Gear and Skills Archives : American Adventurist

The International 4WD Trainers Association: Inside the Testing for Certification

This is an inside look at the I4WDTA. My goal here is to provide some level of transparency for an organization I believe in. To that end, I’d like to provide you with a glimpse inside their Testing for Certification process and the extremely diverse knowledge, skills, and aptitudes required to be successful. There were eight Candidate Trainers and a large number of I4WDTA staff present whom I will refer to here as Cadre during …

Adventure American Adventures Gear and Skills Vehicles

Overland Expo East 2021

This was a busy year. Overland Expo East was to be our third Overland Expo event within the space of a few weeks, and it seemed like I had just returned from Colorado when it was time to go again. Overlanding is different east of the Mississippi, and I was keen on seeing how the East Coast version of Expo was doing. As usual, I left Northwest Florida a couple days early for a bit …

Adventure American Adventures Gear and Skills Vehicles

Overland Expo West 2021

For what feels like forever, Overland Expo West has been part of the calendar, like a holiday or some event that is just always in May. It’s just always assumed that it’s going to be there, it’s just a question of which weekend in May. Then things changed, and May came and went twice without Overland Expo West. Meanwhile, the folks at Lodestone Events persevered, and thankfully they were able to lock in dates for …

Adventure American Adventures Gear and Skills Vehicles

Colorado or Bust: Overland Expo Mountain West 2021

Overland Expo Mountain West almost didn’t happen. For most of us, the last year+ was like a dystopian B movie on many levels, complete with terrible casting and an even worse plot line. Because of all that, there was an uncomfortable feeling right up until the day I drove away from Florida for Colorado that this event would somehow get derailed too. I know the event organizers likely aged a few years with worry and …

Gear and Skills Vehicles

TESTED: Armorlite Flooring System

We test out the new Armorlite Flooring System for Jeeps

Adventure Gear and Skills

TESTED: Dometic CFX3 45

We test the new Dometic CFX3 45 fridge

Adventure Gear and Skills

Battle of the Boxes: AluBox vs Zarges

We put our trail tested Alu Boxes up against their rivals from Zarges

Adventure Gear and Skills

Throwing Shade

Reviewing Force Protector Gear's entry into the Overland vehicle market

Adventure Gear and Skills

Fishing for Fun & Survival

In a backcountry survival situation, fishing is an excellent source of food, and in some environments it may be your sole source of food. During normal times, trying your hand at fishing with some of the more arcane techniques covered here can also be a whole lot of fun! As Hank Williams Jr once said, “We’re from North California and South Alabam’, And little towns all around this land. And we can skin a buck …

Gear and Skills Vehicles

TESTED: Lightforce Lights HTX2 Twin Pack

For the last ten years, I’ve had a pair of Lightforce Blitz lights on the front of my Tacoma – and they’ve been awesome lights. Ten years is a long time to have any product, and it’s even more impressive when you consider that these lights have been outside for that entire time. These lights have baked in the Arizona sun, and frozen in the Colorado winter. They’ve held up to more than 150,000 miles …

Adventure Gear and Skills

Eat Well In The Wild!

Eating well in the field can be fast, easy, and fun. And it doesn't have to taste bad!

Adventure Gear and Skills Vehicles

Rebuilding Icon Vehicle Dynamics Shocks

Along with good tires, your suspension is THE single most significant upgrade that you can make to a vehicle, and ICON Vehicle Dynamics (IVD) makes some of the best rebuildable off-road shocks around.