Overland Journal Summer 2016

Chance Meeting We just got back from our epic 10-week, 9,010-mile road trip through Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. One of the highlights was meeting Chris Collard and his wife, Suzy, in the middle of nowhere on Union Pass Road. We pushed our limits during the rest of our trip and put Stella, our Volkswagen Westfalia, in some compromising places that I was surprised a two-wheel drive could handle.›I think the combination of a heavy, rear-engine vehicle with high clearance was perfect for us.› Thanks for the issues of Overland Journal; your article about the South Pole trip was intense. We hope the rest of your trip was as good as ours. Rick and Linda Freimuth 1991 Volkswagen Westfalia KLR Armor I loved your article about the KLR650 in the recent issue. I have had two…

ACE KVALE Although originally drawn to the mountains for skiing, the friendships forged there have defined Ace’s life and career. From Colorado to Switzerland to the Himalayas, he’s traveled to over 60 countries to document skiing and climbing expeditions. After coming to love the local cultures in these remote corners of the world, the actual climbing of mountains began to take a back seat to working with organizations committed to helping those in need. Traveling with eye doctors who restore sight to people in Africa and Asia has become a personal quest, and his imagery raises awareness for this cause. Ace makes his home on an organic farm in Utah’s Canyon Country with his trusty sidekick Desert Dawg. In his own words, “The older I get the more awesome I was.” FOREST…

When I reflect back on my childhood days, camping in the deserts of Southern California and Baja Norte, some of the visions firmly imprinted on my cerebral hard drive are looking through the viewfinder of my parents’ Kodak 35mm camera. Our family rode dirt bikes, backpacked, and spent a lot of time outdoors, and I remember coming home from weekend trips and waiting for my mother to pick up the developed transparencies. She would set aside a night to load them into the reels of our Kodak projector (which I still have) and do a slideshow. The vivid landscapes of Long Lake, Joshua Tree, and the Sea of Cortez would fill the screen, along with my dad and his buddy Tom “Super” Rudder flying through the air on Greeves 250…

Aether, the Southern California apparel brand, launched a sunglass collaboration with Salt. Optics in June of 2015. I was lucky enough to receive an early pair and have prescription lenses installed. Nine months down the road and close to 10,000 miles on my bike, including a trip to Australia and the Arctic, and they are still my go-to pair of glasses. The founders at Aether are longtime motorcycle riders and stick to their ethos of only designing and producing products they would actually use and wear themselves; these glasses hit their mark on both form and function. They are remarkably light and utilize beta titanium frames (an alloy known for its application in aerospace fields) with polarized, chromatic-filtered polycarbonate lenses. Unlike many sunglasses, the Scouts cause no fatigue inside the helmet…

The Defender is the 5th generation in the REV’IT! line since the Cayenne, and the materials and armor on the Pro version have been upgraded substantially. The outer shell is a combo of PWR shell 750D with PWR shell 1000D at the impact points, both with Teflon coating. (PWR shell is REV’IT!’s version of Cordura.) They upped the ante on standard armor with their proprietary SEEFLEX CElevel 2 limb protectors (elbows, shoulders, knees), which hits the highest CE grade and is T+/T- rated, meaning that it will maintain its properties down to -40°C and up to 40°C (i.e., no more stiff armor when it’s cold or overly soft armor when it’s hot). Made for life on the road, the Defender Pro has a multitude of pockets both inside and out. All…

In the spring of 2013, after evaluating two dozen of the best sleeping pads on the market, we bestowed the Exped Mega Mat 10 with our coveted Editor’s Choice Award. It was an easy decision as no other pad came close to matching its sublime comfort. We did have to concede that this luxurious slumber option had two noteworthy drawbacks: packed size and weight. The Mega Mat 10, when fully deflated and stowed in its stuff sack, made for a huge bundle to portage—a deal breaker for those with limited storage space. Since then the designers at Exped have been hard at work adding several new pads to their extensive catalog. The pad that caught our attention was their new SynMat Mega 12 LXW. With the same overall dimensions as our…