How to Make The Most of your Overlanding Adventures with a Tight Schedule
If you’re like me, working a full-time job and have a busy life can make it hard to find time to actually go out on Overlanding adventures. While sometimes you can’t control some aspects of your schedule or get a vacation from work, you can do some things that help you really utilize the free time that you do have to be able to enjoy the full experience of Overlanding. Here are some of the tips I use so to free up time to go out and explore.
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Planning, planning, and did I mention planning?
If you find yourself with little time to hop in your rig, find a route, and go exploring, then this is a crucial step to really optimize your time for adventures. Making a detailed plan of (almost) everything for your adventure saves you a lot of steps and will ensure you can just get in your vehicle and go. I say plan “almost” everything because planning every single thing would take away from the adventure. Here are some of the things you should plan ahead of time.
Routes
Having a planned route that is already mapped out will save you a lot of time trying to find somewhere you can explore. It also helps you figure out the next parts of the planning process. You’ll also want to make sure you have a schedule set up so you can make sure you go everywhere you want to and still have enough time to make it back. Utilizing things like MVUMs (Motor Vehicle Usage Maps) from the National Forest Service and mapping softwares, you can set up a route, put it on your mobile device or GPS, and have a turn by turn map already laid out for you.
Stops (fuel, water, food, etc)
If you are planning your route, you need to identify where you will refuel and resupply. You don’t want to get fully prepared for a trip, make it to your campsite, then realize you don’t have enough fuel to make it back home. A great addition to your build is to add some extra storage for water and fuel. RotopaX are a great way to do this or you can pick up a jerry can and pack a couple of extra water bottles if you aren’t going to be gone that long.
Gear
Making a checklist of the gear you’ll need on your trip is pretty much as essential. By your route plan, you can get an idea of some of the obstacles and weather you’ll face along the way and can help you plan accordingly.
Vehicle maintenance
An often overlooked portion of beginning an Overland adventure plan is your vehicle’s maintenance. You’ll want to make sure you top off your fluids, check your lug nuts, and do other normal maintenance before you get out into the wilderness without the tools to do these. Plus, who wants to spend their time changing their oil while they could be setting up camp.
Leave the work, at work.
Even if you have a job that allows you to work remotely, making sure you have all of your work finished up before heading out will save you from having to stress about deadlines, deal with work phone calls, and any other tasks coming up. Although this article is about Overlanding and not how to do your job, time management plays a key role in your adventuring just like it does your job. You want to prioritize everything you want to do on your Overland trip and having to work out of your rooftop tent stops you from doing that.
If it’s possible for you, it’s best just to send out an email telling everyone you’re out of office (or hang up a “gone Overlanding” sign) to let everyone know you just needed some time in the great outdoors.
Take the family with you
Going out and exploring by yourself may be fun and sometimes therapeutic, but sometimes a little family time is great if not better. Getting the whole family active and outside will help everyone have a great time and you can forget about all the household chores you forgot to do (because there’s no one there to tell you that you didn’t do them!).
Overlanding is an exciting and fun hobby to do with the whole family and gives everyone a little destress getaway outside the house.
Organization
I think we’ve all been in the situation where you need something specific, but it’s nowhere to be found. This can be very frustrating and usually takes a long time to find out it was right in front of you the whole time. Making sure you rig is organized and you know where all of your gear is will save you from spending hours searching and allow you to just enjoy the trip.
This is also great where if you ever get into an emergency situation, you know where you packed things like your tow straps and first aid so you can fix the situation quickly and get on with your day.
Some great gear and modifications for storage are:
Most Importantly - Just Enjoy the Journey
Stressing over the little things and inconveniences just take time away from enjoying your adventure. While it’s easier said than done, try to forget all of the little things that don’t go your way and just roll with them. It will lead to having a great time and making awesome memories.