OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
Once again this year, we headed southwest to Newport, Oregon and South Beach State Park for the Rogue Brewery’s Memorial Ale Fest. Brewer was the beloved Rogue black lab mascot who worked his way up to CEO. After his death the brewery began throwing an annual doggie brew fest in his memory. South Beach State Park, quite frankly, is…
I have put off writing this blog for a long time. Somehow, putting it all into words seemed as though it might somehow lesson the magic of our time in New Zealand. New Zealand was like a dream, a country we felt connected to long before we ever arrived on her shores. It offered everything we love; stunning coastlines, jagged…
And so it begins… On Sunday Gaila and I uneventfully (for the most part) crossed the Mexican border back into our wonderful homeland – good old U.S. of A. Despite my concerns the US border guards were pleasant and efficient, if not welcoming. Once we turned the corner and started our pleasant ride down the twisty Hwy 94 towards San…
Has it really been almost six months since we have been in our own country? Yes it has. Nov 2012 was the last time my feet were on US soil. Perhaps that is why I am so anxious about today – Sunday May 5th. I have barely slept as my brain keeps tossing and turning about the logistics of our…
Well my goodness, the last three days sure have been different. Wonderful each in their own ways. (Actually Sat, Sun & Monday. Wifi & WordPress sketchy. Today is Friday May 3rd :-) I will begin with what started great, then turned to shit, followed by great. That would be Saturday the 27th of April. We were all fired up to…
Battambang, a dusty little backwaters in NW Cambodia. Although becoming more of a tourist draw, it is still mostly visited by the backpacker crowd, anxious to get further off the well worn “banana pancake” trail that covers SE Asia. From Siem Reap there are two ways to get to Battambang. The first option is to take the mostly comfortable,…
Barren. The landscape before me is apocalyptically empty en route to Moab. A flash of colour from a hill lures me to trek and discover a crafted flower and a jellyfish fossil. The wasteland undulates lazily into the distance. I foresee a long, unremarkable ride ahead. I love it when I’m wrong. Adjectives begin to fail me as unimagined geographical…
April 15th means exactly one year on the road for Gaila and I. 12 months, 365 days, 525,600 minutes and what seems like a whole new lifetime spent traveling. Not to mention 35,600 or so miles of adventure. Significantly more than enough to circle the globe. Oh the things I have seen from the seat of my motorcycle and the…
It might have been inevitable. Even as we purchased our Palomino Pop-Top Camper two years ago, the question was there; “Is this really the right camper for our long road trip south?” Logan & Brianna of PanAm Notes were completely supportive, being in mid-trip themselves with the exact same camper. Others now on the road, such as Ken & Anaka…
From Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday April 8 -10, 2013 As long term travelers we are very good at being “on the move.” Indeed, it is normal for us now. Yet, it is the quiet moments, the still moments that I often appreciate the most. Like right now. I am sitting in the center of San Jose del Pacifico – a…
While driving around the United States we camped in many different National Parks, but Bryce is one of our favorites. Set in one of the most amazing natural settings in the world, Bryce Canyon is an outdoormans dream come true. The camping and hiking are out of this world and evenings in camp, watching the astonishing sky show of stars,…
After we loaded into the Landrover, we had one more stop to make. Natalie, Mckinley’s wife was flying in to Belize City from work to join us on the expedition. We will be traveling for three weeks through Guatamala and then back into Belize for another week. The airport is small,so finding her was a breeze. We loaded her luggage…
After finishing two days of volunteering workshops at Centro de Espranza Oaxaca Grassroots Infantil that we were leading on geography and global citizenship with 8 – 16 year olds (Thank you Muskoka Foundation) I was ready to get some lead out today. And that is exactly what I did – even though the original plan got slightly modified in route.…
OK, first, a disclaimer. In the interest of full disclosure I think I need to get one thing out in the open right away, I don’t like history. Wait, let me rephrase that, I LOVE being in historical places. I love wandering the same the same rock pathways that people have wandered for thousands of years. I love poking around…
Undoubetedly our favorite evening on our recent family trip to Mexico was the night we took a cooking class at Robert & Dolores Brittingham’s house. Formerly from Seattle, Robert & Dolores have called Puerto Vallarta home since 2002, starting Essence of Cuisine, Dolores’ cooking school, in 2006. We girls in the family had taken several cooking classes in the past…
