ANOTHER YEAR, A NEW LAND ROVER VEHICLE AND A NEW DRIVING ADVENTURE

This summer, well-known yachting journalist, photographer and passionate Land Rover enthusiast Jay Coyle and his wife Nelia, will set off from Florida on a 20,000-mile drive around America in their 2013 Land Rover LR4, “Blue.” It will be their fourth long-distance Land Rover driving adventure since 2010.

Tell us about the plans for this year’s drive?

We have a loose plan in place, where we will start from Florida and head to Alaska. We’ll spend some time in the Yukon and Washington State, then head south along the Pacific Coast Highway and east back to Florida. I’m thinking it will be 20,000 miles in total. This will be our fourth adventure drive in four years; each time has been in a different Land Rover or Range Rover model. We’re searching for great, unusual places to photograph. The plan is to put together a book about the drives at the end of it.

Where have the previous adventures taken you?

Four years ago we owned a black 2008 Range Rover Sport Supercharged and a much-loved 37-foot Bertram sport fisherman. When we sold the boat, we decided what we really wanted to do was see America by road. In 2010, we drove from Key West to Nova Scotia, and the following year we bought a used 2007 LR3 that we drove out to Colorado and Wyoming. In 2012, we traded the LR3 for a new Range Rover Sport Supercharged, which we still have, and visited a lot of the National Parks. So far we’ve covered over 60,000 miles in Land Rover vehicles, visited every state except Arkansas and have over 10,000 photographs on the computer.

Why will this year’s trip be a little different from others you’ve taken in the past?

We want to do more off-road driving this time. We’re calling it “back roads or no roads.” We’ve had “Blue,” our 2013 LR4 which we bought earlier this year, fitted with some cool off-road equipment. We have special 18-inch wheels and heavy-duty off-road tires, we’ve raised the suspension a couple of inches, added a winch, bolted rock sliders under the doors to protect the body and have a custom roof rack. On previous trips we’ve stayed in some pretty nice hotels. Nelia, who is a naturalist, writer and photographer, says that this year we have to take a tent, but I’m not convinced.

Have you taken “Blue” on any trips since you bought it?

We have a summer home in Quebec, so a few weeks ago we thought we’d zip up there to pick up a few things we needed. It was a fun 3,000-mile round trip, and “Blue” performed perfectly. We’ve been so fortunate really. Over the years, we’ve owned maybe 12 Land Rover and Range Rover models.

When did this love affair with Land Rover vehicles start?

My step-mother used to work with the Museum of Natural History in New York. Back in 1975 when I was 18 or 19, she was invited on a photographic safari in Kenya. The organizer had just taken delivery of three brand new Range Rover vehicles - the original model. They’d had openings cut in the roof to make it easier to photograph the animals. That trip made me fall in love with Land Rover vehicles and off-roading. As soon as I could afford it, I bought a new Discovery in 2000. Then there was a Defender 90, a new Range Rover in 2005, an expedition-rigged LR3 in 2007 and a couple of Range Rover Sport vehicles. It helps that we have a great relationship with our local retailer, Land Rover Palm Beach.