Pictured: the motorcycle camping area of the expo, us with RTW travelers Tim and Marisa Notier, and me on a Himalayan motorcycle (it fits me perfectly!).

The big new phrase for adventure travel is overlanding. Overlanding is a fusion of long-term camping and "off-road" travel. Camping is done in remote locations, often off-the-grid locations: no access to electricity or water. You and your vehicle are, for many weeks, even months, at least somewhat "self-sufficient" - you can cook, sleep, and clean up just with what you have in your vehicle.

Are we overland travelers? Sometimes, like when we rough camp on BLM land, for instance, which we usually do because we can't find a campground. While I love camping so  remotely, I also really like having access to a pit toilet and a water pump. And if we travel in Central and South America, I see us staying in small guest houses and Air B & Bs more than camping, if we camp at all. I guess for some that would completely disqualify me as a true "overlander." 

Anyway, Stefan announced that he REALLY wanted to go to the Overland Expo Pacific Northwest in Oregon. While we are not at all in a post-pandemic world, he felt like it was time to really put all these vaccinations to good use and to finally congregate with others. We decided to get just the motorcycle camping pass - access to presentations but no classes, and access to the exhibitors. 

A week and a half before the rally, I tested positive for COVID (while visiting Kentucky - didn't give it to my breathing-impaired mother, thankfully) and coughed constantly for three days, when I wasn't sleeping. No body aches, no head ache, no nausea, no chills, just coughing and tiredness. I improved immensely on day four - thank you, vaccines and boosters! - but I wasn't sure I would improve enough to still go to the Expo. The day before departure, I tested negative, but still wasn't sure I could do the four-hour ride - I got tired so easily. I packed up the night before, hoping I would feel even better the morning we were leaving and, hurrah, I did. But I stuck to Nyquil and water for the entire weekend and slept 9 or 10 hours each night - I have no idea how many hundreds of people were there camping but I've never slept so soundly in a crowded campground before ever in my life.

I think I was the only KLR rider there, and that made me sad! I love my KLR. Even if I could afford another bike right now, I wouldn't trade her in. I've put almost 40,000 miles on Elphaba. I don't know how many more miles we'll get to do - I know they aren't known for making it to 100,000. But I love her so much.

Honda, Triumph and Royal Enfield were there in the display area - but no other motorcycle manufacturers. Oh, those Royal Enfields - such beautiful bikes! I would love to test ride one. But even if they were allowing test rides, I wouldn't have: it was just too hot and I was still COVID-drained. So all I got was the above photo.

Here's what I liked about the Overland Expo:

• The motorcycle community campground. The BMW Motorcycle Owners of America hosted it and it was fantastic and the MOA staff put a lot of adventure motorcycle rally hosts to SHAME: they were welcoming and enthusiastic about talking with us in a way that too many adventure motorcycle rally hosts are NOT. Motorcycle riders were all in our own area, together, there were couches and chairs in the only shade of the entire campground, free coffee and light breakfasts snacks, and the incredibly nice MOA staff that walked around and met each and every camper at some point and invited them over. Had it not been for this, I'm not sure I would give the entire expo a good review. This was the heart of the experience. I talked to two different motorcycle riders who had more upscale passes, allowing them to camp inside the Expo itself, and they both decided it was way, more fun in the motorcycle campground. It reminded me so, so much of the Tynda Burning Moto Man days in Westfir... miss you, Eric...
   
  A hilarious moment was the second night: the MOA set up a screen in the "common" area and started showing Long Way 'Round, something I'm pretty sure every person in that campground has seen. But seeing it with a mix of BMW and KTM owners? OMG! When Charley tears down that KTM poster the crowd went wild, stefan was giggling - too fun!
   
  Note to all of the vendors at the expo targeting motorcycle riders, including the folks with Ride With Us!: you should have come down to the motorcycle campground one evening and introduced yourselves. You should have come to see what we were riding, passed out cards, etc. For you Ride With Us! folks - there were some people in the motorcycle campground who weren't riding their own bike, but might like to. You should all take lessons in networking from the MOA guys.
   
