Trying to figure out what overlanding is?

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John79

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I've been camping since I was a little kid I recently just bought a Jeep Cherokee and started four wheeling. Now I hear this thing called overlanding trying to figure out what it is
 
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Chadlyb

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I've been camping since I was a little kid I recently just bought a Jeep Cherokee and started four wheeling. Now I hear this thing called overlanding trying to figure out what it is
Hello John and welcome to the OB crew...look forward to seeing your build and your adventures. Found a video @Michael did just for that question. Hope it helps...

 

M Rose

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There are 10 pages dedicated to this very question as well.

 
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Billiebob

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You know what camping and wheeling are.
Overlanding is a cultural challenge.
Add new people, food, culture, maybe learning to communicate in a different language.
Challenge what you call normal.

It might start as a physical event but it gets better when it includes social challenges.
The original overlanders established trade routes thru foreign lands long before cars were invented.
 
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John79

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It’s about having the best looking Instagram ready campsite and the most decked out rig with every accessory you can hang on the outside so everybody at the KOA knows you might see a gravel road some day .
that's funny isn't me cuz I'm a newbie but I've never stayed at a KOA. I don't even post anything on to my Instagram
 

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Guess im out, i have no social media accounts other than this site. I Might be the only one in my age group and on this forum that can say that. Call it overlanding, boondocking, car camping, being a gypsy, spending thousands to live like your homeless or whatever you like since 2+2=10 in schools now if you can explain why you belive that answer is correct.
You will also find that not many folks like being offroad since you will see alot of folks say they avoid mud like i avoid the city. Innevitably its all for nothing since there are claims of low clearance cars going out on trails. There is alot more but ill hold my tounge im sure i just pissed someone out there off.
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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that's funny isn't me cuz I'm a newbie but I've never stayed at a KOA. I don't even post anything on to my Instagram
I wouldn't take anything too serious here Jonatan. Most everyone has any opinion and that doesn't make it true. It is what it is I think. Nothing wrong with a KOA for a change either. Not a lot different from a National park site with facilities.
 
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MidOH

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Camping, car or truck involved, as off road as possible.

Some are more off road than others. But lately I'm lucky if I get a long dirt road for a few days, and an unimproved camping spot. Heck, I'll settle for State Park any time. My overlanding rig, works just fine for regular camping as well. I'd like to upgrade to a slide in camper so that my ride will be better for regular travel without dedicated campgrounds of any type. A bad overlanding trip, can mean 3 years of no overlanding for me. Women are fickle creatures.

brainwashedsheepleportal.com would add that ''real overlanding'' has to last 6 months or more. I find that as ignorant as everything else they spew.

It's worth mentioning that a 2wd Mercedes can cross Africa with little drama from the terrain. Travel needs are route dependent.
 
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Lanlubber In Remembrance

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Guess im out, i have no social media accounts other than this site. I Might be the only one in my age group and on this forum that can say that. Call it overlanding, boondocking, car camping, being a gypsy, spending thousands to live like your homeless or whatever you like since 2+2=10 in schools now if you can explain why you belive that answer is correct.
You will also find that not many folks like being offroad since you will see alot of folks say they avoid mud like i avoid the city. Innevitably its all for nothing since there are claims of low clearance cars going out on trails. There is alot more but ill hold my tounge im sure i just pissed someone out there off.
No Justin your in. I don't even know what Instagram is and I use a flip phone maybe once a week. This is it for me, OB forums. A good debate on mind over matter is always present in the forums. Logic and common sense are often uncommon, but that's the nature of things now days. I do find a lot of expertise in the forums as well as down right stupidity or misconception and lack of knowledge. The forum's are a good place for learning and teaching basic skills of overlanding from many points of view. I like to read the pros and cons even though I may not agree with them. My mom use to listen on the radio to a show called "As the world turns".. The forums are my "As the world turns" media.
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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Camping, car or truck involved, as off road as possible.

Some are more off road than others. But lately I'm lucky if I get a long dirt road for a few days, and an unimproved camping spot. Heck, I'll settle for State Park any time. My overlanding rig, works just fine for regular camping as well. I'd like to upgrade to a slide in camper so that my ride will be better for regular travel without dedicated campgrounds of any type. A bad overlanding trip, can mean 3 years of no overlanding for me. Women are fickle creatures.

brainwashedsheepleportal.com would add that ''real overlanding'' has to last 6 months or more. I find that as ignorant as everything else they spew.

It's worth mentioning that a 2wd Mercedes can cross Africa with little drama from the terrain. Travel needs are route dependent.
I'm curious, what do you call a bad overlanding trip and why does it take three years to get over it ?
To me a bad overlanding trip would be to blow an engine 500 miles from home base and have a credit car fully charged and the bank account is near dry, or pulling into a service station with an empty tank and find that I left my wallet at home 300 mile back or something similar. :-)
 
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I'm curious, what do you call a bad overlanding trip and why does it take three years to get over it ?
To me a bad overlanding trip would be to blow an engine 500 miles from home base and have a credit car fully charged and the bank account is near dry, or pulling into a service station with an empty tank and find that I left my wallet at home 300 mile back or something similar. :-)
My idea of a bad overland trip happens to me once a year its called christmas and it involves driving from texas to indiana and having to just drive by all the fun stuff in arkansas to get to all the dumbass family drama.
 

