The Decision to Start Road Trippin’

Let’s be honest, our beautiful world is losing its beauty faster than we can keep up. The coral is being bleached, the waters are heating up, and the forests are burning. Not only is it important to protect these lands and work towards finding a solution to restore them, but we must go out and explore them.

There is so much outdoor beauty to see; and right here in the United States. When Tim and I began missing the outdoors while traveling through Europe, the idea of overlanding was brought up. We toyed with the thought of van life, bouncing from small outdoorsy town to town staying in Airbnbs, and overlanding. The decision was not easy and took many, we’re talking many, hours to talk it over. For us, we ultimately decided on overlanding.

Tim describes overlanding is going where most people don’t and exploring where most people can’t, all in our car. It’s taking forest roads to the locals-only campgrounds, it’s driving down to a secluded river, or finding that far off overlook that takes your breath away. The reason we chose overlanding was that it fit in with what we ultimately wanted from our next chapter; connection. We wanted a deeper connection to nature and allow ourselves to get tangled up in its beauty for weeks to months at a time. We wanted quiet, serenity, and daily nature therapy. We also wanted the ability to off-road and take off on roads less traveled.

We chose a 2000 Toyota 4Runner LImited for our travels. She, we named her Kevin, has taken quite a bit of work, but she’s a champion now. Like anything car related, there’s always something unexpected to be done and it always costs more than you think it will. We also purchased the James Baroud Explorer that has made the transition far more comfortable. It goes up in less than 15 seconds and takes less than a minute to put away. Plus the mattress is a nice comfort at the end of a long road or hike day.

Although there is a lot of joy with overlanding, it has provided many learning lessons. We have learned that you must be prepared and then some. We’re currently on a trip that we planned out and researched for, but have realized we simply didn’t prepare enough. We know now to have at least a couple of road options to travel along due to crowds, holiday weekends, or weather. The car setup is also crucial. We have arranged, rearranged, and rearranged again our setup in the back of our 4Runner. We’re still figuring out the setup that works best for us. We have a Pelican bin that we have turned into our kitchen, another that holds all of our dry foods and can, and a cart that holds our toiletries. We also each have a bag for clothing and shoes. As of now we have a large cooler for perishable foods and one one for keeping drinks cold (aka beer and sometimes wine), but plan on getting a fridge setup.

It’s been incredible being able to road trip and stop as we please, when legal to do so. This morning we started with tidepooling along the Washington coast at sunrise then popped over to another pullout to make coffee and watch the tide roll on in. But to do so, we stayed at a random park 15 miles out that a ranger told us about that never gets used. There are not so glamorous moments, but damn are there ones that make it all so worth it.