Overland Expo East 2018 (1 Viewer)

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NC LX said:
Read the same thing there and other places. If what I’m reading is true it’s understandable and I’d be pissed too.
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fo sho

yeah when I first saw some comments I was like WTF are all these people complaining about the weather and mud for, this is supposed to be the group of people that love their hobby because they can camp in places and weather conditions that most people can't.

Then I saw that it was really about mismanagement on the expo part. Them closing the camp ground so people had to go "camp" at hotels or find other locations (not easy to do if you drove there from 4 states over). Waiting for up to 6 hours for the free "shuttle" to pick them up from the "rally" points. Yeah expo is expensive... way too expensive for that to happen. Hell the NW overland rally is 1/3 the cost of expo but i'd be pissed also if I couldn't camp in my original spot I paid for and waited hours for shuttling from a parking lot etc.......

Saw quite a few vendors posting up at their dismay also... some said their stand locations were basically 1/2 foot of mud so no one came by and the organizers had no suggestions or solutions for them.

I heard expo west has the same level of mismanagement.... a few from the group up here that went said they waited in their vehicle in line to get in for 4 hours and the line of cars stretched to main street in flagstaff.

This is all stuff I've seen second hand though and since it is social media people make things out worse than they actually are so I take most of it with a grain of salt.

@erymer maybe you and @blue98stang should take over for them ;)


I hope all those that had a rotten time do get their money back... no accounting for time really.
 
uzj100 said:
Trying to find the 100 fail video of the weekend at expo. I was taking the white hundy up the mud covered hill by the BFG tent with a large crowd watching. 4 to 8 inches of mud, incline, etc. And I forget to the lock the center diff. No dice. Had to back into a spot and carry the beer to the bfg guys. Lesson learned. The big gray heavy azz overlanderproject van with center lock only powered right up. A bfg guy flimed it. I am telling myself center diff and a little momentum would have helped. The guys at the trollhole tent on Saturday night said I to turn in my Land Cruiser keys. I almost shot beer out of my nose. The next morning the only truck to drive up was the 1994 white 80 on 37s that we raced at 36 hours this year, everyone else parked at the bottom.
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more mud tires on the van than the hundo though???

Still waiting for more info on that van my man.
 
I think they need to define the Expo better before selecting a site again. If making it an "overlanding show", like a car show, then going to Lowes Motorspeedway could be the way to go, as much as I would hate it (and I have raced there a few times). If it is more of learning how to do this (whatever "this" is), the land needs to have the ability to challenge. Lack of identity definition might be the root cause. For example, American Adventurists defines their event well, you know what to expect and that if you come way under prepared, its on you. Maybe making it such a broad event needs a unique venue where it all is possible, and wet muddy hills are not it.

If we can get enough contiguous land in Uwharrie, it is doable. A lot dryer than the temperate rain forest on the western mountains. Then avoid the whole conveyance and transport issue, and join the lands on both sides of 109. Then camping, showing, and teaching can be done. Use Charlotte as the near city like they use Asheville. I may take this on.....

I helped a lot of "instructors" from their camping area get out, it was a muddy mess but I had no problems with my 80 on 33's. It was the crazies with bald tires, or 45 psi tires that wouldn't reduce it, or 22" rims and low profile tires, those who can only use their accelerator pedal, or ignorants insisting on using all their stupid lockers on the muddy hills, that I saw get stuck. One guy had removed the front prop shaft from his Jeep Wrangler, because he was too cool.

Now, people getting there and being turned back, that's inexcusable. And can kill future events. I am glad I got in Thursday morning, set up my camp, and made sure I wouldn't get rain rivers through my tent. And I had a great time, cold wet muddy.
 
Bryanseye said:
Those are highly regarded (and glow/reflect at night :))
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I do not lack excitement, just have a lot of confusion after shoving my hand into a jacket pocket two days later and pulling them out...
 
