This is the type of text exchange I have with my husband on a regular basis:<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n (That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.)<\/p>\n This was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM and we were on the road by 1PM.<\/p>\n <\/a> Our first night on Slickrock Trail<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael talks ALL THE TIME\u00a0about getting out of town as fast as possible<\/a>. And it’s for a reason:\u00a0He powers through his weekdays in the SF video game industry (Fun fact: He was one of the original team members on SimCity!), and\u00a0his sense of work\/life balance comes from his ability to get the F* out of dodge on a dime.<\/p>\n When my husband gets to the mountains, his entire demeanor changes. His face lightens. He breathes deeper. He is a new person as soon as\u00a0the air turns fresh and the drone of traffic falls away. There is nothing better than seeing his face brighten up with the suggestion of a last minute overlanding excursion.<\/p>\n There is a strong element of planning and prepping with every new overland journey we take. But when spontaneity strikes, we use the following guidelines to seize the moment, load up and explore!<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0If You Fail to Prepare…<\/p>\n <\/a> Don’t be unprepared in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n At the end of each trip we take inventory of what we used, what we discovered we needed, and what we can cut from our 3 Plano cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once we have everything on a list, we execute on it. We don\u2019t wait for the next scheduled adventure. We always have the core essentials on the ready.<\/p>\n For example, our dry foods plano will *always* have spaghetti, sauce, and packets of parmesan. We know we have one solid meal option with our outdoor kitchen setup wherever we land.<\/p>\n I also keep a duffle bag fully loaded with clean outdoors clothing. When\u00a0we get home, we wash our dirty gear, and it goes right back into the \u2018adventure\u2019 duffle. No running around trying to find the merino wool shirt or the green adventure pants Friday afternoon. Just grab and go! (I swear, Michael would live in those pants if I didn\u2019t immediately pack them away.)<\/p>\n We aren’t perfect at this! Sometimes we grab from the pantry to restock the cases; however, we’re conscious that the more we do at the end of a trip, the faster we are able to launch into the next one.<\/p>\n 2. Stay On Your Maintenance Game<\/p>\n I HATE wondering (and worrying) about anything technical or mechanical while overloading in the 1996 FZJ80. I am the one scheduling\u00a0oil changes, tune ups, tire\/brake checks, WHATEVER. We stay on maintenance when we\u2019re grinding pavement so we don\u2019t have to think or worry when we\u2019re off-road. And the last thing I want to ask just as we’re pulling out of the driveway is, “Hey, when was the last oil change?”<\/p>\n 3. Familiar Routes<\/p>\n Spontaneous trips = Familiar routes. We know the ins-and-outs of the Slick Rock Trail in Lake Alpine, CA and the off-road camping sites available along the trail. Just Go!<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0It’s\u00a0the Spice of Life<\/p>\n When asking each other what we\u2019re going to do on a Friday night, we always have the option of shaking up our Make the time between your spontaneous ‘YES’ and getting outdoors\u00a0as short as possible! It doesn\u2019t matter what you do to be on the ready for adventure. Have a pre-packed bag, have a case, have several cases, have everything, have nothing, do your thing, but always remember that adventure is only one \u2018YES\u2019 away. Only always. This is the type of text exchange I have with my husband on a regular basis: (That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.) This was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trips","category-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen we take off down the spontaneous trail, we KNOW the terrain and final destination. Spontaneous trips aren\u2019t for new trails. We allow plenty of time for planning and research before hitting a new region.<\/p>\n
\nscenery and driving away from the crowds! Having the ability to pick up and go\u00a0reminds me to seize my time and make the most out of life. And it\u2019s always fun to watch my husband reconnect with his deepest passion: the outdoors.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![<\/a><\/p>\n(That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.)<\/p>\nThis was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM and we were on the road by 1PM.<\/p>\n<\/a> Our first night on Slickrock Trail<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nMichael talks ALL THE TIME\u00a0about getting out of town as fast as possible<\/a>. And it’s for a reason:\u00a0He powers through his weekdays in the SF video game industry (Fun fact: He was one of the original team members on SimCity!), and\u00a0his sense of work\/life balance comes from his ability to get the F* out of dodge on a dime.<\/p>\nWhen my husband gets to the mountains, his entire demeanor changes. His face lightens. He breathes deeper. He is a new person as soon as\u00a0the air turns fresh and the drone of traffic falls away. There is nothing better than seeing his face brighten up with the suggestion of a last minute overlanding excursion.