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***UPDATE***
As of 24 October, the Adirondack Rendezvous will be held at N43° 50.555 W75° 10.912. If you plan on attending for all or part of the event, please email me at the4x4podcast@yahoo.com. See you in the woods!
In the early days of the formation of the United States, it was a lot of commerce conducted between outdoorsman and Native Americans. These individuals would occasionally gather and these gatherings were called rendezvous. The 4×4 Podcast is hosting a similar gathering so that like-minded outdoorsman and overlanders can show off their setup, work out some kinks in their gear, share a meal, get inspiration for others and most importantly, socialize before winter sets in on the north country.
The Adirondack Rendezvous will take place on Friday night the 21st of September thru Sunday morning the 22nd of September. The gathering will be held in the primitive camping spots in the vicinity of this grid location.
Plan for Friday night is to arrive, set up and say hello over campfire chat. Saturday morning is breakfast on your own. At about 10 o’clock will gather at the posted grid coordinates to discuss plans for everyone to enjoy the Adirondacks. My plan is a scenic drive through the surrounding areas to find a few geocaches. There are fishing opportunities throughout the area as well. Lunch will be on the trail which will force you to exercise your overlanding kitchen set up. After lunch will resume geocaching and other activities but we will return to base camp at about 4 o’clock. Everyone will then have the opportunity to prepare some food for a potluck-type dinner. Bring your camp chair, a prepared meal or dessert and drinks over to the listed coordinates for an evening full of exaggerated storytelling in true overlander fashion. Once the social portion comes to a natural conclusion we will all part ways and Sunday you’ll be completely on your own for meals and entertainment activities.
There are very limited opportunities to resupply your fuel, water and food so come prepared. There are a very limited quantity of privies so be prepared to squat in the woods as necessary or bring your own setup. Tread lightly! standards will be strictly enforced so pack out your trash. Cell phone service is basically non-existent so we will communicate primarily via CB channel 10. The alternate communication method will be using FRS radio also on channel 10.
There are only 10 primitive campsites available and they’re all open on a first come first serve basis and the area is open to the public. Don’t assume that everyone camping in the area is participating in the Adirondack rendezvous with us. Everyone who attend the event will receive a sticker with the 4×4 podcast logo. They’re also maybe some giveaway products from some great offroading companies.
All updates to this event page will be announced in the comment section so don’t forget to subscribe to the comments to catch any updates. Looking forward to seeing you at the 2013 Adirondacks rendezvous!
I recently had the opportunity to be a guest host on the Autoblog podcast and it was a great time! The Autoblog will occasionally have articles about offroad vehicles but it is mainly about road-going cars.
As an automotive enthusiast, I have enjoyed following the articles found on Autoblog for the last five years. It is a blog that I follow closely because of its wide range of vehicles, the topics covered and the personality of the writers. With over 340 episodes in the back catalog, there is enough content to keep your ears entertained for a very long time.
When Dan Roth contacted me about being on the show, I was surprised and truly honored. Despite the thousands of downloads and the kind words from all of you listeners and readers, I still consider The 4×4 Podcast to be one of the little guys with lots of room for audience growth. The Autoblog Podcast ranks at the other end of the spectrum – at the top of the automotive related podcast food chain. Thanks to Dan Roth and Jeffery Ross for bringing me on the show to reach out to potential offroaders!
Dan Roth can be found on Twitter – @boston_auto. Jeff can also be reached on Twitter – @JeffreyNRoss. Subscribe to the Autoblog podcast here. Download the episode directly right here.
On episode 46 we feature an interview with Wes Craiglow, the founder of Central Overland. Central Overland was started mostly by accident. Wes had the desire to go check out some of thousands of miles of trails in his Arkansas regional area. He put it out there on Expedition Portal that he was going to go check out some trails and asked if anyone wanted to join him. The result was five like-minded explorers. The next time Wes threw it out there resulted in 10; and then 20 and Central Overland has continued to grow from there. Wes didn’t even realize what he had discovered until he noticed that 80% of the adventure-seeking off roaders were from outside Arkansas.
