Contributors
Dr. Edward Beggy
Dr. Ed is a Family Physician from Tucson, AZ. In 1995, Ed was able to realize a childhood dream by traveling to East Africa as a missionary doctor, treating people in the sprawling slums in and around Nairobi, Kenya. On his return, he was instrumental in the founding and development of a non-profit humanitarian aid organization, Shoulder to Shoulder International. He subsequently organized and led seven mission teams to the rural areas of western Kenya to treat children, and develop orphanages for AIDS orphans. Ed enjoys exploring the back roads of the Southwest in his expedition-prepared 1982 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 and Adventure Trailer.
Åsa Björklund
Swedish born and educated, Åsa has roamed the globe working as a waitress, a factory employee, and a dozen other odd jobs “that made life more interesting.” As a human rights lawyer, she worked with development aid in Central America, reporting on sensitive issues of the region. When Åsa could escape the office, she explored remote areas of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras in a Land Rover. With a desire to write fulltime, she switched careers to journalism. Her work includes articles for a variety of Swedish and English language magazines and websites, covering topics such as overland traveling, wildlife, current affairs and social issues. Åsa has a passion for animals and has a particularly soft spot for horses. Whenever she can, she hikes the backcountry in her new home state, Arizona. She says, “I keep falling in love with this place over and over again.”
Stephen Bodio
Stephen was born and educated in Boston and has lived in Magdalena, New Mexico, for over twenty years. He has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, and especially Asia. He has been an editor at publications as diverse as English Literary Renaissance and Gray’s Sporting Journal, where he wrote a book review column for twelve years. His articles, essays, and stories have appeared in publications as diverse as The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, the LA Times Magazine, Northern Lights, Double Gun Journal, and Simple Cooking, as well as in literary quarterlies. His most recent book, Eagle Dreams, is about the Kazakh horsemen of Mongolia. An excerpt, published in The Atlantic, is included in the anthology The Best American Travel Writing 2002. He travels as often as he can afford—which is not as often as he wishes—in Central Asia and the former Soviet Union.
Tom Collins
Tom is a consultant for Land Rover and a professional off-highway driver and trainer with experience driving and navigating on the world’s most challenging tracks. Tom was the team director for the US Camel Trophy Team and a participant in the 1987 Camel Trophy, Madagascar. Tom will be providing exciting stories of the Camel Trophy and his other expeditions throughout the globe.
Jennifer Coogan and Isaac Taylor
Besides their featured drive through Uttarakhand, Jennifer and Isaac’s recent 4WD journeys include Hawaii’s Big Island, Oman’s Musandam peninsula, and the west fjords of Iceland. They married in 2007, then moved from New York City to northern California via Hyderabad, India. Jennifer drives a turbocharged Subaru Forester. She’s a freelance journalist who’s worked for Reuters and Bloomberg. Her reporting has appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, USA Today, Forbes.com, and Travel + Leisure Magazine. Isaac drove from Massachusetts to Yellowstone before receiving a driver’s license. He’s since explored 47 U.S. states. Isaac works on mapping projects at Google, and drives an old Plymouth while trying to talk his wife into an EarthRoamer.
Brian DeArmon
Riding on four wheels or two, the soles of his boots, or the saddle of a horse, Brian DeArmon has spent most of his life exploring the wonders of nature. This obsession has taken him from the Rocky Mountains, to the Gold Coast of Australia, the beaches of the Seychelles Islands, the frozen landscapes of Alaska, and a few places in between. Settled now in the Sonoran Desert, Brian is enjoying a lull in the fast pace of life before the next adventure begins.
Bruce Douglas
Bruce Douglas’s very first vehicle was a Yamaha 360 Enduro. He’s been riding ever since, and has owned more motorcycles than cars. A veteran of several trans-continental road bike journeys, he now explores the back roads of the Southwest on a classic 1989 Honda TransAlp, with occasional higher-speed tarmac excursions on an equally classic 1986 BMW R80. Recent additions to the fleet include a Suzuki DR650 and his late uncle’s classic Harley-Davidson Sportster, currently in pieces.
Jack Dykinga
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jack Dykinga is one of the America’s most respected landscape photographers. His skill in creating images that are at once majestic and factual has made him a favorite of a wide variety of prestigious publications, such as Audubon, Harpers, National Geographic, Natural History, Sierra, Sunset, Time, Wilderness, and Wildlife Conservation. His work has also been featured with portfolio spreads in Nature’s Best, Outdoor Photographer, Photo Media, Popular Photography, and View Camera magazines, as well as being featured on NBC’s Today Show, CNN’s Earth Matters, and KAET’s Images of Arizona (PBS, Phoenix).
