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Motorcyle Camping and Adventure Touring Show

I had a great time at the show. Audrey Menarik and team put together a fantastic event. The best part for me was meeting and talking to the people.

I had a great informative talk with Robert E Lee who heads up the Texas Redneck Ramble dual sport rides.

I met Scott Calhoun from Butler maps. We talked for the longest about his riding, researching, and planning the maps. How they rate the roads: good, better, best. How to use the maps along with GPS and Google Maps. I now have lots and lots of roads in Arkansas as dream rides.

I found my next riding jacket at the Al Lambs Dallas Honda booth; if I only had the cash in hand for the discounted show price.

Tony, from Eurosport in Ft Worth, answered all my questions about the Zero electric bike on display. I was invited to stop by the store for a test ride. Plus, invited to the many local rides sponsored by Eurosport throughout the year. And I drooled over the Triumph and Ducati Scramblers on display.

I think that this show is a success. It is specifically targeted toward the Adventure/dual-sport segment of motorcycling. Everywhere you looked, there were show guest's and display bikes representing this part of motorcycles: BMW's, KLR's, V Stroms, Versys', Scramblers.

I hope this continues to grow and be an Annual event. Good Job!
 
If in indeed this was the first effort for this event, then it was pretty good. Many brands of new adv bikes under one roof for those in the market (although I didn't see BMW). And lots of apparel and helmets to be had. I was nevertheless disappointed in the lack of camping gear, which is what I rode 300+ miles round trip to see. I had a pocket full of cash with nothing to buy:doh:. But it was a beautiful day to ride:sun: and had no conversations with any public safety officer.
 
My understanding is that the BMW dealer backed out at the very last minute because of personnel issues. So the organizer had an empty spot and asked some folks to park their BMWs there to fill the gap.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
It was a great event, the show was only half the fun. Enjoyed visiting with friends for about 3 hours. Went to bill dagroo presentation, had a chance to visit with him afterwards.

I bought a pair of Klim Mojave pants at a good price. Steve @macdaddy let me ride his scooter!

@jarrett and I camped with everyone else.

Made new friends around the campfire, Audrey joined us. She put this together in about 4 months. The show was a break even financially, but she is passion about the adv sport. That was her primary goal. She said the guy selling Mexican blankets did very well.

I forgot to take pics at the show. I think Steve’s scooter threw me for a loop:)

Had about 20 people camp out, and made some new friends.

They cooked free hotdogs for us:

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Perfect night on the lake
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Sat around the fire

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Went to a warm bed and watched some Netflix

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Perfect morning

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Jarrett had his first moto camping experience

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So, you guys that went to the show- I'm curious. Was the free entry for 25 and under effective? Did you guys see a large influx of younger people there?
 
So, you guys that went to the show- I'm curious. Was the free entry for 25 and under effective? Did you guys see a large influx of younger people there?
I didn't. Did meet a couple younger folks at the camp out though. Not sure if they were under 25 or though. Guessing not.

I followed Jarrett over from Waxahachie on a cool morning along I-35. The ride went as well as interstate can through a major city and thank you to Jarrett for leading.

I got to talk to some old racing friends, especially Bert Reynolds from KTM of N. Texas. I also got to spend time in the parking lot with Rich (Simmons1), Kevin (MisterK) and Jeff from TWT before I left.

It was a good time. Ran into Uncle Buck, his dad and TossingLead, I believe. Also spoke with El_Chamiso (I think, I'm bad with screen names) during one of the presentations. Was good to catch up with him. I saw Simmons1 from a distance but didn't find him in person, while standing with MacDaddy at the KTM booth, hearing stories of his racing prowess from the owner. Didn't know Steve was such a rockstar, but the racers at the show were sure happy to run into him and tell some good MacDaddy racing stories.

Being a newbie, I really appreciated the presentations. I watched a couple with Bil Dragoo and that really made me want to take his class. After hearing him speak, I suspect its well worth the money. Here are the ones I made:

FROGGY’S MOTO TOURS - Cool thing. I might go do one of his tours next year

ROAD SKILL & ROAD STRATEGY with Kevin Morris - was nice to see him in person after watching all his videos

CANNONBALL MOTORCYCLE RACE - Team Norton. These stories were fantastic.

BILL DRAGOO - Adventure Riding Skills, Bike, Body and Energy Conservation - I could sit and listen to this guy talk for a long while. Got the feeling he's seen it all.

MOTO CAMPING ON THE CHEAP, CHARLIE BRAVO STYLE! - I missed this one, but met Brett (and Charlie) at the campout afterward and talked to him for a long time. Cool dude.

ROBERT E. LEE - Why do you pack so heavy?! - I liked this one. No fluff, just good tips on camping off the bike.

