Overland Expo EAST 2019: Official Thread

You guys are killing it! Great photos from the exhibitor area. What is the camping area like at the new venue?

-Andy

Took a walk to show the attendee camping area. Lots of room and hard packed roads

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Thank you Dave, the new venue looks really nice. I may have to make plans to attend next year.
The AAV team is doing a great job covering the event!

-Andy
Two words.

Exhibitor Showers.

It was a treat to stand under a hot shower this morning and get rid of the exhibitor funk.
 
This was my first Expo, as the forest hermit personality that resides in the back of my head dislikes large gatherings of people and we ( me and him) have avoided these events in the past. But as there was a couple of things I wanted to put an eyeball on before planning to purchase, I took the opportunity that being involved with the forum allowed and followed the crew here down to participate. I enjoyed myself for the most part.

The setting was nice with good ground and infrastructure for events. The setting was rural and the various areas were separated by rolling hills and groves of trees. Organizers had a preemptive approach to the gathering crowds and stayed on top of participants needs. Portajohns were attend too often, ground crew were practicing good communications with each other and the mass chaos of multiple vendors and personalities setting up seemed well controlled. There always seemed to be staff checking things out, communicating with attendees and keeping tabs on conditions. Verizon cell service was great, ATT not so much.

The show itself...interesting and a bit disappointing all at once.

While there were many vendors there, there was little innovation. Many times it felt like one company came up with a good idea and 15 others copied it. As I walked the grounds, especially in the attendees camping area I wondered what everybody was doing here. Most folks had fully kitted rigs and camping set-ups and comparing what they had with what was being offered in the displays I couldn’t see what was needed to be added. Upgrades maybe? I know personally I found nothing that I thought was a game changer or would add significant value to my travel or outdoor experiences. Yeah, there were some interesting widgets and do-hickeys, but nothing that made me pull the lid off the mason jar. I kept getting told about how much money I was going to burn but the only thing I bought came from a food truck.

I felt the show focused to much on the truck bumpers and camping trailers aspect of travel and not much at all about the outdoor side of it. It would have been nice to see vendors from the outdoor community there showcasing stuff like mountian bikes, paddling equipment, backpacking gear and other outfitter type stuff. The vendor area was more about the camp and less about the journey to my critical eye. I became bored by Sprinter conversions, Chinese RTTS, and teardrop trailers. Why travel if you’re just going to ride around in your truck and set up elaborate camp? But maybe that’s just my prejudices showing through.

As we walked the grounds, especially in the evenings, we watched all the people come back to their little slice of the Downs and hang out with their friends and neighbors. Listening to laughter, watching folks interact with all the mutts it hit me this was more of a social gathering than anything else. And that’s good. And while some might think it’s the shiny gear, the personalities that draws participants in I think it’s the interaction of the attendees at this event that is the draw for all these folks. They are what draws each other and all the other stuff is the jam on the bread so to speak.

And that was my favorite part of this weekend. I met some nice folks, bs-ed with many an interesting person and hung out with some damn fine gentleman in the AAV command compound. And if I do go back some day it will be for this latter reason above all else .
 
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