Overlanding to Mexico: Journey From Off-road to Overland

Overlanding to Mexico, specifically the interior of Mexico, is not as simple as one might think. In fact, it’s a bit more complicated than we imagined.

We were so naïve when we began this journey. I honestly thought all I would need would be my Jeep, passport, and driver’s license, and to head for the border.

Ok, all you experienced international overlanders can stop laughing now.

This is the intro article into:

• Why we’ve made the decision
• What sparked the journey
• Where we’re at in the process

Overlanding to Mexico: Why We’ve Made This Decision

For those who don’t know, we’ve been traveling full-time in an RV around the USA for five years.

Transparently, it’s starting to lose its sparkle. Don’t get me wrong. We love it and have no plans to stop traveling, or even RVing. It’s just that the full-time RV life doesn’t hold the same sense of wonder it did when we started five years ago.

It has just become normal life. (We’ve documented our RV life in detail, if you’re interested in reading about it.)

But our wanderlust is insatiable. We want to see the world together. We’re always dreaming about what is next and how we can get there.

Overlanding to Mexico IS next for us.

One of the lessons we’ve learned in our RV travels is that the micro cultures of the areas we visit are important. It isn’t all about the big tourist destinations; it’s more about immersing yourself in a local community that makes a real impact on how we view the world. So though we want visit the world, we want to do it on the road and take our time.

So Brittany started researching a way to do this. This rabbit trail took her to finding a life-changing podcast episode on the Internet.

Overlanding to Mexico: The Spark That Started The Journey

When Brittany stumbled upon The Overlanding Podcast and an interview of Overlanding Family, she was immediately taken.

This family of four had done more epic travel than Brittany ever imagined possible. It opened her heart and mind to new possibilities.

After listening to the podcast, Brittany approached me with that look in her eye. The one that said, “Our life is about to change; let’s talk.” But in a good way. Though the podcast episode was incredible, it wasn’t the spark that turned this dream into a flame.

The spark that set this dream on fire was actually the look in Brittany’s eyes when she was telling me about overlanding for the first time.

There are 185 countries in the world we want to visit.

How did we come up with 185?

Well, there are 196 countries in the world (if you count Taiwan as an independent nation). As of this writing, according to the U.S. State Department, there are only 11 countries on their list that are advised “Do not travel.” So that leaves 185 countries that are basically open to visit.

We’d love to go to all of them.

For those curious, the 11 “off-limit” countries (as of 9/4/18) are:

1. Afghanistan
2. Central African Republic
3. Iran
4. Iraq
5. Libya
6. Mali
7. North Korea
8. Somalia
9. South Sudan
10. Syria
11. Yemen

We had to start our journey around the world somewhere. We made the decision to overland to Mexico based on a few factors:

• It’s a neighboring country
• We’ve been there before, but not overlanding
• I have family in Mexico
• I speak fluent Spanish
• We became enthralled with the journey Expedition Overland made to San Luis Potosi

So, with these things in our corner, we’ve started the planning process for our journey overlanding to Mexico.

Overlanding to Mexico: Where We Are in the Process

We’ve started the process by devouring everything we can online. I’ll be writing another article with all of those resources soon. So check back for this.

We’ve also made a few purchases to start our overlanding adventure.

1. iKamper Skycamp
2. iKamper Skycamp vinyl canopy
3. Rhino-Rack Backbone Pioneer Platform roof rack
4. Rhino-Rack Batwing Awning
5. ARB 50 QT fridge / freezer
6. ARB 50 QT fridge / freezer thermal cover
7. JetBoil Genesis Basecamp stove
8. Genesis Basecamp 10″ frying pan

So far, that’s all we have. We have a lot more to purchase before we head south of the border.

But…

We’ll be heading to Overland Expo East this year. So we’re holding off making any more purchases until we’ve had a chance to see the latest and greatest in the overlanding world. We plan on purchasing a litany of things at Overland Expo, as vendors run special deals for those attending.

Overlanding to Mexico: Acknowledgements

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to a few people and companies who have been instrumental so far in our journey:

Lee Hoffman at Altitude Industries in Evergreen, Colorado. We’re getting our iKamper Skycamp through him, as well as our roof rack and awning.

Alpesh Koria of Nomad-ish travel blog for being so kind to personally answer many questions and offer to answer more. I can’t believe he’s not tired of us yet!

David Biggs, a personal friend with significant motorcycle overlanding experience, who pointed me in the right direction regarding brands of equipment to consider and some to steer clear of.

Marc Terrien of Heritage Driven, who is a wealth of information when it comes to all things 4×4 and overlanding. He’s been a straight shooter when it comes to our hopes and dreams, and a balance of logic to our dreams.

Thanks all for being part of our journey. There is much more to come.

Until next time, keep it dirty and wheels side down.

~ Eric

Read next Interior Mexico article ▶️