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30 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Overland Expo West Overland Expo West Recap Part One-Road Trip Recap Part One-Road Trip! By Jim Bird By Jim Bird The third week of August 2021 arrived, and I found myself, for the second year in a row, in McCall Idaho with a trailer full of motorcycles. The desire to stay and con nue riding was powerful but, alas, a er 7 weeks out west, it was me to load up and head back east to New Hampshire. I'd be driving solo with truck and trailer and the travel plan included a long weekend at the Overland Expo in Loveland, Colora- do. Three days were budgeted to get from McCall to Loveland, along a route through some of the most impossibly beau ful terrain on the planet. Hurry was not a preferred verb for this drive. I had become aware of the Overland Expo Mountain West (OX) a few months earlier when a number of industry friends indicated they would be a ending to promote their wares. I did some homework and was intrigued. Time to go to an OX! The first OX was in Presco , Arizona in 2009 and was the brainchild of Roseann and Jonathan Hanson. Intended to be a gathering of cross-country travel enthusiasts, and those who supply them, it was a hit and has grown to four events each year in the US. Three days of mul track seminars, vendor displays/ demos, demo rides, and DART Adventure Bike train- ing were all part of the OX. I don't know at what point the two wheeled adven- ture types joined the OX family, but it is a natural fit. Ge ng to Loveland. There were too many bikes for the trailer, so the KTM 450 was relegated to the back of the truck. My inner Fred Flintstone was channeled to create a mini front wheel for the 450 from an old wooden fence post found in Pete's burn pile. This shortened the 450 wheelbase enough to allow the tailgate to close. Proof that you can learn something from children's cartoons.