It was interesting when Mark posted the invite in the Truck Camper forum on Expo Portal to go to the O.E. in Flag, no one jumped in at all. Hundreds looked, but no one said they were coming. Me thinks there are just a lot of wanna-bee expedition types over there who just, "found that expedition hat". It looks as if the real expedition camper types are right here on the TC forum.
Speaking of 'real' expo types, my neighbors ( who are never home), the Turtle Expedition Wescott's are at it again and won't be at the E.O. in Flag this year (as they were last year). I read in our local paper that they have just begun another photo/journal expedition (like a real one) over the silk road. They are driving cross country to the East Coast, transporting the rig to Europe, driving down to the middle east and east again over the historic Silk Road. What makes this newsworthy is their time frame. Three Years on the Silk Road! People! We are not worthy, and total Poseurs when it comes to expedition camping. Monica speaks at least 6 languages fluently, and I suspect she brushed up on her Mandrin for this episode.
What caught my eye and made me want to go to the Overland Expo this May were several of the talk/and show programs. One is the specter of circumnavigating the lower 48 in a truck camper. We have been wanting to do this for a long time, and it will be good to see what someone else did, and what time of year they did it, before we do it. The others have to do with desert camping in Morrocco and generally following he way of the Long Range Desert Group LRDG and the SAS between 1941 and 1943 in N. Africa.
Of course, the like-minded commraderie at O.E. should be excellent.
Thanks to Steve and Mark for promoting this fine meet as a subset of the Overlanding experience.
regards, as always, jefe
