations for this: Either the hawk had suffered massive internal injuries, including head trauma, and was simply unresponsive on a slide toward death—or, although it seemed highly unlikely, it had been at some…