  
• Putting the campground near the showers and pit toilets was also MUCH appreciated. And quite frankly, the motorcycle folks deserved it - there's only so much we can do with regards to being "self-contained" compared to all the tricked out trucks and vans and trailers!
   
  
• Most everyone was really nice. There's always people coming up to Stefan because of his "vintage" Honda Africa Twin, with lots of questions and even wanting photos. And we had friends there who also have Twins, so people were very excited to see three altogether. And most people were just very approachable, happy to tell you where they were from, where they wanted to go, etc.
   
• The GIANT display of every mode of "overlanding" you can imagine, and all possible equipment to go with such. These ain't your grandpappy's RVs - these are all-terrain trailers and setups ready for anything - rocks, sand, snow, ice, whatever - some with better kitchen setups than I have in my house. It was amazing to see them all there in one place.
   
• The variety of presentations. So many that it was hard to choose. And when they were good, they were very good (but not all were really good - some of ya'll need to work on your presenting skills).
   
• The location in Redmond, at the Deschutes County Expo Center. Very nice facilities inside the grounds.
   

Here's what I didn't like about it:

• No drinking water available in the motorcycle campground. Had we known, we would have prepared for such the first night by filling up lots of containers to take back to our campsite from the Expo. Given the HUGE amount we paid to camp, we absolutely should have had drinking water available near the campground.
   
• Not enough food-to-purchase options or non-alcoholic-drinks to purchase options inside the venue. We ended up leaving and going into Redmond for lunch on Saturday... which turned out to be a great thing - we ate at La Frontera just down the way a bit on S Hwy 97 and I FINALLY had a really good burrito in Oregon! Only took 13 years! After I ordered, the cashier said, "¡Tu español es realmente bueno!" And I beamed and said, "¡Gracious! ¡Yo practico mucho!" And then in English she said, "You should practice on Duolingo" and I slunk away...
   
• SO HOT. I know they can't control the weather but, wow, it was freakin' HOT. Wish I'd remembered to bring a hat (thank you, Honda, for the free hat). Or an umbrella. But I was really glad we didn't sign up for any motorcycle off-roading classes. I overheated a couple of times and had to go sit in a relatively cool hallway outside the bathrooms just to recover.
   
• Some missing workshops: I would have liked to hear more about mainland Mexico and overlanding in Canada. The one workshop on mainland Mexico happened on Friday before we could get there. I also think a workshop on women's health would have been great: let's have a frank, medical-expert-lead talk about how to prevent and prepare for yeast infections, UTIs, menstruation and sex when we're overlanding!
   
• Presenters and their bios are not listed on the web site - only on the app. There's some folks I wanted to followup with and didn't get their cards, but I chose not to download the app.
   
• Hey motorcycle vendors - come hang out with actual motorcycle travelers in the motorcycle camping area some evening.
   
• Would have been nice if National Forest and Bureau of Land Management folks had had free booths to talk about whatever they want to talk about, such as respecting our public lands, the importance of supporting funding for such, wildfire prevention, etc.
   
• You should have invited both the Canada and Mexico tourism boards to have displays at the event.
   
• You are always going to have the folks I call the ADV snobs, who act like you are annoying them by trying to start a conversation. Sigh. You know, I tend to watch someone's YouTube channel or follow them on Facebook if they act halfway decent in real life and don't literally turn their back on me when I speak to them.
  

We got asked by a few friends why we took the motorcycles instead of Stefan's new, custom-built camping trailer. We really wanted to hang out motorcyclists on this trip and, also, his trailer isn't really an all-terrain vehicle: even if we got a small but powerful SUV to tow it, I have my doubts about those little utility trailer wheels and the entire structure being able to handle serious bumps. The trailer is for when we camp with Lucinda the Dog, and we're looking forward to doing far more of that in the future, primarily in established campgrounds. Interesting to note that we did not see ANY interior trailers at the expo with a designated area for pets, like Stefan has!

