Last month I attended the Overland Mt West Expo in Loveland, CO. A few months ago, I applied to be a volunteer and just before I left on my Idaho trip, I received my acceptance email. I needed to commit to at least 11 hours of work in exchange for free admission for the entire event, free camping, t-shirt, and many of the same benefits as the premium Overland Experience package.
This was the third Overland Expo I've attended, but the first as a volunteer. Previously, in 2016, Nancy & I attended the one in Flagstaff, AZ, and in 2019, Harvey & I attended the one in Gunnison, CO. These events are geared to Overlanding, they even have a length limit for campers and they discourage typical RVs. Most campers arrive in Vans, pop-up truck campers, tents and some pretty wild overland rigs.
According to the recap on the Overland Expo website, there were over 17,000 attendees, 270 exhibitors and 87 presenters & instructors. It was a huge event with 65 staff and 40 volunteers. I arrived late afternoon on Wednesday, and was escorted to the designated camping area for volunteers and instructors. I was able to grab an end spot along the fence. We had port-a potties and an air conditioned shower trailer in our area. They even had hand washing stations.
The shower trailer
The camping area was nothing more than a large field, with 20’ x 20’ spaced marked off with orange paint. I was happy to be along the fence because I had a view and a breeze. The non-volunteers were packed in double rows, with just enough room between the double rows to drive through, true rally style camping, far from overlanding.
My first shift began at 8:30 am on Thursday, at the registration booth. I worked with a great group of staff and stuffed bags, and waited on registrants. They divided registration into two areas with different responsibilities, but it was still very confusing at times. The people arriving for the event were great, very patient with us and it was fun to joke with them. The staff did a great job handling the few problems we encountered and for the most part, everyone walked away with a smile and their credentials. I even got lunch. Later in the day, I was asked to relieve one of the gate attendants so he could go get dinner. While I was on the gate, the staff from registration brought my dinner to me. How cool was that. I managed to chow down in between vehicles.
My shift ended at 6:30pm, and I headed directly to the Oasis Bar, which was a tent setup near the vendors. As a volunteer, I was entitled to a free beer each night, but usually I was able to get at least one more, sometimes two. My close friends, Harvey and June decided to attend the expo to visit with camper van builders, of which there were at least eight. So I hung out with them at the bar and enjoyed a number of bands playing each night at the Oasis.
Friday was a free day for me, so Harvey, June and I walked the vendor area. I needed to buy a 12 volt, DC to DC battery charger for Enzo, and was able to view three different products before settling on a 25 amp model by Redarc. They did a 10% show discount, but didn’t have inventory, so I’m waiting for it to be shipped to me. Harvey & June looked at a number of van conversions and the three of us attended two Alaska seminars. The seminar were more about the speaker’s adventures and less about Alaska, but it was still enjoyable, albeit, I really wanted to learn some cool things about Alaska. Of course, at 5pm, we headed to the Oasis and Happy Hour.
Saturday my shift started at 8am at the same gate I staffed on Thursday. I was supposed to pass out maps at the day use entrance, but there was some screw up with the contract security company and they forgot they needed to staff the gate. By 10 am, two security personnel arrived to relieve me and I went to the day use entrance gate hand out maps.
This is some of the day parking area, which filled and then the staff had to scrabble to open another parking area and a second gate. At $25 a person the day use was quite the money maker for the organization.
At noon, another volunteer relieved me and told me to head over to headquarters for lunch. I had fulfilled my work commitment and was a free man with a free lunch.
So I headed over to the Dodge exhibit and drove a couple of different Dodge 4X4 pickup trucks on an overland obstacle course, with a Dodge representative as my co-pilot. First, a Dodge 2500 diesel Power wagon and then a Dodge 1500 gas Rebel. Both were tricked out with all the off road stuff. The course was a blast, logs, rocks, steep embankments and a very steep hill climb. I was impressed with the Dodge trucks, but I’m still a Ford guy.
Next stop, the Kenda tire exhibit. They had another obstacle course setup, but this time I was driving Jeeps, first a Gladiator and then a Rubicon, but no co-pilot. They had spotters on the course who talked you through the course via radio. This course was designed with less obstacles, but more steep embarkments and hill climbs.
On both courses I had one wheel off the ground and got pretty high on the embankments, much higher than I would have done in my truck. By then it was close to Happy Hour, so I headed back to my rig to freshen up before meeting up with Harvey and June at the Oasis for some more free drinks.
After dinner, an old college buddy, Gary, who now lives in Ft Collins, picked me up and we went bar hopping in Old Town Ft Collins, needless to say, it was a late night. Some tings never change. LOL
Harvey & June left Sunday morning and I headed over to the Ride With Us booth. They had a sign in front which said: “Learn to ride a motorcycle in 45 minutes”. I accepted the challenge. After signing the obligatory waiver, they outfitted me with pants, shirt, helmet, gloves and a 200 cc Yamaha motorcycle. I started out with short rides, practicing the clutch, throttle and brake. Next thing I knew I was cruising the dirt oval, granted I never got out of first gear. Who knows, there might be a new toy in my future.
After that experience, I attended two emergency first aid seminars. The first was about dealing with the usually backcountry injuries, the second one was dealing with rare, but life threatening injuries. Ones that I might never encounter, but ones that if not dealt with immediately would most likely make the Personal Locator Beacon a recovery tool, rather than a rescue device.
At 3 pm on Sunday, all the vendors began tearing down their booths and packing up. I headed back to my camp and watched the show. I had already decided I would spend Sunday night camped at the expo, avoid the mass exit, and then visit my cousins Lou and Kathy in Aurora on Monday. Lou, Kathy and I went to a great BBQ joint for lunch, where I had all you can eat ribs. After lunch, we hung out at their house and then around 3pm I headed back to CORA.
I had a great time and packed a lot of activity into six days. It’s amazing given the current state of the world, that over 17,000 people , mostly strangers, can come together and have a good time. We just need to find common ground or at least put our differences aside.
Tight Lines and safe Travels
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