KTMrad 508 Posted May 21, 2019 Overland Expo West 2019....almost didn't go because we didn't have the sidecar rig back yet....but the week before Expo, I started to get fired up about our Round the World Trip since our next departure date is only 7 months away, and I knew I'd regret not going to see my world traveling friends, meeting new people and attending seminars to learn more about world travel. So, I was going to bite the bullet and drive up to get a motel room for 3 nights since the vehicle camping was sold out, which would've cost me a lot more than I wanted. As I was about to reserve a motel room on the internet, I was on Facebook and saw Eric Hall of XLADV post that he was driving out to Expo and was looking to share the gas cost with someone. I contacted him and said I was interested and then he said he had a vehicle camping pass so I wouldn't have to get a motel room...AWESOME ! So Doc and I drove out with Eric and camped at the Expo. Friday we attended seminars or roundtable discussions every hour from 9 am to 4 pm, and on Saturday the same. Topics included: Regional Questions & Answers for Mexico, Central & South America then Africa, Ride Planning with Justin Bradshaw of REVER & Butler Maps, Experts Panel for Border Checkpoints & Bribes, Backcountry Satellite Communicators, Water Purification, Overland First Aid, Rethinking Planning & Logistics for your next Adventure, The Art of Solo Travel, etc. Learned a lot, and while walking all over the Expo Doc got to meet and play a little with lots of other dogs. Only thing I didn't have a chance to do much was socialize with a lot of the other people and missed seeing some friends, but at least we did get to see a few....Sam Manicom, Simon and Lisa Thomas of "2 Ride the World", Greg and Jessica Stone of "Ruff on the Road", Dan Grec of "The Road Chose Me", Maggie McDermut, Dave Thum from Overland Adventurer Gear & Kit Cube, Tim Notier and Marissa Glass of Notiers Frontiers, EH Alberts & Suzanne Miller Daly with their sidecar dog Chaco, Sleam Leamy, my buddy Mark Wainwright, Udo Putzke (Mr. JA JA) just to name a few. What a great time and of course a great learning experience from all the seminars. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fudgypup 4 Posted May 21, 2019 It was nice to have met you finally, Randy! Doc too. Weather was on the cold side for mid-May. Bit of rain on the front and back ends. Doc was a good passenger Rode my new OneWheel around which was great given the altitude and that I needed practice on it. Mosko Moto has some very interesting new apparel coming out soon REVER has this new beacon they were handing out and it pairs with your REVER app on your phone and essentially just makes tracking your own rides and making yourself visible to your REVER friends a bit quicker and easier (your phone will do most of that now just fine). Got to spend some time with the Motorcycle Relief Project crew and really enjoyed that Saw Tiffany Coates Simon (and Lisa) Thomas And of course there's always plenty of really cool overland vehicles that would be fun to have NEMO has some new tents, bags, pads. I was a beta tester for the bags like 8 years ago and I like what they do. And... most importantly they don't contribute to groups shutting down riding areas. 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dstss 27 Posted May 31, 2019 Sounds like a great time at the expo. Glad you are doing well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
