With an alarm set for 8AM Friday, I went to bed around 11PM on Thursday night. I was excited about leaving the next day to drive seven or eight hours to Springfield Missouri. Most people don’t understand why a sane person would be excited by the idea of an entire day of driving to an exposition hall. However, for those of us that are aware of the term “Overlanding,” the idea of a two day Overlanding expo packed with tons of featured rigs, awesome vendors, and quality gear is pretty exciting.
Of course, when 5:30AM on Friday morning rolled around, I found myself wide awake and starting to run through my gear list to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything essential for the trip. My brain was thoroughly excited about the idea of finding new restaurants, snacks, energy drinks to keep me focused and on the road, and finally, the destination: MOORE Expo 2021.
So, I jumped out of bed, got dressed, and started packing the few remaining items I hadn’t packed the night before into the truck. I verified that I had what I needed and took off.
My Nissan Xterra isn’t exactly the most fuel efficient vehicle ever made, so it was going to take some stops to grab gas. Each pitstop was an opportunity to grab a snack and to stretch my legs. After a couple of stops for fuel, I was most of the way to MOORE and getting ever more excited.
While the drive out from Indiana is pretty flat and straight, there were some cool rigs on the road to check out on the way. Also, about 20 miles out from the event, a semi-truck almost ran me off the road, so that was exciting.
Around 3PM, I arrived at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, where MOORE Expo had the entire building reserved for the weekend. I met up with Jeremiah of Overland Pioneers and Rob from Revere Overland and we were able to sneak in a day before the expo officially started.
Vendors
As I stepped into the warm, inviting building (I was stepping out of single digit outdoor temps), it was immediately evident that there was something special going on in this place. I walked around and saw a wide variety of vendors setting up their displays, wares, and vehicles.
The venue itself is massive. With about 80K square feet, I kind of felt like I walked for miles over the couple of days that I was there. I probably did with all the trips I made from one booth to the next. With so much to see, it’s almost overwhelming, but mostly just awesome.
Almost anything you could imagine related to Overlanding was on display. From giant EarthRoamer style vehicles, to rock climbing Jeeps, to old school Land Rovers and Land Cruisers, to modern day 4Runners, Tacomas, and Sprinter vans, you could see it all here.
There were shops for Overlanding themed clothing, stickers, and patches. There were booths dedicated to some big brands like Helux Overlanding Fridges, Midland Radios, Patriot trailers, TC Teardrop trailers, and more. My friends Overland Addict and Last US Bags were in attendance as well as Northology Overland who were talking about both their free digital Overlanding Magazine and the always exciting KOAR 2021 event happening later this year.
I met some new people like Overland Cookware (some amazing quality cookware options and kits), Long Creek Overland (awesome apparel for a number of cool brands), and Oscar Mike Overland (a non-profit organization that is dedicated to changing the lives of Veterans through Overlanding).
As everyone finished setting up Friday night, you could feel the excitement and relief in the air. People relaxed, planned, and started to head out to rest before the madness of thousands of attendees started the following morning.
Featured Rigs
As the doors opened Saturday morning, you could feel the palpable excitement in the air. People started to flow into the venue and as the vendors and exhibitors greeted them, you could tell that everyone was as excited as I had been waking up Friday morning.
Stickers and patches were handed out, products were sold, and people got to meet the representatives of brands we’ve all seen on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and more. As a YouTube content creator, it was very humbling to meet some fans and to get to learn more about them and their builds.
I also got the opportunity to meet some other content creators that I’ve followed for a long time like Grant Willbanks of Arkansas Offroad, Chad Boyd of Overland Addicts, Rob Miller of Revere Overland, and more.
One of the coolest rigs (in my highly biased, Nissan loving opinion) at the expo was the Rogue Overland gen 1 Xterra. At one point, I was talking to the guys from Rogue Overlanding when a fan of theirs approached and said “I subscribe to you guys on YouTube.” I politely backed away to give them time to talk, but as I stepped back, the gentleman looked at me and said “I subscribe to you too Fletch!” I was taken aback, but I rejoined the conversation and we all had a great talk about our love for Nissans and Overlanding.
One of the best things about MOORE is that while it may seem difficult to get to know a brand online, when you see them in real life, they are just normal people who love to talk about Overlanding and gear like the rest of us. When you attend this event, you really can meet and learn more from all different kinds of people with all kinds of experience and rigs.
There’s gear and info for offroaders, for folks interested in the van life, for weekend Overlanders, and even for long term, long distance Overlanders.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Expo was a ton of fun. I got to see all kinds of amazing rigs, gear, modifications and it really got my creative juices flowing. Right when you think you’ve got everything figured out for your rig, you see something cool that someone else has done to their vehicle or a new piece of gear and it makes you want to tweak your setup again.
In addition to all of the great rigs and vendors, the best thing about the MOORE Expo was the people I met and the relationships I made. For a lot of us, we watch many of these people on YouTube talking about trips or doing gear reviews. I’m sure most of us have watched at least a few TrailRecon videos and it was super cool to see him at this event. The same goes for Clay and Rachelle of Expedition Overland. They were walking around for most of the event and hung out quite a bit in the Redarc booth, which was where I was stationed.
I got to talk to people that I only knew through social media and I heard all about their rigs and stories. I spoke to other people who make Overlanding content and learned from them. It was a fantastic experience filled with opportunity to grow your knowledge, friendships, and appreciation for Overlanding.
I can’t wait for MOORE 2022 and based on what Chris was able to do with this year’s event, I’m sure it will be a killer show with even more vendors, even more celebs, and even more fun. See you next year!
Watch the video for tons of pictures, videos, and more from the show!