Michael Harris (Maverick Expeditions) - Feature Friday

Posted by Tony Floyd on

Maverick Expeditions USA is based out of Dallas, TX. Though we live and work in this hectic and ever growing city, we yearn for the open road and the next adventure it may bring. You may spot us out at a local OHV park from time to time when testing new equipment or attending an event, but our main focus is overlanding.

Overlanding is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road capable transport where the main form of lodging is camping, often lasting for extended lengths of time (weeks, months, years) and spanning international boundaries.

We are a husband and wife team for the most part with an occasional tag along buddy or two. We both love the outdoors and adventuring off the beaten path. Put those together and add 4x4, you just can’t go wrong with that combination. We started off hitting up local lakes and parks to camp at but knew there was so much more out there to discover. So after some careful planning and long nights talking about our future and what we wanted to achieve, we decided that we were going to take on the whole country.

So became Maverick Expeditions USA.

First step was to have reliable transportation that can take us long distances efficiently and comfortably and something very trail worthy. We already had a Jeep Wrangler but it just wasn’t cutting it. Small interior and not exactly fuel efficient having to stop every couple of hours for gas. After test driving a few different brands we inevitably ended up with Toyota. Lots of amenities and interior space and cargo, great road manners and fuel efficient. Not to mention a reputation for its off road capabilities, this was a no brainer choice.

We now have a small fleet of two Toyota trucks: 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road and 2016 Toyota 4Runner TRD PRO.

Though we have many items on our list for upgrades and must have gadgets, tires are pretty high on the list. There are so many different brands, sizes, and tread patterns out there it can get frustrating trying to pick the perfect one. You need to consider road comfort and noise, off road abilities an all different types of terrain and load ranges. We are proud to have partnered up with Treadwright Tires. They make their tires right here in the USA and with recycled materials. By making them here, it boosts our economy and creates jobs here at home. And using recycled materials lowers the costs of manufacturing, which in turn, reduces the cost for the consumer as well. It’s a win, win, win for everyone.

Now some people are skeptical about purchasing from Treadwright because, yes, they’re remolded tires. But you don’t need to be. Treadwright Tires are made the exact same way as a new tire and are DOT approved. This means they have to go through the same rigorous and extensive testing just like every other tire manufacturer to prove they are safe for the consumer and other people using the road. My entire career has been based around the automotive industry and I know what quality looks like when I see it. I worked at Discount Tire for nearly a decade and have laid hands on hundreds of thousands of tires, I can tell you that Treadwright Tires are top notch. If you put them next to a brand new big name brand, you wouldn’t be able to tell which was new or remolded, that’s how great these tires really are.

Right now the Tacoma is rocking the Treadwright Guard Dog MT in 285/75R16. This is an aggressive tread that is ideal for all off road situations but exceeds expectations for on road requirements on long trips. This is easily my favorite tire to drive on. Soon the 4Runner will be equipped with Treadwright Tires as well and we will be unstoppable.

While Maverick Expeditions USA is still a young company, we have much to learn and we are meeting new people all the time and have relationships with great companies that would never be possible without taking that first step. We have many plans for our future and I hope that someday we see you all out there on the trails.

 

 

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