We’re all OK.  That’s the first message I have to put out to friends and family when there’s a blank spot in the blog.  People often wonder if something horrible has happened to us, but it’s always more benign than that. Usually it’s just “life” that has happened—and we’ve had quite a bit of “life” lately.

I won’t try to recount it all in one blog entry, so expect a few over the next week. Right now I just want to run through where we’ve been.

We left off in the Chicago area, visiting Zip Dee. After battling the Chicago area traffic and interstate highway potholes, we ended up at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and spent a quiet night at the Dunes Campground before moving on to visit a friend of Emma’s down by Indianapolis.  (I did post a few tweets during this time just so followers on social media would know we were still alive.)

From there we went to Alumapalooza 7, and that’s a whole week of stuff that I could write about, but these days with the extensive Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and various blogs by attendees, it’s been pretty well covered.  My take is that this was one of the best Alumaploozas yet and we all (even the hard-working volunteer crew) had a great time.

There were two big changes in the format this year.  We put in a full day of music and a half day of hands-on workshops. These were huge hits, especially the workshops. People really got pumped to try things like PEX plumbing, using a torque wrench, testing for propane leaks, etc., with their own hands under the guidance of an expert. They got a lot of confidence from it, so expect to see more workshops next time.

We also made a big announcement at Alumapalooza:  We are bringing Alumaflamingo, our Florida event, back in February 2017!  The location will be the Daytona FL area, and the dates will be Feb 21-26 (it will be a six-night event!)  Expect something very different from the prior Alumaflamingo events … and if you want a clue, think about the fact that Speedweeks at Daytona is the week after our event.

Right now we aren’t accepting reservations but we expect to open up online registration in a few weeks, so check the official website or become a friend of Alumaevents on Facebook to stay updated.

While I was in Jackson Center I had some meetings with Airstream management and we talked about ways to coordinate their upcoming new product launches with upcoming publication dates of Airstream Life magazine.  Everyone already knows about the new Nest fiberglass trailer, which is expected in late 2017 or early 2018, but there are some other interesting developments pending as well that currently nobody can talk about.  (Don’t ask me for hints!)  All I can say is that you’ll see the best pictures and read the most in-depth coverage of every new product in the pages of Airstream Life.

We have a certain routine after Alumapalooza which involves a decompression session at our friends’ home near Cleveland.  That’s essential for good mental health after a week-long party with 250 guests, at least for me.  Two days is about right to get me feeling less crazed. From there we roamed further east to Hershey PA to visit family and then north to Plattsburgh NY to spend a few days at Colin Hyde Trailer Restorations for a major project.  I’ll talk more about that in a future blog.