<\/p>\nThere is a strong element of planning and prepping with every new overland journey we take. But when spontaneity strikes, we use the following guidelines to seize the moment, load up and explore!<\/p>\n1.\u00a0If You Fail to Prepare…<\/p>\n<\/a> Don’t be unprepared in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\nAt the end of each trip we take inventory of what we used, what we discovered we needed, and what we can cut from our 3 Plano cases<\/a>.<\/p>\nOnce we have everything on a list, we execute on it. We don\u2019t wait for the next scheduled adventure. We always have the core essentials on the ready.<\/p>\nFor example, our dry foods plano will *always* have spaghetti, sauce, and packets of parmesan. We know we have one solid meal option with our outdoor kitchen setup wherever we land.<\/p>\nI also keep a duffle bag fully loaded with clean outdoors clothing. When\u00a0we get home, we wash our dirty gear, and it goes right back into the \u2018adventure\u2019 duffle. No running around trying to find the merino wool shirt or the green adventure pants Friday afternoon. Just grab and go! (I swear, Michael would live in those pants if I didn\u2019t immediately pack them away.)<\/p>\nWe aren’t perfect at this! Sometimes we grab from the pantry to restock the cases; however, we’re conscious that the more we do at the end of a trip, the faster we are able to launch into the next one.<\/p>\n2. Stay On Your Maintenance Game<\/p>\nI HATE wondering (and worrying) about anything technical or mechanical while overloading in the 1996 FZJ80. I am the one scheduling\u00a0oil changes, tune ups, tire\/brake checks, WHATEVER. We stay on maintenance when we\u2019re grinding pavement so we don\u2019t have to think or worry when we\u2019re off-road. And the last thing I want to ask just as we’re pulling out of the driveway is, “Hey, when was the last oil change?”<\/p>\n3. Familiar Routes<\/p>\nSpontaneous trips = Familiar routes. We know the ins-and-outs of the Slick Rock Trail in Lake Alpine, CA and the off-road camping sites available along the trail.\nWhen we take off down the spontaneous trail, we KNOW the terrain and final destination. Spontaneous trips aren\u2019t for new trails. We allow plenty of time for planning and research before hitting a new region.<\/p>\n Just Go!<\/p>\n4.\u00a0It’s\u00a0the Spice of Life<\/p>\nWhen asking each other what we\u2019re going to do on a Friday night, we always have the option of shaking up our\nscenery and driving away from the crowds! Having the ability to pick up and go\u00a0reminds me to seize my time and make the most out of life. And it\u2019s always fun to watch my husband reconnect with his deepest passion: the outdoors.<\/p>\nMake the time between your spontaneous ‘YES’ and getting outdoors\u00a0as short as possible! It doesn\u2019t matter what you do to be on the ready for adventure. Have a pre-packed bag, have a case, have several cases, have everything, have nothing, do your thing, but always remember that adventure is only one \u2018YES\u2019 away. Only always.\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the type of text exchange I have with my husband on a regular basis: (That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.) This was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trips","category-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2015-10-19-15.26.47.png\"){kind=link}
![<\/a> Our first night on Slickrock Trail<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nMichael talks ALL THE TIME\u00a0about getting out of town as fast as possible<\/a>. And it’s for a reason:\u00a0He powers through his weekdays in the SF video game industry (Fun fact: He was one of the original team members on SimCity!), and\u00a0his sense of work\/life balance comes from his ability to get the F* out of dodge on a dime.<\/p>\nWhen my husband gets to the mountains, his entire demeanor changes. His face lightens. He breathes deeper. He is a new person as soon as\u00a0the air turns fresh and the drone of traffic falls away. There is nothing better than seeing his face brighten up with the suggestion of a last minute overlanding excursion.<\/p>\nThere is a strong element of planning and prepping with every new overland journey we take. But when spontaneity strikes, we use the following guidelines to seize the moment, load up and explore!<\/p>\n1.\u00a0If You Fail to Prepare…<\/p>\n<\/a> Don’t be unprepared in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\nAt the end of each trip we take inventory of what we used, what we discovered we needed, and what we can cut from our 3 Plano cases<\/a>.<\/p>\nOnce we have everything on a list, we execute on it. We don\u2019t wait for the next scheduled adventure. We always have the core essentials on the ready.<\/p>\nFor example, our dry foods plano will *always* have spaghetti, sauce, and packets of parmesan. We know we have one solid meal option with our outdoor kitchen setup wherever we land.<\/p>\nI also keep a duffle bag fully loaded with clean outdoors clothing. When\u00a0we get home, we wash our dirty gear, and it goes right back into the \u2018adventure\u2019 duffle. No running around trying to find the merino wool shirt or the green adventure pants Friday afternoon. Just grab and go! (I swear, Michael would live in those pants if I didn\u2019t immediately pack them away.)