Overland Expo East 2022
Finally! I have dreamed of going to the Overland Expo since it started in 2009. The original Expo was in Flagstaff, AZ, and being from the Northeast, made it really challenging to attend; especially with your vehicle. When the Overland Expo East variant was launched in 2014 we couldn’t make it work, for whatever reason, and it was always something I regretted. With us being in the area I wasn’t going to let that happen again. We bought our tickets before we even left and have been anxiously waiting. Finally, the day came last weekend and it didn’t disappoint.
It seemed like there were miles and miles of vendors
The Overland Expo team reported that this year's event had over 15,000 attendees, 240 exhibitors, and more than 300 educational classes throughout the weekend. One of our favorite parts of the weekend was the classes. We each attended several classes with me taking More Complex Recoveries, Tire Repair, Bush Mechanics, and Winchline Repair. My wife attended quite a few of the human and pet first aid classes, photography, and several expedition planning tracks.
While all the courses were both educational and enjoyable, the best, in my opinion, was the hands-on courses. All of them were an hour and fifty minutes long and combined classroom learning with hands-on training. A good example was More Complex Recoveries. The course was led by Richard Sherman the founder of Freedom Recovery Gear. Richard is not only an expert and leading provider of recovery gear, but he is also a 4WD driving instructor and is certified in big rig recoveries. His expertise was clearly evident.
For me, the best way to learn is hands-on. Reading or hearing someone talk through a topic is good, watching someone do it is better, but better yet is doing it myself. I have been winching for years but would by no means consider myself an expert. I was even able to pick up insights in the basic level winch class and it further reinforced concepts that I have known for years. The More Complex Recoveries Class taught me how to rig multi lines pulls and deal with tricky situations like how to keep a vehicle from sliding off the road during a recovery. These were concepts that I have wanted to learn for years.
Tire repair is another great example. I have a tire repair kit and have watched how to plug a tire on Youtube but have never done it myself. Truthfully, it was easier than I expected, and now I have the confidence to do it in the field; if the need arises. Similarly, I knew you could use a high lift jack to break the bead on a tire and conceptually understood the concept, but I was able to see it in person. One of my favorite aspects of the course was that the women outnumbered the men in the course and they were not shy at all about jumping up and getting their hands dirty. It was great to see.
The top of the class, pun intended, was the winchline repair course which was also led by Richard Sheridan. Richard was clearly in his element. He is literally Freedom Recovery Gear, if you have bought a product from them he built it for you on his four-by-eight workstation in his house. He ended class by creating a soft shackle out of scrap rope in less than a minute.
Richard Sheridan was truly in his element leading the winchline repair class. The small number of attendees allowed us to get hands on while receiving a high level of guidance from a true expert.
He truly made complex concepts easy to understand and enabled a complete amateur like me to create a usable repaired winchline, with his careful eye over my shoulder of course. It was a pleasure to watch him work. We even got to keep our work product so we could continue to practice at home.
The Trail Course Driving Experience allowed you to drive your own vehicle on a pre-built route meant to challenge your skills over a variety of terrain from steep hills, deep articulated ditches, rocks, and steep angle sections. You are paired with a spotter who also follows you as you go and provides constant feedback and advice. While overall it is not overly technical for experienced drivers and is meant for new drivers to learn how to drive offroad. I took a run first thing Saturday morning and was paired with Geoff Miles who expertly guided me through the course. While not overly challenging, it was fun and allowed me to test the limits of my vehicle and abilities while being supervised. This was especially true for the steep angle sections, where it is often hard to judge how far you can go especially after adding a rooftop tent and additional weight to the roof. Now I have more confidence in how far I can push my vehicle.
The vendor booths are almost overpowering as there are so many. As I told my wife, while not many of them were new to me, it was the first time I had seen many of them in person. Several vendors did show some innovative new products as well, which we will share in several upcoming posts. Most of the big vehicle manufacturers were represented including Ford, Toyota, GM, and Rivian. All of the big offroad manufacturers were in attendance including ARB, AEV, Dometic, 23 Zero, Alu-Cab USA, Battle Born Batteries, DECKED, Garmin, iKamper, Redarc, and Four Wheel Campers. While most of the vendors provided vehicle-focused products, there was a variety of supporting vendors as well including LED Lenser, Kokopelli, and Medical Points Abroad.
The one that kept pulling us back was INEOS and their new Grenadier. It is an interesting new entrant into the market and the booth was constantly busy. The product truly got my attention, and while I will always be a Jeep guy at heart, I have to admit that the Grenadier has me considering it.
The Grenadier is both captivating and purpose built
The weekend was everything that we had hoped it would be, and more. While I have been dreaming of attending for years, we came out even more excited than when we went in. The only way we could top it is if we are able to attend Expo West, and it looks like we will get that opportunity next spring as we will be in the area!
Just this last week Overland Expo announced the dates for all of the 2023 events. May 19-21, 2023. Flagstaff Arizona. You know where we will be. We hope to see you there.
