What We Wish We’d Known Before Overlanding Full-time (Part 6)

Welcome back, as I blog my in-progress ebook. This is Part 6. As a quick introduction, I’m Brittany Highland, and I’ve been traveling full-time by vehicle with my husband Eric since February 2014. We’re now driving around the world with our five-year-old son, Caspian. We originally spoke about what we wish we’d known before overlanding full-time at multiple events in 2021, including two Overland Expos.

I have so much to share that I decided to turn our presentation into my first ebook. Once the ebook is complete, I’ll be emailing it to all our subscribers for free. That way, you can download the PDF file and refer to it whenever you want to.

If you want to go back and catch up, you can do so with these links:

• Part 1: Stuff is a sad substitute for experience
• Part 2: Stuff is a sad substitute for hands-on training
• Part 3: Payload capacity doesn’t go away if you ignore it
• Part 4: Overlanding involves intentional self-deprivation
• Part 5: Logistics involved (can’t play constant tourist)

The past two lessons have both had to do with intentional self-deprivation. I’ve discussed how little you can take with you (lesson #4) and how complicated logistics can be (lesson #5). Let’s look at one more way overlanding requires us to give up comfort in exchange for the experiences we treasure.

6/ Meteorology matters (chase the weather)

Go to Tucson in March, they said. It’ll be warm, they said.

I don’t know who “they” is. But when I climbed out of our roof top tent to 37 degrees and hail on the windshield, I staged a one-woman revolt. “Take me somewhere warm,” I told my husband. “Today.”

Exposure to the elements is a constant challenge for full-time overlanders. When you’re constantly shuttling between your home, climate-controlled vehicle, and work, perhaps taking lunch or a walk during the nicest part of the day, the body doesn’t feel the full impact of the temperature outside. Right about the time you’ve had enough of heat or cold, you can just walk inside.

We can’t.

With our first overlanding vehicle, the Jeep Wrangler, our only “inside” was a roof top tent, not exactly climate-controlled, and the cab of the vehicle. Since a family of three can’t function exclusively inside of either, the only alternative was to be outside and cope the best we could.

When we started designing our global vehicle, meteorology was on our minds. The beauty of the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper, which is mounted on the back of our Jeep Gladiator truck, is that its interior is more than just a bed platform. It isn’t a large space by any definition, but there is U-shaped seating in the bed of the truck (Goose Gear storage cabinets) with plenty of head room when the bed platform is pushed up. We can even stand up to get changed! We even have a built-in gasoline heater! May the wonders never cease.

Despite these small miracles, we still don’t have an inside kitchen or bathroom. Most of our living still happens outside, which means we’re always chasing good weather. Sometimes we can catch it, and sometimes we can’t.

Before we started overlanding full-time, we didn’t realize how much the weather would impact our lives. We learned quickly, right around the time the Las Cruces wind was whipping so hard that Caspian and Eric were hiding in the tent, and going outside to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner felt like a lot.

I’m not sure any amount of experience conditions the body to intense heat, cold, rain, or wind, as our systems’ alarms sound the beautiful warnings that keep us alive. Yet, in one way, we do change. With each weather event we endure, we show ourselves what we’re capable of and increase the level of grit we carry into the next challenge.

COMING UP: Internet and that gorgeous campsite rarely go together

Stay tuned for the seventh lesson I share, as I blog my in-progress ebook. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to sign up for a copy of my complete ebook, which I’ll email you for free as soon as it’s finished.

Thanks for participating in my blogging experiment. We’ll see you soon for the next lesson we’ve learned–the hard way!

-B