May 26 2014

Pre-Palooza activities

The Airstream is happy. It traveled about 2,000 miles from Tucson to Jackson Center OH without incident. Being a bit rushed, the trip didn’t encompass a lot of great overnight spots, but we did manage to take in two state parks (Twin Bridges in OK, and Onondaga Cave in MO) … and two Cracker Barrels and a Wal-Mart. So overall, it was successful.

We landed in Jackson Center a day earlier than planned, Friday, and most of the key staff also were in early, so pre-event work has been reasonably light. Just the usual stuff: marking & flagging the field, pre-inspection of the water and electric, organizing, etc. In between actual work, the Terra Port has been busy with maintenance and socializing. Most people are socializing and enjoying the spectacularly nice weather. People are trying out Jackson Center’s new restaurant (replacing the Verandah, which closed a while back), or buying baked goods from the Amish couple across the street. E&E and I walked downtown for ice cream one night, and I see Matt & Beth scooting around on their folding bikes, Emma and Kathryn are zooming around doing young teenager things, there’s a lot of chit-chat under the awnings, etc. But Brett and I have also been spending time ticking off items on our accumulated “bug lists,” with the assistance of Super Terry.

Our Airstream’s list included replacing the leaking toilet bowl seal, fixing a couple of latches, cleaning and adjusting the water heater, and inspecting the disc brakes. Nothing too major, but the toilet bowl seal isn’t really an appetizing job and of course we had to work around loss of the bathroom and hot water while those things were being serviced. As always, I learned a few things watching, er, “assisting” Super Terry on those jobs. Doing the water heater in particular was useful because I afterward I was able to finally finalize that section of my Maintenance Guide with first-hand knowledge.

Upon inspection we found the disc brakes to be in perfect condition, and the Michelin LTX tires are also looking good. The tires don’t show much wear compared to last year’s inspection about 10,500 miles ago, but they should probably be replaced later this year just on the basis of age.

Brett’s motorhome needed some new radiator hoses (and because they run all the way to the water heater in the back, there’s a LOT of hose), and a few other tweaks, so he was underneath it for the better part of a day, and then with Super Terry he replaced the main awning fabric too.

There are two things you can be sure of when Airstream maintenance is happening at a rally: (1) There will be a lot of tool-swapping, as people borrow what they need from neighbors; (2) A crowd will gather for any interesting mechanical procedure. At this point we are all used to it, so it’s completely expected and fine when people show up and make themselves at home on a chair to watch you work. At least six people got a good look at my toilet once it was out on the bench for the seal replacement. (It’s amazing what we find interesting.) It’s actually very nice because at any point if you need a tool or supply, someone in the group will get it from their truck for you. Saves trips to the hardware store. But I did think that we are some sort of weird people who want to spend Memorial Day weekend working on our trailers in a parking lot.

Now it’s Monday, Memorial Day, and the pre-Alumapalooza vibe is gelling. As this writing the Terra Port is full with event staff and Airstream service customers, and there are another seven Airstreams with attendees boondocking in the Service Center parking lot. Another 15-20 will show up later today, and we’re going to have a cookout (courtesy of Airstream) on the grass this evening. Tomorrow at 9 a.m., we’ll open the main field for parking, weather permitting.

Right now conditions are excellent. We’ve had temperatures in the low 80s daily, nice light breezes, cool evenings, and hardly even a cloud much less rain. This means the field is dry and ready to hold 100+ Airstreams on Tuesday, even if we do a get some rain during the day tomorrow. This is a far cry from a couple of years ago when it rained for weeks prior to the event and the ground was so wet we had to park trailers on asphalt while we were waiting for the mud to settle, and for days afterward some spots were still flooded.

So our luck is holding. All the signs are in place for a very successful Alumapalooza 5. Check Twitter for @alumaevents or #APZ5 for updates and photos, and also the Alumapalooza Facebook page. We should have regular postings all week there.

