Rendezvous in the Ozarks
A Natural State Overland Event
Jamie and I had reservations to attend this years overlanding event at Byrds Adventure Park. With the current state of the world, this event did not look like it would happen. Well the stars aligned and the event was a go? We packed our camping gear and loaded up the Jeep. Ron drove up on Wednesday to hang out before the event. He got up early on Thursday and headed to the event to pick out a good camping spot. Word had it that the event was filling up quickly. Jamie and I headed up Thursday evening after we got off work.
We enjoyed a nice dinner and finished up that first night by the fire. It was a chilly night, but we slept well. We put on some coffee and enjoyed a great breakfast at camp. Nothing tastes better than coffee on a cool camping morning.
We had lunch at the Deer Stand Cafe in Deer Arkansas. There was a small crowd, service was slow, but damn… the food was amazing! We enjoyed our sandwich and then headed off to the Falls.
We jumped in the jeep and headed off for a day of exploring with the only planned destination being car wash falls. We spent the entire day exploring forest roads and taking in the Arkansas countryside.
We had a strange encounter after the Falls. We drove down CR 5550. It was a nice trail, with some beautiful scenery. We were greeted by a pack of dogs, who thought it was a good idea to attack the jeep. The only casualty was our trash a roo. It did not make it as the dogs tore a big hole in the bag. We finished up the trail and made it back to camp in time to visit some vendors.
There were a number of vendors at the event and it made it enjoyable just walking around and dreaming of all of the upgrades that were possible for our rig.
We are big fans of a YouTube channel called Dome Life. As luck would have it Cody & Kellie were attending the event. It was great getting to meet them and to spend some time chatting with them. We were even in one of their videos. Their love of camping and the outdoors is apparent. They are very nice people and we hope our paths cross again in the future.
We cooked out at camp enjoying a nice meal and a wonderful fire. The temps were cool, but it made it more enjoyable to sit by the fire and chat about the day.
The next morning we got up, had a quick breakfast and headed over to the staging area. We were doing the moderate guided tour. We were excited, however a little apprehensive as well. Our stock JK was going to be put to the test. It was a fantastic day with some nice technical obstacles that were conquered by our JK. Not without a few bruises but it made it through and we had a great day and a wonderful off-road experience.
I want to take a moment to thank the folks at Natural State Overland. The event was well run, very enjoyable and the guided tour was a blast. Special Thanks to Joe and Spencer for leading our group and making sure we all cam out unscathed. It was a great time.
We finished up the day, spending more time in the vendor area and chilling at the campsite. It was a great event and we will be attending next year as well. If you want to see all of the pictures go here.
I also did a couple of videos from the event. Check them out on our YouTube Channel.
On a side note
After this event, Jamie and I decided that we would spend some money on the JK to make it a little more capable. Nothing crazy but a few things that will make next years event even more enjoyable. Here are the highlights
Smittybilt Gen 3 XRC bumper Bulldog 8000lb winch Terraflex Performance Leveling Kit Terraflex Shocks LED headlights & Driving lights Heise LED Cube Lights 3″ All of the work was done at 4 wheel Concepts. They did a great job.
