OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
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I learned the term “rubbertramp” in the movie Into the Wild. Alexander Supertramp is considered a “leathertramp” because he travels by foot, while a couple he met along the way call themselves “rubbertramps” because they travel by car. Whether traveling by foot, car, boat or plane, tramps find themselves stopping and staying wherever they choose for however long they want. …
Finally saying goodbye to our magical waterfalls and vacation spot for the week, and saying ‘see ya later’ to the Tranquilos after traveling with them for over a month, we pointed Truck towards Lake Arenal. We had mixed feelings about traveling by ourselves again. We had feelings of excitement and feelings of void. It always fun to share your experiences…
Semana Santa is one of the most popular holidays for Latin Americans. It is a full week of celebration, bringing many families to the beaches to camp. We were warned about this holiday. Everything from gas stations to grocery stores will close down. Keeping this in mind, we decided to cross the border before the big rush in hopes of…
With our new battery and solar panel installed, we moved along towards Popoyo, a well known surf break that Nate and Jamie had been itching to get to. After our day filled with running around Managua to get the battery, it was getting late but we pushed on, in hopes to make it to the beach before dark. When that…
After much thought and contemplation, we decided to skip traveling throughout Honduras for two reasons. One: our CA-4 visas were going to run up in about one month and still had all of Nicaragua to travel through and two: if we continued through to Nicaragua we would be able to complete the double border crossing with our friends Tranquilo Adventures.…
Looking back at our blog posts, I realized that we don’t talk a whole lot about our biggest form of entertainment; Brady. We fully knew we would be going on this great adventure some day and figured, what better life could a dog have?! As many of you know, Nate and I got Brady about three years ago from a…
We have been taught many lessons thus far on the trip but the most important one is to simply slow down and enjoy life. It is far too easy to fall into the mundane everyday tasks and not take the time to truly appreciate what is around you. Living the simple life is really working well for us. We are…
After recovering from being sick and crazy tuk tuk rides, we started our first of twenty total days of Spanish classes. We met our teachers up at the office area. Nate and his teacher Juan headed down to their booth to start learning. Magdalena was my teacher and she meant business! The first day was mostly questions about our trip…
I saw my first tuk tuk in Guatemala, bombing down the road at about 30 miles per hour, just outside of Tikal. I’ve heard of these interesting contraptions before, but had never seen one in real life. I was snapping multiple pictures of one particular tuk tuk like I would never see another one again. Little did I know, I…
Crossing the border into Guatemala has been the easiest yet. After “checking out” of Belize, we had our first experiment with a border money exchanger. I found a man who was more than happy to have my business- a few clicks of the calculator and I had a wad of quetzales in my hand! We continued on past Belize customs…
Unfortunately, when trying to come up with a unique title for this blog, this was all I could come up with. Oh, Journey, what have you done to me? (PS- I know you are all singing this song in your head now- catchy, ain’t it??) After paying our import tax for the second time at the Mexican importation office…… wait…
Months ago, when preparing for our trip, Nate and I got some interesting responses when we explained our future plans of driving the Pan American Highway. At least 90% of people thought we were completely crazy. The funny part is, they didn’t think we were crazy for quitting our jobs, selling all of our things and attempting to drive over…
Luckily the teams we were traveling with had the Church’s book to camping in Mexico, which has proved it’s weight in gold on several occasions. Conveniently there happened to be a nice little campground two miles from the pyramid which was cheap, clean, and close enough to the pyramid for an early morning rise to beat the crowds. Matt and…
Ok, so now that I got your attention I might as well start by saying this article has nothing to do with machine guns or weapons of any sort. I am talking about the Maya Rally, and the need for speed flying through the streets of Mexico. We were given the opportunity to join the Maya Rally in Guanajuato. The…
The drive from Sayulita said it would take about eight hours…no problem. Leaving at 9am would leave us plenty of time to get to camp, and make a bite to eat before catching the sunset over the city…perfect! Well as anyone who has done any amount of overlanding would know, things can change, and boy did they change! Mexico has…
After leaving Mazatlan we were on the hunt for some quality beach time! The closest beaches to us were south toward the town of San Blas. Rumors have been floating around of an interesting old town that had a little bit of a bug problem but we figured how bad could it be? Strolling into town, the crowded streets were…
After the Baja 1000, we headed South towards La Paz. This is the city to take the ferry out of but first we wanted to finish our drive throughout the rest of Baja. We stayed a night at Maranatha Campestre RV Park in La Paz (the only RV park still standing in the city). We caught up on laundry and…
This year was the 45th anniversary of the Score Baja 1000. For those who have been living under a rock, it is considered by many to be the most grueling off road race in history. This year it ran point to point from San Felipe to La Paz. Guys enter everything from 1/2 million dollar trophy trucks to stock VW…
By Sarah… enhanced by Nate Driving the Mojave Road was a blast, but after weeks in the desert it was time to move on, plus we knew beaches and tacos awaited us! The first order of business after the Mojave was a place to camp. On the map we spotted Big Bear Lake which looked on the way to San…
The Mojave Road is 140 miles of unforgiving dirt trails loaded with history and some of the most beautiful desolate country you will ever see. The trail ranges from washboard fire roads, washed out rocky hills, knee deep silt beds and whoop sections for miles. The history states the Mojave Road started off as a trade route by the Mojave…
On September 18, 2012 at approximately 7pm we officially finished packing our gear and departed on our trip in a total downpour of rain and tears. As we were throwing some last minute things into the back of the truck, we discovered a leak forming a river in our new cap. It was draining right into the bed area due…
Building your sleeping and storage amenities is just as, if not more, important than your vehicle choice in my opinion. For many overlanders, there are three general choices: a camper (ie: a slide in truck bed camper), a roof top tent, or a sleeping platform either in an SUV or pickup truck with a cap. I am not going to…
As everyone knows, the roads are not the greatest south of the border. Also as some may know, driving a stock dodge 3/4 ton truck is not the greatest either. The combination of the two = a bone jarring, rear end dancing, white knuckle and frustrating ride, for months on end. Since we knew they weren’t going to re-pave the…
Alright, this time around the fridge is going in the back of the truck. Last time, we had the back seat removed and the fridge was mounted behind the drivers seat. Well that has changed for two reasons: one, I couldn’t recline my seat….ever. And two, the dog would be pissed if I built him some half-width rear seat to…
Believe it or not, we are not able to simply pack our truck and drive anywhere we want. For the past two years, we have been doing extensive research on the documents, vaccinations, etc. needed. We’ve found that there are quite a few vaccinations required to cross certain borders in Central and South America and there are also several medications…
Well, it’s about that time. The time when we move out of our winter rental (a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom beach house!) into our beautiful little silver bullet. Meet “The Airstream” Nate and I have lived in several places (eight to be exact) in the past six years of living together and I can honestly tell you that this is…
We get a lot of people asking us how we are able to afford such an extensive trip. No, we didn’t win the lottery. No, we didn’t get some sort of inheritance. We didn’t even rob a bank. For the past two years, since being back from our last road trip, we have worked our little butts off in order…
In just a few moths, Nate and I will be heading out on our adventure! I cannot believe we are this close. It seems like just yesterday we were getting back on our last road trip, trying to figure out what we were going to do in order to save up for the next one. (That was over two years…