Wes mentions in the interview, that people in attendance were mostly from Texas, Oklahoma and other surrounding states. Most states in the heartland of America is owned by someone. What makes Arkansas unique is the number of trails that are available in national forests. Wes and Dan also talk about what overlanding really means and Wes gives some recommendations on what a newbie can do if they would like to transition from someone who offroads and occasionally camps, to a true overland traveler. This topic is especially hot right now as the term “overland” is defined and the niche is carved out from the rest of the offroading and adventure travel world.
In the news segment we start off by introducing a new offroading publication that you might be interested in. OutdoorX4 is focused on providing the most engaging and unique content to appeal to the broadest range of outdoors enthusiast. It will be published bi-monthly and will present the latest in techniques and tools, product reviews that are relevant to all outdoor adventurers whether she is a hardcore rock crawler, seasoned adventure traveler or simply a guy that wants to take his kids fishing. Every issue will have appeal to a broad base of outdoor enthusiasts who want to escape to where they belong. You can even check out a digital sample version of OutdoorX4. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll be able to have the magazine creator on the show to talk more about this new publication. Till then you can like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
When do you know that ovelanding has hit the mainstream? When Mini throws all the overlanding-type accessories at one of their doe-eyed-not-so-mini Mini Countryman. The Mini is touting a roof top tent (RTT) and a kitchen area in the back, similar to what you might find on the back side of a teardrop trailer. It also features a water tank with pump, a sink, solar power, 230 volt power and a fridge. It even has an on board shower! All in all, it’s a pretty good package but would you trust it to get you through the rough stuff in the back country? Article from Autoblog.
It is now mid August and the 2014 Jeep Cherokee propaganda is just now ramping up and the first-drive articles are starting to show up. But Jeep CEO, Mike Manley, is really pushing Jeep vehicles into a new world in order to attract new buyers that might not normally be interested in Jeeps. Manley has told other automotive outlets that a subcompact Jeep is on its way – so think Ford Fiesta size Jeep. In my mind, the first thing that came up was a down-sized Wrangler a kin to the old Willys. Moments after that wonderful idea came to mind, I was struck with what this subcompact will more likely be; a smaller new Cherokee. This diminutive Jeep very well could look just like a Ford Fiesta. Article from Autoblog.
The Detroit Free Press has compiled a list of the top 25 most patriotic brands. In a list that includes Budwiser, Ford, Marlboro, Harley-Davidson, Smith & Wesson, John Deere and other iconic American brands the king of the hill belongs to Jeep. That really should be no surprise since the entire brand is based around the Willys workhorse that helped bring freedom during WWII. This is a proud fact that is highly touted on the vehicles, product documentation and ads. They even offer special incentives to veterans and Jeep has teamed up most recently with the USO. Are you surprised by Jeep taking the number one slot or do you think it should belong to a different brand? Article from the Detroit Free Press.
If you’re like me, you go exploring to try and escape the headaches of civilization. We go out looking for nowhere seeking adventure because we all know that its usually the journey that excites more than the destination. But where is “nowhere?” Gizmodo shared a heatmap that shows where “nowhere” actually is located in relation to paved highways. Turns out, the middle of nowhere is in the Sawtooth Mountains.
If you’re going to be spending your life on the road full-time, then you want to be comfortable. Despite companies like Mini trying their best to get into the overland lifestyle niche, that category belongs to larger vehicles. Land Cruisers, Land Rovers and G-Wagons dominate the landscape of overland vehicles. But for those that wish to have enough living space to really spread out and still want to have the offroad-ablity needed to reach the far off adventure spaces, you’re far more limited. One of the automatic go-to choices though is the Unimog. The U500 Expedition Vehicle is a modern Unimog platform that is fully outfitted with a complete living space. This thing is a beast that will take you into the back country with enough gear to stay remote for a very long time and live comfortably. If you’ve got an extra $300,000 laying around and a wanderlust that can’t be quenched, maybe the U500 Expedition Vehicle is just the thing for you. Article from Unimog Shop.
EveryTrail is a global web2.0 platform for geo-tagged user-generated travel content that’s changing the way millions of people share travel experiences and plan trips. EveryTrail makes it easy to share travel experiences, through interactive maps that include photos plotted along your trip route.
