Chi-Town 4x4 Overland Meet & Greet
Last Saturday, we spent the very hot day at ChiTown 4x4 in Carol Stream for their 2nd annual overland swap/meet and greet also hosted by our friend Joe who is the owner of the off-road shop. Yes, this might be contradictory because we are a bunch of overland people meeting in a city parking lot, but hey...who's judging. This was an awesome opportunity to see some outstanding overland vehicles ranging from Tacomas, 4Runners, Land Rovers, FJs, Xterras, 80/100/200 series Landcruisers.
We set up day camp and opened our awning and started chatting with folks as they rolled in. Great rigs started rolling in around 9:30a.m. and quickly filled up the back parking lot and wrapped around to the front. As the temps climbed that afternoon we grabbed our favorite frosty beverage and started to wander around. It was great to catch up with the good folks from American Adventurist, Northology, MidWest Overlanders and even the Toyota High Mileage Club repping their nicely modified 100 series Landcruiser that had 440,000 miles on it. We talked quite a bit with our parking lot neighbor, Cindy from Northology, who had a sweet jeep with an overland style trailer with all the goodies. She was there passing on a lot of great info on the upcoming Keweenaw Overland Adventure Retreat in Michigans beautiful upper peninsula that she has been putting together. The event sounds like its going to be an event you are not going to want to miss and we are most certainly are looking forward to attending it.
Around noon, we fired up the skottle and made some pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, and some pasta salad for our new extended family. And then at 2:00p.m., the Chi-Town staff held their famous raffle that was packed with LOTS of great gear and swag. Following the raffle, most people packed up and made their journeys home with a few heading to a local campground to continue the fun. Overall, it was a really fun event, very family-friendly and great way to meet new people interested in the same hobby. You can bet we will be there next year!
