Blogger Fiesta

Our fourth Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

(By Karen)
I've confessed before that I am a RVing blog junkie. I have over 90 blogs on my tablet and smart phone that I read regularly. I am also on RVillage, Campendium, RV Happy Hour and on Facebook.

It is entertaining, keeps me focused on my goal, allows us to discover great campgrounds and boondocking spots and meet interesting people.

In October a lot of bloggers were converging in New Mexico. Some were here for the great weather, some en route to Arizona and others were here for Balloon Fiesta. We were chatting back and forth with different bloggers and arranged a few meet-ups. We recently joined Xscapers (part of Escapees RV Club). This newer group was having their first convergence.

SockMonkeyTrekkers met the RV Wanderlust buffalo 

We've been following RV Wanderlust for awhile now and have communicated through blog comments and on Facebook. They were staying in Santa Fe before heading to the Xscapers Balloon Fiesta Convergence. I contacted Brittany on Facebook and arranged to have dinner at one of our favorite locals restaurant in Santa Fe, The Pantry. We spent a really great evening taking a tour of Meriwether, their beautiful home on wheels, eating great food and sharing stories by their campfire. We really felt we had connected with kindred spirits. We made plans to see them again at the convergence.

Greg and Brittany at The Pantry

Eric and Karen at The Pantry

Another blog we enjoy reading is Evie and Her Mom. Evie and Joy were staying at Abiquiu Lake about 50 minutes from our home in Los Alamos. We invited Greg's mom Frances to come with us. She also loves Evie's blog.

It was a stormy Saturday when we drove up to see Evie and Joy. It was such a fun afternoon! We sat outside until the rain chased us indoors. We took a tour of their most excellent C class home. We loved all the little touches that make their place so comfy. Evie has added a lot of very clever storage solutions that we will try to copy. They shared great stories with us about some awesome adventures and one or two small mishaps. We laughed and had a wonderful time. Such an inspiration.  

Frances, Joy, Greg and Evie

Karen and Evie

The Moms

Evie and Joy in front of their home

The final event in our Blogger Fiesta week was to hook up with the Xscapers group gathered at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This was our fourth Balloon Fiesta but our first RV convergence. Since we only live less than a two hour drive away and I had to be at work the next day - we chose to drive down at 0'dark hundred arriving in time for the dawn patrol. We spent the morning watching the mass ascension which starts around 7 a.m. It is very hard to describe and the pictures just don't do the magic any justice. You are standing in the middle of a huge field with literally thousands of people watching crews prep and launch balloon after balloon after balloon. And not just your typical balloons. Albuquerque attracts the special shape balloons. It is an absolute, not-to-be missed event. 

We got to the park at 5:30 a.m. 

It was not only the first Xscapers Convergence, but it was our first time at a gathering of RVers. We went to Quartzsite a few years ago, which was fascinating. But, we weren't with a group and didn't know anyone. We walked around and saw lots of groups, but kept mostly to ourselves. 

This was the first weekend of Balloon Fiesta and the weather was very overcast and a little bit of rain in the morning. This wasn't the best scenario for picture taking. I love the bright, blue, New Mexico sky filled with colorful balloons. But, a cloudy sky filled with colorful balloons isn't half bad.  

Met up with a Storm Trooper while watching the prepping of the Darth Vader balloon.
I had no idea he was flashing bunny ears behind my head. Can't trust a storm trooper. 

I LOVE the special shape balloons. 

They symmetry was very interesting. 

Balloons and people are everywhere you look out on the flight field. 

After the morning mass ascension and breakfast burritos, we decided to walk over the camping lot and check out where the Escapees and Xscapers and a whole lot of other groups were gathered. We needed to get in our 10,000 steps. It was fun to walk around all the different types of RVs. We new we were at the Xscapers camp when we spotted the Technomadia bus.  We didn't expect to find anyone around, but we knew where we would be gathering for the evening pot luck.

After ogling all the RVs, we walked back to our camper van and took a very nice nap. In early afternoon, we woke up and decided we would head over to the gathering place with our homemade carrot raisin salad to share. As we were about half-way across the flight field, it began to rain. It was raining lightly at first and then the light rain became a deluge with thundering cracks of lightning. We ducked into the media tent and waited out the downpour. The Facebook messages from Xscapers said they were delaying the potluck until the rain stopped. Once the rain was just a light mist again, we got kicked out of the media tent.

Technomadia's home

Greg in the media tent waiting out the storm

We wandered over to the Xscapers gathering spot and folks were starting to come out of their campers. A couple of tables were set up for the pot luck and people began setting up their chairs in a large circle. I was a little bit star struck seeing bloggers I've been reading for several years.  It was a little bit surreal, but a lot of fun. Big thanks to Travis and Melanie Carr of Xscapers for organizing such a great event. The group stayed for the week and had lots more gatherings and classes.

Deb and Jeff Spencer held a drawing at the potluck and handed out a number of prizes. We got two packets of Dometic bowl cleaner/tank treatment and an awesome 12 volt fantastic fan. We've used it several times since the party and we LOVE IT!  We hope to get to many more Xscapers events. It was such an awesome, fun group of people.