Will we go again? Probably not. It was absolutely worth going to once, and we enjoyed it, but I'm not sure what organizers could offer next year that would be so unique that I'd want to go and pay that HUGE fee. I thought about proposing a workshop myself... but I just can't think of anything unique and that dozens of people don't already know way more about than me, except transire benefaciendo. I do have a LOT to say about "doing good" or volunteering while traveling, some of it things travelers do NOT want to hear, however. Our Eastern European presentation that we did at Tynda Burning Moto Man several years ago is terrific - and severely out-of-date.

Should YOU go? That depends on so many things. If you are a car or van or truck-based "overlander", or want to be, you would enjoy it. We love looking at any kind of camping or travel gear - there are no quick trips to REI in this household. We like attending presentations about regions we want to visit. And we like talking to other motorcycle travelers. You might want to get a hotel room and just go for an entire day. People raved about the motorcycle classes, but note it's going to be REALLY hot. I really prefer going to motorcycle training that is ONLY motorcycle training - no vendors, no displays.

Note: you do not need these crazy expensive rigs to be an "overlander" - or at least someone who rough camps on BLM or National Forest land. You just need a vehicle that can get you in and out of fairly easy-to-drive forest roads. I used to camp in the back of my little Chevy Blazer: a small air mattress, a sleeping bag, and dog beds for the dogs in the back, with a roll-up table and a Coleman stove and a chair outside (if there wasn't already a picnic table). And a cooler. You don't have to have all this crazy high-end stuff in a $100,000 vehicle! And camping in a "luxurious" National Forest Service primitive campsite with one water pump and a pit toilet, close enough to a small gas station with ice and beer for sale, is still my favorite way of domestic travel.

Other rallies/gatherings we've been to:

• Tynda Burning Moto Man, for international motorcycle travelers, near Eugene, Oregon, June 2010 and June 2011, hosted by the legendary motorcycle travelers Eric Haws and his wife Gail. Eric held a Guinness Book of World Records certificate for being the first person to cross Russia on a motorcycle (two up with Gail) and he had a motorcycle on every continent. Eric and Gail were on the road so much that we were shocked when we met a RTW motorcycle traveler that had NOT met them.
• Sound RIDER! Rally in The Gorge, August 1-5, 2012, in Stevenson, Washington (Columbia Gorge)
• Freunde der Africa Twin Rally, Germany, June 2008
• From Oregon to the "Lost Coast" of Northern California for the Horizons Unlimited 2010 California meeting, 2010.
• Moto-FERNREISE-Treffen by the famous (infamous?) Bernd Tesch, Belgium & Germany, April 2006

Here's what I think makes a good motorcycle rally and what makes me want to attend such.

Also see:

my travel essays

Tips for Women: Getting Started as a Motorcycle Rider (just to ride, not necessarily to travel as well)

For Women Who Travel By Motorcycle (or want to)

transire benefaciendo: "to travel along while doing good." Advice for those wanting to make their travel more than sight-seeing and shopping, whether in your own country or abroad.

Travel With Respect

General information and advice to help get novice women travelers from the USA planning and traveling ASAP.

Advice for Women Motorcycle Travelers: Packing

advice for Women Motorcycle Travelers: footwear (shoes & socks).

Advice for Women Motorcycle Travelers: Transportation and Accommodations Choices.

Traveling during a global pandemic or global crisis or being prepared for such.

Health & safety considerations

My favorite North American Ghost towns / historic mining towns / pre-1900s towns

Advice for Traveling Around the USA Camping & Hiking

Women's Safety While Tent Camping

Camp however YOU want to!

Suggested short motorcycle routes in Oregon and Washington state (from an hour to all-day; many can be linked together to create longer trips).

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