The sleepy, historic town of Prescott, Arizona hosted the first Overland Expo over the April 24th to 26th weekend. For the first time in North America, expedition ready vehicles, gear, participants, and world travelers came together in one spot to educate, to learn, to experience, and to celebrate the art of vehicle dependent travel. As expected, Land Rover was well represented by participants, exhibitors, and instructors.
Roseann Hanson of ConserVentures LLC organized Overland Expo 2009 and sponsors included Overland Journal, Overland Training and Expedition Portal as well as many other companies and organization directly linked to the overland community in North America.
A highlight for the Land Rover community was the opportunity to meet and learn off-road driving techniques from North America’s LR legend, Tom Collins. Tom’s background in off-highway driving includes organizing and leading the Great Divide Expedition in 1989, U.S. Team Coordinator for the US Camel Trophy team from 1990 to 1998 and as one the 1987 team members. He currently consults for Land Rover and is an integral part of their off-highway instructional team. His easy manner, quiet wit, and obvious knowledge and skill quickly made participants feel at ease behind wheel in front of this North American legend.
A ‘must see’ for LR enthusiasts was Christian and Saskia Holzknecht’s 2006 Defender 110. Christian is a professional photographer from Europe and the pair are traveling around the world with their German Shepherd in the Rover. Stopping at the OV Expo as both exhibitors and participants, their 110 was a showstopper. Tricked out by Ex-Tec, the hydraulic lift pop top roof caught everyone’s attention while the built in interior modifications including a port potty, table, bench, water storage, tool cabinet and full galley were all ingeniously designed and fully constructed out of aluminum and surprisingly roomy considering the size of the overall vehicle.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the Overland Expedition Flag presentation held at the banquet the final night. This unique opportunity was open to all participants undertaking a unique trip prior to OVExpo ‘10 and included support from sponsors, gift certificates for equipment, an article in Overland Journal and free attendance to next year’s Expo where they would present the flag to the 2010 winners. This year’s winner was Holt Webb of Vanishing America. Holt is a professional photographer who is “traveling across America on veggie oil, capturing the unique aspects of our country and culture that are in danger of disappearing within the next few generations”. Part of his vegetable running entourage is The Greasy Beast, his Defender 90 fully converted to run on used, filtered ‘chip oil’. Everyone at the banquet agreed that Holt and his monumental project deserved to win the flag and maybe next year he will be the keynote speaker, presenting his worthwhile project to participants.
Want to see some pics of the OV Expo '09? Click here! And click here for information on next year’s Overland Expo.
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