<\/p>\nWe aren’t perfect at this! Sometimes we grab from the pantry to restock the cases; however, we’re conscious that the more we do at the end of a trip, the faster we are able to launch into the next one.<\/p>\n2. Stay On Your Maintenance Game<\/p>\nI HATE wondering (and worrying) about anything technical or mechanical while overloading in the 1996 FZJ80. I am the one scheduling\u00a0oil changes, tune ups, tire\/brake checks, WHATEVER. We stay on maintenance when we\u2019re grinding pavement so we don\u2019t have to think or worry when we\u2019re off-road. And the last thing I want to ask just as we’re pulling out of the driveway is, “Hey, when was the last oil change?”<\/p>\n3. Familiar Routes<\/p>\nSpontaneous trips = Familiar routes. We know the ins-and-outs of the Slick Rock Trail in Lake Alpine, CA and the off-road camping sites available along the trail.\nWhen we take off down the spontaneous trail, we KNOW the terrain and final destination. Spontaneous trips aren\u2019t for new trails. We allow plenty of time for planning and research before hitting a new region.<\/p>\n Just Go!<\/p>\n4.\u00a0It’s\u00a0the Spice of Life<\/p>\nWhen asking each other what we\u2019re going to do on a Friday night, we always have the option of shaking up our\nscenery and driving away from the crowds! Having the ability to pick up and go\u00a0reminds me to seize my time and make the most out of life. And it\u2019s always fun to watch my husband reconnect with his deepest passion: the outdoors.<\/p>\nMake the time between your spontaneous ‘YES’ and getting outdoors\u00a0as short as possible! It doesn\u2019t matter what you do to be on the ready for adventure. Have a pre-packed bag, have a case, have several cases, have everything, have nothing, do your thing, but always remember that adventure is only one \u2018YES\u2019 away. Only always.\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the type of text exchange I have with my husband on a regular basis: (That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.) This was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trips","category-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_4568.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a> Don’t be unprepared in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\nAt the end of each trip we take inventory of what we used, what we discovered we needed, and what we can cut from our 3 Plano cases<\/a>.<\/p>\nOnce we have everything on a list, we execute on it. We don\u2019t wait for the next scheduled adventure. We always have the core essentials on the ready.<\/p>\nFor example, our dry foods plano will *always* have spaghetti, sauce, and packets of parmesan. We know we have one solid meal option with our outdoor kitchen setup wherever we land.<\/p>\nI also keep a duffle bag fully loaded with clean outdoors clothing. When\u00a0we get home, we wash our dirty gear, and it goes right back into the \u2018adventure\u2019 duffle. No running around trying to find the merino wool shirt or the green adventure pants Friday afternoon. Just grab and go! (I swear, Michael would live in those pants if I didn\u2019t immediately pack them away.)<\/p>\nWe aren’t perfect at this! Sometimes we grab from the pantry to restock the cases; however, we’re conscious that the more we do at the end of a trip, the faster we are able to launch into the next one.<\/p>\n2. Stay On Your Maintenance Game<\/p>\nI HATE wondering (and worrying) about anything technical or mechanical while overloading in the 1996 FZJ80. I am the one scheduling\u00a0oil changes, tune ups, tire\/brake checks, WHATEVER. We stay on maintenance when we\u2019re grinding pavement so we don\u2019t have to think or worry when we\u2019re off-road. And the last thing I want to ask just as we’re pulling out of the driveway is, “Hey, when was the last oil change?”<\/p>\n3. Familiar Routes<\/p>\nSpontaneous trips = Familiar routes. We know the ins-and-outs of the Slick Rock Trail in Lake Alpine, CA and the off-road camping sites available along the trail.\nWhen we take off down the spontaneous trail, we KNOW the terrain and final destination. Spontaneous trips aren\u2019t for new trails. We allow plenty of time for planning and research before hitting a new region.<\/p>\n Just Go!<\/p>\n4.\u00a0It’s\u00a0the Spice of Life<\/p>\nWhen asking each other what we\u2019re going to do on a Friday night, we always have the option of shaking up our\nscenery and driving away from the crowds! Having the ability to pick up and go\u00a0reminds me to seize my time and make the most out of life. And it\u2019s always fun to watch my husband reconnect with his deepest passion: the outdoors.<\/p>\nMake the time between your spontaneous ‘YES’ and getting outdoors\u00a0as short as possible! It doesn\u2019t matter what you do to be on the ready for adventure. Have a pre-packed bag, have a case, have several cases, have everything, have nothing, do your thing, but always remember that adventure is only one \u2018YES\u2019 away. Only always.\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the type of text exchange I have with my husband on a regular basis: (That’s me in blue. I’m an outdoors pusher.) This was my\u00a038K foot question to the husband-unit on a flight home from a business trip. It was Friday. I landed at 10AM, home by 11AM, Michael was home at 12:30PM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trips","category-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Joshua-Tree-1141.jpg\"){kind=link}