via West County Explorers Club: This is a flashback post that I wrote before WCXC, back in 2006. :)

Last summer I decided to take my 170,000-mile, 1986 Isuzu Trooper for a month-long, solo road trip from California to British Columbia and back. I was looking forward to the thrill of the open road, clear-blue water, wildlife, and remote wilderness, so I prepared well, packing my tent, my gear, and a month’s worth of food into the Trooper in case I got stranded and needed to wait for the Mounties, a passing husky team, or whoever handles that sort of thing in Canada. I’m glad I did. Despite a snag or two, I learned a few things and returned to tell the tale. Not everything in the wild is so lucky.

After about three months of working at Overland Journal, I decided my current set of wheels - a Toyota Celica, just wasn't cutting it anymore. It wasn’t that it was a particularly bad vehicle, in fact I became quite affectionate for the little red car. Being around a plethora of 4x4’s all day meant that my eyes occasionally wandered off into the distance and caused me to start reminiscing about the 4x4’s I owned in my past.