Overlanding is growing in popularity; Festival in Central Pennsylvania

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

Loveland, CO, USA - August 26, 2022: Toyota FJ Cruiser with Tepui roof tent at a busy campground.

Airdate: Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Most of us have seen video of four-wheel drive trucks or jeeps driving over rock strewn mountains or through creeks. Fewer of us have actually done what’s called Overlanding but it is becoming more popular.

And it’s not just the thrill of how one travels through a remote off-road place but Overlanding also involves camping and enjoying the outdoors.

Joining us on The Spark Tuesday was Matt Henwood, President of Main Line Overland, Mid-Atlantic, who described what overlanding is,”Overlanding is vehicle sustained travel, and that can be in a lot of different forms for different individuals. It could be in the form of a sprinter van. It could be in the form of a truck, camper or an SUV with a rooftop tent. It’s really just being able to get out into the backcountry, kind of far away from your standard campsites that you’d normally see and really get to experience what nature really has to offer.”

Henwood said that during the COVID pandemic, more people wanted to get outdoors and that’s one of the reason Overlanding is growing in popularity,”You can bring a lot of the creature comforts with you, with Overlanding, based on a lot of the equipment that’s become available in the last couple of years. It’s family friendly. So you can bring the kids with you, you can bring the pets with you and not have to leave anybody at home. There’s different levels of advanced trails you can hit. So if you are new to it or a little bit more nervous there are much more tame kind of trails that you could take that would be a lot less intimidating. There’s a lot of great people in the sense of community that you meet people out on the trails. It is really the connections that people remember.”

Huntingdon, Pennsylvania will be the center of the Overlanding universe this weekend with the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Overland Festival.