Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2011 från Overland Journal

Well Traveled I am a new subscriber to Overland Journal, and I wanted to show you where my first copy has been. I recently took it as my reading material on a trip to Europe and the Middle East. I’ve attached a picture of it with my vehicle in Ankara, Turkey. It also went to Israel, Romania, Spain, and Belgium. Unfortunately, it’s such a great publication that I finished it cover-to-cover by the first stop.   My vehicle: a 2006 Boeing C-17A. I’m a USAFR pilot from Dover AFB, Delaware.   Cheers,  Matt Gross 1998 Chevy K2500 pickup with a 350 V8 and 4L80E transmission. Timeless Treasure The Winter 2010 issue was another great one. It brought back memories of the Canol Road: fall colors, crisp mountain air, rows of old…

As I expected, that Pelican 1550 got small real fast. Of course, there was never any doubt it would wind up full—not with a triple-stack rolling cabinet and several boxes full of tools from which to choose. The exercise, if you’ll excuse a terminal preposition, was what it would wind up full of. Surprisingly, the basics—socket sets, wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, files, punches, and so forth, went in tidily either in their original cases or in several tool rolls from Off Road Trail Tools. It was the large grey area beyond those essentials—the tie-rod separator, torque wrench, pry bars, clutch alignment tool, bearing puller, hand drill, etc. in the what-are-the-chances-I’d-need-this? pile—that required triage. Ratchet and sockets The overstuffed Britool 3/8th-inch-drive socket kit described last issue has been my go-to set for…

One of the world’s premier overland journeys is the 20,000-mile-plus route from North America—whether Alaska, Canada, or the mainland U.S.—to the tip of South America, at Ushuaia, Argentina. It’s been done by many heavily sponsored teams with fully kitted, brand-new expedition vehicles—but lately, it seems more and more ordinary folk are attempting the same thing by much more modest means. They’re not independently wealthy or backed by corporations; they’re not making a huge publicity stunt out of it beyond a blog or Facebook page; they just planned and saved and rearranged priorities and sacrificed—and left. A couple of life-changing events caused John and Stevie Trujillo to sell everything they owned, buy a Sprinter van, and head for points south. John (aka Tree) had a serious climbing accident which confined him…

Ican’t recall when I first became aware of the power of the sun to scorch the daylights out of my skin. Although I’ve had my share of sunburns over the years, none was especially memorable, except perhaps recently when I scorched the top of my head due to, shall we say, ‘sparse follicle syndrome.’ Now that hurt. As a youth I operated on the principle of: Who needs sunscreen anyway? I tan pretty well; I only get minor sunburn occasionally. Sunscreen is for sissies. Now, after more than 25 years of medical practice, and having cut hundreds of skin cancers from my patients, I realize that excess sunlight can lead to a number of adverse medical conditions, including premature wrinkling, skin thinning, various skin discolorations—and several different kinds of skin…

As ubiquitous as a cup of coffee, the omelet can be found in just about every roadside dive and multi-star restaurant between here and parts unknown. More often than not, it’s the victim of some soulless assembly of eggs and cheese, served up with fried potatoes and easy on the taste. However, when done properly, the omelet can be one of the most elegant and beautiful dishes on the menu. Simple in nature, it is the perfect backdrop to delight your senses with fresh vegetables and subtle flavors. An impromptu stop at a local farmers’ market or roadside stand can yield a bountiful harvest for your breakfast or dinner table. On a recent trip, we found ourselves surrounded by fresh organic leafy greens, plump, juicy tomatoes, and farm fresh eggs.…

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 off-road 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, the American West, Mexico and Central America, and has been an active supporter of the global overland community. A scientist by trade, Graham tries to combine his interest in the natural world, his passion for overlanding and his love of things mechanical. He is now director of Overland Training. Charlie Weatherill…

