Given the amount of SUVs you see on your daily commute, you would think off-roading would be a more popular choice on any given weekend than it is. But for most people, the concept of going off road, is turning off the road onto the gravel driveway before parking their vehicles in a freestanding garage.

But off-roading is much more than simply taking a vehicle on a road that you wouldn’t normally drive. You need an excuse to quote the great Doc Emmett Brown by saying, “Roads? Where we’re going, we re don’t need roads”.

Such is the motto of every weekend warrior more casually known as the Off Roader. They know the great joy of escaping hum- drum dullish life, and finding real excitement out in the real world atop your customized off road buggy. And by signing up to take part in an off-roading adventure with a group of other like-minded people, you’ll find there are many places that you didn’t know existed just off the beaten track, literally and figuratively.

You need to find yourself involved in some real off road racing, dirt on your body in places you didn’t know existed, getting your off road wheels into motion on some scrabbly dirt track. If there is one experience that awaits those who truly want to live it out fully, it’s the 4x4 off road lifestyle. And with many courses and day camps being offered in and around the area, you’ll be certain to find some rough and ready guys, capable of fully immersing you into this sport. Well, I say sport, but after you try out, you’ll see why it becomes an entire lifestyle. It attracts devotees from all walks of life, and even your instructors can share stories about how they themselves saw the light and became converted to this off road 4x4 way of being. All you’ll have to worry about is how to feed your new found passion, and how many days until the next chance to get out and do it all again

You may think it’s all about jeeps and SUVs being put through their paces on the muddy tracks and steep gravel tracks. Off-roading is not just the 4x4 vehicle, it’s the ATV on well-worn tracks that give you the full thrill being on four wheels can give you. It’s also the off road go karts that give a speedier, more raw experience, or it’s the roll-bar enclosed buggies that can handle the dirt, the dust, the sand and the scrub with ease. Nothing better than taking your next sand dune at 35 mph in an off road buggy designed to give you maximum thrills at the beach.

There is a vehicle, a destination, and an experience awaiting anything you could desire. And if you’re unsure, why not give it all ago. It’s not like you won’t have an enormous amount of fun in all of them.

All you have to do to escape from “Drearyville” is to take the road less travelled…literally!