Overland Expo East: Excited Oliver will be there, disappointed I won't

[NCeagle]

It's great to see that Oliver will have the Elite and Elite II at the Overland Expo East this coming weekend (as they did in the West Expo)!  I wish I was going to be there as I had planned, but jury duty has snatched me away from the world for a month or so it appears.  I hope some other Ollie owners go and take some good pics.

**Word of warning about pre-purchasing Overland Expo tix:  We've all learned to "plan ahead" with respect to our camping plans - that's just the way Covid has made it.  However, Overland Expo has a very strict policy of not giving refunds inside of 60 days out from the opening day, even if it's something "unexpected" like jury duty or a death in the family.  Kinda un-American if you ask me.  Bottom line is I'll NEVER again buy Overland Expo tickets early and my desire to attend an Expo has all but disappeared after this experience.

[topgun2]

Sorry that the Jury Duty thing got in the way of going to the Expo.  And, sorry for the way you are being treated by the Expo management.

But, thanks for doing your "Duty".  

Bill

[John E Davies]

Your Ollie is not welcome at OE events! It is quite ironic that they welcome the factory display trailers but won’t allow a privately owned LE1 or LE2 to camp there because they are not an overland trailer.

https://www.overlandexpo.com/east/faq-east/

Hopeful this attitude will change, maybe the Oliver factory reps can convince them to change their policy. 

I have camped at a local overland rally with no issues and it was a wonderful experience IMHO.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Trainman]

I've never not been able to reschedule my Jury summons to another date and as far as Covid goes today, it's a personal choice on what you do. 

trainman

[NCeagle]

18 hours ago, Trainman said:

I've never not been able to reschedule my Jury summons to another date and as far as Covid goes today, it's a personal choice on what you do. 

trainman

I guess a double negative means you've successfully had multiple jury summons rescheduled - good for you if that's what your goal is.  I chose to be honest and 2 planned camping trips and the Expo wasn't acceptable criteria.  Not sure what you mean by your Covid comment being a personal choice, but it's not always my personal choice to have to pre-plan and make reservations pretty much anywhere we want to stop.  

[SeaDawg]

Every jurisdiction has at least slightly different rules for excusing or postponing jury service. In my county court, we're typically allowed a one time postponement,  no questions asked. For a federal court summons, I had to provide dates and reservations,  etc., and wait for a response to be able to postpone. There's no easy answer. 

I'm really disappointed and surprised in Overland Expo's response to your request for a refund, because you're fulfilling your civic duty. I'd be tempted to take it "up the chain." 

[NCeagle]

17 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Every jurisdiction has at least slightly different rules for excusing or postponing jury service. In my county court, we're typically allowed a one time postponement,  no questions asked. For a federal court summons, I had to provide dates and reservations,  etc., and wait for a response to be able to postpone. There's no easy answer. 

I'm really disappointed and surprised in Overland Expo's response to your request for a refund, because you're fulfilling your civic duty. I'd be tempted to take it "up the chain." 

Thanks @SeaDawg - Good news - I actually did email back asking for "someone in a position of authority" to at least review my request.  The person I was working with did that for me and it was agreed to make an exception and process the refund.  I'm very happy they changed their position on this - now I can apply my refund to next years event.  🙂 

[Katjo]

In Michigan you can postpone jury duty one time for any reason. Sorry you missed the show.😏

[BBL]

On 10/5/2022 at 8:40 AM, John E Davies said:

Your Ollie is not welcome at OE events! It is quite ironic that they welcome the factory display trailers but won’t allow a privately owned LE1 or LE2 to camp there because they are not an overland trailer.

https://www.overlandexpo.com/east/faq-east/

Hopeful this attitude will change, maybe the Oliver factory reps can convince them to change their policy. 

I have camped at a local overland rally with no issues and it was a wonderful experience IMHO.

@John E Davies 

John,

We just got back from Overland Expo East and, when we arrived, we were surprised to see a 30' Airstream, a 28' Jayco, and a 45' Class A among many other "larger campers" all in the camping area after we read the same thing you posted. I tracked down an OE rep and asked what gives?  He said, they essentially have an "Overlander Camping Area" and that is what they refer to in the FAQ. He said, if you were to fill out the form for camping, it asks how long your rig is and if you say it is over 15', they explain you cannot camp with the overlanders but they will accommodate you.  I told him that didn't make ANY sense because if you read the FAQ you would never fill out the form to camp since it clearly states a 24' camper is not welcome.  His final answer was, they would look into adding details to the FAQ page so more people would know you CAN attend with your trailer.

The Oliver team got a tremendous reception, everyone seemed to really like the trailers.

We plan to go to at least one or two Overlander Expos next year and will take our Oliver, we just have a longer walk to the beer tent.

Brian

[Ralph Mawyer]

Overland West is based at a county park and RV camping is in the existing campground.  They also have a boondocking camping area which is for tents and small overland trailers. I'm guessing with the corporate buyout a few years ago and the expansion to multiple events, it's just more structured and likely dependent on the facility they rent.

 

[Steve Morris]

A lot of the overland style trailers are well over 15’ or even 24’. The Kimberley Kruiser T class is over 24’, and they’ve been to several Expos as exhibiters and camping with other Kimberley’s. 

[rideandfly]

We were camping in VA a few years ago and attended this fine event. Saw many different campers, camping gear, and many great ideas!