Travelling in Shaun is a great conversation starter, for example the Ackermans from Vermont. We decided early on if we were offered opportunities through these conversations we would try and follow up on them.

One such conversation led us to consider attending an Overland Expo in Arrington, Virginia. We were in the parking lot of a supermarket, shortly before catching the ferry to Newfoundland. A family driving a pick-up truck and trailer saw us and came over to say hi. They had seen us from across the road, and came over to see Shaun. They told us about the expo and said we should contact the organiser and we might get a free spot if we are happy to go on display (like Vanlife in Shrewsbury). The date for us was not perfect, 4-6 October, as we had a lots of places to visit before dropping down this far in the USA. However, we thought it would be a good opportunity to meet other like minded travellers as per Vanlife, so thought it would be a good opportunity. Mark made the application, and we were accepted as part of the expo.

This really compressed our first few weeks in the USA as we had so much we wanted to see before going as far as Arrington, Virginia.

We had to book a campsite a fair distance from Boston as there wasn’t anything close. This one offered the opportunity to be in countryside, and was a short distance from a ferry so we could approach Boston from the sea! Wompatuck State park, easy for you to say! within a couple of hours we had seen deer and snapping turtles, a lovely park full of walking and cycling paths. However, Mark managed to book us on to a campsite that you aren’t allowed to drink alcohol on! 😂😆 Not outside anyway 😅 

It was great approaching Boston from the water. We had one day to see the highlights of Boston, and it was a very easy to city to walk around. We walked the Freedom Trail, significant places in US history and Boston relating to the War of Independence, 1775 to 1783. It was such a key place during American revolutionary war, famous of course for the Boston Tea Party!

From Boston, we quickly visited Cape Cod for a couple of days, which was lovely and relaxing before heading to the Expo. However, we had to spend time with another tyre mechanic. The tyre issue we mentioned previously, getting them moved around Shaun to balance the wear out, still hadn’t resolved itself. Even though we were told the ride would smooth after 1000km, it hadn’t. We had tried rebalancing the wheels, and that hadn’t worked. So yet again the tyres had to come off and the balancing beads were removed, as they had clumped together due to humidity, making the drive worse! Fingers crossed this works!!

We had to get to Arrington by 3 October, which meant bigger drives for us than we liked, but we made it and set up camp, amongst other overlanders on the Thursday evening. We were surrounded by all types of rigs, from a Subaru car, kitted up with a roof tent, and fancy gadgets through to another orange overlander, even bigger than us and lots of other things in between. It is fair to say this expo opened our eyes to the different ways of travelling and exploring the great outdoors. We are glad to report we still love Shaun and the way we have chosen to travel. 

The expo was incredibly well organised. We particularly liked the talks on a whole range of topics related to travel and exploration. Mark attended the big 5 creatures to be careful of, two of which are ticks and mosquitos! Julie attended one on self defence, to carry a gun or not!! We also attended ones on dispersed camping in the wild and things to look out for a s full time ‘vanlifer”. We also had two driving experiences, a 4 wheel drive INEOS Grenadier, over a specially constructed course, we both had a go at that! We then took a Yamaha side by side for a drive, well Mark drove and Julie sat there being thrown around! These side by sides, think all terrain vehicles, were good fun, and very popular in the USA.

Again the highlight for us were the people we met, some people we hope to see as we continue our travels around the USA. We met people with really interesting stories, like Patty Upton who had crossed the Darien Gap in a jeep, which is considered to be incredibly dangerous, and it was great to talk to her about that experience. Lot’s of people came by to see Shaun and ask us about our journey. We were able to offer information and advice to people who are thinking of building a vehicle like Shaun, so that was nice too.

We were both feeling tired, talking to so many people at the Expo and a lot of driving to get to the expo, we were ready for a break and luckily had our first USA trusted house sit coming up!

See Shaun……more problems for the next step in our journey. Thanks for reading!