(photo courtesy of Nick Martines)

I’ve been working on this event for a year, and now it is finally over.  Sunday morning was wonderful. I awoke around 7 with beautiful sunlight streaming in the windows and crisp air outside, and just lay in bed basking in the knowledge that I didn’t have to get up and start running around.  Emma had a sleepover at her friend Katherine’s trailer, so Eleanor and I were alone to enjoy the quiet after the storm of Alumapalooza.

By around 8:30 we were still lounging around the Airstream with all the shades drawn. I was working on the blog and Eleanor was also at her computer, when we heard an assertive knock at the door.  I figured it was one of the Alumapalooza team, finally deciding we’d enjoyed enough laziness, and being in a good mood I decided to have a little joke.  Before I opened the door I said loudly, “Eleanor, can you untie me so I can open the door?”  Equally loudly, Eleanor said, “No, I like having you tied up and I’m not done with you yet!”  I paused a moment and then said, “Aha, the oil you smeared on me is letting me slip out of the ropes!”  and I opened the door to see … nobody there.

About fifty feet away I spotted a lady heading away from us rapidly, and I called out, “Were you looking for me?” She walked back and explained she had wanted to invite me to see the work her husband had done on the interior of their trailer.  I was really not in the mood to get out of my pajamas and go see a trailer, plus it was time to go assist with the teardown of all the Alumapalooza stage stuff, so I said, “I’m sorry, this isn’t a good time for me right now,” and she agreed to email me a few pictures instead.  It wasn’t until I had closed the door again that I realized our playful dialogue had been heard by the wrong person.  That probably explains her apparent discomfort when talking to me.

Oh well.  If you can’t take a joke you shouldn’t come to Alumapalooza, because we do like to avoid seriousness whenever possible.  I think she was not permanently traumatized by it.  I got dressed and went out to help with striking the set, which took a few hours (in between goodbyes and congratulations).  By noon, the field was 90% cleared of Airstreams and tents, and most of the volunteer staff were on their way home.  We hitched up and towed over to the Terra Port.

A few people were still hanging around, including Brett & Lisa in the Argosy motorhome, Alex & Charon, sKY & slaDE, Elly C, and Kite-Flyin’ Joe.  We spent the afternoon cleaning up and getting back in the mode of “normal” Airstream life, which meant laundry, washing the mud off shoes and mats, fixing the leaky sink in the bathroom, and re-arranging our stuff for the next phase of travel. I really wanted to go somewhere for dinner just to have a change of scene, since I had hardly been off Airstream property in a week, so we ended up in Lima OH with Brett, Lisa, Alex, and Charon that night.  We had a fairly mediocre dining experience but I was still glad to get out of town for a couple of hours.

The talk lately has been a combination of Alumapalooza review and Alumafandango (Denver) planning.  Already I’ve received a few emails from people with their suggestions on how we can improve the event, and we’ve all talked about new ideas and ways to make our jobs more manageable.  Most of the new ideas will be tested at Alumafandango in August, including an all-new cooking competition that we will announce in a couple of weeks.

On Monday morning we all finally got to visit the Airstream company store like regular people.  It was blissfully uncrowded, with only a few service customers hanging around.  I bought an LED lamp, a tube of caulk, and some replacement latches.  I’m gearing up for our winter-time Airstream renovation.  Brett went into town to make his final payoffs (we buy services and products locally in Jackson Center whenever possible), and then we had our post-event debrief with the Airstream managers.  This year there was little to discuss since the event went so well, but we have a few procedural improvements for next year and we are hoping that some re-seeding and drainage improvements will be made to the field as well.

By 2 p.m. we were off, heading northeast toward the Cleveland area, where we have landed in “the best campground in northeast Ohio,” AKA Lou & Larry’s driveway.  Three other Airstreams are here as well, making it a sort of mini-rally, and Al & Shinim (Team Doxie) dropped in, and Loren & Mike.  Most of us sat around the campfire in the back yard last night telling funny travel stories until 10.

I think even the people who weren’t working at Alumapalooza appreciate the chance to decompress before re-entering the “real world”.  I know I do.  Lots of work lies ahead for ‘fandango, the Fall 2012 issue of Airstream Life, and several other projects.   But I can’t complain—my job is making fun and that’s not so bad.

Wow, I was so busy yesterday that I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to write the blog until today!  It has been that kind of week.  So I’ll summarize some of the events of Friday and Saturday … if I can remember it all.

