Hey guys!  We asked one of the members of our cooperative to write up a guide on organizing group rides.  His name is Nick Cornell and he helps lead the CAMO group which is located on the east coast.  He's super rad, and this is what he wrote!

Spam, Beans, and 4x4s

Its glamorous really, the foliage has changed to a crisp auburn and fiery orange as a cool breeze blows through your cracked window. A steaming Columbian roasted coffee sloshing around in a fresh Yeti tumbler. A convoy of clean modern 4x4s walk over obstacles through the tree lines as a perfectly placed drone captures the best aerial footage. Long time friends together, headed to the perfect pre-planned camp location, soon to set up a large contained camp fire while drinking smelly IPAs and telling stories. Perfection. The night sky is so clear you can see the mil……….*THWACK* WAKE UP!

My name is Nick Cornell, I run Central Appalachian Mountain Overland with three close friends, Camden Nichols, Nick Palko, and Steve Vilbert. Central Appalachian Mountain Overland (CAMO) was something that just kind of happened. My group of friends was always interested in motorsports. We started off like any 16-19-year olds: With Riced out econo-boxes and Subarus. We didn’t really think it at the time, but looking back, it’s pretty comical. As we got older the cars went away and the 4x4s became the new flavor. I actually didn’t get rid of my riced out race red Ford Focus by choice, unfortunately, she met her demise by means of a 10 point buck. I purchased a 2012 Nissan Frontier. I think I still have the text messages that I sent to my friends shortly after bringing it home. Something to the tune of, “I’m leaving this one stock. Can’t believe how much money I wasted on that car.” ….Sure. Good plan.

Our very first trip was about as comical as an “overland” trip can be. I was in a bone stock Nissan Frontier, Camden was in a Red Cherokee from the thunder dome, Brennan was driving a full size short bed single cab F-150 from back when you were still dating cheerleaders, and Palko was in a brand new, sticker still on the back glass - Chevy ZR2 Colorado. I hastily downloaded a GPX file of a well known dual sport motorcycle route and we set off for West Virginia. I didn’t disseminate the maps to any of my friends and didn’t really even explain what we were doing and where we were going.

We pounded pavement into Dry-Fork West Virginia after a brief holdup to add some diff fluid and friction modifier to the Ford. I came over the CB (I think we had CBs for this trip) and said, “Hey guys, we turn right in a couple hundred feet.” A few seconds later, my eyes caught the trail and I jacked the brakes and dropped down about fifteen feet directly into the Dryfork River. (This was part of the trail) Now, it had been raining heavily in the preceding weeks and the river was high; however, this is a one way, my stock Frontier wasn’t turning around and I surely wasn’t backing up what I had just gone down. I clicked it into 4-Hi and gave it the beans out of pure fear and ignorance. Smashing and banging along the bottom of the river, the water began to creep deeper and deeper. I looked out the driver’s window to watch cool West Virginian River water splash up to my headlights. Full Pucker. Finally, 100 yards later, I was on dry land and the truck didn’t drown. One by one we all made it across and celebrated this small victory with a trailside beverage.

As the sun started to set and our stomachs started to crave camp food and luke warm, shaken beers. We decided it was time to find a camp spot. Well, suffice to say, the dead center of the George Washington National Forest doesn’t necessarily have a surplus of clearings. Finally, we came across a great spot, got a fire going, set up our tents, and started one of the best parts of the trip.

The following morning, we set off and continued East in the GWNF. *THWUB THWUB SCHREEECH THWUB THWUB* The Ford tossed a belt. “Tossed” is probably the wrong word. It was more like a fibrous explosion. No matter, Brennan had a spare. Sort of. The spare was his older belt that was in decent condition but it was sized just slightly off. Brennan deleted his AC so the stock belt size was incorrect. His off the shelf belt was working but slightly undersized. As we continued on, Brennan noticed his belt had come off once again. Upon inspection, we found that there were only 3 strands of belt surviving. Something was causing the belt to get tossed into a bracket near the water pump. Yikes. We were near Snowshoe WV at the time. I remembered that I had Gorilla tape in the truck. We tediously recreated a belt from the Gorilla tape as a Hail Mary attempt at getting us 40 miles North to Elkins to fix the truck and get home. Miraculously, the Gorilla tape held and we were able to fix the truck and return safely home to Pennsylvania.