Bruce Elfstrom
Born in Connecticut to a Swedish mother and a journalist and documentary filmmaker father, Bruce has been driving 4WDs since the age of seven. At age 10 he was driving the woods of Maine; at age 13 a Range Rover with 70mm roof-mounted gun through Beirut and the Bekah Valley of Lebanon; at age 20 through the backdoor to Libya. In 1999 he established Overland Experts driving school and expedition logistics company. When not training, consulting, producing IMAX films, or running trips to Mongolia or Iceland or elsewhere, Bruce resides in East Haddam, Connecticut with his wife, Kacey, and two daughters, Oaklea, 10 (above photo), and Petra, 12 (both of whom can drive a 200 Tdi Defender 130 on a 40-degree side slope), growing grapes or fixing old wooden boats. Currently Bruce is expanding OEX to include two new locations, Virginia and Costa Rica.
Roseann Hanson
For more than two decades, Roseann has worked throughout the American West, northern Mexico, and East Africa as a naturalist guide, journalist, and conservation program director and executive. Her diverse work has involved thousands of miles of overland driving experience, from the deep backcountry of Mexico's Sierra Madre to Ethiopia's Omo Valley, and from Arctic Canada to the plains of the Serengeti. Whether leading tours for Sigma Xi Society or Smithsonian Expeditions, guiding 4WD adventure safaris for African Conservation Fund, or teaching animal tracking for conservation groups, she enjoys integrating conservation, science, outdoor skills, cultural awareness, and travel into her work. She is a Tread Lightly Trainer, certified in the Land Rover Driver Training Programme, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She is the owner of ConserVentures LLC, a business-development consultancy that specializes in combining conservation, science, and eco-travel; in 2009 she founded the first Overland Expo, an event designed to inspire people to explore and conserve the special places and cultures of the world. When not traveling, she works at home with her husband Jonathan in a remote corner of the the Sonoran Desert an hour, more or less, southwest of Tucson.
Jonathan Hanson
Jonathan's writing experience covers a diverse array of natural history, travel, and outdoor sports subjects and encompasses explorations on land and sea in North America, Europe, and Africa. He is the author of a dozen books, several co-authored with his wife, Roseann. He has also written for nearly two dozen magazines, and has been a correspondent for Outside Magazine.
Jonathan has won several awards: the Arizona Press Club Award for natural history feature writing, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the National Park Service award for interpretive excellence. His book Outside Adventure Travel: Sea Kayaking was short-listed for the Banff Award.
Jonathan operated a sea kayak touring business in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez for several years. He has taught a variety of subjects, including wildlife tracking, nature writing, and photography, for many conservation organizations. He is an elected Fellow of the Explorers Club.
Jonathan and his wife live on a remote, off-the-grid property 35 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona.
Sophie Ibbotson
Sophie Ibbotson read Oriental Languages at Cambridge University before disappearing into the Indian Subcontinent for a protracted period drinking tea in the hill stations, pretending she was part of the Raj, and falling in love with Indian tuk-tuks. The call of the wild then beckoned her to northern Pakistan and Central Asia, where she now divides her time writing about regional politics and economics, promoting tourism in the Kyrgyz Republic, and driving ridiculous vehicles to little-known destinations. Sophie is fascinated by the journeys of historical figures in Asia, and aims to repeat the travels of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and the Mughal Emperor Babur.
Graham Jackson
Graham Jackson was born in Lesotho in southern Africa. He grew up racing motorcycles in the dirt as well as helping his father design, build, and race all-terrain buggies. Graham completed his first safari across the Kalahari at age 10 in a Range Rover with his family. This trip planted the seed for Graham’s lifelong overlanding obsession. In 2004 he completed a 30,000 mile overland adventure from London to Cape Town. He has guided expeditions in Africa and the American West and has been an active supporter of the global overland community. He is currently the director of Overland Training.
Adam Jeske
Adam Jeske is a genuine farm boy from Wisconsin. He grew up on an XR80, then a KZ750, and a CB360 that never ran, since it was older than he. Freshly married, he and Chrissy moved to a remote mountaintop in Nicaragua for a year. Then he commuted in the U.S. on a Kawasaki Concours, in temperatures often below freezing. After two years in China, he volunteered for a few years with a non-profit in South Africa. With Phoebe (4) and Zeke (2) on the scene, he’s thinking about getting a sidecar rig as the family car. He rides, thinks, writes, does good, and tries to have amazing days. His words and images have appeared in Farmer’s Weekly, The Gardener, Relevant, and a slug of bike rags. See jeskelife.org and amazingdays.net for more.
