“Overlanding is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road-capable transport where the principal form of lodging is camping, often lasting for extended lengths of time and spanning international boundaries.”

One of our objectives in spending so much time together, in a very small space, in the vast outdoors, was to be uncomfortable. That doesn’t seem right, right? And to further complicate matters, as we near an age where we always imagined our time spent sipping mai tai’s on the beach, toes in the sand, watching the sun set. It seems contrary to desire anything other than full and total relaxation. The truth is that sometimes Mike and I like to do things the hard way. For example, towing a teardrop camper 13 hours away so that we can take folding chairs out of the truck, crack a beer, and…yes, watch the sun set and the moon rise. The results in both scenarios are the same, but the journey to get there is much, much different.

Being uncomfortable is the only way to grow. Getting out of our comfort zone is imperative to keeping us thinking and problem solving and laughing a good bit along the way. It’s not an “adapt or die” type of change, but more of an agrement between the two of us that it is far too easy to be comfortable, to work from our home offices, never worried about internet speed, water, propane, light, gas, heat, etc. in our day. It is far more interesting to put ourselves in a situation that we fully will not be able to predict, compeltely plan for, or understand the outcome. For example, I know our camping spot’s GPS coordinates, but I cannot tell you what we will see, what it will feel like to be there, or who we will meet along the way.

I cannot wait to see how this trip, at the cusp of our second year trying to figure this all out, will be! Last year, green and unaware of the magnitude of effort overlanding entails, I wish I would’ve known everything we know now. But, if we had, it wouldn’t have been been such a good story to tell.

Stay tuned…so many more stores to tell you as we head back out on the road!