MOORE Expo

[ericbphoto]

IDK. Could be a possibility.

I would rather go to Overland Expo West, but I realize that's to far for most of you. I've debated going this year but I'm trying to save some money and get some work done on my building.

Overland Expo West:

30,000+ attendees.
417 registered exhibitors
136 presenters, trainers, and VIPs
448+ classes, seminars, demos, activities, slideshows, and films; totaling 509+ session hours of instruction
Domestic attendees descended on Flagstaff from 45 states coast to coast.
International attendees visited from Great Britain, Australia, Czech Republic, Canada, Mexico, and Peru.

But does it have SMORR just a short drive down the road?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

We have a year to hash all that out...

 

[Jim Oaks]

But does it have SMORR just a short drive down the road?

No. Do you want to be an overlander or off-roader??

Nice thing about going out west is exploring old towns, old Route 66, and National Forest land where you can venture off and camp where you want. The trip there and back should be part of the adventure.

 

[ericbphoto]

No. Do you want to be an overlander or off-roader??

Nice thing about going out west is exploring old towns, old Route 66, and National Forest land where you can venture off and camp where you want. The trip there and back should be part of the adventure.

All of the above.

My trip was certainly an adventure.

 

[Mrs. Eighty Five]

This is my take from the whole adventure: I would definitely do it again! In fact, I’d sign up to do the rally itself twice because it turns out they had 2 different routes.
I think it’s safe to say that not only was camping at SMORR the cheaper route, but probably the most enjoyable. It was fun to watch the off-roaders go down the trail behind our tents. Not to mention SMORR has a lot of trees to help with the sun as well as accommodations (bathhouse and different camping options).
The Expo itself was a lot of fun. Lots of different trailers to look out for general overlanding (camp box/storage on wheels) to little compact campers. Got to see my camp box on wheels in purpose, now to try and manage to get one or make one. Different gadgets, some food exhibitors and of course different aspects for recovery. Unfortunately we missed the seminars we had been interested in because of the rally but in the end, we had fun overall.
I think this would be a great event to try and have an informal ranger roundup at. Mean, we came across a young gentleman with a very nice looking Bronco II who knew about this forum. I don’t think it’s just for overlanders, but for off-roaders too. To me, those two different terms have a lot in common some days.
SMORR: can’t wait to go back and explore it smorr (some more, ). A ton of trails for every level of difficulty and a couple of hours at 5pm is not enough time to explore them all. The trails are open till midnight, but since this was our first time there we passed on the nighttime riding. I can see why so many promote this park.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I think this event and Overland Expo are good for anyone that likes to go offroading and camp. I know OE has practical courses for spotting, choosing a line, and advanced recovery techniques taught by Camel Trophy instructors.

So what I'm hearing is......

Next year I won't have to drive all the way to Kentucky!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think this event and Overland Expo are good for anyone that likes to go offroading and camp. I know OE has practical courses for spotting, choosing a line, and advanced recovery techniques taught by Camel Trophy instructors.

So what I'm hearing is......

Next year I won't have to drive all the way to Kentucky!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Anyway... got the car loaded up and ready to roll.





Lots of rain on the way down.



Don't see that every day.



or that either



It must have been "haul your project car on the interstate in the rain day", there was also a SN95 roller on a trailer going the other way.

Wonder where he is going? (he was an exhibitor)



The closer we get the more vehicles we see which was fun





These guys actually camped across the lane from us









Finally made it, at the office checking in.





Now to set up camp.



All done!



Those RTT's must be exhausting...

Anyway, setting up our new tent in high winds with people offroading on the trail behind us.





Testing equipment for the Vagabond trip, this worked freaking awesome.



All done!



Heading out to get supper. We knew we would get in kind of late and the weather was supposed to be rough so we never planned on cooking supper that night.



They did have the other kind of horse there too.



We found a really good mexican restaurant in Seymour.



I couldn't help but wonder how many people notice the hay trolley in the ceiling.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Breakfast was a quick round of breakfast burritos



Brisk but beautiful morning. Campground was pretty open on Thursday night/Friday morning.



We checked in and got our rally book. The rally is kind of a treasure hunt with directions. It was 92 miles and took the whole morning to run.



Competition was pretty stiff...





And we are on the route.






Lots of little babbling brooks along the way. Super clear and peaceful.

















Never know what you are going to find out here.







Our route, I forgot to turn on the recorder for a bit, we started at the little thing of blue squiggles (the trail map for SMORR) We spent a lot of the time in Mark Twain National Forest.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The rally ends at the expo







Food for thought for @snoranger ...

















Totally built out AEV Jeep, the exhaust pipe looks like a J in case anyone is wondering.







Not sure if it is a windmill to generate electricity or a propeller to help you thru tough spots?!









We did pick up some seasonings.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Tires are approved.








Then we went inside.
































Their youtube channel, they actually offroad and camp with this setup.

https://www.youtube.com/@donniebrown-mv7hb

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It was funny, for quite a bit he thought it was a real fire.







@Mrs. Eighty Five is starting to think she needs one of these trailer things (not this one in particular)



Our crazy kid was rapidly running out of crazy since he was well past naptime so we headed back to camp. He slept pretty much the whole way (about 45min) so he had a pretty good charge when we got there. Eric had just arrived when we got back so we caught up with him and headed out to explore the trails. One kinda neat thing is the park at SMOOR is open until midnight so it isn't like they get huffy at you if you are out there after 7 or whatever. Didn't take much many pictures, mainly video which you will have to wait for.




Our loot from day one.



More trucks heading in that night.





And that concludes day 2.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Tires are approved.








Then we went inside.
































Their youtube channel, they actually offroad and camp with this setup.

https://www.youtube.com/@donniebrown-mv7hb

Actually added Model T's youtube channel.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Then since we still had the book with the directions in it we let Eric ride shotgun and navigate the rally. We did find this cool bird on the fencepost as we began our run. Cool looking bird and its song was pretty too, judging by the the top of the post he must like that post.



It was fun to run it again, with Eric navigating and me driving @Mrs. Eighty Five had more free time to snap pics out the back window.



Most elaborate stock tank I have ever seen.













I am not sure how she took this shot but it came out very interesting.



I need to track down his camera and see what he got for pics yet but here he is rocking perfect form.



Kinda funny one of the landmarks was "name that classic car", for the life of us we could not find any car. Closest we could find was an S-10 Blazer which Eric refused to rate as "classic" So when we got to the rally we asked what the heck it was. Turns out it was a old Mustang with a tree growing thru the engine bay. It had sat there forever but between Midland mapping the route and making the books and the rally actually taking place they cut the tree down and scrapped the car.

Swung by Whataburger for lunch on our way to the Expo for something different since food was pretty pricey there. Here Eric is engaged in a debate.



Back to the expo





I really liked this awning, one of the few out there that I think may clear the open back glass of a truck topper.

Core tents kept coming up when I was researching new tents. They were a tough sell because I had never heard of them. They actually looked pretty good in real life.



@Uncle Gump's Ironman awning. He is interested in the straight one but all they had was a batwing. It did seem pretty well made.









[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pLDxne]

I did really like the hood decal.

 

[ericbphoto]

The funny part about this picture is that his camera doesn't have a viewfinder to look through. He loves that camera. Lots of pictures taken and some of them turn out good.