Out and About: Overland Expo 2011, Amado AZ and The Historic Empire Ranch, Vail, AZ

It never fails that when you want to go out and camp in the desert, the weather will turn hot. If you're really lucky, you'll also get 25 mph wind gusts and dust storms. I guess I should go buy a lottery ticket.

Overland Expo is a gathering of folks who enjoy travel, gadgets, big trucks and adventure. Overlanding is really better described as vehicle-dependant exploration, although I know there are some folks who do this using just public transportation and others who do it on foot, too. But, I think, the majority of overlanders use either trucks (4 wheels) or motorbikes (2 wheels).

Conservation Driving Course

 

 Bill and I use a Toyota Tacoma, which I call the Super Taco, but don't tell Bill that. Super Taco is pretty much stock still, but it gets us where we need to go. Our gear is pretty standard fare as well, but again, it gets the job done. We would actually like to downsize the gear even more, and its something I'm still actively working on. We try to learn something about how we utilize our gear every time we go out so that we can better fine tune the process for the next trip.

We had to "windproof" the camp.

 OX2011 was great fun, even with the record heat and the microfine dust coating on everything (including us).

We spent some of Saturday afternoon away from OX2011, and explored a little around the area. Though I was born and raised in the Great State of Arizona (as was Bill), and spent much of my youth exploring the state, I'm more familiar with Northern AZ than Southern AZ. It was a nice surprise to stumble upon the Historic Empire Ranch, just south of Vail.

The photographer in me lamented that we found it so late in the day, as I could have spent hours just photographing the amazing textures of the old wood and rusted metals. I will have to make it back someday, and bring some macro lenses with me! We really enjoyed finding this somewhat "off the beaten path" location though, and learning more about the history of our state.

We're already preparing for our next adventure, and we also already look forward to next year's Overland Expo!