A Ford Adventure Shouldn’t Cost This Much
Ford Motor Company seems to think your Ford Ranger isn’t an adventure vehicle. Ford has released dates and locations for their “Ford Off-Road Adventures,” but the only vehicles eligible to attend are the Ford Bronco, Bronco Sport, Bronco Raptor, Ranger Raptor, and F-150 Raptor. I find this a bit entertaining. I’ve done a lot of off-road and overlanding adventures from Kentucky to the Pacific coast, and I see more Ford Rangers on off-road adventures than any other Ford. When it comes to adventure, the Ranger is big enough to carry everything I need, small enough to go anywhere I want, and offers a great starting point to build an adventure rig around. As the saying goes, real trucks are built, not bought.
Over the last few years, I’ve found that “overlanding” is a lot like “weddings”—mention the word, and suddenly the price goes up. The aftermarket has figured out that “overlanding” sells, and the result is a constant push to convince people they need more gear, storage, and accessories, and new overlanding events are constantly popping up in order to cash in.
It should come as no surprise that Ford would want a piece of the action, but with their weekend adventure starting at $2,495-$4,495, I was downright shocked! And that only includes the driver. Passengers increase the cost quite a bit. That cost covers “Trip payment allows the attendee and their guest (if selected) to enjoy expertly guided overland experiences in some of the most beautiful natural vistas in America. Daily lessons will cover such topics as route planning, camp set-up, and good stewardship practices. Select meals dependent upon trip.” Ford describes the trails as “Moderate. Obstacles may include mud holes, streams, and hill climbs. May not require the continual use of 4WD and low range.”
I sometimes question the cost to attend an Overland Expo where they have hundreds of trainers instructing hundreds of classes, as well as live music, social gatherings and giveaways, but compared to Ford’s pricing, the Overland Expo “Vehicle – Premium Weekend Pass With Camping” at $270 suddenly feels extremely reasonable.
Not To Worry – Better Options Are Available For Less
Fortunately, there are far better options available out there that cost a lot less. Here’s some suggestions:
Join Our Forum
By being a member of our forum, you can meet other Ford Ranger owners and plan your own adventures. The forum staff and Vagabonds here at TRS have experience with a lot of overlanding routes from Kentucky to Colorado and are willing to offer advice and suggestions or even help put together an adventure for our Ford Ranger members.
Finding Overlanding Routes
The Trans America Trail is probably the first ‘overlanding’ route here in the USA and numerous more have been created since such as:
Back Country Discovery Routes offers overlanding and adventure routes all over the country as well.
onX Offroad lists a lot of trails and overlanding routes that have been shared by other users.
I have a lot of overlanding routes downloaded into GAIA GPS and used parts of the Trans America Trail, Alpine Loop, and Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route when I planned the Vagabonds 2025 Colorado Adventure.
Advice: Be careful following these adventure trails and discovery routes. It can be easy to become focused on completing the route or trying to see how much of the route you can complete and not take the time to enjoy and appreciate where you are. Adventure travel should be about getting outside and enjoying the wonders of nature, not conquering miles on a road trip.
Overlanding Events
I strongly encourage you to attend an Overland Expo. I have attended Overland Expo West and Overland Expo Mountain West. They have a few other events including Overland Expo East. The great thing about Overland Expo is that there are literally thousands of experienced overlanders there to meet and learn from. Overland Expo offers a wide range of hands-on classes covering everything from planning a trip with GPS apps, vehicle recovery, off-grid cooking, first aid, trail communications, and so much more. If there’s something that you want to learn more about and get hands on experience, Overland Expo probably has a class for it at one of their expo’s. When I was at Overland Expo West a few years ago, there were Camel Trophy instructors teaching people advanced winching techniques and other classes on how to pick the right line over a large rocky course. Overland Expo also has numerous vendors if you’re shopping for new gear, and a lot of social events, and giveaways.
If you could only ever go to one expo event, I would suggest Overland Expo West because of its massive size and the opportunities it offers.
2026 Overland Expo West Statistics:
- 28,500 attendees
- 39% of attendees were new to Overland Expo
- 420 registered exhibitors
- 132 presenters, trainers, and VIPs
- 93 attending media
- 79 staff
- 1101 registered dogs
- 323 classes, seminars, demos, activities, slideshows, and films; totaling 336+ session hours of instruction.
- Overland Expo West drew visitors from 21 countries this year, marking its largest international attendance ever.
Overland of America is an event held in Jay, Oklahoma, and I attended it for the first time in 2025. They too offer training classes on different topics, have social events and giveaways, numerous vendors and deals, and even host a trail ride on the grounds with two different rated trail options. Facility wise, Overland of America is by far the nicest. They offer clean showers and a huge pool to enjoy as well. Overland of America also seemed a lot more social after hours than Overland Expo was.
I have not been to the Moore Expo in Missouri, but I know that they offer training classes, and I know people that have attended the show. All of the photos and videos I see show that most of the expo is held inside of a building with some of it outside on a paved parking lot. It has too much of a trade show vibe for me, so I haven’t gone to it or any other indoor overlanding shows. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t check it out.
No matter where you live, at some point in the year there’s an overlanding event within a day’s drive of your location.
Don’t Over Complicate It
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have an adventure. You just need your Ford Ranger, a tent, something to sleep on or in such as a sleeping bag, and a cooler. Start out taking some weekend camping trips and expand from that. People think they need to buy a lot of gear first, but it’s best to only buy the gear you really need as you discover what you need. In 2017 I threw my camping gear and a cooler in the bed of my truck and headed out with a paper road atlas with no idea where I was going to go, where I would stay, and when I’d come home. Every morning when I woke up, I looked at the map, picked a direction, and ended up being gone for 3-weeks. Almost ten years later I still travel as light as I did then but did finally upgrade to a 12V refrigerator.
Suggested Article
How To Build A Ford Ranger For Overlanding – The Ranger Station
Pics From Previous TRS Vagabond Adventures
About The Author
Jim Oaks is the founder of TheRangerStation.com, the longest-running Ford Ranger resource online since 1999. With over 25 years of hands-on experience building and modifying Ford Rangers — including magazine-featured builds like Project Transformer — Jim has become one of the most trusted authorities in the Ford Ranger off-road and enthusiast space.
Since launching TheRangerStation.com, Jim has documented thousands of real-world Ranger builds, technical repairs, drivetrain swaps, suspension modifications, and off-road adventures contributed by owners worldwide. TheRangerStation.com has been referenced in print, video and online by enthusiasts, mechanics, and off-road builders looking for practical, and experience-based information.
