No Platform Racks at Overland Expo '18?

In May of 2018, I traveled to Overland Expo West in Flagstaff Arizona, with my brother-in-law, and Adventure Truck co-founder J.P. Stevens. His ‘16 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro is well known at such overland events. The plan was to show his truck in one of the booths, while promoting a new hard shell, full-enclosure tent for Free Spirit Recreation.

Full walk around of J.P.’s '16 Toyota TRD Pro 4runner build at Overland Expo West 2018.

During this event, Adventure Truck was more of a youtube channel and facebook group, than it was a company. As the expo drew thousands, and the dust routinely blew, I walked around and filmed the different booths and companies we had affiliations with.

Since J.P. was promoting Free Spirit’s rooftop tents, my fixation was on all the other tent vendors at Expo West. Many brands of rooftop tents filled the makeshift isles of the event. And many people enjoyed climbing inside them and asking questions. But the obvious “entry” product seemed to be lacking. Where were all the rooftop platform rack options that would put someone in the market for a rooftop tent?

Maybe there were a few rack manufacture booths there, but nothing that I saw. I remember there was Rhino Racks, but that’s about it. The remainder of my Expo West ‘18 memory was drowned with images of Earth Cruisers and other gigantic creations fit to roam the deserts of Tatooine. If I was a regular person who drove a Honda Element, and I was; how could I enter the overland scene?