13 July, 10:00 AM MST
The Outsiders
Words by Jordan Rupp
Everybody wants to be famous, but chasing popularity with no light at the end. The deeper you go, the more hopeless it becomes. Still, we stumble forward like zombies guided by the glow of small screens, desperate for more attention, more views, more clicks, faster, bigger, better… But what do you do when the screen goes dark? Who are you in the quiet hours when the limelight fades away? This is where the outsiders thrive.
Outsiders live away from the crowds and without witness, for the pure, authentic joy of doing what they love to do. We need the outsiders in the world. The ones who refuse to follow the crowd or jump on the bandwagon. The ones who don’t fit into a box. Who do things not because they are cool, but for the value of the experience. The ones who push the envelope and choose to see the world from a different perspective. Who live their passions with reckless abandon and find the beauty of life bleeding out in the raw moments on an obscure off-road trail. The ones who don’t give a sh*t about popularity and would rather pursue greatness. That’s why this blog post is dedicated to the DeHaven family, living in the shadows and doing what they were born to do.
First things first.....Who are the DeHavens?
Names: Christine (Mom), Evan (Dad), Miles (13), Ash (11), Charlie (doggo)
Instagram Handle: @family.overland.adventure
Website: BroncoOverlandAdventure
First Things First… We always ask everyone. How do you define freedom?
Limiting the constraints which open up and give you the ability to explore the world around you. Constraints are different for everyone so it is important to understand what they are for each individual so you can work towards creating your own “freedom”.
It's definitely inspring to see you guys seek your own personal freedom and we love that our products help you to acheive that.What C4 products are you repping and what do you like about them?
Overland Front and Rear Bumper. They look 🔥on the Toyota, but whatever they hit I feel sorry for 💪
In your experience, why do you find it important to have C4 Armor?
Being fulltime travelers we put a lot of miles behind us so having protection is so important and they give us a lot of reassurance.
What inspired you guys to hit the road full time as a family?
So many things but after Covid hit it opened up a new perspective, one that allowed us to see that our wacky vision of freedom and adventure was and has actually been obtainable. Funny thing is a lot of people saw Covid heavy in constraints, but for us we saw it open up so many that were placed on us all. The acceptance and accessibility of work from home and homeschooling alone meant that your lifestyle could become much more nimble. This alone lifted the traditional confines of raising a family and one that inspired us to chase our dreams and think differently.All of this gave us the opportunity to see life from a new perspective and see all of what the world has to offer, allowing us to experience and grow as a family unit and as individuals.Feel like this one question could become a novel in its own 🤪🤣
What other upgrades other than your armor have you put on your truck to make it more suitable for your family?
Adding a GFC camper allowed for more safe storage and a second living quarters, Turtleback trailer being the first. A completely sustainable power system driven by a Redarc Manager 30, 3 100aH Renogy lithium batteries and 350 watts of renogy solar on top of the GFC. As you can imagine storage and organization is key so a decked system in the truck bed as well as a front runner roof rack with Pelican cargo cases gives us so much storage space. We also added a Snomaster 85L dual compartment fridge / freezer on a AluCab tilt slide so our fridge is always with us. Full Icon stage 9 suspension with icon wheels and 35” BFG Ko2’s. A warn winch, factor 55 and deadman recovery gear along with MaxxTraxx’s which are on a rad and very easy accessible expedition essentials mount on the side of the GFC. Baja Designs lights all the way around for driving and lighting up camp. An Arb dual compressor for inflate / deflate tires as well as the inflatables. Probably missing things but we did a full walk around on our YouTube: Check Out Their Youtube
What are some things about life on the road that you wish to pass down to your children?
An adventurous spirit and the gift of imagination. With those two attributes, one can go or achieve anything and allows them the freedom to chase their passions no matter what or where they are.
Tell us about your lives before you hit the road? What did you do for work? Where did you live?
We lived in Los Angeles, California and worked in the entertainment / advertising industry for the last 20+ years.
Have you always been interested in off-roading?
Well yes and no. Evan grew up at a race track, riding dirt bikes and backpacking and Christine fell in love with backpacking and traveling so when we met we sorta combined all this together and I guess that combo is off-roading / overlanding. We have always loved Baja and Evan has always dreamed of racing the 1000, maybe one day 🤔
What is the most memorable trip you have taken as a family?
Every trip has its own memory and we feel like the cumulative experience is more valuable than a single one if that makes sense. For us we kinda look at life as one “trip” and we try to pack it full of amazing experiences along the way. It is really interesting to listen to the kids talk about their perspective of the adventures we have had and see how they view things as well. We each have such different experiences.
What are 5 things you never hit the road without?
Oh man this really depends on the adventure we are taking but here are some overall important ones
- Camera equipment as we love documenting our adventures and expressing ourselves artistically this way
- MedKit of any sort cause you can never be to safe and we like to go hard
- Wheels of some sort, we like them all 🤘
- Water bottles, always need to be hydrated
- Pocket knives, the best tool on the planet
What are some words of encouragement to someone who is new to off-roading and would like to hit the road full time?
First off stop saying “I wish I could” because that is a constraint others have put on you. If you want to do something the only one who can make that possible or not possible is yourself.
As for fulltime travel you should definitely ease into it. Start off with day trips, then weekend trips, then multi-week trips and so on. It’s about building up experience before the big plunge. Get all the big mistakes out of the way and learn what works for you. Also know There is no perfect set up. Don’t put off exploring just because you don’t have all the gear you want. Do what you can with what you have and over time you can build, change and adjust. Our rig is constantly evolving.
Do you have any future plans for more upgrades to your Tundra?
Some custom C4 rear swing outs?! ;)
For real though nothing at the moment, think the Tundra is pretty dialed at the moment.
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