Christine Jeske
Christine Jeske and her husband Adam have spent the last nine years living in Nicaragua, China, and most recently South Africa. She came to South Africa for a position in a microfinance organization, where she enjoyed frequent motorcycle rides over deeply rutted roads to visit loan clients. Christine and her husband now teach development and intercultural communication at a South African college. She also enjoys writing piano music, cooking desserts, and making Lego and toilet paper roll creations with her two children, ages four and two. She has written for magazines including Relevant, Adventure Motorcycle, Country, and MomSense. Read more at jeskelife.org.
Jacob Lichner
Jacob Lichner, the designer behind Overland Journal's new website, is a graphic designer and photographer working out of Phoenix, Arizona where he resides with his wife, Alyssa, daugther, Gwenyth, and chow chow, Nala.
David Medeiros
David is a professional Cartographer and GIS technician. He has a BA in Geography from Sonoma State University and over a decade of experience making maps. Born and raised on Kauai, David spent as much time in the mountains as the ocean and attributes growing up with the island’s unique blend of environments for his broad appreciation of the natural world. Now living and working in Northern California, when not busy compiling maps he’s planning his family’s next trip into the backcountry and finds Overland Journal to be great inspiration for the type and quality of travel they most enjoy.
Andrew Moore
Not content to simply sit behind a desk as a corporate lawyer, Andrew Moore is a 10-year member of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue team. Certified in wilderness search and technical high-angle rope rescue, Andrew is a wilderness emergency medical technician who uses his talents personally during trips through the southwestern U.S. and Mexico on his trusty BMW 1150GS Adventure or Land Cruiser BJ70. He lives in Flagstaff with his wife of 10 years and his beautiful redheaded daughter.
Christophe Noel
Christophe Noel has been an avid backcountry traveler since he was too young to tie his own stitch-down hiking boots. As his feet have grown, so has his appetite for adventure. While bicycles are his passion, Christophe is an accomplished sea kayaker, backpacker, mountaineer and general vagabond. Having spent much of his life wandering the globe from Alaska to the Atlas Mountains and beyond, Christophe can now be found most days riding his mountain bike on the twisted singletrack near his home in Prescott, Arizona.
Christian Pelletier and Persephone Crittenden
Christian left home at age 16, never to return… With an Engineering degree in hand, he spent his twenties and thirties working and traveling all over the world – he even raced a mountain bike across Costa Rica. Such worldly experience made Christian the perfect candidate to be Expedition Portal's President and CTO.
Persephone, a citizen of the world, grew up with an Air Force father and visited five countries before entering kindergarten! This led to adventurous careers in acting, surfing, mountain climbing, and clinical psychology. She has written and edited numerous articles and books, and is an editor for Expedition Portal.
Lois Pryce
Weary of the daily grind in jargon-infested London media-land, Lois Pryce jacked in her job at the BBC to ride from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego astride her Yamaha XT225. Upon her return she wrote the book of this trip, Lois on the Loose, which was published in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as being translated into German and Dutch. Itchy wheels struck again and it wasn’t long before she was poring over maps of Africa, plotting another adventure. In October 2006 she set off on a Yamaha TTR250 to ride from London to Cape Town, crossing the Sahara through Algeria and Niger and continuing down the west coast through the Congo and Angola to South Africa. The tale of this trip is captured in her book Red Tape and White Knuckles. Lois lives on a Dutch barge in London with her husband, fellow motorcycle adventurer Austin Vince.
Pablo Rey
Pablo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved to Spain in 1992, where he enjoyed an extraordinary life… but just on weekends. In 1999, during a trip thru Africa, he committed never to buy a return ticket again. Shorty after, he moved into a 1991 Mitsubishi L300 4WD with Anna Callau, his adventure partner. The goal: overland during four years thru Africa, America and Asia while making as many turns as possible. After 50 countries and 11 years, they are still on the road – it seems they have succeeded. Pablo is an “ex” creative ad writer, “ex” illegal immigrant, and a master of getting into trouble in faraway places. His web page, viajeros4x4x4.com has become a source for Hispanic travelers and overlanders. His latest book, Around the World in 10 Years: The Independence Book, will be soon available in English.
