Friday - Expo begins for realI get up early and head off for a wander.
The great thing about Expo is that once you are in the camping field you can wander between there and the exhibitors area (and all other areas) at any time of the day or night. You don't get that them and us feel you do at many shows where you are clearly the paying guests and they are the 'show'. The whole of expo was a gathering of overland travel enthusiasts - just that some of them were giving talks / selling gear / books etc, and others were simply camping and meeting up with friends.
Friday was the first actual day of the show and Sally and I, btgraphics, bka0712 (and LeDawn) and msiminoff (and his son Zachary) were attending classes (we had all signed up to classes as part of the full Expo package).
Sally and I attended a talk on 3rd world medicine, after which we met up with Jefe4x4 to listen to Toby Savage’s great talk on recreating the WWII Long Range Desert Groups’ routes around the Sahara in two 70 year old Jeeps. A very interesting and amusing talk with Toby resplendent in a pith helmet and safari suit. We ran into Toby and Joanne several times over the weekend – a lovely couple and so nice to chat to - plus top marks to Jo for putting up with Toby’s eccentric travels.
We met a lovely guy called Rene who had ridden his BMW bike around the world over several years. Another really nice guy – so we bought his book.
The show was full of interesting vehicles:
In the afternoon we attended a talk by a Camel Trophy team discussing recovery options when a winch is not available.
An so back to the camping field for the important business of socialising and comparing notes from the day.
I envied those who, with their own campers, brought all the comforts of home, compared with our bare camper (2 knives, 2 forks, 2 cups...)
More of our group arrived Friday, including Whazoo. On Thursday our marked-out area seemed embarrassingly large and took some defending from other campers. Today it filled out and looked great, with this sea of truck campers. After classes we formed an ever expanding circle in the area bka0712 had left free for group activities. Eating was left until well after dark.
Stay tuned for more Expo action...
