I have been to four out of the five years of the Southeast Adventure Vehicle Expo. It has become one of my top-three favorite events of the year. It’s also the event that kicks off each year for me since it’s one of the few spring events on the east coast. The best part is, it’s in sunny and warm Florida. So needless to say it doesn’t take much arm-twisting for me to leave cold and snowy Pennsylvania for the blue skies and sunshine of the south.
The first year was 2021. Back then it was the “Southeast Overland and Off-Road Expo.” Bit of a mouthful to be honest, so I wasn’t surprised that the event name changed to not only be more inclusive, but also easier to say. Something I consider every time I say or type out “East Coast Overland Adventures.” Too late for me to change my name, sadly. Anyway, back on topic.
Is that a cooler?
Am I even overlanding, bro?
There are three things I look for in a show. Authenticity, Community, and Enthusiasm. The SAVE show has all three in spades. It’s authentically centered around adventure travel. This brings a mix of vehicles ranging from overland vehicles like SUV’s, trucks, and Jeeps to other adventure vehicles like bikes and vans. It’s also cool that the main features at the current venue is a rally track and a 4×4 obstacle course. The community at this show is also so great. Each year the show has grown a little bit stronger both in the quantity of attendees, but also their quality. The people that show up for SAVE are some of the best people I talk to and hang out with all years. When it comes to enthusiasm, well, this is where the show really shines. Onsite trails, onsite obstacle course, night-rides, classes, cooking demos, a great mix of vendors, live music, food trucks, there is nothing at the show that is half-assed or done out of basic obligation. It is, as I said, one of my favorite shows and y’all know how many shows I do a year.
Sadly I missed 2023 due to my accident, but I did make it for years one and two in 2021 and 2022. I also made it last year in 2024. This year I was picking up where I left off last year with a return to a more basic setup that in years past. With the LS LJ down-and-out with a blown head gasket (still) and the girlfriend’s Quigley 4wd van in the shop, I was forced to take the baby LJ in all its stock glory. This presented a few challenges.
The first challenge was trying to fit 10 pounds of crap into an 8 pound sack. In addition to my tent, awning, Skottle, cooler, clothing, and sleeping stuff I also needed to bring along everything I needed for teaching. Under normal circumstances with the LS LJ and the Poor Man’s Teardrop in tow, everything had a place and it was all stuff I would use in that rig. However, trying to condense everything into a stock LJ proved difficult. The main issue was that the Gazelle Tent and Gazebo don’t pack down every small. While roughly 10-11 inches in diameter, they both run over 5′ long. For those that don’t know the cargo area in an LJ is 4′ long and barely 4′ wide above the wheel wells. Not a lot of room for a pair of long tents. When I used the same tent/gazebo combo at Overland Expo East end of least year I was able to squeeze both of them in the back the Jeep diagonally by moving the front passenger seat forward. Wasn’t that big a deal for a relatively short drive from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Sadly it wasn’t going to work on a much longer drive from Pennsylvania to Florida. My solution was to just yank the front passenger seat out of the Jeep. This gave me a little more room for cargo and made transporting the long Gazelle brand text and gazebo much more tolerable.
The second challenge for my trip to FL was where to sleep on the way down. In years past I’d take my time and sleep in the trailer. That’s exactly why I built the trailer and why I enjoy it so much. I can simply pullover anytime anywhere and I’m good to go. Just open the backdoor, climb in, and go to sleep. That will also be the advantage of the girlfriend’s van. No need to set up “camp.” However, with both of those options off the tableI was left with the tent option. Not a big deal when at an event, but everyone knows how much of a pain making and breaking camp can be, even with a tent as quick and easy to set up as a Gazelle is. And honestly it’s not even the tent itself that’s the issue. It’s the cot, sleeping bag, pillow, clothing, and all the other “crap” that goes in the tent. With this in mind my initial plan was to stay with family I have in Florida. Cheating, I guess, but after driving for 12 hours down the east coast it was a better option that trying to make camp. Only problem: my family was out of state. My cousin was at the Grand Canyon and my uncle was up in the Dakotas. Whoops. Guess I should have checked with them before I left. At any rate, I did end up finding a good place to make camp. I got Campsite 114 at the Comfort Inn just north of Jacksonville. Hey, it worked.
Once at the event I got myself set up and ready for a weekend of camping. I also unpacked and repacked everything I’d need for my classes. With some extra time to kill I wondering around the venue helping the volunteers set up the vendor area. The next day I opted to take apart the dash of my Jeep to fix an issue with my radio. On the way down my auxiliary audio input cord became detached from the back of the radio. So much for listing to my audio book on the way down. Easy enough fix.
Aux cord came unplugged when I shoved the Gazelles into the Jeep.
Got it working for the way home with a bit of tape.
In total I taught four classes this year. I did a Navigation Resources class, my 10 Essentials for Overland Travel class, and a Radio Comms class. Those are pretty much mainstays for what I teach at events. In addition to those three I tried out a new class on Building a Recovery Kit. It was an idea that had been floating around my head for a few years and, all things considered, it went well. Wasn’t perfect, but that’s me being critical. I do think it was well received given the feedback I heard.
I think it went over well and answered a lot of good questions.
Beyond that it was a great show. Got to catch up with a lot of friends as well as make a few new ones. A lot of time was spent around the fire telling stories, sipping brown water, and smoking the occasional cigar. I did a few laps around the vendor area between classes checking out what was new and exciting. Sadly this isn’t the kind of show to bring out anything too new or too exciting, but still got to see a lot of industry friends which is always nice. The real highlight for me was getting to judge the Skottle Cooking Contest. This time it was an egg-roll themed contest which four different people competing. I will say it was one of the hardest contests I’ve had to judge. However, at the end, when judged on egg roll integrity, flavor, and overall presentation Darren Carden of TNT Overlander and the Southeast Overland Camping Weekend event that won. His thanksgiving themed egg-roll was not only the most complex flavor wise — might of had something to do with the Buc-ee’s nuts in it and the cranberry sauce on top — but it was also the best on presentation and integrity. That’s not to say any of the others were bad. As I said, it was a touch contest to judge. I think the real winners were us judges because we got to eat samples of all four egg-rolls.
The front one with the cranberry sauce topping was the clear winner!
And yes… I did drive 1,000 miles to drink a beer from my home state.
Don’t worry though, this Yuengling was brewed in FL.
Good friends sitting around a fire having a good time.
A few nips of a good scotch and a few puffs on a good cigar don’t hurt.
When all was said and done, and the event concluded, it was time to head home. Before heading back to PA I took a short detour to see some family in Tampa and catch up with one of my other cousins. The next money, at 0600, I set my sails north and managed to make it back to PA in a single 1,020 mile day. Not ideal, but it’s good to know my old-ass can still pull off a trip like that every once and a while.
Too cool not to share.
Now, here’s the best news! There will be a sister event of the SAVE show starting this year up here in PA. I’ve been working behind the scenes over the years to find the right people and the right venue. While I could have gone out on my own to start my own event, that’s not me. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. So after dropping Alissa’s name to a few people up this way, there will now be a Northeast Adventure Vehicle Expo this fall on Labor Day weekend. Needless to say, very excited for a high quality show like this to come up this way. So if you’re in the Mid-Atlantic, New England, or Great Lake states, plan a trip to PA this Labor Day weekend and I promise you don’t be disappointed.
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