The road chose me

While hiking around a volcano in Ecuador I realized there are a ton of Overlanders out there in the community who are extremely supportive and helpful to others hoping set out on a grand adventure. Many of us try out best to post information on our blogs and discussion forums we think will be helpful to others.
Some people have even written books on the subject.
Unfortunately, this information quickly slides off front pages, and goes stale and out of date, making it very hard to find, and usually not very helpful.

Enter WikiOverland, the encyclopedia of Overland Travel

WikiOverland

WikiOverland is designed to “pick up where the traditional guide books leave off” for Overlanders.
Everything you need to know to successfully get around with a vehicle is included.

Some of the important topics covered for each country are:

• Crossing the border – paperwork requirements, insurance requirements, costs and permitted length of stay.
• Gas prices, quality and frequency. Prices are converted in real time to any currency and unit you prefer.
• Roads, Bribery and checkpoints.
• Camping – both paying and “wild”.
• Navigation – with paper maps and GPS co-ordinates.
• Vehicle maintenance.
• Buying and selling vehicles.
• much more.

More general topics covered include:

• Popular Overland routes.
• Vehicle shipping.
• Bribery tips and advice.
• General Paperwork requirements explained.

If travel information is readily available in guide books or on the web, that information is linked to as much as possible.

To start out exploring WikiOverland, checkout the Overland Frequently Asked Questions

This is a project made by the Overland community, for the Overland community.
If we all contribute a little bit, we’ll make the entire site better for everyone.
Because WikiOverland is built on the wiki platform, you can click edit in the top right of the screen, update or add whatever you like, and click save all in less than 2 minutes.

You can help make WikiOverland better for everyone:

• If you know a thing or two about the country you live in (like gas prices), please take the time to add or update that information.
• If you are passing through a country, please take 5 minutes and update sections that have changed. If nothing has changed, you can just update the “last updated date” for those sections so we know it’s still good as of now.

Head over and checkout WikiOverland.org

-Dan

P.S. Now WikiOverland is live, I plan to spend more time back here on The Road Chose Me. I have some mind-blowing photos from the summer I need to share with you all.

As you might imagine, driving 65,000km while hiking, camping and living outside as much as possible for almost two years is a good stress test of even the highest quality gear.
Below are the items that proved invaluable to me.

Camping Gear

Kathmandu Mountain Tent
A 21st birthday present, this tent has been with me for every adventure of my life. Thousands of hours in the sun destroyed the fly, and half-way through the adventure Kathmandu sent a new one all the way to Ecuador, no problems. Free.
After an estimated 1000 nights of use, it was finally falling apart and I left it in Argentina.

Petzel Headlamp
I can’t fathom how I ever camped without one of these. Recharging the AAA batteries while driving was great.

Trangia Cook Stove
I’ve had this alcohol burning stove kit for 4+ years and it’s still going strong. Completely indestructible, I’m confident I’ll have it for years and years to come.

Therm-a-rest Sleeping Pad
A Christmas present to my brother something like 8 years ago, the trusty Therm-a-rest is a must have. I sleep better on it than in a bed these days.

MEC brand -7°C Sleeping Bag
I saw something close to -20°C at Yellowstone in this bag, which I’m still using every weekend, as good as new.

Raichle Hiking Boots
I bought the boots a couple of years before setting out and finally destroyed them on the hike into Machu Picchu after many thousands of hours of hiking. I’m buying a new pair ASAP. (Raichle is now owned my Mammut)

Electronic Gear

Fuju FD6000FD Camera
Four years and tens of thousands of photos later, I still use my camera all the time. Even after a huge tumble in Ecuador, and a large amount of sand inside from windy Patagonia, the camera is going strong.

Dell Mini 9 Netbook
Over two years and a $35 replacement screen later, I’m typing on this tough contender right now. All the connectors and inside are rusty from the salty sea air in Central America, and it’s still going strong.

Jeep & Gear

Dunlop Radial Rover RvXT Tires
77,700km on one set of tires.

Jeep Wrangler TJ
After 65,000km without a single mechanical problem, my Jeep was by far and away the best piece of equipment I had.
By very definition, it was the perfect vehicle for the job.

-Dan

If you’ve ever wanted a diesel powered Jeep in North America, I ask you to head over to the Jeep Diesel Petition and sign the petition to show your interest.
It’s time the North American market got to experience 406 ft. lbs of torque and 34 mpg.

Checkout the Diesel-powered AEV J8 below. Yup. That’s what we want.

AEV built diesel J8

Don’t forget to sign the petition! – http://JeepDieselPetition.com

-Dan

When I set out in June of ’09, I honestly thought the adventure would take about a year, and savings of just over $10,000 would see me through.
Haha! It’s hilarious to look back…

A combination of working along the way and a nice tax return helped the bottom line, though the remainder is still sitting on my credit card.
For the vast majority of the adventure I drew a few hundred dollars out in cash, spent it on anything and everything, then got more cash when I ran out. Unfortunately, this means I only have bank records for some of the big purchases mentioned below. I can see than I took out $400 in Guatemala, then another $400 in El Salvador, but I can’t say exactly what that money went into. At only $1/beer, I’m pretty sure it didn’t all go there

**NOTE: When I say everything else, I literally mean, everything else.
Food and accommodation would certainly be the next two big categories, then maybe activities (like park entry fees, etc.). Everything you can possibly imagine is in there somewhere; oil changes, small ferries, toll roads, tire repairs, flip-flops…. If I spent money, it’s in the everything else figure.

Notable Exceptions:
I did not include the following expenses for various reasons.
If you’re planning your own adventure, you may want to think about these things:

The Jeep:
The cost of the Jeep has been excluded, mostly because in my view it cost net zero. I bought the Jeep in August 2008 for $6,250 and drove it around as my sole vehicle until June 2009 when I set off on the adventure. Almost two years, and 65,000kms later, I sold the Jeep for $5000.
Allocating the $1,250 difference to deprecation before the adventure even began, means it cost me net zero for the adventure. I’m extraordinarily happy with this.

Vaccinations:
These were in fact very specific for this adventure, though with all the health-insurance refunds I’m pretty sure it cost me something less than $300. They are also good for 10 years, so I’m still getting value from them.

Camping Gear:
I had almost everything I needed before setting out (tent, camp stove, hiking boots, etc.) although I did buy a couple of pricy things like my sleeping bag. I didn’t include them because I already had most of them, and the things I bought, I still have and use regularly.

Laptop & Camera:
I owned my camera long before the adventure began, but I did buy my little laptop specifically for the adventure. I didn’t include it as an expense, because it’s a completely optional piece of equipment and I still use it all the time.

$27k is an average of about $1200 a month for the 22 months I was on the road. I hope these numbers help people planning their own adventure. Feel free to ask for any clarifications.

-Dan