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Adventure. The Road. Overlanding.
It has only been a few days and the reel is still playing. The thoughts and feelings are ricocheting; a most pleasant overload with only sleep stopping its motion. It seems a book of many chapters can be written about these three days of lively and enjoyable gratification. But, we do not have space for a book here, or even a way to provide the sights, sounds, and smells of this winning formula. You will need to experience the smorgasbord that is Overland Expo for yourselves next year, after only presenting mere morsels here.
Roseann and Jonathan Hanson are the responsible parties for this multi-day event. It takes a large crew, however, to smoothly adapt this barren site of nature into an orchestrated adventure extravaganza that satisfies all senses. After many months of prep, it is brilliantly achieved as we watch the vendors come flooding in from all over the world to fill up the prepared grounds of this event. An accounting of all the top names of adventure travel set the tone for a very successful weekend: Sportsmobile, Four Wheel Pop-Up Campers, Equipt, Overland Journal, RawHyde Adventure, and ARB, to name a few. And with OX13 already marked on the calendar, an anticipation of new toys, new friendships, and new attendance records is in the works.
Yet on a more personal level, the heartbeat of this community was felt on a much deeper level this year than those previous. It did not matter whether one was on two wheels, or three, or even six, there was a new sense of camaraderie as old friends came together. Common campgrounds overflowed with laughter as these tribes shared meals, stories, and kindred spirit.
Arriving days early, with my faithful pit bull and sidecar rider Spirit (and yes, he does wear goggles and a helmet), gave us the luxury of exploring many of the local unpaved forest roads, and beautiful higher elevated landscape ahead of time. This solidified the fact that the new venue in Flagstaff, Arizona, was a wise choice by the Hansons.
The excitement of opening day took over as friends that we only see once a year came trickling in. The parade of adventure vehicles began with a mix of new and old overlanding prototypes, and many private off-road vehicles that were boasting new roof-top tents and accessories that they had bought at last year’s show. Then Moto Village took shape with tents of all colors, housing exciting new products from all of our favorite vendors. Luckily for my dear friends and I, we were left a very special habitat in the middle of everything. This was our refuge for the weekend where we knew time would fly by.
Next came an overloading of the senses… show time. It became harder to keep friends in focus when our varying schedules of class presentations pulled us apart. Off we went to teach our seminars while attendees scrambled to fill their days with back-to-back classes that covered all topics for the adventure enthusiast. From motorcycle and vehicle recovery, to off-road driving skills at the on-site driving course, to a career path in travel writing, and one-pan cooking while traveling without refrigeration (from yours truly!)… there were so many classes from which to choose. And just because the sun went down didn’t mean the show would stop there. There was always Austin Vince’s Adventure Travel Film Festival to light up the evening with both popular and obscure films to inspire one to get out and take to the road.
Over the weekend, hundreds of motorcycles were present. And, this time around their own Moto Village was manned and organized by RawHyde Adventures. Earth was moved to create a special riding course to put riders’ new skills to the test. We had a chance to ride the course ourselves, and had great fun navigating its whoops and hills.
Because there were so many classes from which to choose, decisions are difficult. Yet, there is always solace at the end of the day. Whatever classes are missed this year can always be covered in 2013. Between the classes, there are varying vendors to satisfy the diverse tastes of travel on the road. By the end of the day, one has covered a lot of ground at OX.
What was especially meaningful this year was the perspective from the younger generation. New to the class schedule, was 10-year-old Jack Borden’s presentation of “Being on the Road” with his mom and dad of Adventure Trio. What made his presentation even more powerful was a true glimpse into what we are instilling into the next generation of adventurers, and how they are developing their own paths.
It was a great show. The good-byes were hard. We kept it to “will see you soon” even though we knew that it would probably be another year before meeting again. Work for many gets in the way. But as for some of us who are on the road fulltime, well… we never know which way the wind will blow us.
Ara Gureghian and Spirit
See our journal at TheOasisofMySoul.com