Friday was our rain day, at least in the morning.  We had to cancel the Open House and the Kid’s Swim party, but Dutch Oven cooking worked out just fine under the Main Tent.  Seven of us baked Chocolate Cobblers with Matt Hackney’s help, and about fifty people showed up to eat them.  I was favorably impressed—mine came out very well and it was really good, and so were all the others.

The Backup Derby came off as planned, on asphalt near the Service Center.  This was the event where teams of two are challenged to back up a single-axle U-Haul trailer through a course of orange cones.  “The Stig” showed up to run the course first, and set a time of 1:34, which wasn’t really great.  He later explained that he’d practiced in a different tow vehicle, but I think he was just making excuses.

The best time was handily set by Ed Emerick, who completely blew away the competition at 0:41.  We couldn’t believe it, so we had him run it again and the next time he parked it square in the finish box, earning at 10 second bonus, so his second time was just 0:39!  He won a pair of Zip-Dee chairs with the Alumapalooza logo silk-screened on them.

Andy Thomson did his towing talk again, and this year he had a nice Ford Taurus SHO (with 6-cylinder twin turbo) rigged up with a new Airstream International CCD 23.  I took it out for a spin, as did many others, and it drove like a dream.  No exaggerating, this was the best towing combination I’ve ever driven.  Very impressive.

Jim Webb did his Zip-Dee seminar on our awning, which is nice because it means it gets an annual maintenance by the pros.  They adjusted the spring tension, cleaned the arms, and lubricated it.  Thanks, guys!

At Happy Hour we gave away a ton of great stuff again, including a Mega Hitch Lock, more Zip-Dee chairs, some silver jewelry by Kristiana, the new book “Airstream” by Tom Schabarum, some Lodge enamel cookware, cookbooks, free nights at campgrounds, YogaFlight sessions, Tarot card readings by Alex, one-of-a-kind Airstream decals made by Kirk, etc.  Overall this week we gave away probably over 150 different prizes.

Hymn for Her, our Friday night musical act, was apparently a big hit.  I missed much of it but the reviews were great.   Their style of music is unusual, hard to categorize, and great fun.

Saturday dawned bright and dry, so everyone was in a fine mood to enjoy the last day.  We had a mellow schedule offering morning yoga, a 5K run in town, or a breakfast at the local Methodist church.  At 9 a.m. we had our Swap Meet, which was a huge success.  Quite a lot of goodies got traded.  I bought a never-installed NuTone food center from David Winick, which we will install in our Safari this year. (We already have all the appliances to go with it.)

At 10 a.m. the action kicked up a notch with the Rivet Masters contest, which was won by sKY and slaDE (our yoga instructors).  They had 16 completed rivets in one minute, all of them perfect, which was amazing since last year they scored zero and came in last place.  Talk about a comeback!  There was also a three way tie for second place between teams Doxie (last year’s winners), Pounders, and Buck Masters, all with 14 good rivets.

Eleanor’s “Aluminum Chef” demo came off well in the afternoon.  She made salmon and risotto, and the recipes are posted on the Alumaplooza website.  Brett and I were on stage as before, with Brett acting as sous chef and me doing color commentary.  Four couples were selected to come up and eat the meal, and they all raved about it.

After that, Charon and Alex came on stage to swallow swords, breathe fire, and were as brilliant as always.  We last enjoyed their show at the Vintage Trailer Jam in 2008.

This time they finished with a very unusual act in which Alex was vacuum-packed in a plastic bag.  Charon kept the vacuum running until we all donated enough money to the hat, then she let him free.  The money, which amounted to $420, will be used to buy seven annual passes to the community pool, for children of Airstream employees.

After that, it was more door prizes at Happy Hour, and the big act: The Trailer Park Troubadours, and at about 11 p.m. it was all over.

I am very appreciative to all the people who came up to me and said they were having a fabulous time.  Over and over I heard from people how this was the best event they’d ever attended, or sometimes, the first event.  People told me they respected how much work it was to put on something like Alumapalooza (and it is!) and that kind of recognition really helps us keep going.  It’s a tremendous job that takes a full year to organize, and a week of intense stress to manage, but we all love it and everyone on the team has been talking about how they want to do it again in 2013.  So we will—and we’ll make sure that next year, it’s even better.  See you there.

