Where We'll Be This Fall: SoCal Off-Road Events Worth a Weekend

We're a small crew out of Pomona. We sell aluminum caps during the week, and on weekends we're the people in the dusty trucks at the gas station in Barstow at 6 a.m. This isn't a marketing calendar. It's where we'd actually like to run into you.

Off-Road Expo — October 3–4, Costa Mesa

The show moved from Pomona to the OC Fair & Event Center this year, which puts it about twenty minutes from most of us. Two days of trucks, gear, and the best parking-lot car show in Southern California.

We'll be there both days, no booth, just walking. If you see someone staring a little too long at the hinges on a competitor's cap, that's probably us. Come say hi. Bring your questions, bring your complaints, bring a photo of your rig. We'd rather talk about it in person than over email.

Tickets are about $19 for a day, $28 for both if you buy online before the show.

Rebelle Rally — October 7–17, Nevada into California

This is what 2,500 km of it looks like. Photo: BLM California.

You can't spectate this one, but you should follow it. Ten days, all-women teams, no GPS. Map, compass, roadbook. Stock trucks and built trucks compete side by side, and it's not unusual for a near-stock Tacoma or Gladiator to finish ahead of rigs with three times the budget. It's a reminder that the driver matters more than the parts, which is a strange thing for a parts company to say, but there it is.

Panamint Valley Days — November 13–15, near Trona

Panamint Valley, the week before Thanksgiving. Cold at night, worth it. Photo: BLM California.

If you've never done an organized trail weekend, start here. Cal4Wheel has run it for decades. Guided runs at every level, camp in the valley, and a crowd that pulls you out when you get stuck and then hands you a beer. It's the friendliest weekend in the California desert.

It's also the closest thing to a real test of a bed cap: cold nights, dust that gets into everything, loading and unloading from the side of the truck forty times. If your gear stays dry and the doors still seal on Sunday, the cap did its job.

King of the Hammers — January 21 – February 7, Johnson Valley

Hammertown. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, Sgt. Emely Gonzalez.

Technically winter, but everyone in SoCal plans around it. Two weeks on BLM land, and a dry lakebed turns into a city of trucks. Even if you never race, it's the best place in the country to see what people actually run on their rigs, and the campfire conversations are half the reason to go. Bring a shovel, a full tank, and more water than you think you need.

Why we bother

We could just ship boxes. But the reason this company exists is that we like being out there, and the best feedback we've ever gotten came from someone leaning on our tailgate at a trailhead telling us what we got wrong.

Going to any of these? Send us a photo of your setup. We'll post the good ones, and we'll probably ask you what you'd change.

TKMAUTO aluminum truck caps and roof racks ship from Pomona, CA. See you out there.