An Overlanding Honeymoon

In August 2014, Nathan and I celebrated 10 years of marriage! I don’t remember all of the details of the wedding anymore, but I don’t think there’s anything I would change. We were on a tight budget, I was still in college, and we had a lot of learning left to do, but we prayed about it, felt peace, and were excited to build a life together.
I don’t remember how we ended up with the idea of overlanding for our honeymoon, but we did! I’m sure I had never even heard of the concept. Either way, in South Dakota in August, we decided to take Nathan’s non-air-conditioned Jeep to the Black Hills and live out of it for a week.

This was our first attempt at “overlanding”. We drove the Jeep to the top of Cement Ridge, Wyoming, and started blowing up our borrowed air mattress. We didn’t realize the air mattress was one of the double-thick ones, so the air mattress took up nearly all of the cubic space in the Jeep. We had to try to sleep on our backs with our noses about touching the ceiling. On top of that, it was hot and buggy. Let’s just say we were not prepared!

We look back now and laugh, and even though the trip didn’t go the way we had planned, we were hooked. At that time in our lives, we couldn’t have afforded a week in a hotel. Overlanding allowed us the ability to travel together and make memories as a newly married couple.

We’ve got a few years and trips under our belt, but this is still our favorite way to travel!