PNW Overlander Expo in Redmond, Oregon (near Bend, OR) July 8 - 10, 2022 (photos see below)

We have friends that go nearly every year to the Overland Expo in Arizona by motorcycle (or trailer them there) and they enjoy it very much. When I saw that there would be an PNW Overland Expo for the first time, just a few hours south-west of us, I just had to go and see what it's all about.
It's a nice area around there and it was a good ride to the location. There were plenty of signs leading to it and parking guides on site.
The Deschutes County Expo Center has a huge parking lot and it was nearly full when we arrived (the expo had already started the day before). We showed our camping reservation and were directed to the Moto Camp. That was the first shock for me. In this huge parking lot there was a tiny section cordoned off as the Moto Camp. It was immediately clear that the expo was not meant for adventure motorcycle riders. The parking lot was full of huge trucks, SUV's and Sprinter Van campers - and then there were we and about 20 other motorcycles.
The expo was all outdoors, except for a few tents where the presentations took place. There were lots of presentations every day, many of them actually motorcycle travel related, surprise. We walked through the exhibits in the scorching sun with very little shade. As expected from the parking lot, there were very few motorcycle related exhibitors. Most were roof top tents, campers, trailers and so on. Since I had just finished building a DIY Squaredrop Camping Trailer, I found some of the exhibits interesting, though way overpriced.
Another big flaw in this Expo was that they had ONE place where you could get warm, but free drinking water, if you stood in line and the jug wasn't empty. Did I mention that it was very hot? Lots of vendors sold bottled water for $4-5 per tiny bottle! What a ripoff.  There wasn't any water in the Moto Camp either, it's a parking lot after all.
Spending the evenings with the few other riders at the Moto Camp was nice and we talked more about traveling and gear there than inside the expo. The common area of the Moto Camp was organized and staffed by Chad Warner of the BMW MOA and he did a great job. He provided seats, canopies, some free beer and free coffee and snacks in the morning - thank you very much. If it hadn't been for this common area my impression of this Overland Expo would be much worse than it is.

We met a few celebrities, Marisa and Tim Notier from 2UpAndOverloaded, a very nice couple that we would love to meet on the road some day. We also met a woman from Portland that has a Youtube channel, but she was rather arrogant and didn't want anything to do with the other riders at the Moto Camp, spoiled brat.

All in all we had a good time at the PNW Overland Expo, but we won't be going again any time soon.