Has overlanding become elitist ?

[sabjku]

If you haven’t noticed world has gone elitist. Especially true in the US where the gap between the haves and have nots continues to grow and the middle class has been all but decimated over the last 40 years.

Very true. However, we are each in charge of your own destiny. I owe you nothing. You owe me nothing. Work hard, take chances, invest, and move forward. Or, become complacent, and blame others. Who cares how much money the elite has? It's never mattered to me one bit how much money any of my friends, neighbors, or the elite has. Good for them. They didn't get that money sitting around pointing blame at others or looking for handouts.

Just for the record, my post is not aimed at you at all, it's just a post speaking about my general thought on wage gap.

 

[AA1PR]

LOL love the title description

its a hobby my family has been doing long before it was given any fancy name

now I hear those elitist calling it a lifestyle

 

[smritte]

I guess I categorize "Elitists" differently.
To me, those are the ones who look down on me because I don't have a new rig or a cool outfitted rig. My old TJ, I liked keeping the "look" simple. It just looked like a lifted Jeep. No cut fenders, no "Rock Buggy" look. I went out with a new group, they shook their heads at me and put me in the back. They didn't want the "street jeep" to slow them down. Not one of them looked underneath my rig and if they had, wouldn't have understood what they saw anyway.
Long story short, they struggled over the obstacles and I was bored.
To me that's an Elitist. Someone who thinks their better at something and try's to make you look bad.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

LOL love the title description

its a hobby my family has been doing long before it was given any fancy name

now I hear those elitist calling it a lifestyle

How do you define an elitist ? I'm not sure what an elitist is. I don't categorise people
Into any group other than those who have or have not.

I've been poor and never been rich. I've always had enough because I worked hard for it. I've never worked an 8 hour a day job in my life. 12-15 hours x 6 and sometime 7 days a week was necessary in my life for 50+ years. That was good, it let me survive poverty.

I'm not picking on you, I really have never met someone I could or would call an elitist.

 

[Dlnuckolls]

obviously there are a lot of people spending a lot of money, one thing that I think about beyond the societal issues ($$$) is how the money effects the TECHNOLOGY, because we have capitalism the $$ actually pushes the tech, some good some bad, forward, it pushes the capabilities forward.....there was a time when the only 4x4's available had hooves.....

There are a lot of folks who think the latest toy will just make things great. Perhaps they are right, who knows. For me I try to figure out what I actually need and then explore to the limits of where I can go. If I find that I need something new, then I work on that, but its more fun to experience the journey before I start adding all the "cool" stuff to my rig.

 

[Louiston]

I guess I categorize "Elitists" differently.
To me, those are the ones who look down on me because I don't have a new rig or a cool outfitted rig. My old TJ, I liked keeping the "look" simple. It just looked like a lifted Jeep. No cut fenders, no "Rock Buggy" look. I went out with a new group, they shook their heads at me and put me in the back. They didn't want the "street jeep" to slow them down. Not one of them looked underneath my rig and if they had, wouldn't have understood what they saw anyway.
Long story short, they struggled over the obstacles and I was bored.
To me that's an Elitist. Someone who thinks their better at something and try's to make you look bad.

They are not Elitists, they are Ass Holes, there is one born every minute. I hope you found a better group to run with!

 

[phlfly]

its expensive . all gear is very expensive. I got 4 chair from front runners each 64 bucks but with shipping 300 bucks total. wow!! It's a camping Chair !
RTT - good one 3,000 at least . I hear you man .

Let me start off by saying, being on disability I may be biased, but still no need to rip me a new one. I watch many, many overlanding videos from all kinds of overlanding Youtube channels, and I have yet to see one, except "iamjake" that doesn't have $10,000 or close to it (usually more) worth of gear on their rigs. Now I'm not talking about people that live in their rigs full time, but rather those that go for a few days at a time or less. Now I know it's very difficult to not pay a premium to get out there. I mean even good tires can be $1,000 or more a set. Just seems to me that overlanding has gone the same way SUV's, Harleys, trucks, and other things have gone. They got popular by people with pretty good size budgets, then parts costs skyrocket because a lot of people can afford it, and the little guys like me get left out. Now I can and do go out there as far as I can for now but I'll bet my gear costs less than $300. You work hard I know, I don't begrudge you that, you earned it GREAT. Just sucks to not see people more like me out there too.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I guess I categorize "Elitists" differently.
To me, those are the ones who look down on me because I don't have a new rig or a cool outfitted rig. My old TJ, I liked keeping the "look" simple. It just looked like a lifted Jeep. No cut fenders, no "Rock Buggy" look. I went out with a new group, they shook their heads at me and put me in the back. They didn't want the "street jeep" to slow them down. Not one of them looked underneath my rig and if they had, wouldn't have understood what they saw anyway.
Long story short, they struggled over the obstacles and I was bored.
To me that's an Elitist. Someone who thinks their better at something and try's to make you look bad.

I havent run into that type of person as of yet in this environment (OB group) but I did when I had my own business. 99% of the people I exchange posts with here on the forum have treated me with great respect. I've never met any of them because I am a newbie (18 months) and still putting my rig and equipment together, plus a little sidelining health issues. I'll be out in the fall with my raggedy ann rig that I love, to meet a bunch of these guys up in the PNW sector. I think most are just like me struggling for every piece of equipment necessary to have their adventure.