At this point we were hooked. I learned a lot of valuable information from that trip and all of our trips to follow. Arranging an offroad trip or managing a club is a lot of work. Below are a few tips that will help you arrange an offroad outing or partake in one:

1.   Bust out the paper maps

• When planning a route find a paper map source that fits the area that you wish to travel. Physically trace the route in a sharpie marker. Along the way, circle locations of parts stores, gas stations, beer distributors, and potential camp spots as well as any other points of interest. I love “Purple Lizard Maps.”

2.   You’re the captain now

• Let’s face it, you’ve done all of the leg work, you sent out the gpx. files to you crew, encouraged everyone to download it, and alas, you’re the only guy with the route. Relax. Everyone is just happy they’re not at work. You can alleviate the pressure on yourself with a good co-pilot or a good heads up display of your track. I really like GAIA GPS. I paid for the pro version and purchased a 60 dollar tablet that has GPS capabilities from Amazon. *IMPORTANT* Download the base layers of the maps to your tablet. Cram the biggest card in that thing that you can and achieve the best granularity possible. This way, even without service, you can watch yourself follow your perfectly plotted path.

3.   Can you hear me now?

• Coms, Coms, Coms. This is always a topic of discussion and debate. Regardless of what you choose, it’s imperative that everyone in your group understands how important maintaining communications is. In our experiences, the trusty 2-way radio is the answer for a few reasons:

                a.  No one can mess it up
                b.  No installation
                c.  They cost 20 bucks
                d.  You can walk away from the vehicle and still maintain coms
                e.  Your spotter can hold his radio and guide you via radio

4.   Are ya’ made of spare parts, bud?

• Bring spares of common failure parts. Belts, U-Joints, a headlight bulb, and anything specific to your rig that could be hard to find if you needed it. You will want to have an adequate tookit as well. A cordless impact gun can make a trailside repair go much, much smoother.

5.   The Shepherd

• It’s nerdy but important: You need to have a brief driver meeting before you roll out. One of the most important trail rules to follow is that if you lose sight of the guy/gal behind you, you stop until you see them. This keeps everyone together. Make this well known before you head out.

6.    “That Guy”

• There will always be one. He/she doesn’t listen, they don’t want spotters, they tear stuff up, they drive recklessly, etc. Get rid of that guy. While it’s awesome to have as many people as possible, its more awesome to not worry about “that guy.”

7.   "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE”

• You’re probably wondering how you get people interested in going with you. Well. I’m wondering the same thing. You’re going to find that there are a LOT of people who just simply build vehicles with no intent to use them. Seemingly endless folks “can’t get permission from their significant other,” and “ah dang, I’ve got the kid this week and also every week that you guys go out,” and “Dang next time dog.”  Don’t sweat it. People flake, it is what it is. CAMO has been fortunate enough to have a solid 10 members who are die hard. 
  
  Social media is the best advertisement. There are some groups who do it far, FAR more than we do. These are the types of groups that admittedly, I steered away from. Some of these groups charge money. I just ethically can’t do that. I don’t own these lands and don’t expect anything in return for leading groups through them.

8.   How many is too many?

• This is a weighted question. If the route is wide open, few obstacles, and you have a lot of camping options, you can ride 20+ without issue. If its tight and slow moving with a lot of obstacles, you’ll probably want to consider limiting it to 10-15 trucks.

9.   MY LEG!

• Oh yeah, by the way, if someone gets hurt, they’re probably going to look at you, fearless leader. I encourage everyone have a medical kit specific to their needs in their vehicle. I also strongly request that all members coming on a sanctioned trip send me a message disclosing any personal medical conditions. I personally am a safety professional by trade and train in emergency response, first aid, and emergency extraction. My wife is also an RN. Many of our members are servicemen as well which helps tremendously should something happen. Don’t just buy bandaids and throw an EMT sticker on your truck, and don’t pretend to be competent if you’re not. Bare bones minimum, you need to **TRAIN** on the use of a tourniquet, carry hemostatic bandages, and have an assortment of gauzes and bandages/tapes, etc. I personally also carry a suture kit but there’s an extremely small chance that I’d ever deploy it.