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I'm curious, what do you call a bad overlanding trip and why does it take three years to get over it ?
To me a bad overlanding trip would be to blow an engine 500 miles from home base and have a credit car fully charged and the bank account is near dry, or pulling into a service station with an empty tank and find that I left my wallet at home 300 mile back or something similar. :-)

When we spend a week or two overlanding, and see nothing of interest. Missus gets eaten by bugs, and the kids get motion sickness in the back of the truck. Overlanding and backpacking both suck BAD for people other than us, if there's no payoff for all of the effort.

So to mitigate that, we only go on group rides, where other overlanders might share the good spots. Too bad those often get wrecked by broken rides. Unprepared folks with AT tires and heavy Suburbans that only work in dry conditions, and then it rains. Slowing the group to a crawl, and ruining the trip.

Do I mind? Nope, I'm still having fun. Missus and the kids are miserable though. Then I don't get to go overlanding anywhere for years, or have to find a new girlfriend to do so. It'll be planes and cruises, paved state parks and a 25' TT.
 

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When we spend a week or two overlanding, and see nothing of interest. Missus gets eaten by bugs, and the kids get motion sickness in the back of the truck. Overlanding and backpacking both suck BAD for people other than us, if there's no payoff for all of the effort.

So to mitigate that, we only go on group rides, where other overlanders might share the good spots. Too bad those often get wrecked by broken rides. Unprepared folks with AT tires and heavy Suburbans that only work in dry conditions, and then it rains. Slowing the group to a crawl, and ruining the trip.

Do I mind? Nope, I'm still having fun. Missus and the kids are miserable though. Then I don't get to go overlanding anywhere for years, or have to find a new girlfriend to do so. It'll be planes and cruises, paved state parks and a 25' TT.
Bummer my wife loves all the offroading and outdoor stuff i get her into, i make her drive when we offroad 1 because she needs the experience 2 because im doing all the heavy lifting, repairs and im better at navigating. You ought to see her out fish me when were at the lake or river. Kayaking loves it. Ive been trying to get her to go hunting with me just to experience it, shes no slouch shooting targets and loves our guns .
Maybe shes just a country girl or maybe i presented everything in a way she could handle easier. Were still a little different she likes watching football and i utterly hate it, she likes coffee id much rather drink a throwback mountain dew for caffine. Other than that and having different genders were pretty much on the same wavelength i can look at her and tell what shes thinking shes about half as good at that with me.
 

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I've been camping since I was a little kid I recently just bought a Jeep Cherokee and started four wheeling. Now I hear this thing called overlanding trying to figure out what it is
i never heard that term until last january when the wife and i decided to look at a small camp trailer and saw on youtube a thing on "overland" camp trailers, small camp trailers with fewer features and a taller ground clearance. at first i thought that "overland" was just being used as another word for "off road", a fancier word to help marketing. later i saw that "overland" was a thing...basically being people who go out to more remote areas and generally travel really light and are more into roughing it. then i came across this site, joined, and realized that "overland" has a lot of different meaning to a lot of different people. just like "woodworking" means building cabinets with power tools to one guy, and another guy says its building fine furniture with only hand tools, or whatever. so basically, we all like to travel and camp in our own different ways and "overlanding" is the process in which we leave our homes for a short time, forget how crazy the world is, and go out and enjoy what nature has to offer...plus its the only way i can fry SPAM hunched over a wood fire and not be mistaken for a homeless crackhead
 
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Todd & Meg

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Overlanding is when you spend $40,000+ on a vehicle, put another $15,000 into wheels, bumpers, winch, lights. Get a $30,000 all decked out trailer and head out to your favorite dispersed camp spot and find a redneck family there with with a 1975 Jayco popup camper pulled by a 1989 Dodge Caravan.

Don't worry about labels, use what you have, camp where you like, and enjoy.

I heard someone say if you camp in a NP campground or state park campground you are not and "Overlander". I thought to myself if you are a "Overlander" I don't want anything to do with "Overlanders".

Todd
 

Lanlubber In Remembrance

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Maybe 10 years or so ago, I described Overlanding as "4 wheel drive vehicle travel & camping for us Old Guys"
I always considered the word overland to mean going somewhere in something that was built to get you there and back regardless of terrain like rock, rivers, snow, mud or sand and over hill and dale , kinda like our forefathers did with a covered wagon with 2, 4 or 6 horses, mules, or oxen, pulling there store and wares along with them.

I won't go into the why's of it all, they are too varied and even complicated but I can guarantee adventure, success and failure all along the way.
 

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Hell I would be happy just To have two weeks off of work, I guess not seeing anything of interest would really have to depend on where are you live. If you’re only going out to see things of great Granger maybe it’s time in life to slow down and take appreciation for the small things around you. To me it It seems almost odd that people get stuck in their head that they have to travel hundreds almost thousands of miles to have a good trip I’ve almost had more fun taking a short drive somewhere and just enjoying where I’m being rather than cracking off hundreds of miles in a day.