DAUNTLESS - The Jeep Gladiator Taking Our Family Around The World On A 10-15 Year Journey

[HourlessLife]

We are getting ready to drive around the world in our Jeep Gladiator. We anticipate it will take 10-15 years.

There is a bit of a story here, and I'll get to the build at the end. So if that's all you want to see, just skip on down there where you see the photo of our rig.

But the reality is that we aren't just building a vehicle for the sake of building it. Our vehicle is specifically being built for one purpose. To get us around the globe. ?

A little bit of our story...

We've been traveling full-time owning no home or property since February 21, 2014 (Currently on our 8th year of full-time travel)

This.Is.Us. Eric + Brittany + Caspian Highland
You can find us at HourlessLife on pretty much any social platform (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)

Our son Caspian a.k.a. "Little Nomad" joined our family in December of 2016 and has been a full-time traveler since birth, literally going from the birthing room at the hospital to a life on the road. By the time Caspian was 4 years old, he had already spent at least one night in all lower 48 United States, been to over half of our National Parks, spent a little time in Canada, traveled 2000+ miles deep into interior Mexico, and completed the entirety of the Baja Peninsula. He's a pretty well traveled little guy and a great traveler.

Our Jeep travels were previously in a 2014 Jeep JKUR we called GUARDIAN. He took really good care of us and is currently parked in the Denver area for when we fly back to the states, we have a home on wheels to visit family and to attend and present at overlanding events.

But after traveling around North America for 7 full years, it was time to branch out further. Believe it or not, it was my wife's idea to overland the world. Yes, I pretty much hit the wife lottery. Don't hate me.

To get this out of the way...no, I'm not independently wealthy. I'm a retired military service member of 20 years of honorable service to the United States. I have a small pension. I retired in 2010. After that my wife and I built up 5 businesses over 10 years and since have sold them or passed them off to others. This too has helped fund our travels. If you are super curious about our story and how we got to the point of traveling full-time without having to work again, we have an extremely detailed version of our story on our YouTube channel here.

The above is an extremely crude representation of our general route around the world. We plan to cross the border into interior Mexico in October of 2021.

To be fully transparent with the community, we have been sponsored by 22 different companies for this global journey. I don't say that to boast, it is in fact our ethical duty to disclose that. For those interested, you can see our full list of sponsors here.

Before we head off on the journey, as a thank you to our sponsors and also to see (and say goodbye to) so many of our friends in the overlanding community we'll be showcasing DAUNTLESS and doing some public speaking at Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, CO at the end of August, and Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, AZ at the end of September this year.

Ok, onto the build...

Meet DAUNTLESS. A 2021 Jeep Gladiator Sport S with Max Tow Package 1565 lbs payload + 150 lb driver allowance. We get to start with 1715 lbs of payload.

Our entire build on this vehicle took 45 days (including driving days and days off) from stock to what you see above.

DAUNTLESS was built in 4 different shops in 4 different cities (Denver, Albuquerque, Tucson, Austin) He was stock on June 7, 2021 and "completed" on July 20, 2021. (I put "completed" in quotes because as we all know, a build is really never finished.)

I'm not a mechanic, electrician, or engineer. Matter of fact when you look up the word "handyman" in the dictionary, my name is the furthest you can get from it. When the good Lord was passing out those skills I think I skipped school. But I have big dreams and I've never been afraid to follow them. I've learned what I've needed to get this far out of necessity to accomplish those dreams. Truth be told, I depend on folks who have forgotten more about builds, mechanical, and electrical stuff than I know to help us along the way.

As a result, I'm really thankful to be on the forum here and see so many knowledgeable people as I'm sure I'll be leaning heavily on this community to help get us around the world. In advance, I thank those of you who will invest your time in helping us make this trip a reality.

We did create a playlist on our YouTube channel of the entire build and what we've done. You can see our Jeep Gladiator Build Series on YouTube here.