EveryTrail is free and useful for a wide variety of trips – including road trips, sight seeing tours, sailing trips, hiking, cycling, flying, hang gliding, geocaching, skiing, kayaking trips and more. EveryTrail has trips from over 80 countries in all corners of the world. To download and try EveryTrail for yourself, download the app from here, or find it in your appstore.
One of the easiest desserts to make while out adventuring is Poor Boy Doughnuts – and they are cheap too! The other day I picked up supplies to make 40 doughnuts for less than $5.
Ingredients:
Cheap biscuits in a tube
Vegetable or Canola Oil
Powdered Sugar
Directions: Pour the oil into a sauce pan or skillet that is deep enough to cover at least half of the biscuit. Heat the oil till small bubbles begin to form in the oil. Poke a hole in the biscuit and ease it into the oil. Once it begins to brown, flip it over. Once both sides are browned to your desire, pull out t, he doughnut and cover with powdered sugar. Serve warm and enjoy!
The 2013 Vermont Overland Trophy is now in the record books. Just to reiterate what the Vermont Overland Trophy is, here is the description from Peter Vollers, the event organizer:
VOT participants will challenge both themselves and their overlanding rigs to four days of punishing vehicle-dependant overlanding designed to challenge the participants’ vehicle capabilities, navigational skills, driving prowess, camping efficiency and physical stamina all with one goal in mind: to simply finish.
That description is totally accurate as all the participants were challenged and stretched to their limits and some actually beyond their limits. Only 60% of the entrants were able to finish every day’s routes under their own power and provide receipts showing that they were able to purchase at least $10 in local Vermont produced goods/food.
After work on Friday, I loaded up the cooler and Humphrey the Beagle/co-driver and we hit the road for the 5+ hour drive to day 2 remote camp. I reached camp well after midnight, when all challengers should have been in camp and bedded down for the day 3 activities. As I sloshed through some very deep mud and gallons and gallons of water rushing down the “road” just to get into camp I switched my CB onto the staff’s radio channel. The whole scenario felt more like a forward passage of lines in a combat zone than it felt like attending an overlanding event in the great state of Vermont! As I pulled close enough to the entrance of camp for my 130 watt IPF offroad lights to reveal some other vehicles, what I found was a flurry of activity and the staff’s radio channel full of chatter about recovering a rolled Rover and a Pinzgauer that was missing in action.
It wasn’t till morning that I saw any faces, but that night the friendly voice of Brady Horrace from Team Syncro informed me that going up to the top of the remote camp would not be a good idea. Its one thing I’ve learned, good advice sounds even better when its dark, wet and full of mud. I took Brady’s advice and through my tent down on the best possible location I could find; the criteria for this decision was: a) not in the middle of the trail and b) not in eight inches of soupy mud.
As the morning of VOT day 3 broke, I crawled out of my sleeping back to see the two Syncro vans nearby and just around the corner was a Unimog. I was looking forward to chatting with these teams and determined that the best way to attract attention would be to cook some bacon and make some coffee. I supposed a whimpering beagle helped but in either case, it worked. I whipped up some fried eggs, onions and peppers to serve on tortillas with some fresh raspberries using my chuck box sitting on the tailgate of my storage box. This setup is now a proven overland setup but I have some small things to still sort out. The first thing is a light source mounted to the inside of the lift gate so that I can see without needing a headlamp or lantern. The next thing will be some kind of cover so I don’t have food-steam-gunk collecting on the inside of the lift gate glass.
As I was cleaning up camp and getting ready for the day, I watched as a few rig lumbered by down the sloppy muddy trail. One particular Land Rover Discovery II really caught my eye and I noticed that the passenger had a wild beard of red hair that could only be Bryon Dorr from Exploring Elements. I’d been looking forward to meeting Bryon for a long time having followed his adventures on his blog as well as having him on the show a few times. Bryon is a fantastic photographer and I saw him many times wielding his camera during the event. Be sure to check out his full write up at MOTUS World. And for all things adventure and action sports, subscribe to his blog at Exploring Elements, his Facebook page, and Instagram feed.
