What Was I Thinking?

Hi! My name is Jessy and I have a problem….A problem with going overboard….or as you men would say… over packing? I mean what does that really mean? Maybe I like to be over prepared than under prepared??

I am a newbie, a newbie to this thing they call overlanding. I honestly do not think a lot of folks get this concept or they think it’s a “FAD” that will fade away. As the COVID hit our nation, stying inside was not somewhere everyone wanted to be. Maybe it is a “FAD” for those types of folks, but for a lot of our Jeep community in the last few years this fad has taken this “overlanding” thing to new levels. Including me! Sure I love my Jeep and rock crawling…and I was a newbie at that too once in my life. I love camping and the outdoors and finding adventures. But I have never camped out of my Jeep… well maybe once but it was on a beach in a tent for a day. But that’s really not “overlanding”! 

What does “OVERLANDING” mean? Overlanding: self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal. While expedition is defined as a journey with purpose, overlanding sees the journey as the purpose. Overlanding is about exploration, rather than conquering obstacles.

Self-reliant…. so that means food and all the other basic things to survive, right? I am one of those women that do over pack and bring everything!! So this was a bit of a challenge to scale back a bit, so clothes… I know OMG? I don’t think I did too bad in that category since I was going into the desert and going to be dirty constantly, all I really need is my “outdoors” clothing and shoes. OK… I got this….

Until…Food…I got this right? I was refusing to eat backpacker meals and hotdogs for 2 to 3 weeks. We have an ARB big fridge freezer, so this should be easy right? Some dear friends of ours gifted us a Food Saver sealer machine because we were going to be meal prepping for these new upcoming overlanding adventures. Many don’t know that one of my many talents is to cook. It makes me happy to cook awesome food for friends and family. So why not put my skills to use and meal prep for some awesome meals on our adventures?

Well, I did just that, and then some…. All and all it will be yummy, even though I drive Corey crazy ….. BUT…. I have watched so many cool videos and gourmet chefs cooking outdoors and I am that person. But we have to live out of the gladiator for almost 3 weeks? I thought I had scaled back and made it simple, and don’t forget we have to pack out trash and clean up and waste. Deciding to pre make meals and vacuum seal them would leave little waste…heck yeah I got this! Stopping myself from doing too much was hard, REALLY hard! I had a lot to learn as I packed, or tried to pack it all in one cooler. Being a newbie… I learned a lot…but I refuse to eat dried up anything on my adventures! 

Stay tuned for all the details and pictures on what we ate for our adventure in Death Valley!

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