When going off-road most trips are on a trail for a day, maybe a trip to the desert for a night, but the majority of the trip is around familiar places. Overlanding gives a completely different experience than any other type of off-road.
Not only does overlanding give the adventurers the ability to off-road but it give them the ability to spend days, weeks, and months out on the trail. The adventure only begins when pulling off the highway onto the dirt.
The ability to travel, see the world, and experience different cultures all with the ability of off-roading. It is one thing to travel to a place and experience the local culture, but to be able to travel to each location by dirt is a whole different type of fun.
Last week we featured on an article following the Expedition Overland group creating their Toyota 4Runners to be the most badass expedition vehicles they could make. They recently released the video showing them finally getting off the pavement and onto the dirt.
The team was heading down through Central America, with the first off-road starting in Baja. Baja is no stranger to off-road and long haul races, as it is host to the 1,000 mile endurance race, Baja 1000.
For those that have never been down to Baja, it is an experience you cannot find anywhere else in the world. There is a reason why multiple professional drivers choose to keep come back down regardless if they are racing or not. They will all tell you that it is the experience and terrain that makes it like nothing else.
Granted going to a new country will be exhilarating no matter where the destination is, but as an off-roader there are not to many places in the world that can compete with everything that Baja has to offer.
Mike's Sky Ranch, one of the many experiences that Baja has to offer.
The trails are not the only thing that sets a place apart from another, but the local food. There are not to many things that do not go well with off-road and food is surely not on that list.
Camping out and barbecuing seems to go hand in hand with long off the grid expeditions. The guys with Expedition Overland show what it is like experiencing the culture through food. They wanted tacos as soon as they hit Baja ground, and found what they thought was a taco stand.
They were mistaken, as it ended up being a seafood restaurant. Food and the culture around it seemed to take a side by side seat with the off-road trails shown in the video.
The team got to experience part of the Baja 1000 race course and were able to get coached by their good friend Ted Moncure of Toyotas Racing development. Designing the vehicles the way the Expedition Overland team did, made these vehicle able to handle any of the conditions that where through at them.
From soft silt, to rocky trails, nothing seemed to stop them. The team mentioned the one thing they will be taking away from Baja, the experience. It did also help that they ended the video on the way to go see the legendary racer, Ivan Stewart.
Coming to another country can be a scary situation but the Expedition Overland team took in Baja with open arms, and showed us that it is not always about the trails we go on, but the experience and culture around them.