It’s hard to miss a BMW GS 650 with an extra-large pink bra stretched across the handlebars. “It’s made me quite the road attraction,” says Tamela Rich, who is traveling the country for the cause of fighting breast cancer. “People everywhere wanted their picture with the bike, and wanted to tell me stories of their battle with cancer or a sister, or mother’s brush with the disease. I sometimes wonder if the bra wasn’t a good luck charm.” The 49-year-old mother of two is in the midst of a cross-country ride, raising funds and compiling stories for an inspirational book. Follow her on her blog (roadtrip.tamelarich.com) and on Facebook (Facebook.com/TamelaRich). Both of  Alisa Clickenger’s grandmothers died of cancer—one from breast cancer and one from cervical/uterine cancer. An avid motorcyclist, in 2009 she…

Here’s a little-known fact: The oldest surviving shoes in the world—9,000-year-old plant-fiber examples from Missouri, and a more sophisticated leather lace-up moccasin dug out of petrified sheep dung in Armenia, dated to about 5,500 years ago—can easily be identified as to whether they were made for the right or left foot. But when shoes began to be manufactured on a wide commercial basis, in the late Middle Ages, they were undifferentiated: right and left were exactly the same. Not until the 1830s did right and left shoes become commonly available, after a foreman at the Springfield Armory developed the duplicating lathe, which allowed wood gunstocks to be mass-produced. A shoemaker in Philadelphia modified the lathe to make shoe lasts (molds)—and realized that the process could easily produce mirror-image asymmetrical lasts…

In a word, no. Or, to rephrase a bit: they certainly shouldn’t. Yes, pump prices are headed back up toward $5.00 per gallon as I write this, and one might be tempted to think that life is hell. But compared to what our explorer predecessors faced, expensive gas rates pretty low on the scale of inconvenience. Recall the early days of automobile travel, when dealing with two or three flat tires in a day would be considered lucky, and total-loss coolant systems meant that any journey in hot weather was a stop-and-start affair to refill the radiator and give the steaming engine a break. Or go back further, to when horse-mounted African explorers entering the tsetse belt had to watch their animals drop dead one by one, leaving them on…

Some of my most memorable meals have been prepared over a tiny backpacking stove sitting on the dented and scratched tailgate of my Toyota. If atmosphere is half of what goes into a fine dish, then the advantage I had wasn’t the sophistication of the cookware or the furnishings, but rather good company and the grandeur of the place where the meal was served—under the blue mantle of a twilight sky, with a landscape so wide open and filling the senses so completely there was barely enough capacity left for savoring the food. My particular style of travel depends heavily on the experiences provided by the places I visit and who I’m with, not the things I bring with me. The most sophisticated kitchen equipment I’ve owned to date maxes…

Zero Motorcycle 2011 DS upgrades: With the gradual rise in fuel prices around the world coupled with tailpipe emissions, the advent of electric vehicle technology into over-landing applications has long been awaited. Zero Motorcycles has brought us one step closer to the possibility with the introduction of the new 2011 product line of five models including the DS electric dual sport motorcycle. Big changes in the new DS model include 12.5% more capacity in the lithium-ion battery, a quick charge option which reduces charging time by 50%, down to two hours, a stiffer frame and stronger wheels. The suspension has been retuned and the already impressive brakes are even better. The 2011 DS also features a reinforced carbon fiber drive belt replacing the traditional chain and further reducing operating noise,…

Shoulders hunched, proudly yet carelessly weaving his colourful Hero Honda through traffic, he represented a typical young Indian biker. And by the time we saw him, it was too late. The shiny yellow bike had overtaken us on a dual carriageway—then promptly swung in front of us and halted, its owner having decided that the most sensible place to perform a right hand turn was directly in front of our vehicle. Not even a parachute will stop an expedition-laden Prado travelling at 40 miles per hour in 10 yards. We hit him square on, knocking him clean off the bike and into the slow lane to our left. Remarkably, he was unhurt, rolling several times before staggering unsteadily to his feet. Then a speeding tuk-tuk hit him as square on…