Why Did You Build Your Rig?

[MentalAtom]

To travel the Panamerican highway! I'm from the UK and I've seen San Diego in the US and that's it. I've also been to Peru last year for a few weeks and it left me wanting more. As someone who lives my life at my job in an office never really doing much I loved being outdoors, just meeting people, chatting, seeing things I hadn't seen and just seeing more. We spent a couple of nights camping in the middle of the Andes, just us, and that was incredible.

Came back from that trip, changed my job, sold my Fiesta, bought the Vanagon, got stuck in. 2019, it's Panamerican time.

 

[Homeguy]

Wrong place

 

[MazeVX]

Because I can barely hike with low weight, I can't ride my mountain bike anymore but I need to get out.
I don't want to constantly break stuff so I need a capable rig, only to find out I still break stuff ...
Replacing broken and worn out parts with stronger ones does count as building I think ...

 

[The GrooGrux King]

To outfit and explore... duh!

 

[Smileyshaun]

because paved roads are boring

 

[Jedi]

Well, there is a short answer and a long answer. I am in the process of building up my 2010 JKU into an overlanding rig so that my wife and I can take a trip up along the ALCAN (and some less developed roads) to and through Alaska with the specific purpose of visiting some locations that have a great deal of genealogical significance for me.

Now for the long answer. In 2010 I purchased Red Five with the intention of taking her camping, hunting, fishing, and just generally doing all kinds of fun things. Unfortunately, things never really worked out right. At first I did get a yearly trip out to the Nevada desert, I got to wheel some pretty epic locations (including parts of the Rubicon Trail), and I did get some fishing done… But with mounting stress at work and dealing with two children on the Autism spectrum that did not like the outdoors, my adventuring started to taper off and by about 2013 it was all but a memory.

For the next 3 years I kept saying how much I really wanted to get out more with Red Five. There were lots of thoughts that went something like this “someday I will…”, but always with no follow through. In 2016 I moved from CA to WA and told myself “I’m going to be in the PNW, now I will…” It didn’t happen.

In the September of 2017 I had a several masses discovered that had a very high likelihood of being cancer. That following October I had surgery to remove on of the masses and was relieved to find out that it was benign. I felt like I dodged a bullet and started thinking “now I really will do…, or at least I will someday.” The other masses were monitored for 6 months and it was decided that they also needed to be removed, so I had a second surgery in May of this year. Only 5 days after the second surgery I had a heart attack resulting from a significant blockage of my left anterior descending artery (commonly called a "widowmaker" heart attack). The cancer scares were bad… the heart attack was life changing.

On the day I got home, I decided (in my drug induced state) that “someday” ended when I almost died. From that moment forward, I have been charging head long into outfitting Red Five for overlanding. I now have a multi-state overlanding trip planned for May of next year, and my wife and I will be taking the trip to Alaska in June of 2020… both of these trips are already planned and written in ink.

 

[Chadlyb]

Well, there is a short answer and a long answer. I am in the process of building up my 2010 JKU into an overlanding rig so that my wife and I can take a trip up along the ALCAN (and some less developed roads) to and through Alaska with the specific purpose of visiting some locations that have a great deal of genealogical significance for me.

Now for the long answer. In 2010 I purchased Red Five with the intention of taking her camping, hunting, fishing, and just generally doing all kinds of fun things. Unfortunately, things never really worked out right. At first I did get a yearly trip out to the Nevada desert, I got to wheel some pretty epic locations (including parts of the Rubicon Trail), and I did get some fishing done… But with mounting stress at work and dealing with two children on the Autism spectrum that did not like the outdoors, my adventuring started to taper off and by about 2013 it was all but a memory.

For the next 3 years I kept saying how much I really wanted to get out more with Red Five. There were lots of thoughts that went something like this “someday I will…”, but always with no follow through. In 2016 I moved from CA to WA and told myself “I’m going to be in the PNW, now I will…” It didn’t happen.

In the September of 2017 I had a several masses discovered that had a very high likelihood of being cancer. That following October I had surgery to remove on of the masses and was relieved to find out that it was benign. I felt like I dodged a bullet and started thinking “now I really will do…, or at least I will someday.” The other masses were monitored for 6 months and it was decided that they also needed to be removed, so I had a second surgery in May of this year. Only 5 days after the second surgery I had a heart attack resulting from a significant blockage of my left anterior descending artery (commonly called a "widowmaker" heart attack). The cancer scares were bad… the heart attack was life changing.