After finishing up the last of the coffee and my camping neighbors polishing off the last of the bacon, I headed down into town where fellow overlanders were buying their local food faire at the town store. Others were using lake for a bath facility and others were who was navigating for Team Columbia Overland with Team FJ Cruiser in tow. I jumped into their convoy and switched my CB to their channel only to find out that I had a bad ground in my antenna resulting in crappy reception even with the squelch turned all the way down.
The route took our convoy over some beautiful country roads and class 4 roads. As Peter Vollers stated in the interview on episode 39, Vermont has a unique law where roads never go away. Many of these class 4 roads are really not much more than a goad trail which required the challengers to crawl over rocks, through ditches, between tight trees and on tippy pucker-inducing side-hills. We cruised through the trails with relative easy which made it easy to keep up the speed, most of the time and we occasionally crossed paths with other VOT teams.
We stopped for lunch which included a locally sourced bacon cheeseburger and fries while we discussed the maps for the rest of the day’s routes. This burger stop was a popular place as seen by the parking lot full of Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, Jeeps and FJ Cruisers. The little towns and communities that the Vermont Overland Trophy routes passed through were treated to a parade of unique and well-built rigs all day long. And the businesses received a big shot of cash from the hungry challengers.
The afternoon route brought us to the challenge trail for the day. When I got there, I found a Land Rover hammering the throttle while trying to make it through a deep rut full of slick heavy-suction mud. The rut was so deep that a rig couldn’t be laid on its side if you wanted to. This trail-jam has stirred up a bit of contention on the Expedition Portal thread regarding the best method to avoid these jams for next year. Recommendations range from limiting tire size to 33” to adding categories based on vehicle mods.
The way I see it, is that this event is a challenge, not a competition. If someone wanted to make it more challenging they would limit themselves in the modifications that they make. If you consider that the event is in the spirit of the Camel Trophy and are less focused on how the event doesn’t follow the letter of the Camel Trophy law, then it all makes a lot more sense.
Some teams challenged themselves by pulling trailers. Others choose to drive vehicles that are 25 years old or more and have difficult to find parts. Others wished to limit their mechanical pain by driving a heavily modified 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It has been said that, “driving a Jeep in the VOT is like pushing the easy button.” That being said, even Team Virginia AEV experienced mechanical difficulty going into the day 4 challenge trail on the Vermont Overland compound. No one was exempt from the challenges of the Vermont Overland Trophy. As a matter of fact, I’d really like to see a complete list of the carnage as a result of the VOT.
I spent day 2 of the Vermont Overland Trophy following around Team Syncro. The VW Syncro van is a very unique and rare vehicle but is certainly a great overlanding platform. It provides reasonable accommodations inside, could be optioned with a pop-up tent, fairly rugged and capable and has fairly good aftermarket support. I had the pleasure of watching this pair of van crawl through the trails with style! However, their smaller tires and minimal ground clearance had them bailing out of the challenge trails which did earn them an honorable mention.
Below are the official results of the Vermont Overland Trophy.
