W
hat begun as a simple idea to docu-
ment a once in a lifetime expedition
backtracking the Oregon Trail became a
staple in the timeline of our personal lives.
We began almost by accident, A few simple
guys, a passion for overland exploration,
and the desire to live a life full of adven-
ture. We are OX Overland, and this is our
story.
It was the morning of July 16th, and the
years of planning and outfitting our wag-
ons were finally over. With glowing faces
we fired up the engines of our Land Cruis-
er and Ford Ranger and slowly watched
the dust swell in our rearview mirrors as
we laid our first tracks in the soil of the
legendary Oregon Trail. Without warning
emotions of every kind quickly flooded
each one of our minds. The sense of free-
dom and fear that our forefathers must
have felt when embarking on their journey
was welcomed and embraced. It’s crazy to
think about, but I imagine those pioneers
had no idea that the path they were walk-
ing would have such a huge impact on the
lives of 5 good friends over 100 years later.
From the heights of Oregon’s tallest moun-
tains to the depths of Idaho and Wyoming’s
vast deserts, we forged our way through
every obstacle that Mother Nature threw
at us. Each day presented a new series of
challenges. From rough terrain to personal
disagreements, we were forced to lay our
differences aside if we were going to com-
plete this adventure. It’s been said that you
never truly know someone until you live
with them, and this was no different. We
very rarely used our AC which added yet
another struggle to the daily events. This
was all part of the game.
When you mess with a bull you’re likely to
get the horns and in hindsight those were
the days we seemed to work together the
best. The challenges of river crossings, off
camber trails, and mechanical malfunc-
tions seemed to be the very fire that ignit-
ed our ability to collectively accomplish
whatever task was underway. It’s hard to
understand why it was easier for us to be
unified when it mattered most, but when it
came to our evening routine we seemed to
be at each others throats. As the old prov-
erb say’s “let not the sun go down on your
wrath” we adopted this mindset to prevent
any form of lingering frustration. Unfor-
tunately that’s easier said than done and
just when we thought we had it all together
we realized the second half of our trip had
only just begun.
With three states now behind us we flew
through the 23rd day down the dusty trail.
We had successfully completed over 2500
miles and were 4 days ahead of schedule.
Excited and fatigued we decided to take a
few days off and head to Northern Colora-
do for some much needed down time and
truck maintenance. Home was a heavy top-
ic those few days, but we were too far along
to turn back now. With another 2000 miles
on the horizon we said goodbye to the com-
forts of civilization and made our way back
to the Wyoming boarder. As the crow flies
Nebraska was the longest state we would
cover. With the Rocky Mountains behind
it was smooth sailing for the trucks and
rough waters for our minds. Having done
our homework we knew the plain states
would be easier in comparison to our first
trek, however what we didn’t anticipate
was the change in morale.