Jun 07 2013

No drama

I know I keep harping on about Alumapalooza even though it is over for this year, but the event gives me a lot to think about. Although we now run three events per year (and four are planned for 2014 so far), Alumapalooza has always been “the big one.” I meet a lot of people there who give new perspectives on what Airstreaming is all about, and also a lot of people who say they read this blog.

This year, I was particularly thrilled to hear from a couple of people who separately told me that they went full-time in their Airstream partly as a result of inspiration from this blog, or the previous “Tour of America”. Lots of others commented on Emma, saying that they’ve watched her grow from a little five-year-old tyke to a teenager. These friendly folks are like an extended family to us, even though we often don’t know they’re watching until years later when we meet at an event!

I kept hearing from people that one of the best parts about Alumapalooza was that there was “no drama,” meaning that there were no internal battles, no public embarrassments, no arguments, and no politics. Everyone just laid back and had a good time. It might seem that this should be the norm for rallies, but too often events (not ours) have been marred in the past by such things, and a lot of people are frustrated by that. The best rallies and events are the ones where everyone sets aside their politics and prejudices, and shares the good values that bring us together. We work hard at making sure that happens, by thoughtful programming of the activities, and selecting the volunteer staff very carefully. So I was glad to get the feedback that we’d succeeded.

We are now in Vermont, with the Airstream parked in its usual summer resting place in the shadow of a row of cedar trees near Lake Champlain. It won’t move again until late August or September, but despite that we have many travels ahead. Eleanor and I are focused on getting out the door next week for a long-anticipated trip to Europe. By Friday we expect to be attending a big (for Europe) Airstream rally in Weilburg, Germany. This is going to be a major experience for us, since we’ve never camped in Europe and we haven’t yet had the chance to meet many of our correspondents in Europe.

Our Airstream during the rally will be a brand-new Airstream 684, which is the largest Euro-spec model available. It is being provided courtesy of Airstream Germany. (Because it is new and unsold, we can’t use the bathroom or the galley, so it will be sort of an “aluminum tent” for us, but that should not be a problem since the campground is in town—see upper edge of photo.) CORRECTION: It turns out this is a PR and rental trailer for Airstream Germany and we will be able to use all the facilities —bonus!

We’ll be parked in a lot with about fifty other Airstreams for three nights. Quite a few of them will be caravanning down from the UK, as well as Belgium, The Netherlands, and other countries.

On Saturday night I’ll be giving a little talk at 9:00 pm, about Airstreaming in America’s National Parks. (While researching this presentation I did a quick count and found we’ve visited over 100 of them so far, which is only about one quarter of the entire NPS system.) Otherwise, there’s not much on the program other than a barbecue, so there should be plenty of time to explore the town of Weilburg and meet the European Airstreamers. I expect no drama.

This weekend Eleanor and I will be busy prepping for this trip. With about 10 days to play with, we are likely to visit Switzerland and a little of northern Italy in addition to Germany. I’m bringing only an iPad and an iPhone 5 (with a German SIM card) for technology, trying to keep it light. Also in keeping with our usual travel style, we are going mostly reservation-free. We don’t want the pressure of a fixed itinerary. We’ll have a car and some maps, and see what looks interesting along the way.

The trip starts on Wednesday. I’ll blog as much as I can.

Jun 03 2013

Decompression session

With Alumapalooza behind us, we’re off on the next leg of our voyage. This will be the fourth year we have spent the two days following Alumapalooza courtesy-parked at the home of Lou & Larry in the “premium spot” next to their house. They provide a very comfortable place to decompress, with a full hookup and access to the house wifi, and they make no demands on us (quite the opposite in fact, since they feed us and help with minor trailer repairs), so it’s a wonderful first stop on the way east.

We had extra food from the catering on Saturday night that we couldn’t let go to waste. On the four hour trip from Jackson Center to here (near Cleveland) a lot of aluminum trays of food rode in the shower. When we arrived, Eleanor repacked it to fit in our refrigerator and freezer, but still there was so much that we were able to prepare a sizable gift for some neighbors here who need it, and give a bunch to our hosts as well. Even giving away many pounds of food, we will have enough ribs, cornbread, and green beans to serve the whole gang of family & friends once we reach Vermont.

