Hey gang,
I'm Austin – really happy to have found Overland Bound as my wife and I are just starting to get into overlanding. I grew up driving/flying all manner of motorized things, but didn't do much off-roading. We also do a lot of back-country adventuring, but with knee surgery number six planned for July, long backpacking trips aren't really in the cards (at least for a while).
We spent last weekend in CO visiting the surgeon, and made a detour to Arches NP for a night. Had to drive our rental Tahoe out on the 4x4 (don't tell the rental company) trails to get away from the insane crowds. That was the first real overlanding I'd say we've done, and it got us hooked. Only saw one other person in 15 hours and had amazing views to take in.
I
used to have what might be called a rig: a 2002 4Runner. It was 2-wheel drive, but too much of a good deal to pass on. Drove that for six years, and it held its own on easy trails, but we never did any real vehicle-dependent travel with it. I'm now rolling around in a 6-speed GTI (lots of fun), but pretty set on replacing it with something more capable for adventuring.
We're based in Fort Worth, TX, and after many years, have accepted our cruel fate of 9+ hour drives to get anywhere interesting. Looking forward to meeting y'all at some point.
Cheers,
Austin
Edit: I'm getting this image thing figured out.