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Overland Expo


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#1 craig333

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 01:25 AM

Set out Monday and made it as far as the BLM camp above Lake Crowley.

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It was windy until the sun went down. Maybe a quarter full if that. Headed into Bishop for breakfast. A bit before the Alabama Hills I said hello on 146.520 and got a reply. I'm headed out of the Hills into Lone Pine for breakfast before heading to Flagstaff for the Expo. I never did see his red Jeep at the Expo but I looked. The butterflies hatched in the high desert and just creamed my truck and camper. Glad I wasn't on a motorcycle. Headed on over to the Trona Pinnacles.

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It was hot and windy and worse, the alkaline soil had that sharp spiky look that would just tear up a dogs paws. Maybe not because I haven't seen anyone else mention it but I decided not to risk it and camp there. 

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Headed out 395 to 58 to 40 and hated it. Not my kind of highway and the truck traffic was unreal. Hoping to find a spot to camp outside of Kingman but this is where not having NF maps really hurt, along with losing daylight. At one point I even told myself I'd stop at a KOA but I lied as I passed two of them. Nothing but Resort signs along the road. Finally I see a road named A-1 mountain road. Thats gotta have someplace to camp right? Thats also when I realized I'd made it to the outskirts of Flagstaff. Well it did have places to camp. Tons of people camped along the road. I was almost afraid I was going to have to park uncomfortably close to someone when I turned deeper into the forest and suddenly the people were gone and I found a nice site.

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I was bit ahead of schedule so we just hung out Wednesday reading and going for walks. Thursday I did breakfast in Flagstaff and headed over to Fort Tuthill. Camped by the stables.

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Had a nice time chatting with my neighbors except the guy in the flatbed FWC. He was not social. Rained pretty hard that night. Friday I took in the show. I knew it was big but it was so large I had to break it up into chunks to avoid tiring Riley out. 

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I visited the FWC camp and found Machinebuilder, took advantage of the free food and beer. Found some not so Expo stuff.

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Looked at some 7k electric bicycles. Thought that was crazy until I found the 13k electric bicycles.

Started to look at some tear drop trailers for my brother but there was nothing remotely in his price range.

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Friday night it got cold. Every vehicle with a heater had it running that night. Good dose of frost when I took Riley out early in the morning. May have helped convince a few tenters to upgrade :)

One more walkthrough for breakfast and to see if I missed anything. Sundays forecast didn't look good and I decided to head out early, camp twice along the way and not push it so hard as I had on the way down. Plans once again didn't exactly pan out. This time I took 95 out of Kingman. No shorter but a nicer drive and not nearly as much truck traffic. Once you get out of Las Vegas there aren't many places to stop. I decided to stretch my legs at the Mercury turn off. Maybe not the best spot :)

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Turn around is on the other side of the fence so I think you'd have to drive a fair ways in before you met security. Ate at the Hunters Grub N Go. Weather was looking really dark towards the Sierras and the Whites. Fresh snow on the peaks. Didn't find a place to camp until I was halfway along 120. That was a chilly spot. Headed into Lee Vining for breakfast at Nicelys and saw two vehicles in the parking lot carrying snow. Started snowing over Conway Summit. Enough to dust everything but the road. Disappointed to see Monitor pass closed. Snow on and off on 88 and Luther pass. Changed to hard rain coming down 50. Washed off most of the butterflies. Just stopped raining here at home. At least now I have a day to clean up.

 

Didn't take a whole lot of pics because it was cold enough to wear gloves. Layering was in order. Do I want to wear one jacket or two :)


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Craig K6JGV_________________________ 2004 2500 CTD 4X4 FWC HAWK 1960 CJ5


#2 CougarCouple

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 10:21 AM

Good trip report Craig333.
You were smart to leave, got windy first, which drove a lot of the foot traffic out. Vendors were packing up early. By 3:00 pm started raining with a combo of sleet/rain. Around 6:00 started snowing. By 7:00 rained for about an hour.
What did you think of the new Dodge AEV 4WC had at there booth? There were some nice Hallmark rigs also I thought. Crazy amount of people on Saturday right.

Russ
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#3 Cayuse

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 02:25 PM

The nice thing about Overland Expo is for me it is a day trip.  After going up and back Saturday and experiencing it for the first time I can't say I'd be really excited to camp that close to so many people, after all the reason I have a FWC is to get away from the crowds!

 

There were some pretty cool vehicles there and it is amazing how much ancillary product was available as well.

 

Russ- sorry to have missed you, didn't realize you were coming down to the event.

 

Cheers!

 

Bob


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#4 craig333

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 05:20 PM

Amazing variety of rigs. I can't believe how many different manufacturers of tear drop trailers were there. Never thought I'd see them cost more than an FWC. 

 

One thing I figured out by looking at all the vendors, I'm pretty well equipped already. I didn't see anything that said "you need this". A few items that might be upgrades. Not much in the way of stuff for an older Dodge. I was hoping to see some suspension and skid plates. 

 

It was a heck of dog show. 

 

Glad I got to put the top down dry. Happy I missed the sleet. 

 

The green Jeep wagonneer was nice but looking at Chris Cordes initial report on expedition portal, it seems I missed a few vehicles somehow. 


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#5 craig333

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Posted 20 May 2019 - 05:48 PM

Very easy to miss people. Camping like that isn't my preferred alternative but its okay once in a while. I got to cross one item off my bucket list. Not to say I won't be back but it won't be a yearly event.

 

It was sure nice fueling up in AZ and NV. Probably averaged $3.50 a gallon for diesel. I never let it drop below half a tank just in case. Didn't want to pay $5 a gallon or worse find the only station in town closed. About 1650 miles. I had a few miles on before I started. If I'd looked at the map I might have taken 266 and over to bishop instead of 6 but I've never been to Goldfield or Tonopah before anyway.


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#6 firemen7

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Posted 22 May 2019 - 04:47 PM

It was quite a show. The FWC’s were well represented, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. Weather and wind cooperated on Saturday although Friday night was cool and frosty.

Thanks for sharing you adventure.
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#7 Machinebuilder

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Posted 27 May 2019 - 03:06 AM

It was good to see you and the rest of the crowd, I bugged out early afternoon Sunday, it was not a pleasant place to be with the wind and cold. I’ll try to put together a report on my trip when I have time
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#8 Vic Harder

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Posted 03 June 2019 - 10:12 PM

The Expo made it to Great Britain!  Well, no... but at least they noticed!

https://www.bbc.co.u...canada-48405631


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#9 craig333

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Posted 03 June 2019 - 10:26 PM

Interesting, and I'd like to visit the UK. May as well hit up Expo UK while I'm there (you know its coming) :)


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#10 ski3pin

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Posted 07 June 2019 - 10:14 PM

Glad you were able to get away. Thanks for sharing your trip.


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