Kevin Rowland
Kevin Rowland, Overland Journal’s diesel and alternative fuel news correspondent, is the full-time caretaker of a 1985 Land Cruiser that he converted to run on Toyota’s world famous 1HZ Diesel engine. The cruiser is the main exploration platform for Kevin, his wife Amy and their dog, Tubby, and has safely taken them from the Arctic Ocean in northern Alaska to the Mexican border, helping them explore almost every state in between. Kevin currently resides in Rochester, New York, where he works as an industrial designer to support his travel needs. In addition to working in the design field, Kevin teaches design and consumer behavior studio courses at Rochester Institute Of Technology.
Erica Ryberg
Erica Ryberg has been an itinerant slouch for most of her life, a condition brought on by a feral upbringing at the hands of her exploration geologist father. After learning to drive in a ‘76 Chevy on a Nevada mining claim at age 12, she was immediately put to work as a surveyor’s assistant. Six years ago, after earning a degree in biology, she announced to the world that she would henceforth be known as a professional writer. She’s been carrying her “Will write for food” sign everywhere since then. Her focus is narrative features and storytelling, and she’s on the web at ericawriter.com.
Chris Scott
Over the last 25 years Chris has undertaken nearly thirty expeditions through the Sahara by motorcycle, 4WD, saloon car or bush taxi. This has given him an unparalleled knowledge of the practicalities of desert travel across the entire Sahara, both as a tourist, a driver/rider, and as a tour leader. In 2000 and 2001 he led the first UK escorted tours to return to Algeria and Libya, and in 2006 he lead an exclusive tour to view the Saharan Eclipse in Niger; he continues to offer tours to little-known parts of the Sahara.
Tom Sheppard
Tom has an exploration career spanning 40 years, and totaling over 110,000 overland miles since 1960, including significant exploration in northern Africa and the first-ever lateral crossing of the Sahara from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Tom is a freelance writer/photographer and consultant, and author of the Vehicle-Dependent Expedition Guide (Desert Winds) and the new Four-by-Four Driving. Tom has received the Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society, and the distinction ARPS (Associate of the Royal Photographic Society). Tom currently explores the Sahara with a Mercedes G-Wagon.
Mark Stephens
Mark Stephens has made a fistful of journeys into Mexico and a litany of others throughout the backcountry of the American Southwest because, as he says, “The cultures I’ve encountered while traveling dirt roads and empty spaces were fascinating and friendly. Like home. But elsewhere.” He brings his trademark narrative voice to this issue in a true tale of trying events while traveling with his wife and 11-month-old daughter. A writer living in the Sonoran Desert, he holds a degree in English from Arizona State University, and, in defiance of the typical staff choice of a white Toyota, insists on driving a black Nissan Frontier. markdstephens.com
Jorge Valdes
Jorge Valdes is the founder and president of TerraUltima Expeditions, and has more than 30 years of experience as a professional photographer. He has produced photography and imaging for the scientific research, commercial product, advertising, and editorial segments. His varied experience includes more than 17 years of shooting Formula One, five years of specialized geographic research aerial photography, microphotography of rare fossils, and coverage of the civil wars in Central America. His work has appeared in Explore, SportCar, Racer, Formula, Corsa, and Overland Journal, and a variety of other North American, European and South American general interest and specialty technical publications. He holds degrees in graphic design from the University of Chile. He has visited more than 70 and lived in more than 20 countries and currently resides in his native Chile. Aside from photography his passions include cooking and wine.
Harry Wagner
Harry Wagner was bombarded with outdoor opportunities from a young age. When not participating in Boy Scout activities, he was exploring the coast of northern California and the Sierra Nevada from the back of the family’s FJ40 Land Cruiser. He earned a degree in geophysics in Colorado and was assigned to work in Venezuela shortly after graduation, where he developed an interest in travel journalism. The trend continues today, and Harry dovetails his career cleaning up old bombing ranges throughout the country (yes, really), with opportunities to explore, photograph, and document new locales.
Sinuhe Xavier
Sinuhe Xavier started his photography career in front of the lens as a sponsored skier for The North Face in Bozeman, MT, working with National Geographic photographer Gordon Wiltse. While studying architecture and photography at Montana State University, his evolution to working behind the camera was a natural outcome. He has worked for advertising clients such as Burton Snowboards, ING Direct, Volvo, Pontiac, Dell, Nike, ESPN, and Warner Brothers Records to name a few. His editorial work has been featured in National Geographic Adventure, Print, Transworld Snowboarding, Snowboarder, and Lemonade, although he now concentrates on his commercial work with the exception of Overland Journal.