An embarrassment of riches from which to choose this month on O&E. Buckle up ladies and gents, as we bring you the best from May this year.
Most reading would know what we are about by now. If not, check out previous Best Ofs, and then come and hang with us at Overland Kinja.
Pick of the Month:
Monthly Delight/Editors Choice/Gold Blue Star Award... Yeah the title is still a work in progress. Anyway if something particularly stands out, I thought highlighting it might be cool. It is not a best of, the best of, just if something that is worth an extra mention.
‘WAKE UP. That can’t have been the whole night. Why is that light... shit, the sun.... Time to get moving. Don’t miss class. Don’t let em down. Go go.’
Great. Good start, you picked a post with no pictures, not even sure if that dude was enjoying himself?
So, Tim gives us a word vomit of insight into what one of those ‘you have the best job in the world’ is actually like. The lack of pictures and the rawness made this post for me. I thought this guy got paid for just taking his 911 to meet other Porsche peeps for coffee, and wandering around the desert picking up classic 4x4's... Apparently it is not all tea and scones.
While we are at it, let’s highlight a couple of other Overland Expo posts. These guys were doing it right.
Also, welcome to Tyler as an author. I’m interested to see what he brings.
Plugs!
Trip Reports:
Time to hit the dirt!
‘(Yes, if it was a bigger dent/rip I would use the info I found online to contact him and make him pay legally. Under the circumstances, I’m letting it go...)
So, load up the FJ40 honey, we need to rebuild the front axle on the truck anyway and weld up that rip in the fender at Brent’s in Tucson. It’s only 104f out and we’ve hot 190 miles to go.... I love you, Happy Birthday!’
I got the Cruiser stuck.
Sky gets out for another inspirational parenting episode, gets some bad news, picks himself up like a trooper and we rally as well as you can over an internet connection. Chin up brother! Dude is made of stern stuff mind.
Well. It was a long time coming, but Blind Willy’s exploration of Big Bend NP was worth the wait. It seems to be a park on many US explorers lists. I can see why.
‘After crawling around a bit, Brian and myself were able to back down the trail about and turn around easily. We had a “Bit” of a scare backing Kyle out. As he started in reverse down the trail, his front driver side tire found some loose rocks/shale at the EDGE of the trail and started slipping over the side. I’m not sure who wet their pants first, but in volume, I think he had me beat.’
Captain Daytrip’s mega-post, showed (as usual) some great photography and video. Also how many of those soft roader guys, including the Captain, have progressed to something a little more capable...
The Texas fiesta continued, in an MtDrift-esque record of posting, Willy delivered his take on the Barnwell Mountain Recreation Area.
Aaaannnnddd, just when we thought we were done (like an hour and a bit before the end of the month!). BjB drops his weekend perfection exploration away from the crowds in Colorado.
‘I bounced the idea off a few Colorado natives and some coworkers. Responses ranged from “Oh hey, if you’re going there bring me back some meth” to “Gross” to “Can I have your cat if you don’t make it back?” and “...Why?” That last one was mostly the response I was excited about- Why? Why would you go there when there’s “better” stuff 2 hours in either direction? Answer: ‘Cause you’ll be two hours further and out of our way!’
Discussions:
Sheriff Hammerhead showed us why he is the bravest dude in town, by partaking in a general discussion about something that, by its nature, is very hard to define.
A look at power supply certainly energised the opinions and experience of others.
...
I’ll get my coat.
Many on here (included yours truly) are a teeny bit obsessed with the ExPo Excursion, with dreams of getting it well a truly bogged somewhere, then holing up inside while we wait for an Earth Roamer Unimog to come and recover us...
Hammerhead raises some important seasoning issues. I’m generally either a white or black peppercorn guy depending if I am cooking French or Italian, although I can be tempted to head down Scheuzan alley when I am feeling a little spicy.
Do you MaxTrax? It seems we had all inputs here, some dismissive, some worshippers, some on the fence. Leave them on? Sure. Are they going get nicked? Yeah, probably.
Cool Stuff:
Living in the driest state in the world, it’s not often you get to paint your rig in mud.
Tim gives the official Overland pooping lesson.
BjB stumbles upon a treasure/oddity.
You just know that Brent’s place has an underground chamber full of machine guns and rocket launchers too. We just can’t talk about it.
From back when you had to think for yourself.
Had enough OVEX? Didn’t think so.
So this is a rambling list of things that are rattling around inside my head in the lead up to this trip.
Captain Daytrip puts his much discussed tyres to the test.
Sharing this sort of stuff is one of the best things about this place in my opinion, just seeing how others go about thing really can get you thinking outside the box.
Hammyhead Hams it up:
From the Archives: In some sort of new feature-pocolypse, as we’ve been kicking around here doing this thing for a while now, I thought it might be fun to look back every now and then at a great story from the archives.
So, 1 - because they are probably getting on a plane in the near future to go to Africa land, 2 - because when it did eventually arrive it was a great tale. Let’s take a look back at Team Drift’s White Rim trip. Enjoy.
Another great month everyone, well done. Definitely one of our strongest yet. Do you remember where you would do a post and it would stay up the top of the page for like a week?
Thanks to everyone reading, long timers and newbies feel free to jump in with your comments, ask Lord Hammerhead for a follow if you are in the ‘grey’ on this site.
Cheers.
