The Overland 3-Year Plan

Most of the trips we talk about on DirtRoadTrip are opportunistic weekend escapes  – they’re convenient and we can squeeze them into an already crowded life.  But what about the big trips?  The ones you dream about with your friends around the campfire.  For the past ~year or so, a couple keep coming up, and I can’t get them out of my mind.  Wouldn’t it be cool to…

• Take 2-3 weeks and explore (by 4×4) Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and Yosemite?
• Attend (maybe chase?) the Baja 1000?
• Drive the Glaciers in Iceland?

Yeah, doing that stuff would be cool.  In a year where Becca and I are (a) getting married (b) managing increased responsibilities in my career and (c) not hitting the lotto – these things do seem pie-in-the-sky for 2014.  That’s where the Overland 3-year plan comes into play!  The goal for us is one big adventure per year in 2015-2016-2017.

Glacier, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks

 

Sportmobile in Yosemite National Park (photo credit www.sportsmobileforum.com)

Why? Becca and I both have never visited any of the three parks and want to experience the “bigness” of these parks and be blown away by the iconic natural features.  I’m also personally looking forward to the roadtrip element – this trip will be probably 6,000 miles of driving with countless small towns, points of interest, and time to unplug from daily routine and focus on the adventure.

 

 

Kintla Lake in Glacier National Park (photo credit www.carlynpeterson.com)

How/When? Our goal is to get out there in the Summer or early fall of 2015!  Out of the “big three” trips, this is the one that seems most achievable for us – the big “what-if” is getting the time off of work and the most research will be finding the non-traditional places to stay to make these hugely popular (and crowded in the summer) parks feel a little more zen.

Baja 1000

Trophy Truck Racing in Baja (photo credit jalopnik)

Why?  I grew up in a family of race fans and remember watching the limited coverage of Baja back in the days when Ivan Stewart was winning it in a Toyota.  In the past few years I’ve been inspired by trip reports from the Baja Peninsula – the mix of secluded beaches and bays, 4×4 2-track, and the the combo of cervezas and baja tacos (I love tacos!).  The combination of the brash loudness of 700hp trophy trucks in a point-to-point racealong with the picturesque remote desert and beach landscape sounds like a perfect combination for an excellent adventure.

 

Overland Setup in Baja (photo credit – and cool blog! unURBAN Adventures)

How/When?  This one will definitely be a boys trip, and we have a ton to learn before attempting it.  Baja is completely unfamiliar to me and can be a dangerous place, especially during the 1000 with Chase vehicles and spectators making the local roads treacherous.  I’m thinking our best bet is going to be to team up with some experienced Baja-ers for this trip (we need to make some new friends…).  I’d love to say we can pull this trip off in November 2015, but more realistically it might have to wait for 2016.

Iceland

Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in Iceland (photo credit refreshingcities.org)

Why?  Several reasons – Arctic Trucks, a crazy-foreign landscape (notice a theme?), and a chance to see the Northern Lights.  This trip would be a combination of experience that you just can’t have in the Continental US, all just a reasonable flight (from the East Coast).  We’ve had friends recently do similar trips (Main Line Overland) and their feedback on their own trip gets us even more hyped about getting up there.

Defender 110 with the Arctic Trucks treatment (photo credit Main Line Overland)

How/When?  This one is a little bit less about the preparation and duration (we’d probably have guides for the Glacier-driving and could do the trip in a week or less), but it will be a little more intense on the wallet – renting Arctic Trucks isn’t cheap and we’d be staying in hotels during the trip.  Because of this – we’ll conservatively put this one on the calendar for 2016-2017, unless we do end up hitting it big on a scratch-off ticket;)

So there it is: three years, three big trips.  All of them achievable and hugely memorable.  Now the fun begins!  Circling dates on calendars, starting the planning (for real) and starting the save the pennies!