Our time in Nica has been spent slowly passing the days staring at the ocean. It’s hot here. Very hot. We spent the first few days at a surf camp decompressing from our border crossing day and trying to find the will to drive further. No waves to speak of and im still nursing my neck/ego from the last attempt,…
Our lives have become busier and more hilarious since we added Aspen to the pack and became a two dog family. Although Porter and Aspen immediately got along, we didn’t see the bonding we were hoping would come. Having never had two dogs at the same time before we weren’t sure how long this might take and if it was…
Spain- a land of arid plains, flamenco, tapas and bullfights. Home to one of our favorite cities, Barcelona, as well as smaller gems like Seville and Granada. What do you envision when you dream of the Iberian Region? For me it’s the astonishing flash of color in a flamenco dancers dress, hillsides covered with white Andalusian villages set amongst the…
Yikes, way too much effort to get this post up. Sketchy net connection means no supporting video just yet… So these last few days have been interesting. Sometimes quite eventful and sometimes just dull & boring. It is 8am on the El Salvadoran pacific coast and we are prepping for a simple breakfast listening to the endless waves breaking onto…
Puerto Vallarta is a magical place for us and over the last twenty years we’ve eaten our way all over the city, from food carts and street stands to five star restaurants like Cafe des Amis. Having just returned from yet another vacation in paradise I thought I’d give a rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly. …
Like Santa Fe, all I knew about Denver was that it was called Denver. In deference to its surroundings I always imagined a low-slung town, fields leading away to the jagged mountainscape. Wandering into an unexpected city in my path, I discover it is in fact huge. A Harley rider sets me on back course to Boulder as I wind…
sadly, the boards remain dusty and strapped to the roof of the bus. I woke up with a bit of a restless tummy, but jen didn’t mind giving the toe another day to heal and the waves looked like mush anyway, so we missed the morning session… Turned out the tummy wasn’t the only thing restless..by afternoon i was achy…
We successfully made our way back into guatemala, meaning we are no longer driving the roads of mexico (illegally). The border crossing wasn’t exactly what we might call smooth or fast, but we did get across nonetheless… Despite what we’d been told, canceling our expired vehicle permit actually was no problem and things on the mexican side of the border…
Figured I would do just a quick post. This morning our plan was to leave Jeff & Monica (www.overlandtheworld.com) at our wonderful stay in Playa Gigante and head towards Masaya relatively early then maybe get to Managua too. No such luck. Actually today has been a very nice day, but we got a slow start as I had to change…
In one week we will have been traveling for 11 months. Today was one of the best & worst days. Let me explain. It is not that today was so much different than other days except that I didn’t have any particular place to go. I rode myself as Gaila and the http://www.overlandingtheworld.com/ crew (Jeff & Monica) lounged by the…
“Knee deep in the water somewhere, got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair, only worry in the world is the tide going to reach my chair” – Zac Brown Band with Jimmy Buffet It’s not news to anyone that we love the beach. Not only do we camp there regularly here in the Pacific Northwest, but we’ve…
Did I say I love my motorcycle? Lucille, my 2011 BMW F800GS is the perfect tool for this most wonderful trip. Today was proof of that. Gaila and I had the luxury of sleeping in a little bit (we did yesterday too:-) and that was nice after a very busy week with my son Elliot here for 8 days. More…
The massive state of Texas shrinks in time and memory as I make my way forward through New Mexico towards the Rocky Mountains. Just entering the state I notice an interesting change. Despite the occasional relief or geometric pattern appearing on the overpasses in Texas, there are few obvious signs that it was ever anything but The Lone Star State.…
As we worked our way from the East coast of South Island New Zealand to the West coast, our thoughts were on one thing. Getting to Franz Josef to do some heli-hiking on the Glacier. Check one off the bucket list. We began by spending the night in Franz Josef Township, a tiny town of a mere 250 residents.…
If you’ve never had the opportunity to take career break and experience life on the road, it’s difficult to explain how it feels. How do you put into words a motorcycle adventure that has taken you 30K miles overland across deserts, mountains, coastlines, jungles, islands, prairies, canyons, tundra and pine studded forests. By the time we’re done we’ll have clocked…