Tired Overlander

[Murphy Slaw]

True! While I’m a “real” hiker, I don’t consider myself a “real” overlander. Sleeping in comfort, regular showers and peace of mind stave off the tiredness and temptation to pull up stakes and flee home. I like my girlie teardrop trailer and cosy bed. Find what works for you and do it, damn the haters and full steam ahead.

Indeed.

I'm getting up in years and have even looked at vans because an RV is out of my budget. We use motels a lot these days, but that's crazy expensive.

However, I'll continue to support this site for many years to come.

 

[Snapspinner]

Often we get caught up in things, and become somewhat a slave to our hobbies. I let it happen with racing cars when I was much younger. I started with AutoX which is generally informal, and at least with the group I mostly ran with lighthearted. Once I got into "real" track stuff, it became more and more serious, and my group of friends I raced with slowly dwindled because of that, or other life reasons (marriage, kids, career...). One day I realized it had lost most of its fun, other than a few highlights on-track the weekends ended up just feeling like a lot of work, and I was doing it "alone." I realized I had felt that way for awhile, but for some reason felt overly compelled to keep doing it. For me car clubs, racing, etc. were (and still are in some ways) a big part of my identity, so I think I subconsciously had myself convinced that I almost "had to" keep doing it. As I mentioned before, I let the same happen with big RVs and sand rails and the "Glamis life." Overall, that's why Overlanding has been such a welcome thing to me. I truly enjoy the simplicity and relaxation... but even this I'm sure I can push too far.

-TJ

I feel you on the car culture thing. I was seriously into Autocross for about 10 years. For the last 5 years of that I ran a pretty strong SCCA national level event schedule (It was 6 - 8 full weekend events with 6-12 hours of travel), plus local events, plus doing HPDE track events in the gaps. I enjoyed it, but it also became a bit like a 2nd job, that cost me money. I ended up quitting cold turkey after my last national championships. I'd finished in 8th place out of 54. My co-driver finished first so I knew the car was capable, I was the slow part. I didn't see spending more money and time to improve. I was already spending a lot of time away from the family so I decided to give it up. Felt really weird not being involved for the first couple of years.

The only time I get close to exhaustion mode with overlanding is when my wife and I make our summer trip. Were still working, so we can usually only get about 2 or 3 weeks to go. We tend to stuff about 6 weeks of travel into that time. Ends up being a lot of time driving, a lot of time hiking, a lot of making camp and breaking camp. I enjoy all those things but after a while it can get a bit much. This summer we are planning more base camping and less traveling.

 

[Mike W]

I am always in awe of the full timers. I love doing trips and I wish I had more time for it, but I also LOVE my house and having down time. I am not cut out for the fulltime overlander lifestyle at all. lol.

 

[MazeVX]

Thanks for the explanation, I think I understand it but I don't have that.
I started with "showcar" stuff, another car show every other weekend until I crashed my car, next chapter 1/4 mile and nightly "meetings" with friends somewhere on the street, and somehow that came to its natural end before it got exhausting, then carhifi, most successful, several titles, industry sponsors until it got exhausting and I stopped it and so on.
When a hobby gets exhausting I stop it, I'm not wasting money on something not necessary that exhausts even more than the work does anyway.

Fortunately I don't have nearly as much time and money to let traveling get exhausting.
I'm really tired by the concrete jungle, the people who feel home in this environment and meaningless work.
I never get tired between trees even if I work hard for weeks...

 

[Tommys]

I don’t think I will ever tire of the adventure and exposure to new places and people. But I will admit it becomes tiresome to fight crowds, have to plan ahead months in advance etc. folks out west are fortunate in having the open spaces but traveling east of the Mississippi is a much different story.

But then the same thing happened to my pinot noir after Sideways, my bourbon and damn it, now my scotch! Popularity creates weariness amongst the first movers.

I really like that!

 

[Tommys]

I don’t think I will ever tire of the adventure and exposure to new places and people. But I will admit it becomes tiresome to fight crowds, have to plan ahead months in advance etc. folks out west are fortunate in having the open spaces but traveling east of the Mississippi is a much different story.

But then the same thing happened to my pinot noir after Sideways, my bourbon and damn it, now my scotch! Popularity creates weariness amongst the first movers.

 

[Tommys]

Ha! I like the cheesecake analogy; make it pie and you’ve got a deal.
I find that the run up to travel is rather tedious - planning, booking, and especially packing. I use a packing list to reduce stress and start a week or two ahead, intermittently dropping things in and crossing them off. Heck, I just bought laundry detergent for my late June departure, as it was a really good buy. But when I actually get rolling, the excitement builds and I start looking forward to the fun times ahead. Then even the long, LONG 5-6 days of driving/towing 2500+ miles to the western states is somewhat bearable. When I’m boots on the ground at my first destination, every day holds the promise of a new adventure. IMO, packing up and moving camp every day can be tiring, which is why I prefer having a base camp for multiple days. It’s been said many times before, but factor in down days to relax, do laundry, eat in a restaurant, visit a museum, read a book in your hammock, socialize, anything other than bumping down a rough, dusty road for 6 hours to a dry camp. I’d even go so far as to suggest booking a different type of trip once in a while, such as a guided group excursion or cruise, to have a different experience. There are some inexpensive cruises to Alaska, maybe go to Italy and Greece, see the Galápagos Islands. Let someone else do the difficult planning. Yeah, it’s not overlanding, but maybe there’s such a thing as too much pie. (Oh, blasphemy!!)

Good suggestions, thank you.

 

[Tommys]

I keep reading this thread but I'm 100% I don't understand it.
How is it possible to get tired of something if you have the choice to just stop doing it? Why don't you just stop it then?
Enlighten me please

I believe the point of this post is to look at something wonderful and such a gift, that it can also cause taxation of mind, body, and spirit.

 

[Tommys]

Wow, folks! I really liked where this went. Actually, it inspired me to write more on the subject.
Please consider a full article to learn about my techniques and yours in continuing the journey.
Tired Overlander II