From the event summary:
Team #2 Columbia Overland, both Land Rover Disco 2s, Andrew Alinovich and Zach Griswold
Team #3 Toltec Adventure Coffee, Range Rover LWB and D90, Niall Johnson and Mike Pettengill
Team #4 Northeast Overland, 2003 Jeep Wrangler and 2000 Jeep Cherokee, Matt Barrows and Jareb Dyer
Team #5 Twin Mountain Offroad Adventure, 1996 Discovery 1 and 1995 RR Classic LWB, Lester Gerber and John Bradshaw
Team #7 combined with # 25 Jeep Gypsies, 2013 Wrangler Unlimited, 2013 Rubicon, CJ8/Mercedes diesel, Rob Jazowski, Ron Hammond and Bob Gatautis
Team #8 Team Safford, 2004 Jeep TJ, 2006 Jeep LJ, Joe and Jim Safford
Team #12 Team Range Rover Classic, 1990 and 1995 RR Classics, Lazz McKenzie, Kerri-Rae Agin
Team #15 Team Cinnamon (yes, this team is named after a stripper), 2013 Jeep Rubicons, Mike Bertram, Jeffrey Hensch
Team #16 Rover-Yota, 2002 Land Rover Disco and 2004 Toyota 4Runner, Steve Ostrovitz and Matt Burzon
Team #17 VAEV, 2013 Rubicon, 2013 AEV JK350, Jason Grogg and William Quinn
Team #18 VEEZH-LAH, 2005 and 2008 Rubicons, Ed Smith and Ben Moore
Team #19 AVAM Adventures, 1976 Mercedes Unimog 416 and 2001 Land Rover Disco 2, Jame Salerno and Vaughn Micciche (with Amy “Wood Nymph” Alton)
Team #21 Anderson & Stauffer Furniture (a/k/a the Hanson Brothers), 1984 Defender 110 and 1986 D90, David and Tom Stauffer
Team # 22 Team Lucky8: Justin Monnin and Dave “Top Chef” Freeman
Team #24 FJ Cruiser: 2007 and 2008 Toyota FJ Cruisers, Alain Major and Richard LaRusso
Honorable mention: Team # 13, Team Syncro, 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro and 1987 VW Westfalia Syncro, Andrew Ewas and Brady Horrace
Team Spirit Award went to AVAM Adventures (incredible mutual nurturing, exemplary positive attitude), with Lucky8 (truly epic, tethered two-truck Ben-Hur haul of completely dead third truck up the hardest rock crawling trail of the whole event) and Team Safford (went out of their way all week to help others around them) as honorable mentions
Best Camping Setup Award: Lucky8 Offroad (Dave turned out the best camp chow I’ve ever had from an amazing kitchen setup, and tons of it to boot) with Northeast Overland getting honorable mention (Jareb hauled his simple, elegant and bomb-proof home-made adventure trailer through every last inch of the course)
Best Mustache Award: Steve Ostrovitz (just a perfect stache) with James Salerno a close second
As for mileage notes, I drove about 500 pavement miles, round trip to get to and from the Vermont Overland Trophy. I also drove about 160 miles through dirt, mud and rocks. That is by far the most miles of “continuous” unpaved roads that my Jeep has tackled in recent memory. I say “continuous” because the as the occasional pavement mile as we passed through the towns and villages and when we crossed from the end of one class 4 road to the start of the next.
There has been some complaints about log jams and traffic at the trails at the challenge trails. While I do enjoy covering more terrain and moving on to the next obstacle, this event was about more then conquering the trail. It was also about building a team, building camaraderie between other teams and having a great time. That time spent outside of the vehicle was a social time where we could chat with each other and heckle the drivers (in a friendly manner, of course). It was the relationships with fellow challengers that made this such memorable event for me.
In keeping with my Army training, I’ll offer a few sustains and improves as an After Action Review.
Improves:
Issue – The physical challenge was absent
Discussion – There was a physical challenge planned initially but it was later dropped as a risk mitigation effort. Some teams spent 12 hours on the route just trying to complete the miles but other teams could have finished the route in as little as 7 hours.
Recommendation – Adding the physical challenges back into the schedule would stretch those more capable teams with something that would add a welcomed layer of difficulty. Teams could certainly skip the challenge at the cost of some Team Spirit points missed.
Issue – Event Scheduling
Discussion – The Vermont Overland Trophy officially started on Thursday morning and ran through Sunday. This schedule forced many teams to hit the road home shortly after they completed the day 4 challenge trail and they missed the closing dinner and awards presentation. I attended as a vendor but I didn’t find enough time at base camp spend some meaningful time as a vendor. I did spend all day on the trails with some challengers in a vehicle that is clearly marked with The 4×4 Podcast brand but that wasn’t quite the same as having people milling through a vendor setup at base camp.
Recommendation – If the event were to run from a Tuesday – Saturday, that would allow people who took off a week from work anyways, to have a day to drive home recover (because Lord knows we all needed to recover from an event of this magnitude) before heading back to the doldrums of work on Monday. This would also allow people to stay the night on Saturday night for the dinner and awards ceremony instead of having to immediately leave the event. Sunday could be spent more as a social event and vendor fair. This would certainly draw more vendors because they would get more bang for the buck.