But for those that just want to read the major parts of our build, here is what we've done:

MOPAR 2" lift
TeraFlex 3.5" rear coil springs
Hellwig rear sway bar
(We will be replacing the FOX shocks that came with the MOPAR kit with TeraFlex Falcon shocks eventually)
Airlift 1000lb air bags
WARN Diamond Cutter wheels
BFG KO2 AT tires (34 10.50) Basically a 33.5" tire which was recommended by extremely experienced international overlanders
Alu-Cab Canopy Camper (we reversed the main entry door as our living area is on the passenger side)
Alu-Cab Shadow Awning
Alu-Cab Shower Cube
Alu-Cab 13 gallon potable water tank
REDARC Manager30 with RedVision system
280 watts of solar by Cascadia 4x4
170ah Renogy Lithium Battery for the house
Webasto Gasoline Heater
Long Range America 17 gallon external fuel tank
Goose Gear Double Drawer modules x2
Goose Gear Utility Cabinets x2
Goose Gear Bulkhead
Goose Gear Deckplate
Goose Gear corner unit
Goose Gear 60 High seat delete
Goose Gear solo fridge slide
National Luna Legacy 50 fridge/freezer
Rigid Industries E-Series Pro 10" light bar
Rigid Industries fog lights
Rigid Industries Flood and Spot pod lights
Rigid Industries Scene lights (amber and white)
WARN 9.5xp winch with Spydura Nightline rope and Hub wireless controller
AEV Snorkel with Sy-Klone prefilter
RockHard 4x4 Aluminum front bumper with lowered winch plate

If anyone would like to see DAUNTLESS in person, as I mentioned, we'll be in the showcase area at Overland Expo Mountain West, and in the Goose Gear booth at Overland Expo West this year.

If anyone has questions about our build or our travels, don't hesitate to ask.

Again, I'm so glad to be on this forum, it is like drinking from a firehose.

~ Eric

Sponsored

 

[Phil3333]

I have seen your YouTube channel,good luck take care of yourself and your family,with the amount of upheaval in the world today this may be a risky undertaking

 

[HourlessLife]

I have seen your YouTube channel,good luck take care of yourself and your family,with the amount of upheaval in the world today this may be a risky undertaking

Appreciate your concern and encouragement. Without risk there is no reward. We each get one shot around, and this is how we're taking ours.

 

[Hootbro]

How does that work for the academic education of the kid and to avoid running afoul of truancy laws? Even "home schooling" in most states, there is inspection and validation to avoid "false homeschooling" claims.

 

[HourlessLife]

How does that work for the academic education of the kid and to avoid running afoul of truancy laws? Even "home schooling" in most states, there is inspection and validation to avoid "false homeschooling" claims.

Great question. We are legal residents of Texas (even though we don't own any home or property) it is where we are domiciled. Texas is one of the best states in support of homeschooling.

I pretty much hit the wife lottery. My wife Brittany was homeschooled all the way until University and she's really comfortable with it. She's incredibly intelligent and has great taste in everything but men. No idea how I ended up with her. She was a 4.0 student at University of Texas, and it was her idea to drive around the world. I'm just the chauffeur.

Rest assured that Caspian's education will be top notch. It already is and he's only 4.

 

[Ezekielg1]

Man I don’t know what wrong with those pessimistic concerns but congrats. I believe you and your family are going to experience things that no one else gets too… travel is just as good an education than the abominable thing we call the public school system in the u.s. (I am Texan who homeschools here too!!! My 8 year old has an 12 grade reading comprehension level and has already began algebraic functions) and as for risks medically as long as your vaccines are good you should be too and as far as safety those countries are probably safer than what’s going on our country right now given the random gun violence and new gun laws that are being passed making it that much easier for inexperienced and untrained citizens to carry weapons of that caliber (once again I’m a Texan, Marine, Hunter). Now as I pay the soap box I just got off of. I’m definitely subscribing to your YT channel.