It was a positive experience for me. Mike and I set up Thursday before the rain set in. I hammock camped from his trailer to the truck for two nights and slept in the truck Saturday night. My sandals did not see daylight and my boots were more than impressed with the muddy mess in the vendor area. Prices, now there's a sticker shock. Everywhere I looked it was $100 to $575,000 for anything. Marshall did a great job of reserving spots and providing a festive atmosphere. I had the privilege of meeting @jvalex in person and she was great. Never made it back to Trollhole's tent for the Sierra Nevada spectacle but it sounded impressive from six camp sites away. We packed up and left by 6 or 7am Sunday with no issues pulling a m101a on the back of Mike's hundy. ONSC events are more my style though.
 
we were planning to just day trip on Sunday. But a 3 hour drive with 2 hours waiting in line just to get on the shuttle....no thanks. Hate that it turned out like this. We had a blast last year.
 
Comet said:
It was a positive experience for me. Mike and I set up Thursday before the rain set in. I hammock camped from his trailer to the truck for two nights and slept in the truck Saturday night. My sandals did not see daylight and my boots were more than impressed with the muddy mess in the vendor area. Prices, now there's a sticker shock. Everywhere I looked it was $100 to $575,000 for anything. Marshall did a great job of reserving spots and providing a festive atmosphere. I had the privilege of meeting @jvalex in person and she was great. Never made it back to Trollhole's tent for the Sierra Nevada spectacle but it sounded impressive from six camp sites away. We packed up and left by 6 or 7am Sunday with no issues pulling a m101a on the back of Mike's hundy. ONSC events are more my style though.
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Oh, Lawdy. Are you trying to say I'm loud?
 
I had a blast ,like everyone has said, very muddy, cold ,and wet . Setup camp Thursday night ,no issues , Marshall scoped out a nice spot. Food was great. Made a firewood run ,once I aired down the 73 had no problem with the mud. I am just now getting feeling back in my toes. Saw first hand all the people turned out ,camping in parking lots. As much as we spent to camp to be turned away, is so uncalled for, glad I got there early.
 
jvalex said:
I do not lack excitement, just have a lot of confusion after shoving my hand into a jacket pocket two days later and pulling them out...
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Just be happy that’s all you found in your pocket from those guys.
 
For what it's worth, my wife and I had a blast. Can't remember the last time we walked through 8" of mud for hours on end. We were turned away from the brewery parking and sent to the Music center, this was Friday. Bus was waiting for us to board. Visited all the vendors, but my highlight was seeing the Alaskan Campers in person and talking to the owners. We didn't get a chance to visit the club area or TrollHole (sp) but we saw a lot. Met a lot of good people and at least on Friday, no one was complaining or in a bad mood. I think for anyone organizing an event this large, weather can cause major issues. I like Izzy's idea of hosting it at a race track. Makes sense to me. Any cattle field or hay field will turn to mud after heavy rain with trucks and people walking over it repeatably. I have camped over at previous overland events but seeing the mud, cold etc was glad I decided on a day trip. Still trying to get the mud out of our hiking shoes. Should have brought rubber boots. However, I truly sympathize with anyone who paid for camping and was turned away. I also think the event organizers picked a really out the way location. Crazy to find and crazy to get out of. All in all had fun but enjoyed it more when it was at the Biltmore.
 
Instagram was full of videos and post about how miserable the expo was. I did not see one positive post or comment about it. The videos of these built rigs stuck in mud was very comical.
 
I had a blast as well.
 
I do feel for the weekend passers, the folks that got turned away from camping and the vendors that saw less traffic due to the conditions. But for the folks that were camping that were complaining, really.......? complaining about mud and cold and rain at an overlanders event? I had a blast with everyone, and it was just nice to sit under the awning in the rain. It also was an opportunity to identify things that did not work well in those conditions and make it on a christmas list :)
If you were not in a category above Id have to question if outdoors is a thing for you. Maybe im just an a****** :p
 
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