Issue – Navigation Challenges
Discussion – Navigation during the event was done using an app called Avenza PDF Maps. This allowed the organizer to use the town maps that are in PDF format and geo-tagged versus requiring everyone to purchase additional topo maps or another type. This arrangement made navigating the routes extremely easy….too easy. I was able to navigate right into camp well after midnight, in the rain on Friday night with ease. While this certainly demonstrated to VOT challengers that navigating the backroads of Vermont is extremely easy and encourages people to come back for future trips.
Recommendation – The use of Avenza PDF Maps for the routes should remain as the primary means of navigation. It would have been nice to actually have a GPX file to download and manipulate for use in other devices or apps. The addition of a navigation challenge would also be very welcomed. Something like a poker run where teams can earn extra Team Spirit points for navigating to a pre-determined grid location without the aid of Avenza PDF would provide a great challenge.
Sustains:
Issue – Shotgun start to each day
Discussion – The first two days were started on a schedule. On days 3 and 4, teams were allowed to leave camp at the leisure between 8 and 10. This afforded teams to head out early and tackle the challenges free of traffic if they wanted. It also allowed teams to sleep in after a long night of partying with their new found overlanding buddies. This technique also allowed teams time to make repairs during daylight after a nights rest.
Recommendation – Continue to start each day’s event at each team’s leisure vice an established start time. The timed starts were designed to avoid trail jams but those jams were a result of multiple attempts at the challenge trails. As previously discussed, that was a great time to get out and mingle with some teams that you may have not had the opportunity to interact with otherwise.
Issue – Camaraderie
Discussion – I don’t have much to say here other than this was a fantastic group to be around. Everyone was in good spirits and only once did I hear a bit of snarkiness in someone’s voice and that was over who was going to be spotting in a tough section…not uncommon in any group. But there was such high spirits throughout the event that it was contagious. People were describing the horrors of the trails with smiles on their faces. Brand loyalty was extremely high but there was not Jeep-on-Rover (or any other brand-on-brand) violence or harsh words at any time. While it was mentioned that driving a Jeep during the Vermont Overland Trophy was like “pushing the easy button,” everyone was challenged and emerged victorious.
Recommendation – Continue to bill this as a challenge more than a competition. This will focus people on how the prep themselves, work as a team and tackle the obstacles. More awards would also welcome some additional effort from people. Since there was a “Best Camp” award, there could also be a “Most Spartan” award where the overlander that endures the harshest living conditions would be recognized.
The Vermont Overland Trophy was the very best offroading event that I in which I have participated; hands down. If you have the opportunity to participate, DO IT! If you don’t easily have the opportunity to participate; move heaven and earth to be there! If you can’t make it next year, then request time off work now for the year after because this event is NOT TO BE MISSED!
Scott Markley, or ScottyMarks as he’s known on Twitter, is going to be running a 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser in the Vermont Overland Trophy. The 80 series is a very popular overlanding platform due to its reliability, stoutness, power and interior capacity. Scott’s particular 80 has been in the family and on the trails for long enough to have everything working well
As a matter of fact, from the looks of things, the only thing its missing is sticker with The 4×4 Podcast logo on it!
Episode 43 introduces us to Rick, also known as ranewman on Expedition Portal. Rick is one of the competitors in the Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge and will be driving an 1986 Land Rover Defender 110. Rick has had his Land Rover Defender 110 for less than a year and promptly replaced the diesel motor but has otherwise kept it in stock form. Rick is fairly familiar with the type of terrain in Vermont since its close to where he previously lived and he is fairly comfortable with the navigation aspect of the Vermont Overland Trophy.
Rick’s teammate is going to be driving a Land Rover Discovery II. Rick’s vehicle will be full with his wife, co-driver and his co-driver’s significant other. They are all looking very much forward to getting some great trail time as well as enjoying the local-vore stops along the Trophy route. Good luck guys and I can’t wait to meet you on the trail!
