Member Introductions *NEW MEMBERS INTRODUCE YOURSELF*

[ShawnR]

Hi, my name is Ryan and I live in a suburb of St. Louis called Kirkwood. A few months ago I sold a '14 Subaru XV, which I loved, and bought a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser. The main reason was to get a third row for my family of seven (counting Laura and I). The other vehicle is a 2012 Odyssey, but after a few years it became very apparent we needed both vehicles to have three rows. Also, having no car payment was another motivating factor.

We started doing family camping two years ago. We found some other couples with kids that like to camp and it has been a lot of fun. We started knowing nothing and have now progressed to getting a hitch and pulling a trailer to bring all our gear and bikes, etc. Learning how to pack was major for us. Our camp trips are at MO state parks that don't require an off road vehicle.

Overlanding is something I have always thought would be a lot of fun. I have never had a vehicle even close to capable. So, now with the 100 series TLC I would like to do try this type of adventure. One of my buddies that camps with us also has an 80 series TLC. He babies it, which I don't blame him because those too me are near classic status. Anyway, I want to talk him into a trip.

My plan is to find a road we can take our families on with some cool dirt roads, nothing extreme because we are stock. The idea is to do a drive where our other cars can't take us and picnic and drive back. I have searched and searched and it looks to me like the St. Louis area is void of these types of roads. I was able to find reference to one road I will try this spring which is Lost Creek Road in St. Charles County. I would appreciate any advice on where to drive within a couple hours of St. Louis.

Cheers,
Ryan

Hey Ryan, I'm upstream from you in Davenport, IA. I have several family members in SL and KC, so I'm in Missouri often. Spent a bit of time with ex-family down in Bloomfield, near Cape Girardeau. I'd think there should be some trails down that way, or near Branson. I know when I was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, there were some great off road trails. But not sure if they are accessible to civvies. The wife and I do "micro trips" and I'm beginning to research backroads along the Misssissippi. Up here there are a few camp grounds along the river. Aside from the mountain trails in Colorado, it's fun to travel backroads and see "Americana". Wish I could be of more help.

 

[ShawnR]

Hi Everybody,

Sorry been a bit slow getting around to this since joining before Christmas but I'm here now. So we're based in the UK and own a LandCruiser 78 series. We've done a few trips around UK & Europe but by far the best/most adventurous one was Morocco in late 2010 with a UK based overland travel company ... hoping to go back again this year.

[Photo is us camped in the Moroccan desert]

Cheers, Tim

View attachment 1743

Awesome set up, and welcome. Do you have a build thread on here? Would be great to see more of your images from the Moroccan trip. Must of been an incredible time.

 

[Tim]

Awesome set up, and welcome. Do you have a build thread on here? Would be great to see more of your images from the Moroccan trip. Must of been an incredible time.

I'll try and sort a build thread (working on some ideas at the moment) and post some more photos of Morocco soon but yes, it was a great trip. Best holiday I ever had. Learnt a lot on that trip, not least of which was don't overload your truck. We ended up adding a leaf to the rear springs in Zagora (about half way through the trip) which I had to remove later as the unladen ride was just too harsh! That and the fact, if you want coffee in the morning it pays to have a nice easy way to boil water that doesn't involve repacking half your kit, whilst also trying to simultaneously break camp.

 

[Lifestyle Overland]

@Hendo @ryanstl @Tim Welcome to you all!

 

[VCeXpedition]

Welcome all those new.
@ryanstl, good to see another 100 series here, you're right, not quite the status of the '80 series but still extremely capable in stock form, don't be afraid to stretch it's legs a bit. Add to that, it's noteably more comfortable than the '80. Think about a trek out west and come to the Overland Expo in May, sounds like several here will meet up, good times.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[Byron Eby]

Hi everybody.
I'm from Denmark and I drive a 2003 Land Rover Discovery 2 Td5, been offroading for the last 15 years (on/off). Denmark is pretty flat so when offroading here it's usually in rented military training grounds = very expensive = not that often :-(
Talked The Wife in to buying a rooftent 2 years ago and we are getting more and more in to it, started out on a couple of weekendtrips and last summer we went to Britain for a hole 2 weeks roof top teenting only. So this summer we are talking about going to Sweden where wild camping is allowed....View attachment 1727View attachment 1728View attachment 1729

Welcome and sweet set up!