BILL DRAGOO - Adventure Bike Set Up for Travel and Camping - Didn't want to miss him speak again. Just a constant stream of good tips and info when he spoke.

ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE ROAD - Joseph Savant - This one really surprised me. His trip through the Americas and the pics from it were amazing. Made me want to get a camera to take on the bike.

It was a great event, the show was only half the fun. Enjoyed visiting with friends for about 3 hours. Went to bill dagroo presentation, had a chance to visit with him afterwards.

@jarrett and I camped with everyone else.

Made new friends around the campfire, Audrey joined us. She put this together in about 4 months. The show was a break even financially, but she is passion about the adv sport. That was her primary goal.

Had about 20 people camp out, and made some new friends. They cooked free hotdogs for us

Jarrett had his first moto camping experience

Yeah, this was equally as cool as the show at least. Thanks to MisterK for all the pointers and tips. Certainly makes camping better with a seasoned pro setup nearby.

We met a bunch of folks on the campout and MisterK was a true TWT ambassador and told everyone about the group. I suspect there will be a few new faces around here in the next week or so.

Everyone there was very welcoming, which made the camp out a blast. It was interesting to sit around the camp fire with folks in the industry and hear their perspective on things. Everyone really does come to motorcycles from a different angle and its cool to hear their stories.

This event made me want to do more motorcycle camping in the future, I just need to tweak my setup some more to make the sleeping part more comfortable.

I told her several times during the camp out, but just wanted to say thanks again to Audrey and the Moto Liberty crew for making this happen. It was a cool event. Hope they do it again sometime.

And some pics:
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I managed to spend a couple of hours at the show Saturday. Thought the Adv bike aspect of the show was great however the "Camping" side of things was lacking in a big way. For a first of its kind locally I suppose it was a good start. With luck next year more camping type outfitters will show up. All in all at least I got to have a good ride on the KLR even though it was all pavement. Wish I could have made the camp out, maybe next time.
 
Hopefully the attendance numbers were strong enough that it will encourage camping equipment vendors to want to be part of it next year.
 
I wonder if they reached out to places like Whole Earth Provision or REI to be part of it.

Would have been cool to have that stuff there. Maybe next time.
 
Thanks Jarrett!

TexTom pointed me to this thread about the show...

I was very excited about the adv show when Audrey asked me to be a part of it a few months ago. She wasn't sure if anyone would show up, etc and I was REALLY surprised at the turnout when I rode up. There were a lot of bikes in the lot and once inside it was almost elbow room only for a couple of hours. I was expecting just a few folks at the show since it's hard to get a handle on how many adv riders are around, but I was happy to see so many riders wandering through. Would like to know how many tickets were sold. Audrey was as surprised about the turnout as anyone and for a first event, I think it turned out fantastic. There were more vendors than I expected, a lot of folks coming through throughout the day, and a series of excellent presentations.

As a couple of other riders I spoke with, people were happy to have the chance to get together and get an idea of the number of others of our "ilk".

She believes next year there will be many more vendors and variety, and here's hoping it will grow and grow. I was very lucky to be invited to speak and got the chance to meet a lot of folks and hear a lot of great information from the speakers. I'm looking forward to next year and if we support by attending it has possibilities of becoming a really big show! Awesome job Audrey :D
 
ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE ROAD - Joseph Savant - This one really surprised me. His trip through the Americas and the pics from it were amazing. Made me want to get a camera to take on the bike.

Did you realize that we have a photography subforum in the Story Telling Forum just for this purpose?

http://www.twtex.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=99

The idea was to help riders improve their photog skills to help with their ride reports. It has really helped mine.
 
It was a great event, the show was only half the fun. Enjoyed visiting with friends for about 3 hours. Went to bill dagroo presentation, had a chance to visit with him afterwards.

I bought a pair of Klim Mojave pants at a good price. Steve @macdaddy let me ride his scooter!

@jarrett and I camped with everyone else.

Made new friends around the campfire, Audrey joined us. She put this together in about 4 months. The show was a break even financially, but she is passion about the adv sport. That was her primary goal. She said the guy selling Mexican blankets did very well.

Jarrett had his first moto camping experience

13105fa7b5fa7e5a80023b7f081033fc.jpg

@misterk @jarrett - good to meet you. I was the boarder in Doug's RV. Doug's campfires always seem to attract a crowd.

I thought several of the presenters were good, I learned a couple of things. Checked out some bikes, met people I hadn't seen in a while and enjoyed the campground scene - worth the trip.

I'd go again next year.
 
