Wow what a weekend! 23, 000 people the first day and nearly that the second! This event is put on by Arizona Game & Fish to showcase hunting, fishing, shooting sports, wildlife conservations, and Off Highway Vehicle recreation to the public.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Game & Fish for allowing non-profits to setup free of charge. Being all volunteers here at DE and donation supported we work to keep cost as low as possible. Not only that but they gave us a great display area next to the rockcrawling demo course. People were continually drawn from the nearby shuttle stop by the Roof Top Tents waving in the wind.
This event gave us a chance to educate the general public on the importance of backcountry access for the quality of life of handicapped persons. In addition we met quite a few disabled folks who signed up for Ride-Alongs and were interested in the various gear & life solutions we have worked on. We did mini-gear demo’s that attracted groups of watchers who were interested how we could even help the able bodied.
Corbin was either folding his Camping Lab tent from his wheelchair or explaining his hand cycle. People were very impressed to find that he is our fabricator and to look over the Dakota that he is building up for overland travel.
The FJ Cruiser drew crowds as it always does, between handing out some juice boxes from the Engel fridge, to kids seeing themselves on the Total Vision camera system playing on the laptop or when we talked about the importance of being prepared with our SPOT Satellite Messenger or Adventure Medical First aid kit.
It also helped have Overland Journal right next to us. We were able to work together to show people the fun of expedition style travel and how the disabled can get into the backcountry & home safely.
The new Eezi-Awn tent was a huge crowd pleaser on top the Adventure Trailer Chaser and it held up great in the high winds along with the Autohome Maggiolina, & Camping Lab tents. It was a great comparison and demonstration.
The only things I didn’t get to show off as much as people wanted were the Pull Pal, Arb X-Jack & PillowTracks. The Pull Pal was unfolded and leaning against the front bumper so people could see it but I just didn’t see using it in live winching as very safe with the huge crowds. The X-Jack we did place under the rig on a corner and inflate somewhat with the Extreme Outback compressor but not enough to pickup the rig and again there were just too many people around. The PillowTracks did get handed around but since they function as trackmats and bridging ladders there wasn’t a great way to show them off.
Funny of all was that people would check out the Fire Dancer propane fire pit and then go over to the PETT chemical toilet with a walker around it. Even poop got its fair share of attention!
I have to say that we met some great people, disabled and able bodied alike. It was a great event put on by Arizona Game & Fish and they did an amazing job keeping it flowing. Showing off the gear & life solutions was tons of fun, talking to people about their disabled friends or relatives that we could help and camping on site ourselves was even cool!
We are already looking forward to next year and even bigger crowds.
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