Prepare vehicles in each other's driveways, form teams that are usually friendships first, fundraise, convoy voluntarily with strangers met at the start line, and recover each other when something breaks. Event team registers, long-running overland forums, regional expos, and vehicle-preparation communities organised by platform.

The convoy, the crew, scrutineering, a carnet, recovery boards, the roof tent, jerry cans, diff lock, a run, the crossing, the finish line as a destination rather than a result. The January and February trans-Saharan event, the March desert rally, the July Central Asian departure, and the North American expos in May and August.

July for the summer departures toward Central Asia, and January to March for the Saharan and West African crossings, which have to avoid the summer heat. March carries the women's desert rally.

The shoulders, but the preparation period never really stops, and the community is active year-round even when nobody is traveling.