Hi everyone!!
I joined this community back in December and I’m just now creating my account and checking out the online community. My name is Frances and I relocated from Petaluma, California to Reno, Nevada about 3 years ago. I’ve always loved the outdoors and grew up spending my summers in a remote cabin in the beautiful forest of Northern California in Plumas County. Once moving to Nevada my life was changed in finding solitude and openness of the high desert! I’ve explored more of this state than some of the folks I’ve met who’ve been born and raised here! My most favorite part of Nevada would be the Elko area! The ruby mountains are amazing! They call it the Yosemite of Nevada. It’s just beautiful (and very different) country than my home state of California. Went from coastal region to high desert! What a climate and scenery flip! I love them both! You grow to appreciate the differences because they each have their own beauty. But again, you can’t really compare them; both are pretty neat.
I got into the world of overlanding via trying to find a creative way to see the state of Nevada. Being that it is really spread out and there’s lots to see- I wanted to take (and keep) my adventures on the dirt! So I started watching YouTube videos on car camping, etc. I the followed up with using the hashtag #overlanding on Instagram and founds some cool accounts on there to follow! I like to see people post their projects of what their working on for their rigs and my most favorite thing is seeing the adventures people go on and the quality time they spend in the outdoors, the little treasures found along the way and let’s be honest- being outside is good for the soul.
I had a Land Rover that was on its last leg (it was only 4 years old but I put a 100k miles on it and if you know the new gene Land Rovers- you know it’s done. lol. It was costing me serious money in maintenance/repairs. I needed something reliable and long-lasting! (I had a little sickness over buying a 50k vehicle and not even 4 years later it was worth 13k.. Yeah, little bitter over finding out the hard way Land Rover is the worst re-sale value. I would’ve kept it if it didn’t have so many problems. But it would’ve just kept being a money pit! So I just had to bite the bullet before the next unforeseen repair.
I did a ton of research and in December I traded in my Land Rover Discovery Sport HSE for a 2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD PRO.
My brother is currently making me a sleep platform and eventually I’ll get a rooftop tent!
I’ve met so many awesome folks from the Instagram community! It’s so great to meet like-minded folks. Besides growing up going camping, enjoying outdoor activities with family/friends. I’m totally new to this! Actually, I want to say I’ve been doing this for a long time- but now it has a new name and there’s lots more bells and whistles for vehicles.. Ha! I plan on using this community for feedback on destinations to explore and if I ever have any gear questions- I can probably find answers in the abundance of forums on here.
Here’s my
Instagram if there’s any west coast overlanders that want to follow! Especially the ladies!! Since ya know, i’m one myself. Ha!
photos below taken where I live in Palomino Valley of Reno, Nevada. I live like 5 minutes from this super cool spot of BLM that’s called, Moonrocks!
Happy Trails, Frances
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