 

[HourlessLife]

Man I don’t know what wrong with those pessimistic concerns but congrats. I believe you and your family are going to experience things that no one else gets too… travel is just as good an education than the abominable thing we call the public school system in the u.s. (I am Texan who homeschools here too!!! My 8 year old has an 12 grade reading comprehension level and has already began algebraic functions) and as for risks medically as long as your vaccines are good you should be too and as far as safety those countries are probably safer than what’s going on our country right now given the random gun violence and new gun laws that are being passed making it that much easier for inexperienced and untrained citizens to carry weapons of that caliber (once again I’m a Texan, Marine, Hunter). Now as I pay the soap box I just got off of. I’m definitely subscribing to your YT channel.

Hey thanks for the encouragement, for your service to our nation, and for subscribing to our channel.

I think the questions that we frequently get are often legitimate questions that folks have, and we don't mind answering them. We do a lot of public speaking on full-time travel so we're kind of used to it. Sometimes folks seriously want an answer, sometimes they just have a hard time wrapping their minds around something seemingly so unconventional. That's cool, I get it.

(Caspian taking in the world around him. The education of a lifetime.)

Caspian too is far ahead of his peers already. Your son sounds like a rockstar! Congrats on that too.

Where in Texas are you? We're hanging out with Brittany's folks in Corpus Christi right now until Mid-August then heading to Loveland, CO for Overland Expo Mountain West.

 

[Ezekielg1]

Hey thanks for the encouragement, for your service to our nation, and for subscribing to our channel.

I think the questions that we frequently get are often legitimate questions that folks have, and we don't mind answering them. We do a lot of public speaking on full-time travel so we're kind of used to it. Sometimes folks seriously want an answer, sometimes they just have a hard time wrapping their minds around something seemingly so unconventional. That's cool, I get it.

(Caspian taking in the world around him. The education of a lifetime.)

Caspian too is far ahead of his peers already. Your son sounds like a rockstar! Congrats on that too.

Where in Texas are you? We're hanging out with Brittany's folks in Corpus Christi right now until Mid-August then heading to Loveland, CO for Overland Expo Mountain West.

My 8 year old is a girl lol
I’m just north of San Antonio in the hill country

 

[Phil3333]

Man I don’t know what wrong with those pessimistic concerns but congrats. I believe you and your family are going to experience things that no one else gets too… travel is just as good an education than the abominable thing we call the public school system in the u.s. (I am Texan who homeschools here too!!! My 8 year old has an 12 grade reading comprehension level and has already began algebraic functions) and as for risks medically as long as your vaccines are good you should be too and as far as safety those countries are probably safer than what’s going on our country right now given the random gun violence and new gun laws that are being passed making it that much easier for inexperienced and untrained citizens to carry weapons of that caliber (once again I’m a Texan, Marine, Hunter). Now as I pay the soap box I just got off of. I’m definitely subscribing to your YT channel.

So only folks like you,a marine and Hunter should be afforded the rights of the 2A...got it, comparing the USA to places like South Africa and even parts of Europe is just stupid

 

[Levi.Butler]

Man I don’t know what wrong with those pessimistic concerns but congrats. I believe you and your family are going to experience things that no one else gets too… travel is just as good an education than the abominable thing we call the public school system in the u.s. (I am Texan who homeschools here too!!! My 8 year old has an 12 grade reading comprehension level and has already began algebraic functions) and as for risks medically as long as your vaccines are good you should be too and as far as safety those countries are probably safer than what’s going on our country right now given the random gun violence and new gun laws that are being passed making it that much easier for inexperienced and untrained citizens to carry weapons of that caliber (once again I’m a Texan, Marine, Hunter). Now as I pay the soap box I just got off of. I’m definitely subscribing to your YT channel.

California is waiting for you, bud... I think the crayon-eating has begun to affect your brain, Marine.

