Expo East 2014 Asheville NC

[86Scotty]

Aluminess on the SMB Fuso. I took better pics of this rig with my real camera but it is WAY better and nicer in person than I expected.

[86Scotty]

8 miles or something on that Ural w/sidecar.

[86Scotty]

Look closely at that Jeep!

[86Scotty]

The Unimog (and owner Bob) live about 10 miles from me. Whodathunkit? That's an old Alaskan pop up truck camper on the back.

[86Scotty]

Last but not least, on Sunday a guy rolled in to the parking lot just beside Ujoint's camp in a Cummins powered Sportsmobile! He was really nice and of course was instantly attacked by van geeks who heard that distinctive 4bt Cummins sound. It was a really great build and I enjoyed talking to him (Bobby), who doesn't live very far from me either. He claims 22mpg and around 18 towing a car. I want one!

[BroncoHauler]

Interesting that the top bar on the Fuso Aluminess bumper looks to be removable. Must be for engine access, but I'd be concerned if you hit an Elk with that.

4BT SMB? Interesting, and look at all that room in the engine bay.

Was Kimberly Kampers there? Pure camp trailer porn.
http://www.kimberleygroup.com.au/usa


Herb

[86Scotty]

Not that I saw, but ADAK trailers, made in Florida interestingly enough, were there and were pretty sweet!

[JohnandMandi]

We're back home after spending a couple more days in NC. The expo was a ton of fun and it was great to see all of the different vehicles. We failed miserably in the photo department since we spent our time talking about our vehicle or in a class. Took us until Sunday morning to finally get to Eric's rig, we almost missed it! We now fully understand the balance between classes and walking around. We skipped a few classes and attended others we didn't sign up for. West might be monitored more closely but there was never an issue with changing up our schedule. Saturday was the biggest day by far, crazy busy.

We did run the 4x4 course in a Range Rover then get to use it for a wooded and muddy marshaling course. I was a bit nervous but those guys know exactly how to thread a needle with a 100K car, really they told Mandi how to tell me to thread that car through. Funny thing, they made a big deal about the driver trusting the directions being given to them. I almost hit a tree right out of the gate when the instructor told me to cut the wheels. If I didn't alter course the driver's side mirror would have been destroyed, less than an inch of space was available when I decided I was going to ignore part of his instruction. It became a joke, Mandi started calling it a trust fall. In his defense, he was on the other side of the vehicle just trying to get all of us through the sloppy stuff and to the real course.

Overall opinion... yes it was worth it! Everyone was super friendly and helpful. We are planning on heading to Expo West then follow the weather North to Alaska so after May it could be a long while before we get to attend another one. A great group of folks, oh, and Eric's OK too

-John

[86Scotty]

OK, as promised, here are some better, and more, pics of Expo East. Better late than never I hope.

My house



My view



I was looking right at the Toyota guys, who had some neat stuff



Just behind me were these three, two of which were from Canada IIRC



Come on, human, let's go sniff more muddy tires!



Three or four cool Syncros showed up







And just past the Toyota guys headed towards the vendor area were lots and lots of Rovers









And also there was um.........this



to be continued..........

[86Scotty]

I admire folks who can keep it this simple



On down the hill were some classes and such



And a really pretty pond with a great campfire/happy hour spot





Groups of two wheelers were swarming innocent bystanders all week. I've heard tell of these damn lawless bikers



Then on to the vendor area. Sportsmobile had their Fuso, which I will mention again is so much nicer and roomier than I expected. Alan Feld was there with it, as was his wife. They even fed us breakfast on Sunday and passed SMB owners some SMB schwag. Thanks Alan!







Dave from Aluminess (and his wife) were there with their red Duramax van. It's really pretty and they are a swell couple of folks.



This guy was there. He has a blog someone posted awhile back. He used to have an SMB but went with this rig instead. I didn't get around to talking to him, but it's rather tricked out.



Random pics from vendor area









And then there was Chris and the Ujoint crew. Much obliged to them for feeding me, letting me keep warm by their wood stove (the back of a big smoker-trailer actually) and just being themselves, which is to say, great company and guys who love vans.







John and Mandi's awesome van, which is quite colorful, to say the least. I enjoyed hanging out with John and Mandi most of the weekend, and can't wait to see what's in store for them in their build and in their travels. They are a great couple of friends!



Another SMB hiding off in the bush. I never saw anyone at this one.



Last but not least is Bobby's Cummins-swapped SMB. It was just out in the lot, not on display, but you could've fooled me. I'm sure it's that way everywhere he goes.



Nice homebuilt front bumper on it too!





It was a great show! Hope to see more of you there next year.