Here are the bloggers who were there that first weekend, but I know I missed a few:
Wheeling It; Technomadia; RV Wanderlust; Drive, Dive Devour; Rolling Recess; The Roaming Pint; The Kuhl Odyssey; RV Outlawz; WanderWasi; Rolling Under the Stars; Thisawayz and Thatawayz

Deb and Jeff Spencer

Here is a link to the video that Travis Carr of Xscapers put together of the first convergence. 

Gather 'Round the Campfire 4-17-14

I have a confession to make. I have a new obsession - RV travel blogs! Like many others before me, when dreaming of switching to the full-time RV lifestyle, I thought I would do a little research by hitting up GOOGLE. Wozzers! There was a virtual gold mine of information, mostly in the form of blogs. I began collecting blogs. With each new blog I discovered, I would look for their very first entry and follow along their journey through to the present.

I mostly was reading on my Nexus 7 tablet and was using Google Chrome's "add to desktop" feature. But, soon I had filled up an entire page on my tablet with icons linking to individual blogs. Then I discovered you could group icons into a folder by dragging one on top of the other. Yes! Now I can fit 36 blogs in each folder. I am on my fourth folder and counting.

The variety of blogs out there is amazing.

• Young, fulltimers who balance working and living on the road.
• Retired part-timers and full-timers
• Canadian snow birds following the weather but returning to Canada for their six plus months to maintain their health benefits
• People like us who have x years to retire and are dreaming of the day they can full-time
• Families who want a different life for their kids filled with adventure and home schooling

Greg and I go for an hour plus walk just about every night. I started talking to Greg about Paul and Nina, RV Sue, WatsonsWander and others by their first or blog names as though they were dear friends of ours. I stop and laugh sometimes at our conversations.

But, the most excellent thing about the plethora of blogs is that you are inspired, informed and entertained. For example, I was amazed to learn how many women are out there living on the road on their own or with beloved pets. We have discovered lots of new campsites, boondocking sites, recipes, and helpful hints about the full-time rving lifestyle. There are also a number of techie full-time rvers who share their expertise and many who teach classes. Another great feature is the pictures and videos. Apparently if you like to write blogs - you also like to take pictures.

We have some experience with blogs as Greg had a popular blog in our hometown about local issues. So, when we got turned on to this whole community of RV bloggers, we had to jump in!

So, pull up a chair and gather with us 'round the campfire while we chat about all our blogger buddies. You too will discover the amazing blogosphere of RVers.

Weekly Blog Highlights
 
I am currently reading about 70 blogs. Remember, I said I was obsessed. Not everyone posts every day or even every week, so it is easier than it sounds. Also, there are a number of forum and social sites devoted to RVing. I often discover new blogs while reading a blog or comments to a blog post. You can also use a site called hitchitch which lists "RV Travel Adventures and Journals."

I have had fun reading multiple accounts from different bloggers of joint happy hours, lunches and group hikes.

We discovered a great boondocking and hiking spot in California called Alabama Hills. Three bloggers happened to all be camping over Halloween in Alabama Hills. Wheeling It, Watsons Wander and Gone with the Wynns came together for a pumpkin carving contest among the rocks and wilds of Alabama Hills near Highway 395. Wheeling It and Watsons Wander both gave excellent descriptions of their boondocking and hook up and provided awesome pictures. Gone with the Wynns shared a video. The Wynns are well known for their well-produced yet quirky videos.

The funniest and scariest blog post this last week dealt with the adventures of The Crowded Camper and their snake spotting pooch Arco. Camper Mom's walking club includes her two kids, retired bomb dog (Arco) and a duck retrieval dog. During the summer Camper Mom pushed her kids in a "running" stroller with the two dogs in tow for 5 miles a day and lost 30 pounds! Way to go Becky! BTW - always read the cutlines below the pictures - you get a lot of extra tidbits. So, back to Arco, the bomb-sniffing snake spotting pooch. While Military Man was on deployment over the summer, Camper Mom would walk with the kiddos and the dogs. Arco would alert when he spotted snakes or other living creatures. I don't know where they spent the summer, but Arco alerted to a rattlesnake and actually killed a water moccasin. You have to click on the link above to read and laugh about what happens when Arco alerts to the top of their 5th wheel and Camper Mom and Military Man have to investigate. LOVED this post!

I hesitate to say I have favorites, but I will say there are two blogs that no matter what - I read every day - ok everyday that they post. These two blogs are Wheeling It and RV Sue and Her Canine Crew. Nina and Paul of Wheeling It travel with two cats and a dog. RV Sue travels with her two doggie pals. Both blogging teams are expert boondockers, true inspirations and very entertaining.

RV Sue is a blogosphere fan favorite. Her readers battle to be the very first to post a comment and she gets triple digit responses to most of her blog entries. Her blog tag line is how I want to spend my retirement "living on less and and enjoying life more."