There are states that have had 'Constitutional Carry' for a long time and have way lower gun crime than we do here even in TX. The issue is a lack of parenting and a willful reliance on the government for guidance/assistance in any and every situation. Teach your children to respect their fellow man and to respect any dangerous piece of equipment (people are killed with all sorts of man made equipment every single day, both intentionally and accidentally) and the world would be a much better place.

And, to the OP, you're doing a great thing for your family! Your Son will have adventures most humans would only dream about before he turns 10!

Stay safe out there! We'll all be watching from here!

 

[HourlessLife]

And, to the OP, you're doing a great thing for your family! Your Son will have adventures most humans would only dream about before he turns 10!

Stay safe out there! We'll all be watching from here!

Thanks Levi. We're pretty pumped about the journey and watching the world unfold before Caspian's eyes. I mean the rig is cool and all, but at the end of the day it is just stuff. For us it is all about the journey and the memories. Appreciate the encouragement.

 

[HourlessLife]

My 8 year old is a girl lol
I’m just north of San Antonio in the hill country

So sorry... you know what they say when you assume. LOL. My apologies. We love the Texas Hill Country. If for some reason you head down the Corpus way between July 31 and August 15 let me know.

 

[Ezekielg1]

So only folks like you,a marine and Hunter should be afforded the rights of the 2A...got it, comparing the USA to places like South Africa and even parts of Europe is just stupid

That’s not what I was saying at all what I was saying I was responding about the comparison of safety between this country and others… yes we all have freedoms and yes those freedoms are fought for and paid for but what I was asserting was that we as a nation and state we are becoming less and less safe and to compare our safety here with that of other countries is fallible.
And Honestly it probably wasn’t the crayon eating as much as it was the 13 months in Iraq 26 months in Afghanistan the getting blown up the getting shot maybe after watching my friends die that’s what it was probably messed up my brain but there was no eating crayons up but thanks for pointing that out guy

 

[HourlessLife]

That’s not what I was saying at all what I was saying I was responding about the comparison of safety between this country and others… yes we all have freedoms and yes those freedoms are fought for and paid for but what I was asserting was that we as a nation and state we are becoming less and less safe and to compare our safety here with that of other countries is fallible.
And Honestly it probably wasn’t the crayon eating as much as it was the 13 months in Iraq 26 months in Afghanistan the getting blown up the getting shot maybe after watching my friends die that’s what it was probably messed up my brain but there was no eating crayons up but thanks for pointing that out guy

Again, thank you for your service to our nation. I understood your comment. Even as a 20 year veteran myself who has been diagnosed with PTSD for some of the horrific things I saw, experienced, and lived during my service, I can't imagine what you've seen in 13 months and 26 months respectively in theater. Take the comments with a grain of salt and keep your head on a swivel.

And respectfully to anyone reading this thread. Let's keep it on Gladiators and Jeep life. There's enough division on other platforms. Lets keep what we have here as fellow Jeep enthusiasts on point please. Thanks!

 

[Phil3333]

That’s not what I was saying at all what I was saying I was responding about the comparison of safety between this country and others… yes we all have freedoms and yes those freedoms are fought for and paid for but what I was asserting was that we as a nation and state we are becoming less and less safe and to compare our safety here with that of other countries is fallible.
And Honestly it probably wasn’t the crayon eating as much as it was the 13 months in Iraq 26 months in Afghanistan the getting blown up the getting shot maybe after watching my friends die that’s what it was probably messed up my brain but there was no eating crayons up but thanks for pointing that out guy

You want to point out where I said anything about eating crayons,the only thing I said was for the OP to be careful and take care of his family you interjected about how unsafe our country was because of lax gun laws and the wrong kind of people having weapons while using your service and the comment that you hunt as that somehow carries weight.
Your service to the country is appreciated but certainly doesn't make you an authority on the subject of crime and gun control and sure as hell doesn't stop me from pointing that out,have a good day "guy" I won't screw up OP thread anymore.

Sponsored