Being here for Monday has given me a chance to reflect on this year’s Alumapalooza. Overall it was highly successful, with few glitches and lots of positive feedback. People have been writing in all day to say how much they liked it, and there were a lot of memorable moments.

Later this week I’ll have over 480 photos from our official photographers and will definitely post an album of them online. I think those pictures will tell the story better than I can.

The things that didn’t go well are also memorable, and I’m writing them up as notes for our team so we can find ways to improve them for Alumapalooza 5. We’ve already got a lot of neat ideas for new activities, and I think some clever solutions to the few remaining problems. All of this will be very helpful as we plan for the big Alumaflamingo event in Sarasota.

In two days at our Ohio courtesy parking spot, a lot can get done. I managed to get a good night’s sleep, get office work under control, have some time with our friends (including Lou, Larry, Dan, sKY, slaDE, Loren, Mike, Al & Shinim), and eat a lot of good stuff. Eleanor took care of our shopping and did the laundry. I also noticed and replaced yet another bad propane pigtail (hopefully the last of the unreliable ones I bought last year).

So with all that done, it’s on to the next adventures. I’m feeling ready for tomorrow’s drive. It will likely be a long one across Ohio, Pennsylvania and much of New York, so we’ll be starting as early as possible.

Jun 01 2013

The last day of Alumapalooza 4

Did I mention that this has been the best Alumapalooza I’ve ever had? The attendees always seem to have a good time, but those of us in orange shirts tend to work long hours and run around solving problems ad hoc all day. This year I have to give the credit to the absolutely awesome staff who have made everyone’s life so much easier. We added two “orange shirts” this year and picked up about four others who have pitched in unofficially. They’ve all been great.

This is making me much more optimistic about next year’s event in Sarasota FL, Alumaflamingo. There was a lot of talk about that event. Many of our seasoned team are coming to that event, and also quite a lot of the people who are attending here. Also, our new mascot, Sammy The Solar Squirrel will be attending. He makes daily calls on the staff radio channel to remind everyone to put on their sunscreen and drink plenty of water.

Sammy has been a little disappointed lately. We’ve had intermittent showers Friday and this morning, which look likely to continue all day. Not much call for sunscreen. Yesterday we got halfway through the Backup Derby (using a 29-foot Airstream Ambassador) and got rained out. We had some pretty major showers during the Charity Auction but since we were all under the main tent, nobody minded. The Auction was a huge success. We auctioned off some Airstream art, a special edition “Alumapalooza 4” Zip-Dee chair, two Airstream scale models, one of Kristiana’s silver trailer necklaces, and a Lodge Dutch Oven. That raised $1,455 which will be donated to the Fish Pond, a local food bank.

We also announced that the proceeds from the Aluminum Gong Show reached $818, which Brett and I pledged to match dollar for dollar, so the total will be $1,636 to be donated to the Red Cross for help with tornado relief in the midwest.

Today’s events are mostly under cover, so the rain won’t matter. We already had yoga this morning, and Kid’s Yoga is starting soon. The Swap Meet was huge (I sold a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff myself) and Rivet Masters was a big hit according to Alex, who emcee’d it.

In a few minutes we’ll start Eleanor’s “Aluminum Chef” demo and then if the weather holds we’ll resume Backup Derby at 2, then tonight we have some awesome door prizes, dinner, and The Trailer Park Troubadours. Alumapalooza 4 is almost over, and I think a lot of people here are sorry to see it end.

May 31 2013

The Aluminum Gong Show

I’m sitting here thinking about everything that happened yesterday, and it’s all a jumble of images in my head. Too much stuff is happening to keep track of it all! Brett and I walk around with little notepads in our pockets so we can make notes about things that we need to address for future events, or announce at happy hour. This year our notes are considerably less than the first couple of years, which I think indicates we are getting everything smoothed out.

