There is nothing more humbling and inspiring for the overlander than to go to a Horizons Unlimited travelers meeting.

Being surrounded by current legends like Grant Johnson, Greg Frasier and future legends like Annette Birkmann and Dave Peterson will inspire even the seasoned traveler to new heights; to follow their stories and listen to them talk is a tonic for work-a-day life. It was just this environment we enjoyed in Silverton, Colorado for the annual HUBB meeting July 10^th through the 13^th. Surrounded by the magnificent San Juan Mountains, and the relics of Colorado mining history this was the perfect setting to catch up with travelers, show slides, give clinics and meet fantastic people. Sitting at lunch one day I quizzed Dave Peterson on his future plans having just completed a three-year round-the-world on his BMW 650.

“I plan on starting again in about six weeks.”

Perfect!

Our good friends at Adventure Trailers recently hosted another fine customer-appreciation event in the cool mountains of northern Arizona. I must say they have good taste in camp sites. They rented Hurricane Lake from the White Mountain Apache tribe, and organized a four-day camp-out with trail drives, mountain hikes, and lots of fishing. In the weeks leading up to the event, and along the drive there, I mentioned Hurricane Lake to people and noticed a common lack of knowledge for the place, even among Arizonans. This became especially amusing when the blank stares came from locals in the nearby towns of Springerville and Heber. Leave it to Adventure Trailers to find not only geographically remote locations, but culturally remote locations.

The lake is certainly a special place, and the perfect setting for relaxing with friends¾ lots of friends. It was nice to park my truck for almost four days, deploy the roof tent, and fully soak up the atmosphere. One afternoon, I sat on the banks of the lake with Mario Donovan of Adventure Trailers while he showed me a favorite fishing rod of his. It was handmade just for him by a long-lost friend from another time in his life. With fluid casts of carefully selected lures, the scene was quiet with only the sounds of insects, the fish breaking the surface of the water, and the “zzzzzz” of the reel on the rod. Perfect.

Over a period of 12 years, Sam Correro pieced together one of the greatest overland adventures in the Continental United States.  The Trans-America Trail is not a light adventure, but (nearly) a coast-to-coast expedition from Tennessee to the Pacific Ocean, with over 90% of the route off-highway. We are talking nearly 5,000 miles of the most beautiful and remote areas of the country, including the high-mountain passes of Colorado, Moab Utah, the deserts of Nevada and into the lush mountains of Oregon, finally finishing with a small track that drops to the sands of the Pacific Ocean. 

Scott Brady (Publisher) and Brian Dearmon (ADV Motorcycle Editor) will be riding the Colorado to Oregon sections in a pair of modified adventure motorcycles.  Scott will be riding a KTM 950 Adventure and Brian will be riding a BMW F650 GS (Featured in the Summer and Winter 07 issues).  Both have been fitted with aggressive Continental TKC80 tires, soft bags and redundant navigation systems.  Brian and Scott have been on several long overland routes in Arizona in preparation for this adventure.

Their trek will start in mid-July from the EarthRoamer headquarters in Denver, Colorado.  The team will post several updates to this blog throughout their journey. In addition, the team will be tracking their progress in real-time with a SPOT personal tracker- click here to see where the team is located (from 7/10-8/1/08)

Scott’s KTM, ready to go…
 

A quick update to our Kenya Adventure Safari (being offered through African Conservation Fund) - we’ve been canvassing Nairobi to outfit our self-drive safaris with some camping gear, and have found some real bargains and some real shockers.

Lining the Ngong Road are dozens of woodworker shops, and we managed to order 6 hardwood and canvas safari chairs at $15 each, and 4 custom-made lightweight folding tables for $20 each - all handmade, local materials, local labor. Perfect. But when we looked into some small tents, we found basic domes made locally going for $800-1000! So we’re using other equipment, but it was an interesting split; it’s possible just the lower volume of tents may drive the price.

We also just got back from Solapak, a small cottage industry supplying camp and mobile solar electric and lighting kits. We’re testing one out and will report on them in the magazine.

We hope to have some images soon, and possibly a way to get on the internet while on safari.

Our ride for the next month:

Roseann and I arrived in Kenya a few days ago (see post below to find out what we’re up to), and picked up this refurbished HJ45 Troopie from a Nairobi hire company called Cruising Cruisers.com.

It’s powered by the 2H inline-six diesel that’s been proven over untold millions of third-world miles, and has the three-door configuration common here – one door on the driver’s (right) side, and two on the passengers’ side. There’s a big hatch in the roof for game viewing.

After a few more days for business in Nairobi, we’ll be leaving to scout the route we hope to complete across the southern Rift Valley, from the Maasai Mara to Amboseli. Then back to Nairobi, where we’ll pick up the four brave souls who are going to help us pioneer a new wildlife and cultural trail through the heart of Maasai country. If successful, this will be the first of a series of self-drive safaris the African Conservation Fund will offer along the southern Kenya border, through the heart of some of the best wildlife habitat in East Africa.

More later – time to load up the Engel with Tusker Lager.

As conservation editor for Overland Journal, I am fortunate to be involved in some interesting projects in the U.S. and abroad.

For two years now I’ve worked with African Conservation Fund to help promote community-based conservation efforts in East Africa, particularly with the Maasai communities along the Tanzania-Kenya border. Last year the South Rift Association, a Maasai land trust, asked us to help them develop and promote a new 4WD safari route from Maasai Mara to Amboseli National Parks, stopping at five of their communities along the way and help them evaluate their planned eco-tourism camps, trails, and activities.

Tomorrow we leave on the trip - I’m being helped by Jonathan Hanson, Overland Journal’s executive editor (and my husband), and we’re being joined by Overland Journal subscribers Al Walter, Cal Hoagland, and Linda Lanzl, among other safari guests, who will be acting as consultants and assisting with evaluating the route and facilities.

We’ll each be driving vintage, restored Land Cruisers from Cruising Cruisers.com of Nairobi, which will give us the perfect capability for the difficult and unknown terrain we’ll be encountering in this well-off-the-beaten-track route. (We’re also talking with Safari Drive, which offers completely kitted out Defender 110s and a much more ready-to-roll hire service than Cruising Cruisers at this time; Safari Drive currently hires vehicles for the north-central portions of Kenya, and we’re hoping to establish the South Rift Circuit as a route they will hire out for as well.)

Because I have so much gear this time, I needed to keep my personal kit to one small duffel. My trusty Filson duffel is now completely seasoned (read: so embedded with African dust) and I love its utility, but I was getting tired of having my clothes end up wadded up and looking like old laundry before I even got on safari - since I lead the trips, I do like to look at least mostly presentable.

So last week I went out and bought several Eagle Creek accessories - an 18″ Pack-It Folder and a couple Pack-It Cubes. I have to admit, I was skeptical for a long while of fancy “travel accessories,” thinking they were for, shall we say, more traditional high-end travelers? But after I managed to pack 4 weeks of safari clothing (3 pants, 3 skirts, 6 shirts, swimwear, jacket, and vest) into one Folder, and the rest of my socks, etcetera, into the larger Cube, I was sold. My clothes look neat and pressed, and don’t get messed up when I have to rummage.

I’m impressed that, with the help of these simple packing tools, I was able to fit into my small duffel: a down sleeping bag, Luxury Lite cot, clothes for a month, toiletries, a down pillow, and my “possibles” bag for adventures (leather gloves for tire changing, repair kits, compass, cord, zip ties, etcetera). 

Keep checking here for updates from our safari!