Overland Expo: a TR

[Mazderati]

Not without peanut butter anyway.

[tripice351]

The Earthroamer is 560k truck with a fancy camper van? There are some killer RVs with way more room for half that. What am I missing?

[BmillsSkier]

I think it also comes with a pretty nice cd changer.

[ACH]

I think it also comes with a pretty nice cd changer.

And a boss set of floor mats and mud flaps to boot

[AdironRider]

I think the overland market has jumped the shark.

People had this shit figured out decades ago with slide in campers and 4x4 trucks. Everything else in reinventing the wheel.

[TAFKALVS]

I think the overland market has jumped the shark.

People had this shit figured out decades ago with slide in campers and 4x4 trucks. Everything else in reinventing the wheel.

I remarked to norseman a few days ago about this:

I always just called it going for a drive in the mountains.

And if we brought a tent we called it "camping".

Apparently most of our peers are so detached from nature going "camping" now must be planned and executed to the level of driving to the horn of Africa from Russia or something.

[mooseknuckles]

Good thing I stayed in the Narth, being that close to the southern border I would have been looking to sell off some of my human resources for one of those rigs. I have been checking out the mags project on IG (@aerocontinental) had no clue he was on here. Frorider has an XPvan, where do I find pics? The unlimited class is a whole different level. Great trip report OP, did you get any pics of the new GXV build on the International, it looked BIG.

I feel safer knowing we have a true RTT and expedition trailer durability inspector among us.

[frorider]

XPVan 00001 is done on the inside...I've posted some pics here...but next phase is suspension lift / aluminum bumper with winch / bigger tires etc.

It's not going to be anything crazy. I'm realistic about this shit. Some people ship their rigs to Africa etc and do big overland trips. My goal is maintaining my 22 mpg, easy to drive, quiet on hwy at 75 but fully capable on rough back roads in US and Canadia.

[mcski]

Where's r the pics? Are u in Tahoe ??

[BmillsSkier]

Apparently most of our peers are so detached from nature going "camping" now must be planned and executed to the level of driving to the horn of Africa from Russia or something.

In complete fairness, the last time I drove from Russia to the Horn of Africa the roads were shit and clogged with assholes blocking the left lane. I can see the appeal of monster truck in these situations.

[hutash]

I remarked to norseman a few days ago about this:

I always just called it going for a drive in the mountains.

And if we brought a tent we called it "camping".

Apparently most of our peers are so detached from nature going "camping" now must be planned and executed to the level of driving to the horn of Africa from Russia or something.

This...I was in Joshua Tree NP and there was a beat to shit old land rover (short wheel base) parked at one of the trail heads. Had all the necessary gear strapped all over it, high lift jack, traction plates, etc, but othing fancy. It was a English couple and they had already been through Europe and Africa, crossed the US to Alaska and were heading to Tierra Del Fuego. At this point the car was probably worth a few grand,but not much more, but what a trip����

[Art Shirk]

In complete fairness, the last time I drove from Russia to the Horn of Africa the roads were shit and clogged with assholes blocking the left lane. I can see the appeal of monster truck in these situations.

Fucking prius drivers on the R541 in Yemen.

[wicked_sick]

This...I was in Joshua Tree NP and there was a beat to shit old land rover (short wheel base) parked at one of the trail heads. Had all the necessary gear strapped all over it, high lift jack, traction plates, etc, but othing fancy. It was a English couple and they had already been through Europe and Africa, crossed the US to Alaska and were heading to Tierra Del Fuego. At this point the car was probably worth a few grand,but not much more, but what a trip����

I drove up to the arctic circle last summer, and along the way ran into a Toyota Hilux with with a fancy camper. It had Argentinian plates, and the driver was from Brasil. I also saw several Europeans who had their vehicles shipped over so they could spend 6 months+ touring North America. About half were on motorcycles and looked very tired, and the other half were in Unimogs/Iveco/fancy VW vans and looked quite comfortable bordering on smug. They've probably seem more of this continent and my own country in a couple months than I have in my whole life. I didn't really talk to any of them, but I definitely appreciate the sense of adventure to temporarily quit their life back home and come explore the wilds of North America. Some of them had young children with them... what a great experience for them as well.

[iceman]

Does anyone rent rigs like that?

[BmillsSkier]

Fucking prius drivers on the R541 in Yemen.

Right?!?!

It's worse than the HOV lane in Atlanta.

[Meathelmet]

Interesting rigs in that Expo, thx for the images. Would be nice to see some interior shots and solutions peeps have come up, so keep posting Rico if you have some!

And yeah, Ovelanders seem to vary like skiers or any other group. Have met some absolutely obnoxious individuals, some with Unimogs, so with old Honda Africa Twins. Luckily there are quite a few interesting figures as well!

