Archives for category: PLACES

Ukrainian YouTuber Anton Somewhere in pre-war times posted what I thought were thoughtful, well-documented travel videos from his trips around the world. Now he’s back in Ukraine posting updates about the war.

This video I thought was particularly nice because it shows ordinary Ukrainians banding together to help support the country. It’s a perspective that feels more personal and hopeful than what I feel I’ve seen in normal news coverage.

This beautiful video highlights, in my view, a thoughtful man and a capable vehicle working together in service of others. I love it.

This wonderful, narrated video details a trip made by a group of friends from England, throughout Africa, and back in 1959/60.

This two-part video from YouTube channel LROR (Let’s Roll Off Road) shows two Pinzgauer 712 6x6s, two Land Rover Defenders, and a modified Suzuki Jimny tackling rough terrain on Mt Airy, northwest of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.

It’s interesting to see how four-wheel drive compares to six-wheel drive over the same obstacles. Having six driven wheels doesn’t automatically make the Pinzgauers invincible but they can clear some ledges that the 4x4s just can’t muster. Lots of great footage here shot in beautiful, scenic country.

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If you’re at home, and you have some time on your hands, check out this 1986 documentary about the Paris-Dakar Rally. You may remember that that was the year Porsche got their rally program dialed and pulled off a 1-2 finish with their newly-developed 959. There’s some great footage of the 959s in action across Africa.

 

Very interesting story from YouTuber “Colorado Backcountry Adventures” who has been living and traveling in the west for about five years. He relates in the video that this experience was the strangest thing that’s happened to him in that time.

In 1939 a 55-foot-long, 37-ton snow vehicle with a planned 8,000-mile range was deployed on Antarctica to explore the continent. It was called The Snow Cruiser. How did it fare? Not so well. If you saw my post from a couple of weeks ago, you know how it’s done today.

Here’s a fascinating look at how supplies travel across the Antarctic, pulled in sled trains by Pistenbully snowcats. Each sled train weighs between 50 and 100 tons. There’s an interesting bit at the end showing how they store all of the supplies over the winter once they reach their location.

The Essential Geography USA, 2nd edition, David Imus, 2019

Cartographer David Imus has just released the 2nd edition of his map of the United States. In my view, it is the most beautiful, articulate map of this country ever made. The 1st edition of this map, called The Essential Geography USA, was awarded “Best of Show” in 2012 at a competition held by the Cartography and Geographic Information Society. The 2nd edition is even nicer in that the shading of the land forms is more delicate and interferes less with the place names. The image above is a sample from the 2nd edition. Below (Read more) is a sample of the 1st edition so you can see what I mean.

The clarity with which this map conveys information is stunning.

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