R&B Events really knows how to throw an Airstream rally. Or educational seminar. Or festival. Or whatever that nonstop party was last week at Seven Feathers RV resort/casino/convention center in Canyonville, Oregon. 

 

To expedite this post, please imagine I’m writing the usual glowing review (food/excellent, entertainment/fabulous, activities/fun, etc. Insert your own superlatives). Dare I say that my Great Destinations seminar and Airstream Cookie Decorating workshop were highlights? (Oh, this is funny: during one of the sessions someone using the microphone mispronounced “Byam”. There was an audible gasp in the room.)

 

What I learned at Alumafandango

• When you write your Great American Airstream novel, be sure to invest in a good editor. (Excellent advice, Tom Schabarum.)

• If a rock pocks your clearcoated Airstream, immediately touch up the ding with a dab of clear nail polish (to prevent later crazing).

• If Lucky Lemmings and Dean Martin’s Wild Party are unavailable, my new favorite slot machine is now “Airplane”. I think I won $9.30. Or ninety-three cents. (It’s hard to tell on a penny machine.) 

• For a cool nighttime effect in the campground, fire up the running lights. Just insert this fuse (see photo above) into the plug that connects to your tow vehicle.

• Up close, Antsy McClain is movie star handsome.

• When rain is expected, you’ll discover that the Fantastic Vent operating instructions will be excellent for lining your birdcage. 

• Is it safe to be in your Airstream during a lightning storm? Still no definitive answer. Please, someone weigh in here with some solid science.

Something dawned on me as I sat onstage during the Bloggers Roundtable session: in some ways, Airstream folks are closer to me than my own loved ones. My husband, best friend, parents, siblings—none of these people read this blog. You do, though. And you share my travel experience in a way that those closest to me just…don’t. 

 

For many, owning an Airstream equates with the new Live Riveted Manifesto: seeing, experiencing, overcoming, risking, "striving endlessly to stir the venturesome spirit”, etc. While that certainly resonates, more consequential for me—and for others I meet on the road—is that an Airstream brings with it the gateway to a lifestyle and culture that new owners probably aren’t expecting when they sign the finance paperwork.

 

It’s hard to find a new way to say what so many Airstreamers have already stated in interview after interview. 

 

“It’s that brotherhood of Airstream,” said a Panamerica owner. “When you go into a campground, you drive around and look for other Airstreams,” said the owner of a 1953 Flying Cloud, and “the Airstream has given us a wealth of friends.” “Without having an Airstream I would never have had an opportunity to meet all these people I can’t imagine not knowing now,” said the owner of five models, vintage to new. “It has completely changed our lives.”

 

The friendly faces I came to know at Alumafandango I’ll likely see again and again and again, possibly for the rest of my life. I tow alone so often, it’s a comfort to know that whenever I set off in my Airstream, (especially for a rally with other owners), friends—many I haven’t yet met—will be at my destination. I’m reminded of my favorite quote, that I’ve never been able to attribute:

 

In the place where your dreams take you, there are those who love you, waiting for you to arrive.

 

 

For more photos and comments about Alumafandango, visit Facebook.

 

 

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