Patty Upton has always said she has been traveling since before she was born. In mid-1953, she traveled from California to New Jersey to enter this world with her maternal grandparents by her mother's side. Patty's dad was in the Marine Corps, and every three years, they had their bags packed, anxiously awaiting "orders."
Reading the stories of Livingston, Stanley, Burton, Shackleton, and the adventures of Osa and Martin Johnson fueled her imagination and her desire to travel.
After spending only a few years in any one place, Patty and her family found themselves in the former Canal Zone in the Republic of Panama. She graduated from Balboa High School in 1971 and attended the Canal Zone College for two years.
Patty then began working as a secretary/receptionist at the Canal Zone Girl Scout Council and felt right at home. She'd been a member of the Girl Scouts since the age of seven and had achieved the rank of First Class, the highest award a girl member could receive. Patty was to become office manager at the Girl Scout office, but eventually, that position was phased out due to the U.S. / Panama Treaties.
When one door closes, another opens; the opportunity to join Loren Upton full-time on his Jeep expedition, A World Odyssey - The Epic Voyage of the Sand Ship Discovery, presented itself, and she jumped at the chance and stepped through the looking glass. Patty’s overlanding adventures began with the first all-land crossing of the Darien Gap, 4000 miles of four-wheel drive in Africa, a life-threatening breakdown in the Sahara, an eye-opening journey through the former Soviet Union, and a thirty-year delay in completing the world circumnavigating journey due to political unrest in the Middle East.
Connie Rodman’s passion for Overlanding and off-road driving began when she met her husband Graham Jackson in 1989. Though she had traveled the U.S. extensively prior to that, most of it was on paved roads.
In 1998 when Connie and Graham got married, Connie had her first real Overland trip. They rented an outfitted Land Rover Defender 110 and spent five weeks touring some of the most remote places that Southern Africa has to offer without the benefit of GPS.
In 2004 Connie and Graham equipped their own Defender 110 and embarked on a 9-month 30,000 mile London to Cape Town journey. The short version of that trip reads; they broke into a country, caused (but were not involved in) a bar fight in Angola, and Connie incited a riot in Namibia - which ended with the capture of two thieves and the retrieval of her traveling companions’ passports.
In 2009 Connie taught at the very first Overland Expo, and has continued at every single Overland Expo, sharing her knowledge, experience and passion for Overlanding and off highway driving.
In 2017 Connie was the first woman in North America to earn an NPTC (City and Guilds National Proficiency Training Center) certification in off-road driving.
Connie has been cook and guide on multiple trips in Southern Africa and long Overland trips in Australia, including crossing the Victoria desert and traversing the historic Madigan Line.