ZMagic97
Explorer
Check here for photos: About to post some myself:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/126631-Overland-Expo-2014-Pictures
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/126631-Overland-Expo-2014-Pictures
Overland Expo West, 2014
- Thread starter Jonathan Hanson
- Start date
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
The parking situation for day passes was the only drawback. The addition of a second culvert so two way traffic is possible would be a simple and effective way of keeping the backup to a minimum. We spent well over an hour between the entry and exit lines. Traffic was backed up on Mormon Lake Rd. at the entry for a long way - not a good situation.
While I wasn't there on a day-pass, I did have to drive in every day from Flagstaff. Never once had any delays as I made a point of getting there early (before opening). But later in the day I did see a lot of in/out traffic, though I didn't see that it was backed up on Morman Lake Rd as I was on the event grounds during show hours.
lamontagne
Adventurer
This.....
So true.
I left about mid-day to get lunch (and other stuff) in Flag after seeing the long lines for the 3(?) food vendors. When I got back and saw the line to get in I said "forget it!". I turned around and parked a half mile up the road in the forest, got out the mountain bike, and pedaled in. :bike_rider:
It was a great show. Friendly people. Cool stuff.
The only suggestion I can make to some of the vendors is "you don't accept cash? Seriously???" :Wow1:
So true.
I left about mid-day to get lunch (and other stuff) in Flag after seeing the long lines for the 3(?) food vendors. When I got back and saw the line to get in I said "forget it!". I turned around and parked a half mile up the road in the forest, got out the mountain bike, and pedaled in. :bike_rider:
It was a great show. Friendly people. Cool stuff.
The only suggestion I can make to some of the vendors is "you don't accept cash? Seriously???" :Wow1:
FordGuy1
Adventurer
My wife and I had a great time. We were able to camp in the vendor area with the FWC guy's which was awesome! We met so many cool people from all over the place which led to great story's around the camp fire. I second the lack of food, and was really disappointed in the Overland Expo swag, the shirts sucked. I look forward to next year.
This, on both fronts. The food was limited (at least we found the coffee truck on the second day). My wife looked everywhere for a decent event shirt and/or hat but came up empty. She would have also settled on something Land Rover but again didn't see anything for sale.
Sure, I could buy LR gear all day long on-line, but it's always nice to have a little 'souvenir' of an event.
Personally, I'd have gladly traded all the silly patches for a decent t-shirt. I've never really understood the patch thing.
1stDeuce
Explorer
This was my first OE experience, but it won't be my last!!
We did the day pass thing, and camped on site with hundreds of other rigs. While a few things were less than ideal, it works, and I can see the difficulty in finding a venue where this sort of thing is even possible, let alone ideal!
I got to talk to a lot of people that I hadn't yet met in person, and saw a lot of good ideas in both the camping area and the vendor area. I participated in several presentations or discussions, with the first, which we attended by accident, being the most useful. (Roel and Azure were asked last minute to lead discussion of adv'ing from a "mid-size" moto's and I thought they did an excellent job of discussing both the motorcycle setups and exploring via motorcycling!)
In hindsight, I wish I'd gone to the presentation on overlanding from a "large" vehicle, just to see what the justification for the huge overland rigs is about...
We did a little bit of exploring from motorcycle on the nearby forest roads, and I realized that there are tons of great places to camp within just a few miles of the event, so I'll likely not stay in the field next year...
I saw some really neat rigs and setups, and found out a few more things about my own setup that I can probably improve on. Thanks to some conversations and some exposure to them in person, I now see RTT's as convenient and useful, instead of just for the novelty of sleeping high.
Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure...
Evidently it's a "split-level"! It was easily the tallest camper there!
Sweet little Toyota camper!
Dual roof tents.
Hmmm....
Larry's truck was here too, but I didn't get to say hello.
Dave from AEV is evidently a proud Four Wheel Camper owner!
My camper in the sea of campers!!
Couple of nicely converted military trailers!
My neighbors had some really nice LC's!!
Area just west of the event. Look at all the dispersed camping!!!
ARB's demo trailer was there with a tacoma running over it to show why you need lockers if you don't have much suspension flex.
I'll be attending again next year, and probably bucking up for the experience so I can take classes!! Might even be there with my Comanche project and a RTT if I really get crazy!!
Chris
We did the day pass thing, and camped on site with hundreds of other rigs. While a few things were less than ideal, it works, and I can see the difficulty in finding a venue where this sort of thing is even possible, let alone ideal!
I got to talk to a lot of people that I hadn't yet met in person, and saw a lot of good ideas in both the camping area and the vendor area. I participated in several presentations or discussions, with the first, which we attended by accident, being the most useful. (Roel and Azure were asked last minute to lead discussion of adv'ing from a "mid-size" moto's and I thought they did an excellent job of discussing both the motorcycle setups and exploring via motorcycling!)
In hindsight, I wish I'd gone to the presentation on overlanding from a "large" vehicle, just to see what the justification for the huge overland rigs is about...
We did a little bit of exploring from motorcycle on the nearby forest roads, and I realized that there are tons of great places to camp within just a few miles of the event, so I'll likely not stay in the field next year...
I saw some really neat rigs and setups, and found out a few more things about my own setup that I can probably improve on. Thanks to some conversations and some exposure to them in person, I now see RTT's as convenient and useful, instead of just for the novelty of sleeping high.
Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure...
Evidently it's a "split-level"! It was easily the tallest camper there!
Sweet little Toyota camper!
Dual roof tents.
Hmmm....
Larry's truck was here too, but I didn't get to say hello.
Dave from AEV is evidently a proud Four Wheel Camper owner!
My camper in the sea of campers!!
Couple of nicely converted military trailers!
My neighbors had some really nice LC's!!
Area just west of the event. Look at all the dispersed camping!!!
ARB's demo trailer was there with a tacoma running over it to show why you need lockers if you don't have much suspension flex.
I'll be attending again next year, and probably bucking up for the experience so I can take classes!! Might even be there with my Comanche project and a RTT if I really get crazy!!
Chris
photo_i
Explorer
Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure…
We were checking out the big boys (duh!
) out at the dry camping and got to chat a bit with owners of this truck. Turned out that that was Michael Bocklet himself. 
1leglance
2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Larry's truck was here too, but I didn't get to say hello.
Thanks for the pic of my blue burb....and that is Nick-Nobin with the orange rig...and Larry has the popup Phx on a blue truck you can just see the top of in the background and Colorado Bill has the white Dodge there....
we had a great camp full of fun people...
Agree the one way into/out of parking along the course was nuts...more of loop would be good.
Also an exit from the event that isn't the entrance would cut traffic.