There are a few clear themes of this week:  (1) Everyone seems to be having a great time. I’m getting lots of comments as I walk around the field, all positive. It’s very gratifying.  (2) We are all extremely busy.  A full night’s sleep or a moment to sit and eat quietly are hard to come by, at least for the staff.  (3) We’ve been extremely lucky with the weather (but more on that later).  Photo below is of Eleanor, Brenda, Colin, and Peewee.

The day started with an early “pranayama” seminar by sKY and slaDE, our resident yoga instructors, while JJ and Sandi did their SkyMed pitch in the Main Tent, then regular yoga class, then the two Product Feedback sessions that Airstream’s top design and sales people run (which were very well attended). The kids did a scavenger hunt at 10 a.m., while Joe led a bike ride for the adults.

I missed all of that, because a production crew working for HGTV was on site, shooting video for a show to be released sometime this fall.  They wanted to do a short interview with me (in addition to several members of the Airstream staff).  I’m pretty sure my moment of fame will end up on the cutting room floor.  I was also leading three Airstream Life staff through the factory for a future article about the factory tour, so all of this kept me away from the fun that everyone else was having.

The big moment for us was Eleanor’s “million dollar sauces” demo at noon.  She made 10 sauces on an Airstream kitchen in about an hour, while Brett assisted and I did commentary.  At the end, everyone got to taste the sauces.  The recipes can be downloaded from Alumapalooza.com.

Colin’s talk on vintage trailer restoration was also popular.  He managed to keep his crowd mesmerized for 90 minutes, until we finally had to kick him off the stage.

Throughout the past three days we have seen almost nothing of Emma.  She linked up with a new friend, Katherine, and the two have been completely inseparable.  But that’s OK with all the parents involved.  This is a great environment to let a pair of 11 & 12 year old girls run free.  We’re in a small quiet town, inside a fence with security guards at each entrance, and surrounded by hundreds of wonderful Airstreamers.  For some reason the girls have a pact to prevent us from getting pictures of them, but I’ve managed to sneak one or two.

All through last night we were reveling in absolutely perfect weather: 70s, dry, mostly sunny, and a light breeze.  But we knew it had to end.  As I told many people, in Jackson Center during June, you can expect all kinds of weather in a single week.  Today, Friday morning, we have steady rain and a temperature of 62 degrees.  It will rain until at least 10 a.m.  But today (perhaps foreseeing this rain a year ago), we programmed a slow start day, with just yoga, Dutch Oven cooking (under the tent today), and Open House from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The Open House will be a soggy affair but by afternoon this rain will be just a memory.  The Backup Derby should be under clearing skies at 1 p.m., and that’s the event of the day I’m looking forward to the most.

The Alumapalooza routine has set in again:  up at 6 a.m. with the sun rising into a beautiful blue sky, quick blog entry, breakfast, on the walkie-talkie by 6:30 (in case I’m needed) and out doing whatever needs to be done by about 7 a.m.  The hardest part of each morning is getting Emma out of bed so that she will go to bed at night at a reasonable time.  Being 12 years old, she really doesn’t like waking up early

The orange-shirted staff are running things so well that Brett and I sometimes find ourselves filling the time by counting attendees to seminars (to see which ones are most popular), selling books, refilling the ice chests, and troubleshooting little problems that come up.  It’s so much nicer than last year for us.  Of course, now certain members are referring to us as management—or even more inaccurately, “Central Intelligence.”  We’re really more like tropisms than intelligence.

Eleanor, Emma and I were scheduled to do a talk about “life aboard an Airstream” from a family perspective, and I was pleasantly surprised to find 84 people in attendance.  We did a 60 minute Q&A session with the folks there, answering questions about full-timing, where to go, maintenance, campsites, traveling with a kid, selling the house, and many other things.  A 42 minute slide show ran in the background while we talked, with photos of us starting in 2005 when we first began full-timing, and going through early 2008.

All day long I kept getting buttonholed by people with interesting questions and great personal stories. This event is generating quite a few leads for future articles in the magazine.  I think that honestly I spent more time talking to people than doing any sort of physical work, which is quite a bit different from prior years.  Again, that’s because the team is really hustling.  The parkers (Lou, Larry and their team) fit in another 25-30 trailers yesterday, working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Matt was everywhere from the sound board (for the stage) to the grills (for Dutch Oven class and Open Grill).  Alice & Tim were making the water/electric job look easy, and Beth and Lori had Registration completely handled.  Lisa and Eleanor are still on the Injured Reserve list but both are functional now and doing light duty.

