Milestones were first used by the Roman Empire on their empire spanning network of roads. As the saying goes, “All roads in Europe lead to Rome.” That’s not rhetoric or hyperbole. The vast majority of modern highways and core roads in Europe were first laid out more than 2,000 years ago.
In modern times milestones have evolved into mile posts. The original stone obelisks used by Romans and early pioneers have since been replaced by mileposts. First they were wooden; cheaper and easier to make than stone. Now they are metal. You can’t drive down a modern highway without seeing green numbered posts wiz by every minute or so.
As such, the expression “milestone” has taking on more of a figurative nature than literal. People often talk about milestones in their life, business, hobby, sports, or pretty much anything that can be measured. More often than naught a milestone is more of a measure of time, but there is still a sequential nature to milestones. For you kids these days think of milestones as achievements in a game. Do something cool? Unlock the achievement badge. That, ladies and gentlemen, is you’re modern day digital Roman Road milestone.
The latest milestones achieved by ECOA was earlier this month at the Blue Ridge Overland Gear Outdoor Adventure Rendezvous. It was our last formal event for the 2024 season. This marked the 100th event ECOA has attended since its inception in 2015. It’s crazy to think how far ECOA has come since then — both figurative with milestones like this, but also literally in thinking about how many thousands of miles we’ve covered zigging and zagging our way around the ConUS (Continental United States aka The Lower 48).
The other milestone achieve by ECOA, or rather will be achieved here shortly in a few more weeks when 2024 comes to a close, is this was the 10th season for ECOA. 10 years. Crazy. In 2014 I was working for a university while in parallel working on my doctorate in education. I had a very clear vision and plan for my future that had been in motion for another 10+ years prior when I made the decision in college to change career paths of engineering to education. (Hindsight 20/20, not my best decision). Ironically, at the time, I was working with student entrepreneurs while neglecting my own small business: an off-road media company I had started in 2007 when I figured out it was cheaper to be a professional photographer than a professional rock crawler.
When I started ECOA I knew I didn’t want to do the whole narcissistic, “watch me play with my toys in the woods” type of content. No shade on those that do. I say that with my tongue in my cheek and the upmost respect for people with cinematic talents that far exceed my own. That’s just not me. I don’t like being in the spotlight. Even in my side jobs working in the music industry I’ve always been more comfortable back stage than I am on stage. Even when I had the opportunity to become pseudo-famous with my own radio show and late a bar DJ I was safer and more comfortable in the small confines of my booth.
No it is not mine. Yes it is my girlfriend’s.
Yes it had a bigger motor in it than my Jeep does. No I’m not insecure about that.
The idea behind ECOA was, is, and will remain rooted in education. When I conceived the idea for the ECOA blog and larger brand as a concept I knew I wanted to help other people. I wanted to take all the hard lessons I’ve learned and share my knowledge and experience with other people. While on the 2015 No Highways Tour, somewhere along Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, I had the windows down on the Jeep and was snaking my way south down the ridge line of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Fun fact about the Blue Ridge Parkway, they still use milestones. Small stones roughly the size of a boot-box are dotted along the 469 mile parkway. Guidebooks reference these stone talking about scenic overlooks, campgrounds, fun small villages, and historical locations along the way. So as I drove past each of those small stones, roughly one every two minutes (let’s face it, the parkway is a slow scenic drive), my mind was already ahead of me thinking about the milestones in my life but also the ones yet to come. The more and more I thought about my legacy, and thus the legacy of the ECOA brand, I knew I wanted it rooted in education.
From my start teaching merit badges at summer camp with the Boy Scouts to teaching at overland, off-road, and outdoor events around the country one thing has remained true. I am, at my core, an educator. For a long time I thought that meant a career in formal institutional education. I worked for camps, schools, and universities. I earned two bachelors, a masters, and even started a doctorate. Sadly I never finished that path. I got burnt out. I got frustrated.
Turning to adventure travel was the ultimate pursuit of eating my cake and having it to. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew it wasn’t going to be glamorous; especially given my emphasis on education rather than entertainment. I did know two things though, it was going to be one hell of an adventure and I was going to see a lot more of the world than I would from inside the four walls of a classroom.
On a personal note I also wanted to build a life I would not need to retire from. I’ve heard too many stories and seen it happen too many times where someone puts their life on hold to work themselves to death thinking once they retire they can enjoy life. In these cases I’m referring to the people don’t live long after retirement. Just the other day I was talking to a colleague in the industry who made the passing comment, “I haven’t had a vacation in two years.” Holy shit. I do not want to live like that. I also know of a very successful person that retired and sold their business for a couple million dollars. They were set to explore the work and — boom — dead two years later. Morbid. I know. And this took an expected dark twist, but things like this shifted my perspective.
