The OFFICIAL Overland Expo EAST 2014 Thread!

[workerdrone]

^Thanks, glad people enjoy the pics.

We (wife and I) drove down thursday night after work from Mass; Friday morning when we arrived it was pouring buckets.

Since we were tent camping from a VW Jetta, we wussed out and secured a hotel room in Asheville, then came back in a few hours when it had stopped raining. Beautiful venue, lots of gear porn from the vendors, everyone very friendly, things looked great.

Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and set up camp up near the top of the first hill, what a great scenic spot especially after dusk. Stayed Sat and Sun night in the tent, there was a good frost each night but we were snug on the 6" thick Aerobed in the tent Met lots of great people and the opportunity to see so much variety of overland tech was priceless.

We were prepared to cook all our meals so we weren't bothered by the (not so many) vendors - the ones they had were great, the people working very hard throughout. And I was pleased that the port-a-facilities stayed very clean, but I only got one hot shower out of the community showers and that one didn't come too easy :Wow1:

Overall a great time and well organized for a first try. Wish it's twice as big next year and they hold it for a week

 

[OverlandKyle]

i will have a much more detailed writeup forthcoming but I can say this as one of the first people onsite, standing on top of that hill looking down onto the site, I must've felt the same way that Max Yasgur did on his farm in Woodstock before the people came and especially before the rains came, the surreal feeling that came before such an epic event was prevalent and it continued all weekend throughout all of the people I met, the classes/workshops/demos I took, and the equipment I was able to ogle over.

 

[Roverchef]

Awsome photos! Thanks for post'n up!

 

[ujoint]

We had a great time and look forward to next year! Such a great group of people, awesome rigs and location.

 

[btggraphix]

We had a great time at the expo as well and thank everyone who helped make it happen. A special thanks to ujoint as well. We broke an axle tube on our Jeep (long story but it wasn't because the course was very technical but because of a pre-existing issue we thought benign). Well breaking down at the expo is a bit like breaking an arm outside the hospital. Ujoint was 20 feet from where we were (with Lance Campers) and his shop was less than 3 miles away. He helped us store it for a few days and did some research for me and I can't thank him enough. He sure does some sweet Ford 4x4 van conversions. At his and others' recommendations we hauled it to Clemson 4x4 who seem to be great folks too, where we leave it to be worked over the next several weeks.

I'd strongly suggest if you haven't already, think about teaching at these events in the future. It's a lot of fun and a way to help keep this thing going. I've done it at the last two and really enjoyed sharing my little bit of knowledge about truck campers but now that we've started our traveling adventures not sure if I can make the next ones. With such a traveling group I suspect it'll keep being necessary to get fresh trainers into the mix as time goes by.....

Thanks again to all who came! What a great bunch of people!
BT

 

[JackW]

I really enjoyed the weekend - lots of very interesting classes and eye candy. I've just posted my photos from the weekend here:

http://solaros1.smugmug.com/Land-Rover-Events/OVERLAND-EXPO-EAST-2014/

Excited Expo Attendee below:

 

[Scott Brady]

I really enjoyed the weekend - lots of very interesting classes and eye candy. I've just posted my photos from the weekend here:

http://solaros1.smugmug.com/Land-Rover-Events/OVERLAND-EXPO-EAST-2014/

Excited Expo Attendee below:

Great photo. That is one happy dude!

 

[Hilldweller]

Great photo. That is one happy dude!

.....cover of OJ?

 

[zolo]

Great photo. That is one happy dude!

That Disco was diesel swapped too. Cool truck sounded great.

 

[PatoNegro]

OEX East Safe Jack Discount

Safe Jack products are available at a 15% discount for Overland Expo East attendees. Their Bottle Jack accessories were demonstrated at Overland Expo East but the vendor was not able to make it. You just need to call them to get the discount code. Their web site is http://bmihydraulics.com/index.php

 

[pugslyyy]

Great shots!
Had a great time looking at all the eye candy, and wishing my bank account was bigger!
Was surprised that there weren't more nick nacks for people to buy like shirts, mugs etc ...
Shame that they messed up the shirt design by putting "Overland Expo West" instead of "Overland Expo East" -- I'm sure they could have sold a ton!

Overall great event, looking forward to next year

I think a few more clothing/gear vendors would have been good. I bought quite a lot at expo west this year - there were some really good prices on Mountain Khaki, etc. I think had someone shown up selling they could have moved a lot of merchandise.

 

[Dvsjw_Betterhalf]

I agree that not having Expo East shirts cost them a bunch. We came with extra money just to purchase sweatshirts and other clothing there. Many vendors just weren't prepared with items and were b/o many things we looked at. They either planned it last minute and missed shipments or didn't expect that many people.

 

[zolo]

I agree that not having Expo East shirts cost them a bunch. We came with extra money just to purchase sweatshirts and other clothing there. Many vendors just weren't prepared with items and were b/o many things we looked at. They either planned it last minute and missed shipments or didn't expect that many people.

You must have missed our vendor area!!! We were giving shirts away for free! Cool shirts to boot.

 

[gravedgr]

I think a few more clothing/gear vendors would have been good. I bought quite a lot at expo west this year - there were some really good prices on Mountain Khaki, etc. I think had someone shown up selling they could have moved a lot of merchandise.

+1

It seemed overly heavy on top end equipment (5- and 6-figure items), and extremely light on camping / overlanding basics. We accidentally left a rubbermaid tub at home with the kids sleeping bags and thought we'd poke around the vendor area for something, but were sorely disappointed. We ended up driving into town to an REI and picking up a number of items we would have rather bought at the Expo.

 

[Hilldweller]

You must have missed our vendor area!!! We were giving shirts away for free! Cool shirts to boot.

I gots me a cool shirt :sombrero:
Thanks, Daniel.

I need another sticker for the trailer though.