 

[jkxranger]

Hi, my name is Ryan and I live in a suburb of St. Louis called Kirkwood. A few months ago I sold a '14 Subaru XV, which I loved, and bought a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser. The main reason was to get a third row for my family of seven (counting Laura and I). The other vehicle is a 2012 Odyssey, but after a few years it became very apparent we needed both vehicles to have three rows. Also, having no car payment was another motivating factor.

We started doing family camping two years ago. We found some other couples with kids that like to camp and it has been a lot of fun. We started knowing nothing and have now progressed to getting a hitch and pulling a trailer to bring all our gear and bikes, etc. Learning how to pack was major for us. Our camp trips are at MO state parks that don't require an off road vehicle.

Overlanding is something I have always thought would be a lot of fun. I have never had a vehicle even close to capable. So, now with the 100 series TLC I would like to do try this type of adventure. One of my buddies that camps with us also has an 80 series TLC. He babies it, which I don't blame him because those too me are near classic status. Anyway, I want to talk him into a trip.

My plan is to find a road we can take our families on with some cool dirt roads, nothing extreme because we are stock. The idea is to do a drive where our other cars can't take us and picnic and drive back. I have searched and searched and it looks to me like the St. Louis area is void of these types of roads. I was able to find reference to one road I will try this spring which is Lost Creek Road in St. Charles County. I would appreciate any advice on where to drive within a couple hours of St. Louis.

Cheers,
Ryan

Welcome to the group,

 

[jkxranger]

Hi Everybody,

Sorry been a bit slow getting around to this since joining before Christmas but I'm here now. So we're based in the UK and own a LandCruiser 78 series. We've done a few trips around UK & Europe but by far the best/most adventurous one was Morocco in late 2010 with a UK based overland travel company ... hoping to go back again this year.

[Photo is us camped in the Moroccan desert]

Cheers, Tim

View attachment 1743

Welcome to the Group,

 

[Byron Eby]

Gday all,
Just joined the forum, just getting back into the good life after a too many years of not doing it. I'm an Aussie, but like the feel of the forum and the general culture I've seen so far, so here I am. Bit of a Land Cruiser nut (which is how I came across OB in the first place) but have a couple of series Land Rovers as well, just to keep life unpredictable. My wife and my immediate plans include getting away with our FZJ80 more often with the kids, and building up our FJ45 as a bit of a camping truck for the two of us to get away when we don't have the kids. I hope to share what I can and learn a lot along the way. I must say I'm really encouraged by the whole OB focus on getting out and away in whatever you've got, and helping each other out along the way. It's so refreshing these days and the way that life should be!
Cheers,
Matt

Welcome to OB!

 

[Byron Eby]

Hi, my name is Ryan and I live in a suburb of St. Louis called Kirkwood. A few months ago I sold a '14 Subaru XV, which I loved, and bought a 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser. The main reason was to get a third row for my family of seven (counting Laura and I). The other vehicle is a 2012 Odyssey, but after a few years it became very apparent we needed both vehicles to have three rows. Also, having no car payment was another motivating factor.

We started doing family camping two years ago. We found some other couples with kids that like to camp and it has been a lot of fun. We started knowing nothing and have now progressed to getting a hitch and pulling a trailer to bring all our gear and bikes, etc. Learning how to pack was major for us. Our camp trips are at MO state parks that don't require an off road vehicle.

Overlanding is something I have always thought would be a lot of fun. I have never had a vehicle even close to capable. So, now with the 100 series TLC I would like to do try this type of adventure. One of my buddies that camps with us also has an 80 series TLC. He babies it, which I don't blame him because those too me are near classic status. Anyway, I want to talk him into a trip.

