Who Am I?
I am Rachelle Croft.
Montana native, wife, mom, best friend, sexual abuse survivor, (now thriver), driver, coffee drinker, and rule breaker.
My husband Clay and I, also work together filming and producing the adventure travel show, Expedition Overland.
I have always been a ‘truck girl’ and have had a love and yearning for adventure since I can remember.
Growing up in Montana, being outside and riding anything with 2 wheels were just a part of my normal life.
I remember hopping on the backseat of my brother's Honda Trail 90 being the highlight of my week.
However, I buried all of these passions and desires when I had our first child 1 1/2 years after Clay and I were married.
Surprise! Its a boy!
I believed the lie that now I could never follow my passions or dreams.
How could I when everyone told me I had to sacrifice everything to be a good mom?
Pile on my childhood sexual abuse and you have a very angry, depressed, young mom and wife.
I figured this was it, and settled in to my new life, watching my husband and friends pursue and live out their calling and dreams.
I stayed 'buried' in this funk for about 5 year. I honestly don't remember much except I was miserable.
A turning point came after having our 3rd boy, when Clay traveled to Uganda with Scott and Rhonda Cahill. He came home excited to introduce me to some potential new friends.
I was skeptical, but at that point in my life, I had no friends living within a 7 hour drive and had nothing to loose!
For Rhonda and I, we like to joke, it was 'love at first sight'.
Little did I know, she also had been praying for a friend that understood her and her adventurous longings while being a good Mom.
Soon after meeting, we discovered we were both victims of sexual abuse at young ages and we began speaking into each other's lives, cheering each other on to victory from our past's.
It was later that year in 2011 when I first heard about this crazy all women's race in Morocco.
At first I shrugged it off, 'Yea right', I thought.
A few short months later, I had a teammate and we were shipping an FJ Cruiser overseas.
I remember sitting at the start line, helmet on, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles were white, when I turned to my teammate and thought,
"What the heck am I doing here?"
I came home from that first Rally a different person.
Clay and Rhonda will both tell you that something had changed in me after traveling overseas with a women I met once, picking up a truck in Paris, driving across Europe, ferrying a truck, driving 8 hours through Morocco, not speaking any other language than English, then competing and getting lost for 9 days in the desert where most of the women don't like you because you are an American competing in a French Rally, flying home with gear covered in Sarah Desert trying to explain to the customs agent what the heck you just did, and coming home to 3 boys and a husband who desperately missed you.
Yea, that'll do it.
Funny thing was, I LOVED it.
I realized how much I missed challenging myself, learning new skills, and doing something just for me.
Needless to say, I was hooked on all things desert, driving, and racing.
It sparked something in me. The desire for more.
More of everything.
More healing through my past, more friends, more adventures, more experiences, more meaning to my life.
I wanted my boys to see a Mom that followed her dreams and lived life to the fullest. Why should I suppress who I was just because I had kids? Why couldn't they grow up with a Mom that loved adventure?
Fast forward 4 years and here we are.
Rhonda graciously trusted me to be my navigator 2 more times in Morocco, laughing our way through the desert, and we have traveled to countless other places together training, teaching, and speaking.
We are passionate about helping women find freedom and their voices, no matter where they are at in life.
It is through my love of adventure and racing that I hope to inspire and motivate women around the globe to share their voices.
We have only just begun.
