Overland Journal Fall 2018

Hugo Manuel is a street dog that we picked up at a local shelter in Washington. They told us he was from Guam when we adopted him, but after some research we figured out he was from a smaller city in Guatemala that we had stayed at during a motorcycle trip to Ushuaia three years ago. Crazy coincidence! Hugo is a goofy dog and comes with us on all our overland adventures, including Alaska and the American Southwest. This picture is [at] the Salmon Glacier in [British Columbia, near the Alaska border]. Coming from Central America, I don’t think he liked the cold too much. SHARE Use #overlandjournal on Instagram or Facebook. WHERE HAS YOUR OVERLAND JOURNAL BEEN? Send us a photo, along with your name, the location, make/year of your vehicle, and a…

LOIS PRYCE Lois Pryce is a British travel writer and author of three books about her solo motorcycle journeys from Alaska to Argentina, London to Cape Town, and most recently around Iran. Her latest book, Revolutionary Ride was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Telegraph, New York Times, and CNN. The Telegraph named her as one of the World’s 10 Great Female Travelers. With her husband, adventure filmmaker Austin Vince, she is also co-founder/director of the Adventure Travel Film Festival which occurs annually in the UK and Australia. JAKE QUIÑONES Jake is a New Mexico native who became familiar with backcountry travel during childhood. Some of his earliest memories include riding shotgun in his dad’s Ford Bronco while crisscrossing the Great Divide and sleeping…

Luke Clark, the owner of Fourtreks, is a mechanical engineer who incorporates vast off-road experience into an exceptional product line. With a you get what you pay for philosophy, the company builds extremely robust and versatile billet aluminum equipment mounts for just about any tube diameter, including square tubing. I have used the Fourtreks Hi-Lift jack mount for years. Initially secured to an Aluminess rear bumper swingout, the jack was later moved to an ARB front. This change required a new Fourtreks billet clamp, as the two bumper tube diameters are different, but the actual mounting unit transferred seamlessly. Complete with stainless hex bolts, bar stock aluminum, and countersunk mounting holes, their product excels in quality and appears to be of NASA standards. I’ve used other off-the-shelf Fourtreks tubular mounts, including a…

Certain things stand the test of time. They endure the passage of fads and generations to become a classic. Beyond what may make them fashionable is often true functionality, that thoughtful blend of form and usefulness. With those considerations in mind, the designers from TAD embraced the Talisman, sewing it in the USA from genuine Halley Stevenson’s waxed cotton fabric imported from Dundee, Scotland. I found that the jacket, tightly woven in the doek (duck) fashion with a stowable Ventile hood and snap-down pockets, easily endured extended downpours along the coast of Tasmania. It is styled like the early motorcycle jackets with a relaxed fit, a YKK metal zipper, and a drop-tail hem that makes for comfort in the saddle. One of the challenges with waxed canvas is breathability, which in…

In 1980, BFGoodrich introduced a tire that would forever change the way we viewed off-pavement traction, the T/A mud terrain. It was the first tire with an aggressive tread design and radial construction. At low pressure, it deformed like a marshmallow, but was susceptible to tearing and punctures. After several revisions, it ultimately appeared as the KM2 in 2007. Pushing the tire technology envelope further, the company went back to the drawing board and spent six years developing the fifth-generation mud terrain, the KM3. We recently tested the KM3 in Australia on everything from hard-pack two-tracks and dry granite to soft sand, moderate mud, and twisty mountain tarmac. ON THE ROAD Because most of our miles are spent driving to and from the trail, noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) should be…

We’ve all been there: turn the key, and a faint click click click is heard from the engine bay, the result of a flat battery. If you are fortunate enough to be parked at the mall or with friends, you are golden. But if it happens while traveling alone in the backcountry, you will pat yourself on the back for having added an alternate starting power source to your kit. The Weego JS12 is a one-stop source for not only jump-starting a vehicle (up to a 6.4-liter petrol or 3.2-liter diesel engine) but also charging the plethora of energy-hungry gadgets we have come to depend on. With a reserve capacity of 12,000 mAh, its lithium-polymer cell can be stored for months and still be up for most jobs. Topping it off…