As the editor of a magazine that prints both trip stories and equipment reviews, I have to strike a balance between suggesting useful, or even just amusing, vehicle accessories and camping gear, and making sure readers don't think they need every last modification before they can leave their garage. I know guys who have enough stuff attached to their trucks that they could finance shipping the bare rig to Africa if they unbolted it all and put it up on Ebay. Yet they still think they need just one more locker, or a set of remote-reservoir shocks, or something, before they can do The Trip.
As a counterpoint we're going to be running a story about a woman who is driving the length of South America and Africa in a Chevy van she bought for $750. Not sure I'd recommend that much asceticism in general, but it's a good lesson.
|