OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
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We did not plan to drive the Sonora pass. After visiting Yosemite, we thought the Sonora pass was not open yet and we thought we had to drive the CA88 to get to the Eastern side of the Sierra Mountains. We decided to camp at a Wallmart, where after a few minutes a car stopped with a very nice…
I am not the kind of person that will tell you exactly what kind of gear we bring, right down to the kind of underwear we brought. However, we do want to share those type of gear that we think is either very handy, or not at all. Gear that we use every day or that we threw out. We…
We LOVED Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is a beautiful, peaceful park, with mountains, rivers, falls and meadows. It made us think about the Austrian Alps a bit, but so much more beautiful. We camped in one of the campgrounds and as it turned out were very lucky to get a site. We arrived at about noon and got the very…
After two months on the road you may wonder how Panda is doing? Until April 30, everything was going well. We had some minor repairs that we have had to do, but nothing really major. She uses a bit more oil than expected, but on fuel she is not as thirsty as we expected, so that balances out well. In…
We spent the past week in “active bear country” as it was indicated on postings all over the parks. We have been in Sequoia National Park and Forest, in Kings Canyon and Yosemite. Like in all other national parks we were given a little newspaper about the parks at the entrance. Unlike the other parks, a large portion of these…
We absolutely loved Zion National Park. We came in from the East Entrance and drove through until the campsites at the South Entrance. By that it had gotten a bit cloudy and we could not see all of the mountains. We decided to stay in one of the campsites in the park so that we could go back the next…
A good plan for any traveler is a plan that is flexible. A plan that can be changed at last minute without any real problems. A plan that is not set in stone. Which is why we started out with only a very vague plan. Basically our big plan is that at some point in the future we want to…
At the time when we visited the Grand Canyon, only the south rim was open. We found a nice advice on the internet to camp just outside of the small village of Tusayan, a few miles south of the Grand Canyon. If you drive up the FR 302, just south of the village, you can camp for free for a…
We bought Panda with tyres that had 70% tread. We estimated that we would be able to drive at least another 40-50.000 kilometers with those tyres and that these were the best for offroad driving. A disadvantage however is that on the nicely paved highways here in the States, the tyres run down a bit more than expected. …
White sands is a National Park in New Mexico, near to Las Cruces, in the very south of the state. It consists of white sanded dunes where you can drive around in (unfortunately not actually in the dunes, but on a road) and you can hike various trails. On the day we were there, it was very hot and in…
We were interviewed for local Junction newspaper..…
Carlsbad Cavern’s is a system of underground cavern’s with many different stalagtites and stalagnites. It belongs to the National Parks of the US. We came too late sunday evening to still get in, but we were able to camp on a hill that belongs to BLM land very near so that we could go to the cavern’s first thing monday…
We are now on the road with Panda for a month. It might be time for a recap. This month has been all about getting used to things. We had to get used to driving with Panda, the tiny space inside, being on the road, being together 24/7, finding our way, and so much more. We have never camped before…
Our idea was and is to stay away from the bigger cities. We both feel better in nature and prefer not to take Dunya and Panda into the cities. Both beasts also feel better in nature. However, when we met a couple on a certain campground who told us how easy and cheap and comfortable it could be to go…
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a so called “scenic byway” and runs for about 570 miles fro m Front Royal in Northern Virginia all the way down to the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina. Camping along the Parkway We got on the Parkway a few miles south of Roanoke and really enjoyed driving this Parkway. It runs on the…
We knew that we were driving an exotic car and that we might get some attention driving with Panda in the US. What we did not expect was the kindness of the people we meet along the way. There are so many people every day who come to talk to us. People who leave notes on our windshield (thanks RA…
A few weeks ago I published a post about 5 things I looked forward to in the US. One of those things was sleeping in a motel. In many movies and series we see pictures of motels in the woods (ok, in the series we watch, usually people are being murdered there, but still, the pictures are beautiful) and so…
Yesterday we picked up Panda in the harbor of Baltimore. We presented ourselves at 8.00 am at the office of Pride International, the forwarder of the ship with which Panda crossed the big pond. The papers were all ready, emailed by Seabridge last week and prepared by Pride. Within ten minutes we were back outside. We then had to…
Today we crossed the border to the US with Dunya. We decided to cross the border at Niagara Falls. Firstly, because we also really wanted to see the Niagara Falls, but also because friends said that this might be a very easy border crossing because of the many tourists crossing here every day. According to the USDA, we needed an…
We landed in Montreal! The flight with Dunya was incredibly easy and also the arrival in Montreal was very smooth. We just had to go through declarations because of the dog and had to pay a few dollars for her to be accepted in Canada. All we needed was proof of her rabies vaccinations. No Health Certificate needed. The past…
I had never really thought of going on holiday in the US. Somehow it always felt that the US was not exotic enough for a vacation. Now that we are actually going there and even spending several months, there are of course many things I look forward to. Most of all I want to see with my own eyes whether…
Last week we delivered Panda to the port of Antwerp in order to be shipped to Baltimore. It was a very easy and straightforward process. We followed the instructions given by Seabridge. The vehicle had to be clean inside and out. The gastanks for cooking and heating had to be empty. The petrol tank was allowed to be filled maximum…
The nightmare is finally over.. We found our car insurance for Canada and the USA. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved as when I saw the email coming in that said ” Dear Erica, please find below our quote…” . And it is a good quote too. Admittedly, I was at the point that I would have…
The nightmare continues.. After all the negative response on our request for insurance when arriving in Canada, we decided to reschedule our vehicle to arrive in the US. That was easily done. Same ship, same company, same cost, just one port further, Baltimore. We will still fly to Montreal with Dunya because both flight and hotel could not be canceled…
It starts to feel as if getting insurance for Panda has become a nightmare that is haunting us. How can it be so difficult to get insurance for a vehicle? It has already been a huge hassle to find a company in Holland that would insure us for Europe, but that was nothing compared to the difficulties of getting insurance…
I have never really had a true passion in my life. Not like some people who have hobbies and spend a lot of time doing what they love to do. I have friends who really enjoy music, they have more than a thousand records and say they could not live without their music. Another friend has always known she wanted…
The last two months! Getting stressed over the last things that need to be done, but also getting excited over almost leaving. We can see the finish line of the preparation stage and can start to look forward to setting off. I must say that I start to look forward to the leaving part more and more. Preparing for a…
In exactly ten weeks from today we will put Panda on a ship to Canada. 10 Days later we will hop on a plane to bring us there. In the mean time we will do our last preparations. Last weekend I prepared one big TO DO list so that we finally have everything in one list and can start crossing…
Time flies.. Only 12 weeks until departure. Every time I say that to myself, my heart starts racing. There still is so much to do. Every day I check my list of “things to do” and somehow it seems the list is longer every day instead of getting shorter. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night telling…
We are now in the last 13 weeks of preparations for our epic road trip. So much is happening every week that I will start writing weekly updates from now on. I got inspired by the blog of Aussie Overlanders, an Australian couple that has the same start date as us, mid February. They also post a weekly update, which…