Overland Expo 2015: a view by an outsider

Mello Mike wrote:

jefe 4x4 wrote:
I'll have to make a disclaimer here. I posted a piece on the ExPortal how I thought this "Expedition" thing was entirely in your mind and had no basis in the here and now; with so many trying to get the "Expedition" look over any practical considerations and nowhere to take said rigs out to see if they really work, short of another Overland Expo. I was nearly drummed out of the corps with comments like, "you have an old beat up camper on an old oil burning truck: how can that be a good idea compared to my shinny new JK Rubicon with a roof top tent", etc. That's fine. I resemble that. The fact is Overlanding and Expeditioning are in the past. There are no places left yet to explore, unless you follow in the tracks of most of the truck campers on this forum. The new tack is, "Adventure Traveling". Isn't this what we've done for many moons? It must be the mystique of the term Expedition, only to be wistfully done in a 1965, Perkins diesel Land Rover 110. The best part of the ExPortal is the off-road camping trailer page; simply the most outrageously inventive people out there. Another great aspect is the world-wide allure of expedition travel. It's good to read about other folks solutions to staying out there, self-contained, for a length of time from Goler Wash to the Gobi. I cannot call them poseurs because they ARE living their dream.
regards, as always, jefe

I'm with you, Jeff. I don't care what it's called as long as it's done in a truck camper. :)

I suspect I am able to respond from a point of experience here and a more than casual observer. As amazing as these vehicles (overlanders/Earthroamers) are, I have NEVER seen a single one on the back roads or remote areas I find myself in and or frequent. Many know I am out there, so I am just as amazed as you are.

What I have seen is a plethora of these Overland Vehicles/Earthroamers in the Safeway parking lots, campgrounds at Sunset Crater National Monument and plying the paved roadways of Yellowstone and other National Parks. What I have seen is hundreds of Oil Burning XTC rigs, Sportmobiles, Jeeps with Tents on Top and the typical Trucks with Toppers and sleeping in the back. So be it that they are out there, but the possibility might remain that they are working hard to make the payments on their Overland Vehicles and dreaming about their next/first big adventure. To me? That leaves me all alone out on the Burr Trail. For which I am thankful.

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