My plan is to find a road we can take our families on with some cool dirt roads, nothing extreme because we are stock. The idea is to do a drive where our other cars can't take us and picnic and drive back. I have searched and searched and it looks to me like the St. Louis area is void of these types of roads. I was able to find reference to one road I will try this spring which is Lost Creek Road in St. Charles County. I would appreciate any advice on where to drive within a couple hours of St. Louis.

Cheers,
Ryan

Welcome to the forums! You will find many great individuals here.

 

[DKDisco2]

Whats the best beer in Denmark? Tuborg? Carlsberg?

Uh, that's almost a religous war isnt it? But I'm sorry, in my opinion both Tuborg and Carlsberg are boring - my absolute favorite is called Old Danish Beer, it's a mix of viking inspired mead and regular beer. If you ever come over here, I'll introduce you........

 

[NorthStar96]

Lol, I kinda lean towards the Viking things.....

 

[murps]

Uh, that's almost a religous war isnt it? But I'm sorry, in my opinion both Tuborg and Carlsberg are boring - my absolute favorite is called Old Danish Beer, it's a mix of viking inspired mead and regular beer. If you ever come over here, I'll introduce you........

DIBS!

 

[GammaVenture]

Hello folks, I just signed up and am excited to learn lots from all of you in the future. Im up in Nova Scotia and my over landing weapon of choice is my 2013 Toyota FJC. Its slowly transforming into an over land rig but that will come over time, I also have a 2003 T4R which is an awesome off road adventure rig.
Im an avid outdoors person but new to over landing so lots to learn.
Cheers

 

[rooster_sauce]

Hello folks, I just signed up and am excited to learn lots from all of you in the future. Im up in Nova Scotia and my over landing weapon of choice is my 2013 Toyota FJC. Its slowly transforming into an over land rig but that will come over time, I also have a 2003 T4R which is an awesome off road adventure rig.
Im an avid outdoors person but new to over landing so lots to learn.
Cheers

Welcome aboard!

 

[VCeXpedition]

@GammaVenture, welcome. I was up in your territory just before Christmas as part of Toyota's #EverBetterExpedition, what a beautiful place you live in!

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[Kody2591]

Hi, this is Kody

Location: Merced, CA.
Current Vehicle: 2013 Ford F350, Crew Cab, SWR, Cab and Chassis
Overland Experience: Novice

I ordered this Ford new in June of 2013, Standard F350 with a bed deletion
( I know it's BIG, and hard to park LOL ) but, I do not plan on being parked in the city. I just now have the time to start on this Overland Expedition Truck build. Will post pictures of the progresses. This will be an on going hobby to build something fun and I will make mistakes but we will all learn. As they say " ONE LIFE , LIVE IT " Have fun now, unlike fine wine , life does not necessarily get better with age. So find your passion and do it now. I will run with anyone, anytime, any day with this Ford, only with experience will I be better.

 

[ShawnR]

Hi, this is Kody

Location: Merced, CA.
Current Vehicle: 2013 Ford F350, Crew Cab, SWR, Cab and Chassis
Overland Experience: Novice

I ordered this Ford new in June of 2013, ( I know it's BIG, and hard to park LOL ) but, I do not plan on being parked in the city. I just now have the time to start on this Overland Expedition Truck build. Will post pictures of the progresses. This will be an on going hobby to build something fun and I will make mistakes but we will all learn. As they say " ONE LIFE , LIVE IT " Have fun now, unlike fine wine , life does not necessarily get better with age. So find your passion and do it now. I will run with anyone, anytime, any day with this vehicle, only with experience will I be better.

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing how your truck progresses.

 

[Steve]

me, @Kody2591

That sounds like quite the build you are planning. Im d'finitely interested in watching the progress, and how you decide what to create.

 

[grantwilson]

1) Location - CT, most of the northeast is within reach
2) Rig - 2015 subaru outback full retard edition
3) Overlanding Experience Background - Id say middle of the road intermediate