 

[smritte]

Those are not Elitists, they are Ass Holes, there is one born every minute. I hope you found a better group to run with!

I totally agree. I only mentioned, off-road and this is not new. I have watched this most of my life. When I was younger it was mini trucks, then back packing, off road from mall crawlers to rock crawlers. About every hobby I've had there's one or two. It's an "i'm better than you" mind set.

I havent run into that type of person as of yet in this environment (OB group) but I did when I had my own business. 99% of the people I exchange posts with here on the forum have treated me with great respect.

There are only two forums I post in and this is one of them. For that exact reason. I have only gone out with a couple of people from here and not been sorry.

 

[M Rose]

I totally agree. I only mentioned, off-road and this is not new. I have watched this most of my life. When I was younger it was mini trucks, then back packing, off road from mall crawlers to rock crawlers. About every hobby I've had there's one or two. It's an "i'm better than you" mind set.



There are only two forums I post in and this is one of them. For that exact reason. I have only gone out with a couple of people from here and not been sorry.

Funny you mention the Mini-Truck scene, I was hot and heavy at the end of it... that culture was an elitist culture in every way... that’s what it was all about.. look at me, I’m lower than you, my stereo bumps louder than yours, my truck is faster, I can make it hop higher. I can scrape my bumper further... there wasn’t a way to take a stock mini to a meet. But it wasn’t much different than the muscle car era before or the ricer crowd after.... the 4 wheel drive and off-road crowd has always been d always will be a chill relaxed group for the most part. Why? Because we all share the same end goal. Yes we have our competitions, but they are what drive the r&d for our passion... the same guy who races the mud bog on Saturday afternoon is the same guy helping pull someone out of the rocks the fallowing weekend.

Are we elitist? Heck yes we are... why are there so many successful overland YouTube channels right now? Because people want to be us, they don’t realize they can be us. The general population thinks they have to have this real fancy rig with recovery boards, a winch, some fancy tent... etc.
I’m selling my last Expedition Rig, and the guy looking at it yesterday couldn’t believe a second gen Ram has been the places I took it.. he wanted the truck to tow his 5th wheel... he’s now thinking of selling his fifth wheel because the truck does it all without a trailer. He told me he always wanted to overland but thought he needed a 100k rig with every accessory known to mankind. (Now if he would just buy my darned truck).

 

[Shokgoblr]

The one thing I don't get is all the money people spend to hang there equipment on the outside of the rig. Just asking some meth head to help him self.

I spend time and money making sure everything on my vehicle is modular and locked. When its not going to be used in the next couple days its off my car.

 

[joshjunior]

Let me start off by saying, being on disability I may be biased, but still no need to rip me a new one. I watch many, many overlanding videos from all kinds of overlanding Youtube channels, and I have yet to see one, except "iamjake" that doesn't have $10,000 or close to it (usually more) worth of gear on their rigs. Now I'm not talking about people that live in their rigs full time, but rather those that go for a few days at a time or less. Now I know it's very difficult to not pay a premium to get out there. I mean even good tires can be $1,000 or more a set. Just seems to me that overlanding has gone the same way SUV's, Harleys, trucks, and other things have gone. They got popular by people with pretty good size budgets, then parts costs skyrocket because a lot of people can afford it, and the little guys like me get left out. Now I can and do go out there as far as I can for now but I'll bet my gear costs less than $300. You work hard I know, I don't begrudge you that, you earned it GREAT. Just sucks to not see people more like me out there too.

That's kinda the nature of things. Hell you can do it without spending a ton. The only reason I have a rtt is bc I got a deal on one for 500! At the time I didn't even know there was a term for what I called car camping till I stumbled across some YouTube videos lol

 

[TRED LYT]

I kinda think of it as art. Our rigs, no matter the year, make, model, and gear we have hanging off them, is an expression of ourselves. I know I built mine after many years of experience and did so over time. I built what works for me and the things I do with it. I’ve made many changes based on the situations I personally encountered. Been doing this since the 70’s. It really doesn’t matter what you own. Just get out there and be in the great outdoors. Sometimes I feel like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies driving down the road! But it’s ok. We all love “doing” this thing....getting out and exploring. So stop worrying about what others are doing and follow the Nike credo....Just Do It! Oh, and be safe out there while doing it!!

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I spend time and money making sure everything on my vehicle is modular and locked. When its not going to be used in the next couple days its off my car.

Even the spare tire if it's mounted where it can be stolen. Theft of my whole rig is my biggest worry.

 

[grubworm]

overland bound needs to issue REAL badges....

 

[Billiebob]

overland bound needs to issue REAL badges....

View attachment 169292

That ^^^ really does look like some overland trucks with do dads and dangles adorning the exterior so can all ogle it.

 

[Anak]

Me, I am waiting for Elon to announce the new Tesla personal space ship so I can go explore the moon and beyond. Then I will rank myself among the elite.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Me, I am waiting for Elon to announce the new Tesla personal space ship so I can go explore the moon and beyond. Then I will rank myself among the elite.

For sure !
Good luck but I won't envy you on that one.

 

[smritte]

Me, I am waiting for Elon to announce the new Tesla personal space ship so I can go explore the moon and beyond. Then I will rank myself among the elite.

Oh! Your not on the list? Uhh wow. Mine will be ready next year. Guess your not one of the cool crowd.

Oh ... we get two badges also.

 

[grubworm]

i know the government is very interested in exploring Uranus.....