Expedition Portal Meet-n-Greet, Fiesta Island

This week we had a chance to attend a Meet-n-Greet for local members of the Expedition Portal Forums (ExPo), a group that spends more time thinking about adventure travel, expedition vehicles, and camping than even I do. If you want to discuss the best platform for building a vehicle for your next drive around the world, this is the place, as there are dozens of members here who've done it. Of course if you just like weekend camping and the like, there are plenty of similarly-minded folks as well. In any case, we packed up the "Trailhead Approach Vehicle", aka the Frankenstein Outback WRX, and made for Fiesta Island where we had a great time! Surprisingly, Annika wasn't the youngest in attendance as she had a full week over the other newborn in attendance!

For those not familiar with why I call it the Frankenstein Outback WRX, tune your radio to Johnny Cash's rendition of "One Piece at a Time" and you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. Its a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX, lifted slightly on 2004 Impreza Outback Sport suspension with underbody armor and all-weather bits from a similar vintage Outback. Add-in larger brakes from a 2006 Impreza TR, seats from a 2005 Impreza STi, a Radio from a 2004 Forester (now swapped for a Bluetooth equipped JVC), and a collection of interior pieces from a variety of junkyard Legacy, Outback, and STi models, and you see where I'm going with this. Round out the package with a set of Conti Mud&Snows and a DIY awning bolted to a healthy dollop of Yakima rack gear, and pack it correctly, and its a perfect vehicle to get a group of hikers to a trailhead, or a great car-camper for a couple very much in love.

And it just about fits a family of three for a day at the beach. Yep, with a cooler, grill, a pair of lawn chairs, all of the baby-gear, and a couple of armloads of firewood to contribute to the bonfire, the 'Roo was FULL. Seeing this, one might understand why I've been spec'ing out a new vehicle in my head. This won't be a drive-to-the-tip-of-south-america-and-back expedition vehicle, but neither will it be a yuppie camper or soccer-hauler, but something a bit in-between that should serve our family for many years to come!

At the end of the day, we saw a lot of very cool ExPo vehicles and got a few ideas about what's important and not important for OUR adventure needs. More importantly, we met a great collection of fabulous ExPo members. Also, the sunset views were hard to beat!