Thanks Jarrett!
Thanks for doing it. Those pics and stories were fantastic. Especially, Escobar's brother's warning :)

Did you realize that we have a photography subforum in the Story Telling Forum just for this purpose?

http://www.twtex.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=99

The idea was to help riders improve their photog skills to help with their ride reports. It has really helped mine.

Maybe, but not really. I've kicked around getting into photography as a hobby and using the motorcycle to get me places to take pictures. I need to look into it. TinStar's presentation sparked some more interest for me.

@misterk @jarrett - good to meet you. I was the boarder in Doug's RV. Doug's campfires always seem to attract a crowd.
Dennis, right? It was nice meeting y'all and hanging out. Good times.

Morning after -

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Dang, that's a nice pic. You do get up early :)
 
I wonder if they reached out to places like Whole Earth Provision or REI to be part of it.

Would have been cool to have that stuff there. Maybe next time.

That would be a really good idea. As a general rule, anything that works for backpacking transfers quite nicely to moto-camping. If it's close to small enough, and remotely close to light enough for backpacking, it'll work just fine on a bike. At least, that's been my experience.
 
@misterk @jarrett - good to meet you. I was the boarder in Doug's RV. Doug's campfires always seem to attract a crowd.



I thought several of the presenters were good, I learned a couple of things. Checked out some bikes, met people I hadn't seen in a while and enjoyed the campground scene - worth the trip.



I'd go again next year.



Jarrett, change your user handle....Dennis found us [emoji23]

Dennis I enjoyed hanging out with you and Doug.
 
I know the show was lacking on the camping vendors at the show, and I would like to explain. I started organizing this show WAY too late. I could motivate the motorcycle industry, because they know me, but on the camping side, it was much more difficult. Although companies like Big Agnes, MSR expressed a lot of interest, and I'm sure I can get them on board next year, Christmas truly is their busiest time of year, and I just didn't give enough notice for them to budget manpower. Manpower is always the biggest challenge for anybody working the show. However, the camping night was just what it should be. People getting together with old friends and making new ones. Overall, I'm very happy with the show; and of course have a ton of ideas on how to make it better.... but the one thing I can say is, I saw more smiling faces at this show than any other trade show I've ever been to. That's what counts. The venue was perfect. I wanted it to be more like a social event than a show, and I think we accomplished that. The show will be back next year, due to popular demand. :)
 
The show will be back next year, due to popular demand. :)
Good to hear.

Audrey, just wanted to say thanks to you and all the Moto Liberty folks for putting this thing together. I had a blast at the show and especially at the camp out, hanging out with you and your folks around the camp fire. It was good to meet and spend time with other moto camping folks.

You asked me which jacket it was that I bought from you and I didn't know. I went and looked it up yesterday, it was the Latitude :)
 
I wonder if they reached out to places like Whole Earth Provision or REI to be part of it.

Would have been cool to have that stuff there. Maybe next time.
We did..... REI is a co-op type company and has lots of limitations. Whole Earth Provision was odd. The employees at the store all thought it was a great idea and wanted to participate, but when we got up to the Marketing Director, she didn't get it at all and offered us some $10 gift cards. We declined. However, there is SO much more we can do for the next one. I just needed more time.
 
Good to hear.

Audrey, just wanted to say thanks to you and all the Moto Liberty folks for putting this thing together. I had a blast at the show and especially at the camp out, hanging out with you and your folks around the camp fire. It was good to meet and spend time with other moto camping folks.

You asked me which jacket it was that I bought from you and I didn't know. I went and looked it up yesterday, it was the Latitude :)

J...How cold was it.? Yall look pretty bundled up. Hot dogs are always a great idea and cheap and everyone likes them with chips etc. Did you sleep? Im lucky if i do much away from home myself. That really looked like fun, i'm sure a shot of bourbon helped warm a few of you up.
 
Audrey sorry I missed the show this year I know you put a lot of work into it, I got my tickets to another TWT member here and he really enjoyed the show.

I will schedule better next time and will stop into the store next time I am in Dallas as our home office is not too far from you.
 
That would be a really good idea. As a general rule, anything that works for backpacking transfers quite nicely to moto-camping. If it's close to small enough, and remotely close to light enough for backpacking, it'll work just fine on a bike. At least, that's been my experience.
Same here... I spent many years backpacking and you're right, all my stuff works great for moto camping.
 
J...How cold was it.? Yall look pretty bundled up. Hot dogs are always a great idea and cheap and everyone likes them with chips etc. Did you sleep? Im lucky if i do much away from home myself. That really looked like fun, i'm sure a shot of bourbon helped warm a few of you up.

I think it got down to a low of 36 or 37. I was pretty layered up. I didn't sleep too well, but I've got some ideas on how to improve it next time. Going to hopefully give it another shot thos coming Friday night.
 
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