Days Eight-Ten - Good Friends and Big Trucks

Ah...Overland Expo. The reason for this whole trip. Always a great experience, it's fun and inspiring to spend a few days with like-minded travelers, many of whom have been around the world and to some of the most remote places on Earth.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and found a spot to set up camp and hoist the NWOL flag. We were right by new NWOL member Jim Henderson, a great guy who flew airplanes for the Air Force and then became a world-renowned oceanographer. One of the projects he spearheaded was building a submarine for Paul Allen - really interesting to hear all about that.

As the campground filled up, we met so many great people, many of whom had heard of Northwest Overland so it was rewarding to see that lots of people in this community are aware of what we're doing. 

Friday morning launched a two-day whirlwind of classes, slideshows, films, roundtable discussions, and circulating through the vendor areas. Some of our favorite experiences: an inspiring talk by a couple from Boulder who became empty-nesters and bought a truck with a camper and spent 21 months traveling the Americas, a panel discussion of people who have traveled overland in Mexico (something we are very keen to do), and a class on writing and publishing adventure travel books.

Friday night was pretty cool. We co-hosted a Happy Hour with our pals from Defenders Northwest and wow...it was great! Remember that beer we mentioned hauling down there? Well that keg was tapped out in less than an hour...with demands for more in the queue for Dan's friend who made it. Stay tuned for news on a special NWOL event at Cole Street Brewery. Brian from Defenders Northwest also brought along two different whiskeys from local producer Bull Run Distillery - their Temperance Bourbon and American Whiskey. These were a big hit as well! We ran into a few people the next day blaming their headaches on it....It was a great reunion with our good friend Ben Davenport (check out his adventures here) and featured an amazing sunset as well.

We saw every kind of vehicle imaginable, from down and dirty motorcycles through giant Unimogs that look like something from a post-apocalyptic movie. But we have to declare that our favorite part of Expo is meeting people. This is such an amazing community of brave, creative, interesting people, and everyone is so willing to share their experiences and help to inspire others to break away from the molds we get stuck in, and do something different. 

We are happy to have been able to get down there again this year and look forward to keeping in touch with the great folks we met.