When I shifted focus in my life from chasing a paycheck and building a career measured by other people’s thoughts, opinions, and approval to one that was intrinsic to my own beliefs I knew sacrifices would be made. I knew I would never own a home, a new car, a fancy wardrobe, or keep up with the Jones’s as far as the latest and greatest of what’s on the market. I also knew that, with my focus on education, I would never achieve the level of internet fame that some of my industry compatriots have experienced. Good on them by the way. No throwing shade. I just look at that life and know I don’t have it in me both personality wise or talent wise. There’s a reason that I’ve stuck to blogging and books in an error — I mean era — of dynamic media like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. I try. From time to time, I try. Sadly an old dog struggles learning new tricks. I think podcasting is about as fancy as I can get when it comes to content creation.
At any rate, when I look back at the milestones I’ve pasted by in my life I smile. 10 years as one brand in this industry is rare. Think about all the other “overlanders” that have risen and fallen like fireworks. They sore to great heights, look great for a second, and fizzle out into obscurity. A cursory look through my patch collection shows a venerable graveyard of fabric tombstones marking a lot of dead brands from the last ten years. And that’s not even including the time spend prior to ECOA as my off-road media company 4Low Digital Labs <cough> speaking of dead brands <cough> or my time spent prior to that in the outdoor industry. Aside from the 10 years as ECOA the last 30+ years of my life have been devoted to one version or another of a life spent in the outdoors.
10 years. 100 events. 10’s of 1,000’s of miles. 1,000’s of people spread across dozens of states. It’s been a wild adventure. The best part is, it’s not over. If there are two qualities about myself that I am most proud of it’s my ability to adapt and my ability to perceiver. In the ten years of ECOA only three of them I would argue were “good” years. 2015-2017 saw the brand on an upward climb during those there years. Ever since things have been a struggle for one reason or another. Thankfully, 2024 was a return to 2017-era feelings. The blog is doing well. I did a fair number of events this year (even with the LS LJ being down-and-out with a blown head gasket). We — okay, the girlfriend — even added a new rig to the fleet with my girlfriend purchasing a 2012 Chevy Express 2500 van with a Quigley four-wheel-drive conversion on it (more on that to come). So, what’s next?
First, I currently have book #5 in draft form being edited right now. I hope to finish that up this winter. It was started a while ago <cough> 2019 <cough> so it’s a little overdue. This book isn’t about an adventure, or at least not one of mine. Rather this book is a compendium of sorts to the No Highways Tour series and focuses on what I’ve learned doing those trips and breaking everything down so you — the reader — can plan such a trip. So it’s more of a skills/knowledge/experience repository than about specific locations. I also plan on revising the 2015 No Highways Tour book into a second edition in honor of that book turning 10 next year. I will revise a few thing stylistically so it lines up more with the other books in the series, I will also sprinkle in some perviously released stuff from that trip. I plan to do the same with the other books, but those can wait.
I also have plans to launch the 4th season of the Echoes of Adventure podcast. New sponsor. A co-host! No spoilers though. But I am super excited to move forward with, yet again, another long overdue project given that season three came out in 2021. Ugh. Been a minute. I’ll explain more when the podcast resumes.
Lastly I do have plans to do some videos. Timing isn’t right with where I am physically at right now. Living in a basement of a 101 year old school building isn’t the best “studio” to do overland adventure travel videos. I also want to make sure that any content I put it aligns with the ECOA mission and is firmly rooted on a bedrock of education. So I will most likely launch a video series focusing on my “10 Essentials” talk sort of like I did with the EOA podcast in season 3.
Beyond that, there will be a subtle shift in my booth at shows in 2025 and the years to come. I am already set up as a dealer for Purple Lizard Maps. Since the bulk of what I teach at events is trip planning, logistics, and navigation resources it makes sense to double down on that be become, “the overland map guy.” No that won’t be my new name, but since that’s already my reputation I hope to live up to that expectation and not just talk about maps and use them in classes, but make them available for purchase. This isn’t an attempt to “get rich” or “exploit” people for money. The reality is going to events and teaching classes is a net loss at the end of the day. When the ECOA Patron Support Team was alive and thriving that helped subsidize expenses associated with attending classes. Sadly events don’t pay instructors. Sad, I’ve tried to encourage event promotors to do so, but the reality is even the big events like Overland Expo don’t pay well enough to break even, let along leave with money. After years of going broke at events I need to switch things up. Selling maps seems to fit with that. We shall see.
It’s not about the destination, the camping, or even the rig and gear.
It’s about memories.
So, in 2025 I hope to see you out there either at an event, in a class, or on the trail! Hopefully the LS LJ is back on the road soon and either pulling the Poor Man’s Teardrop or riding behind the van. I hope all is well with you and yours this holiday season and I look forward to hearing about your recent adventures the next time we cross paths!
Thank you for being apart of the last ten years of this adventure, and I hope you’re around for the next ten years.
~ Dean Shirley, founder of East Coast Overland Adventures
P.S. – Thank you to the ECOA Corporate Partners and the ECOA Patron Support Team that have helped support and subsidize the backend of the ECOA mission to Educate, Encourage, and Inspire overland adventure travel enthusiasts. Wouldn’t have lasted this long without the support of so many great companies and more importantly so many great people.
