Dave and I will be married 25 years in December 2020. We gave each other backpacks for our first Christmas, Kelty external frame, and went on our first backpacking trip that Christmas night. We were young newlyweds and still thought we had to sleep nekkid, so we spread out one sleeping bag on the tent floor (didn't know about sleeping pads for insulation) and covered up with the other one...and froze our nekkid newlywed behinds right off. And we absolutely loved every minute of it! We have been outdoors folks our whole married life. The problem was we got old and more stuff ached. We didn't like sleeping on the ground or in a shelter. We moved on to hammocks, especially with down under quilts to protect from frozen buttock syndrome. That was awesome, by the way. But sadly, for various reasons (again having to do with getting old and health concerns that accompany the collection of birthdays), walking trails with everything we need strapped to our backs had to become a thing of the past, so we sought a new way to enjoy the outdoors.
I wanted to find a free primitive campground in the Ouachita National Forest that I had read about because we did enjoy car camping in a tent and sleeping on cots. We also still loved primitive camping and prefer it to RV subdivisions otherwise known as state parks. I did the responsible thing and looked online to get the coordinates. Dave and I jumped in our Dodge Ram 2500 (NOT a 4-wheel drive) and headed toward said coordinates. Dave is a whiz at reading maps and stuff like that, so we made it to the coordinates easily, only to find that we were not at a campground in the Ouachitas but in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cattle and old mobile homes. Obviously, the coordinates were wrong. Rather than giving up and going back the way we had driven, we felt adventurous and pushed on. Dirt road after dirt road we drove. Got kinda dicey in that 3/4-ton 2-wheel drive diesel, but we found the campground, and in the process found a hobby that we absolutely love--overlanding. (Yes, I called the appropriate website and gave them updated coordinates.)
So what is overlanding? Basically it's backpacking in a vehicle! It's driving on public land (e.g., national forests, Bureau of Land Management land, national grasslands, etc.) and seeking as many dirt roads and trails as possible. We like to drive until we find a good place to camp (free, too!) and we pull off the road or trail and set up camp. That's basically it. Some folks like to combine off-roading and tackle different obstacles such as rock crawling and water crossings, but not us. We like to take it easy. Dave likes the occasional "technical" challenge which usually translates to extreme pucker factor for me. But we don't like to take too many risks with our vehicle, a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Yep! 2000. It was born the same year as our son. We've added a few things to make it a bit more of an overlanding vehicle, but more on that later. I hope to share some of our adventures, places we've been, and what we've learned along the way. (The photo below was taken in the Ouachita National Forest. What a beautiful place to have lunch!)
Go play in the dirt!
~Julie
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