On episode 42, we bring you another pre-Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge interview and this time its with Joe Safford. Joe was recommended for the interview by his brother, Jim or JimS as he’s known on Expedition Portal. They are going to be competing as a family with both Jim and Joe pulling driving duties of their own vehicles. Their father will be pulling c0-driver/navigator duties and one of Joe’s sons will also be attending.
Joe doing some work with the Rubiclone Jeep TJ
Joe will be driving a Jeep Wrangler TJ which he calls a “RubiClone” which is a pretty popular setup. He’s taken a stock TJ and replaced the key components with stock Rubicon components. The newest addition to the setup is the Conquer Trailer. From the sounds of things, Joe has a great team and a well prepped rig for the Vermont.
Frank, or FKreider as he’s known on Expedition Portal, will be running a very unique Jeep Wrangler YJ during the Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge. Frank’s YJ had heart transplant and now lives with a Mercedes-Benz diesel motor under the hood. He’s also going to be pulling a trailer built to provide the much needed cargo space that the YJ is lacking. This trailer is being constructed by him and a friend and they hope to turn this into a business venture to provide regular guys with an offroad ready utility trailer without having to go through the hassle of trying to source an old rusted military M101 utility trailer. The combination of a diesel motor in a short wheelbase vehicle pulling a stout and nimble trailer could be just the right combo to score well in the Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge. For more info on the trailer be sure to check them out at Rugged Path Trailers.
**** UPDATE **** Frank will not be able to drive in the Vermont Overland Trophy due to some severe burns received during a fire in the shop. He still hopes to make it for the send off on Wednesday and the closing of the event on Sunday. Best wishes on a speedy recovery, Frank! **** UPDATE ****
On the previous podcast, Dan talked with Peter Vollers about the Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge. On today’s show, we introduce one of the competitors. Steve, or Lono as he’s known on Expedition Portal, is going to be driving a well-built Land Rover on a team of two Rovers.
Vermont offers beautiful and challenging terrain
Steve’s family has experienced significant hardship and his wife has found comfort and camaraderie through an organization called Young Survival Coalition. Young Survival Coalition (YSC) is the premier global organization dedicated to the critical issues unique to young women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. YSC offers resources, connections and outreach so women feel supported, empowered and hopeful. Steve is participating in the event to help raise funds and awareness for the Young Survival Coalition.
On episode 39, Dan talks with Peter Vollers of Vermont Overland. Peter describes Vermont Overland as where your passion for adventure travel meets the Green Mountain State’s love for enveloping you in lush beauty, crisp air, incredible food, drink and products and thrilling backcountry travel on a vast network of ancient roads rich with history and unparalleled scenery. The discussion highlights how Vermont is so different from other states in the northeast and makes the area very attractive to those looking for a regional overland traveling. One of the best ways to keep up with whats going on with Vermont Overland is to like their Facebook page.
Vermont offers beautiful and challenging terrain
The second part of the discussion is all about the Vermont Overland Trophy Challenge which takes place on Aug 7-12, 2013. Vermont Overland Trophy participants will challenge both themselves and their overlanding rigs to four days of punishing vehicle-dependant overlanding designed to challenge the participants’ vehicle capabilities, navigational skills, driving prowess, camping efficiency and physical stamina all with one goal in mind: to simply finish. Dan will be attending the event as a vendor and provide some media coverage during the event. This event is sure to be an epic one and if you’re able, next year you need to make plans to attend and compete! Peter mentions that the best way to keep up with the updates on the event is to join the discussion on the Expedition Portal thread.
In our new segment titled Offroad APPtitude where we highlight an app that we use while offroading or exploring. This time we talk about Glympse which is available on iOS, Android , Windows Phone and BlackBerry. Glympse is the easiest way to safely share your location with someone in real-time. No sign-up needed and no new social network to manage. Recipients receive a link allowing them to view your ETA and location in real-time for the length of time you choose. When the timer on your Glympse expires, your location is no longer visible. Best of all, recipients do not need any special software to view a Glympse. Send a Glympse via SMS, email, Facebook or Twitter, and recipients can view it using any web-enabled device. You can also send a Glympse to your Evernote account to save that journey.
