Overland Expo West 2015 is coming up May 15 - 17 at Mormon Lake, AZ, just a few miles south of Flagstaff. I am going to attend this year, and I am really excited about that. If you haven't visited their web-site, you should do so. If you like to browse companies that manufacture and sell products for overland adventurers, just click on their link for exhibitors, and prepared to be stupefied. Just about every need you can imagine can be supplied from that list, and more than a few wants as well.
When I first thought I might want to do some adventure travel, I subscribed to Overland Journal, and eventually that lead me to Overland Expo. I have enjoyed both the magazine and the Expo, and they have informed much of what I have been doing since then. The singular feature of both organizations is that they are staffed by people who have done what they write about. As a traveller who dislikes receiving criticism (as opposed to thoughtful comments and questions) from those who do so from the comfort of their BarcaLounger, having not dared to venture beyond the edge of the locale in which they live, I find these two organizations to fit my values and sense of doing things rather than just reading about them.
It was at classes at Overland Expo that I determined I needed to take some details instruction in First Aid, which I did though a local company in Anchorage, Learn to Return. LTR was an excellent training experience, and thankfully I did not need that training. It did help me to be prepared, and that is what I strive to be.
Jim Hyde and the Rawhyde Adventure Team will be there again this year, too. I took their beginner course in 2013 as I was preparing for this trip. It is flat-out an excellent course, and I believe everyone who contemplates an extensive trip in Central Asia or Central to South America should take this course or a similar course. It is both a skill builder and a confidence builder. Their training takes what looks scary and complex and breaks it down into basic skills that are thoughtfully presented by very experienced instructors who know how to teach.
This year I am concentrating on my navigation skills, as I didn't do so well on that Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan crossing. Uzbekistan gets very touchy about their borders, and I could have been in real trouble. As I head to even more remote places, I need to be sharper.
I am also going to be attending some classes and seminars on my upcoming trip from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia, the southern tip of South America. That trip will be in my 2008 Subaru Outback, and the preparation of that car has already begun. But there is lots more to learn, and I am going to try and find some answers, and particularly spend time on route planning. Travel through Mexico, crossing the Darien Gap, transiting Columbia, best times to travel, all of these (and more) are areas I must learn about before I leave. So I have signed up for a seminar on that planning alone. I'm looking forward to that very much.
In sum, I am as excited as can be to be going to Expo again. It's always fun, and Meredith and I usually stay in an interesting place. This year we are staying at the Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff. Looking forward to that! We have also stayed at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow. They have an excellent restaurant, the Turquoise Room, and I hope to get there for an evening meal on this trip. If so, I am going to make sure we order their chocolate shuffle desert, which defies description, other than it is awesome! The Turquoise Room windows open to the lawns and gardens adjacent to the Santa Fe railroad track, and we enjoy watching the activity out there. Designed by Mary Colter, La Posada is a crown jewel in the Harvey Railroad Hotels, built along the Santa Fe railroad into the Southwest U.S. Even a lunch there will impress you.
Another fun stay was at the Star Motel in Sedona, which is as 1960's as you can get without a time machine. We both love these types of places, particularly in the American West. At the Star Motel, we stayed in the room in the Back and upstairs. It has a deck, and you can watch a section of the main street and all the goings on while the smell of smoking meats from the BBQ joint (an accurate word) across the street wafts by. It is also a short walk from the Sedona Heritage Museum, which we both enjoyed.
Lots of fun in Arizona!
Sounds like a full and worthwhile Expo for you!
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