10.   Establish rules

• It’s difficult to be a stickler when all you want to do is have fun. Most of your rules are going to be common sense. Make sure you stick to them and offer no exceptions. Enforcement is a team effort within your group.

11.   Where am I supposed to sleep?

• There are innumerable variables that can and will arise when on the trail. Part of your pre-planning needs to be Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, etc camp locations. No one wants to wheel deep into the night. (except that one time, but that’s a tale for another day)

12.   Let it go, Let it GOOOOOOO

• Its not going to go perfectly. Usually, that’s where the stories come from. Someone is going to break, get lost, roads closed, gates locked, whatever. Brush it off. You’re out doing what you love with people who are happy to be there with you. Roll with those punches and don’t be afraid to consult your crew for their ideas on the next best move.

If you’re interested in following our adventures, our Instagram handle is @cam_overland and our facebook group is Central Appalachian Mountain Overland.

Keep it rubber side down.

    - Nick Cornell

Hey Guys!  Here's a helpful crossreference we compiled to help you find the right OME or Dobinsons springs for your rig.  

Last updated on 3/25/2021!

Hi Friends! 

We're about halfway through 2019 and we're posting up to give you a quick status update.  A lot has happened since December and we're really excited to share with you! 

So far, we're smashing through our annual goals (and adding new ones!):

• We've picked up an awesome building located at 2621 West M Ct, Lincoln, NE!  We're hoping to open the walk-in counter to the public in late July / early August.  More details to follow in the near future!
• We're trimming costs!  We're transitioning from fulfilling your awesome orders with a distributor to purchasing inventory directly from manufacturers and handling fulfillment ourselves.  We've got a shipment of SPC adjustable upper control arms on the way and we're working on an order with ARB / Old Man Emu.  We're also working on an order with Radflo.  We're really excited to be handling inventory for you guys and having parts immediately available for locals! 
• Some of you may have heard that we're bringing some new 2" lift leaf packs to market.  You've heard right!  We've got leaf springs in the pipeline for 2nd & 3rd Gen Toyota Tacoma, 2nd Gen Nissan Frontier, and 2nd Gen Nissan Xterra.  Prototypes have been testing out in the wild for about a month and feedback has been great!  We'll also be bringing some add-a-leaf kits to market for guys and gals that don't need a full replacements!  They'll be added to site as soon as they're ready to ship.  Other cool parts coming as well, we'll annouce more details after prototyping!
• We'll be adding a new employee to the roster soon and we'll be better equipped to interact with you guys on Facebook, Instagram, and forums!  Once we find this new friend, we hope you'll join us in welcoming them!

That's it for now!  We're trucking along and starting to think about 2020.  We'll post up our 2020 roadmap sometime in Q3 for your reading pleasure.  Until then; stay groovy, stay cool!  

Fellow Adventurers!

Welcome back, we hope you're doing well!  We really love it when you stop by.  Today we'll be giving a summary of where we currently are as an organization and where we will be headed in 2019.  We have a number of exciting goals we hope to meet which will strengthen the cooperative and position us to serve you guys better!  

We've been quite busy in 2018, beginning with founding the cooperative this fall!  We've been busy bees working on launching a great website, creating understandable bylaws, identifying awesome manufacturers and products, and establishing relationships with several amazing companies and service providers.  We've sliced, diced, chopped, mixed, blended, hammered, wrenched, welded, and here we are!  We're fully functional and slinging orders, helping you and your furry friends find your adventures.  

Believe us, we won't be slacking in 2019.  There's still so much to do!  Look at this to-do list!