On the day I got home, I decided (in my drug induced state) that “someday” ended when I almost died. From that moment forward, I have been charging head long into outfitting Red Five for overlanding. I now have a multi-state overlanding trip planned for May of next year, and my wife and I will be taking the trip to Alaska in June of 2020… both of these trips are already planned and written in ink.

When the reaper is at the front door is the perfect time to gear up and get lost in the woods. The wild reminds you that you're alive . I'd rather lose my life doing what I love rather than wishing one day I will . Glad your still with us. Look forward to seeing your adventures.

 

[Boostpowered]

We built our 2017 colorado z71 diesel to contend with the twice a year flooding weve been getting in texas, and to get places to launch our kayaks for fishing and general cool factor of a overland adventure rig. It also gets used on the farm

 

[redneckcrawler]

Because speeding tickets cost too much when you have a class a licence. I like fast cars and slow trucks so a choice had to be made.

 

[Andrew Leach]

Because I crave and need adventure in my life. While I still go backpacking I wanted to have a car that matched that same effort of getting outdoors and getting just lost enough to find adventure and solitude. So I bought a new 4Runner and have immensely enjoyed learning how to slowly turn it into my Adventure Truck..."Ulysses"

 

[Cpol]

Got it this year, and decided to gear it up to make it ready for what ever happens. Wife decided to make it all around efficient vehicles. We are steps away from completing the project.

 

[Smileyshaun]

forester because it gets great gas mileage, rides great on fs roads, can tackle light trails , and being a stick makes it fun to drive

the jeep , I wanted to build something unique and one of a kind , it will go hopefully wherever I point it , will allow great fun exploring in the snow and seems to upset both jeep and Toyota owners at the same time lol

 

[FUNHOGN (aka Maurice)]

I've spent most of my life getting out into the backcountry via backpacking or kayaking down a river to nowhere. Still like doing that, as organized campgrounds aren't for me if I can possibly avoid them. I built my rig because sometimes time and distance make driving a better choice. The bonus it's going where the masses can't.

 

[Fozzyschu]

Short answer, I'm building mine so that my wife and I can get outdoors more. When we were younger we did a lot of camping. Now life has got us in its grasp and we/I need to get away from time to time. We live in New England, and don't give ourselves time to get out in the fresh air nearly enough.

In 2014 I had an Aortic Dissection, and beat the odds(20%). I have a new love of life. I got a second chance, and I'm going to do it up!

I'm at the very beginning of my build.

 

[Big E]

Several reasons. 1. I like to travel in my rig. 2. I like to go places but not like crowds so go remote. 3. I have much money and like spending it on stuff. 4. I'm old and wearing out, this is easier on me. 5. Why not do something that many mock and call silly.

 

[Dave_McNaughton]

I built mine for therapy. Was a volunteer fire fighter and have been a paramedic for about ten years. So having a way to unwind helps. The big push was losing my fiancee 6 years ago. I used some if the money from her life insurance to purchase my jeep and out fit it and go explore. Nature was my way of dealing with the pain

 

[Ta2Doc]

I read through the previous answers and kept thinking how much I can relate to most of them. I built / am building mine to be my "last truck ever, maybe". I've been at my current job almost 18 years and while I'm not ready to retire for good just yet, I foresee a time in the next couple of years where I'll be "on hiatus" from work... I want to take some extended amount of time between this job and whatever's next and just roam the backroads and two tracks.
In some ways, the building, planning and wrenching are ways for me to extend the experience of being "out there". If I can't be out there, I can at least be doing things RELATED to out there until I can actually GET out there. :)

 

[FJ Montana]

I got into overlanding because of my father. I left home for college and then the military and lost a lot of years. Every time i would come home my parents would seem older and older. Now my dad is pushing 70. However he's not letting him growing older slow him down. He became fascinated with overlanding after visiting Australia and seeing all of the 4x4 only accessible areas and has since then built up his own rig. For me overlanding is more than just exploring hard to reach places, its an oppurtunity to catch up and rebuild a relationship after all of these years.