Yesterday everything went as well as can be expected. Our trailer numbers swelled to 128 parked on the field, plus several more in the Service Center and the Terra Port. We should hit about 140 today. I heard from a few people who had problems on the road, but they all eventually pulled in with big smiles and a sense of relief.

Andy Thomson was a little late getting here to do his famous Test Drives, but by 10:30 he was taking people out for a spin in a Ford Taurus SHO coupled to a 30-foot Airstream Serenity. I took a ride in the back seat and was impressed, as always. Eleanor is going to drive it this afternoon.

Tim Maxwell and Dave Schumann of Airstream held two seminars and packed the room, talking about Airstream maintenance topics. We also had seminars from Phil May of Techno RV and Colin Hyde. Despite the threat of thunderstorms most of the day, Yoga, Kite Flying, and the Bike Ride around Jackson Center all were well attended. But the afternoon Pool Party at the JC Municipal Pool was deterred by a quick cloudburst that hit almost exactly at 2 pm, when the party was due to start. We’ve had no luck organizing Pool Parties at Alumapalooza—every year we either get rained out or it’s too cold that day.

The weather here is unpredictable, as I’ve often said. All you can be sure of is that there will be rain, fog, cold, heat, humidity, calm wind and high wind, often all in the same day. We’ve had two fantastic days but today it is a certainty that the thunderstorms are coming in soon. It’s such a shame because right now (at 7 a.m.) it’s just beautiful: about 72 degrees, moderate humidity, calm wind, and beautiful clear skies. By 9 we’ll be getting rain, alas.

Last night we saw clouds on the horizon around sunset, and after checking the radar and with our resident meteorologist Alex, we sent a text message (to everyone who registered to receive them from us, about 70 attendees) warning them to pull in awnings. For a few people, the message arrived too late, due to the vagaries of the local cellular network, and they had awning damage. The storm was brief but severe, dumping 1/4 ” of rain in less than 10 minutes, and the main tent suffered some light damage which will be corrected today, plus a lot of stuff was blown around.

For situations like this we have emergency procedures in place, including assistance from the Fire Dept, several First Responders on the field, and access to the manufacturing building in case of tornadoes. We’ve rehearsed these routines every year but never had to use them, fortunately. It’s Ohio in the summer and the weather can be a little challenging at times.

The big fun yesterday turned out to be the Aluminum Gong Show. We had more acts signed up than we could present in the time allotted, so we pared the list down to 10. First we gave out a ton of great door prizes, and then kicked off the show with Eleanor and performing “Santa Baby.” I played ukulele badly, and Eleanor sang. Neither of us could hear ourselves, and we thought we might get gonged, but the crowd sat through our act and even tossed a few dollars in the Charity Jar.

After that, we had a good guitarist, and then Brett recited Dr Seuss’ “Sam I Am” in the voice of William Shatner (he got gonged), and then we had a Human Calendar Calculator, and after that the acts got better. It was hilarious. Alex & Charon stole the show with their duet recitation of a Gertrude Stein Dada-ist poem. Probably half of this will end up on YouTube or our Facebook page, so you can see it eventually. We raised a ton of money for charity with this show, and we’ll announce the total tonight at Happy Hour.

Last night’s entertainment wrapped up with Laura F singing torch songs and then a great “Jam Session” that went for a couple of hours with Kirk McKellar, Curtis Remington, Art Martin, David Winick, and several others. Bob Wheeler of Airstream and his family showed up on the field and are camping in the Terra Port this week, so we had a chance to visit with them after the lasagna dinner at the local Methodist Church (an annual tradition).

I’m pretty sure I’m missing about ten other things that happened today and were worthy of note, but as Ramona Creel (one of our presenters) would say, “There’s just too much stuff to keep in mind head!” So I’m going to move on. It’s time to get dressed and join the rest of the staff for what promises to be another exciting day.