Personnel Growth

We're committed to providing great service to our members and as we grow it'll be important for us to find and keep some awesome employees.  They're mythical creatures, like unicorns, fairies, talking mice, or sasquatch.  We want them, we want to feed them and water them and pet them and hug them and tell them we love them!  We want to treat them like human beings and tend to their growth and greater wellbeing, and we will.  We're creating a culture and workspace to be envied, life is too short for anything less.  

Reduce Inventory Cost

We're currently working with a distributing company to bring you guys some great aftermarket parts.  This is good because we can make available a number of manufacturers and items that we otherwise wouldn't be able to if we had to put our eggs in one basket with a single manufacturer.  However, working with a distributor comes at the penalty of increased cost.  Increased cost directly impacts the dividend we're able to offer our members.  As we're able, we will be making direct connections to manufacturers in order to reduce inventory costs and expand product offerings.  

Introduce Member Toolset

One of our goals is to merge the cooperative concept with 21st century technology.  We will be working on expanding our website (and eventually a mobile app) to enable interactive member participation in the governance of the cooperative!  We want to hear your voice and we want to create a platform where it will be heard.  Also, wherever possible, we want to eliminate paper mailing for digital substitutions because we love trees.  

Establish Storefront / Warehouse

We're currently operating as transient vagabonds with no physical location.  While we considered maintaining this model through the use of third party logistics companies for warehousing/fulfillment and using coworking office spaces, we felt that this may result in higher overhead costs and reduced member satisfaction.  In 2019 we hope to lease a space in Lincoln, NE where you can come visit and show off your toys.  Pet friendly, of course! 

Increased Social Media Presence

Social media is crazy cool.  We love Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter.  We also love that it it can bring amazing communities together.  We have accounts set up, but our GM isn't the most savvy at social media.  It must be all those gray hairs!  Speculation aside, we want to hit these channels and be more engaged with you.  We want to revel in photos, videos, hashtags, and dank memes with you!  

Holy cow, we have a lot to do.  We hope you're as excited as we are to see this cooperative grow and transform.  In any respect, we appreciate you.  Thanks for reading.  Have a good one!

Hey guys and gals!

When we began this journey we had to decide how we should organize as a company. Most commonly, a business would organize as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), or a corporation. There are many factors to consider when looking at each type of organization - ownership, governance, taxation, and profits. For instance, in a sole proprietorship, one person owns the business, governs the business, has specific tax considerations, and is enriched when the business profits. A partnership is similar to a sole proprietorship, but several individuals organize as partners. A corporation, on the other hand, is owned by shareholders, is typically governed by a board or individuals with a majority of shares, has specific tax considerations, and shareholders are enriched relative to the number of shares held when the company profits. An LLC gives more leeway than a corporation, and in simplest terms can be considered a hybrid of a partnership and corporation.

Conceptually, a business is organized to offer products or services to consumers at margins sufficient to sustain itself and positively benefit ownership. In the above described organizations, we feel that there are inherent conflicts relating not only to ownership vs consumer, but also ownership vs employee. The described organizations have incentive to offer lower cost and lower quality products in order to maximize profit. They also have incentive to keep employee wages and benefits to minimums in order to maximize profit. This can lead to unhappy consumers and unhappy employees. In practice, it's necessary to find balance between these counteracting forces and many organizations do so to varying degrees.

We organized as a cooperative as we feel that this type of organization modifies the relationship between owner, consumer, and employee to a degree which aligns better with our core values. A cooperative passes the benefits of ownership, governance and profits to its members in a fair and democratic process. Membership is offered to consumers at a low price, and these membership fees crowdsource the equity the organization needs to invest in itself and grow. Members elect individuals to a cooperative board which governs the organization. Members also receive an annual dividend relative to the amount of business each member has done with the cooperative, less operating expenses. Finally, the relationship between the organization, member, and employee is mutually beneficial. The cooperative is able to offer better than status-quo wages and benefits to employees, employees have incentive to best serve members and the organization, and members receive a higher level of service and satisfaction than alternative organizations can provide.

We hope this explanation helps! It certainly isn't exhaustive but it should give a general idea of what we are and what we believe in.