Met a elderly Swiss coulple in Nordkapp few years back. Geezers had driven their pimped Unimog few km of easy trails from the nearest paved road. They looked a bit miffed when I arrived with a VW van, apparently disturbed their Riesling sipping on the roof of their truck. It came up that they had sold their house, bought the truck and planned to drive around the world. Asked how much the truck had used diesel on the way up to the north from swizz, ended up calculating that it was cost them about 2000€...
No idea how they were going to finance the rest of the 60.000km around the world, the diesel itself would be 40-50k...
Well, hopefully they were loaded with cash.

[Rico in Flag]

Does anyone rent rigs like that?

In short, yes. Rigs of almost any configuration we saw at the Expo are for rent. Some of the rental/ vacation companies were present at the Expo. Sportsmobiles are pretty well represented in the rental market, and more companies are starting to rental out camp trailers with a pullout kitchen and roof top tents.

Would be nice to see some interior shots and solutions peeps have come up, so keep posting Rico if you have some!

I should have taken a lot more interior shots. But seriously, the Expo is a little like Disneyland for outdoors nerds, complete with lines to get into some of the more extravagant rigs like EarthRoamer. Next year I'm going to take a small fisheye lens to get some interiors.

I think the overland market has jumped the shark.

Maybe. I keep saying to myself, if the complexity of doing of the thing exceeds the experience of the thing, I'm going to quit. It hasn't yet for me, I try hard to resist the complexity. It seems this hasn't occured for a lot of people.

Nice job Reverand Floater for taking this TR to it's proper conclusion.

[bodywhomper]

Does anyone rent rigs like that?

The guys that runs the 4xoverland utube channel has some recent stuff about this, it's specific for Africa. He's also done several trips on stock vehicles to demonstrate their stock capabilities.

In general, it seems like the variety of base vehicles that are good for off road camping (or whatever you want to call it) that are not open bed trucks is decreasing in the US and globally.

[wicked_sick]

^ Yep, most SUVs are just glorified minivans/station wagons now. I've got an older 4Runner, and it's the perfect mix of rugged and comfort, plus it's not worth $50k, so I don't mind actually taking it off road.

[Skidog]

^ Yep, most SUVs are just glorified minivans/station wagons now. I've got an older 4Runner, and it's the perfect mix of rugged and comfort, plus it's not worth $50k, so I don't mind actually taking it off road.

This is what shocks me. Spend a shitload of money and then off-road it. Sorry but I can't afford to break truck parts for fun. Truck maintenance sucks enough as is. I keep my truck to mostly mellow 4x4 but serves as a nice place to sleep and minimal "camp" setup.

[hutash]

So true, a nice Sportsmobile rig is 100 grand these days, so you better think twice about getting it stuck in the mud 100 miles from nowhere. I paid $4,500 for my two wheel drive Sportsmobile and have taken it a few places I shouldnt, and probably places I wouldn't take a $100,000 van.

[Rico in Flag]

This is what shocks me. Spend a shitload of money and then off-road it. Sorry but I can't afford to break truck parts for fun. Truck maintenance sucks enough as is. I keep my truck to mostly mellow 4x4 but serves as a nice place to sleep and minimal "camp" setup.

I could have shot a hundred photos of completely murdered out Tacomas, Tundras, and Jeeps.
The Expo is a trade show after all, and every company trying to sell something has a showcase vehicle to show off their product, complete with lift kit, multiple light bars, 20" wheels with 33" tires, huDge cattle pusher bumpers with winches, complex rack systems with roof top tents, and whatever else you can imagine. It's easy to imagine that some of these vehicles go over $100k with all of the improvements.
My suspicion is that nearly all of these vehicles never see the kind of action they appear to be.

[Meathelmet]

So true, a nice Sportsmobile rig is 100 grand these days, so you better think twice about getting it stuck in the mud 100 miles from nowhere. I paid $4,500 for my two wheel drive Sportsmobile and have taken it a few places I shouldnt, and probably places I wouldn't take a $100,000 van.

One might think that individuals that have enough dinares to purchase a 100k rig wouldnt give a toss about few dents that happen to the rig.
Albeit, most of the 100k+ rigs I have seen have been basically spotless, peeps seem to stay on the paved road. Go figure.

Interesting proposition would be to buy a cheap ass car and see how far that would go. Like these geezers with a Lada Niva, UK-Mongolia-UK trip...

https://corkmongolia2008.wordpress.com/25/

Driven a bit with Niva and have to say it takes a "special" kind of an individual to endure that sufferfest. Spareparts are in abundance in Russia though, so actually it could be a safe bet...hmm..

[mooseknuckles]

Interesting proposition would be to buy a cheap ass car and see how far that would go. Like these geezers with a Lada Niva, UK-Mongolia-UK trip...

The Rickshaw Run has your name all over it! http://www.theadventurists.com/rickshaw-run

[Meathelmet]

The Rickshaw Run has your name all over it! http://www.theadventurists.com/rickshaw-run

"No set route, no back-up, no way of knowing if you're going to make it. The only certainty is that you will get lost, you will get stuck and you will break down. "

#signed