The only problem seems to be the cursed Garbage Pickup job.  Lisa was supposed to drive the Gator around every morning at 7 a.m., but that was before she was injured.  We recruited Al & Shinim to take over, and they did a great job yesterday.  But late in the afternoon, Al showed up with a large hemotoma on his leg from bashing it against something.  Elly (a veteran of the Vintage Trailer Jam and an LPN) diagnosed it and sent him off with ice and orders to stay off it, so that wiped out our second team.  A third team has been recruited and they did the job this morning, but we have given them fair warning about the history …

OK, quick summary because I’ve got to get out of the trailer and onto some jobs this morning.  We had 13 ovens going at once during the first Dutch Oven cooking seminar, and huge leftovers (fruit cobblers) for everyone to sample.  Open Grill was a big hit.  People cooked for hours in a steady stream over the three big grills we set up. The ice cream leftovers from the Kids Social got wiped out last night by the grillers, so that’s good. Roving Happy Hour was a big hit too, and we’ll do that again tonight. (Photos today are all courtesy of Lisa Forsyth, Injured Reserve.)

This morning HGTV will be here to tour the factory and interview the staff for a show they are going to produce this fall.  I’m on the interviewee list, but probably won’t appear in the final show.  But that adds a complexity to this morning that I really didn’t need, so it’s rush-rush-rush to get everything done.  Off to work—I’ll update tomorrow.

It was a longer day than I expected.  After I finished the blog in the early morning yesterday, my attention turned to a line of slow-moving thunderstorms that were creeping northeast and bearing down on us.  The plan was to move all the staff over to the rally field at 8 a.m., but by 7 a.m. it was clear we were going to be in the midst of a potentially large storm at our scheduled move time.  At 7:30 Brett & I had a quick conference and decided to move everyone who was ready immediately.  It was already raining and the wind was blowing hard.

Most of us were lined up and ready in less than five minutes.  We parked the Airstreams in the field and set up, wearing raincoats, while Eleanor and Lisa took the Gator back to the Terra Port to escort the stragglers past the security gate.  The storm dropped half an inch of rain according to weatherman Alex, and made the field muddy enough that we felt obligated to delay the start of parking for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, eager attendees were lined up at the north gate on Jerry Drive, and by 10 a.m. they were around the corner, which means we had a line about half a mile long waiting to get in. We passed on the bad news (“be prepared to wait until at least 11”) but the wind dried up the worst of the mud pretty quickly and by 10:30 or so the gates were opened.

This made for a lot of really dull video on the GoPro camera we had mounted high above the field, as you can see from the still posted here.  But our weatherman assured us that there would be a dramatic change once the front passed, and he was right.  By noon it was time to shed the jackets and break out the sun hats.

We parked about 75-80 trailers today, which is about right.  102 Airstreams were scheduled but not everyone shows up on the day they are reserved.  We left one area unparked because it was still a little damp and we didn’t want to dig ruts, but it will fill in today.  The field is already looking great with aluminum everywhere.

Our new online iPad-based registration system completely let us down, riddled with technical glitches that we could not overcome, so the parkers resorted to paper check-in instead and it worked out fine.  We will be having a serious talk with the company that provides our reservation software later.

The only real bad spot of the day was a couple of staff injuries.  Eleanor strained her back due to lifting things improperly and managing to fall into a cooler (this takes particular talent), and was restricted to quarters for the rest of the day with some pain medication.  A few hours later, the sliding door of the U-Haul trailer landed on Lisa’s neck, giving her a nasty bruise to the trapezius muscle and sending her to the E.R. for a scan.  They are both going to be fine, but with restricted movements and pain pills neither will be on duty today.  Al & Shinim, friends from Ohio, were recruited by Larry to take over the morning garbage pickup from Lisa, and Charon will help Eleanor do the staff laundry today.  So once again, people have jumped into the breach to help out.

Emma made a friend at the Kid’s Ice Cream Social today, who seems to be a sort of clone of her. They are about the same age, read the same books, love the same things (snow and dogs in particular), and became instantly inseparable all day.  Parents on both sides are thrilled.  We had to break them apart at 9:30 after Mike Depraida’s short documentary on The Slabs ended, and the ice cream for Lou’s birthday was consumed, and the paper lanterns flew away.  We had to get Emma to bed, because her parents were exhausted and today is going to be another big day.