When I read that Alumafandango was going to be in California this year I figured we should attend. We last went in 2013 when it was in Oregon. That was a fun trip but it took 2 days each way. This year was Jackson. A fairly easy single day drive from home. It was at the Jackson Rancheria RV park. The entire park was reserved for the 100 Airstreams.
However, as the trip came closer I was becoming unsure if we could attend. I had ordered a new F250 and was unsure of the delivery timeframe. I was also unsure of when I should try to sell the old one. Shortly before the trip, I decided to list the truck for sale (Craigslist, Facebook, etc) and even put signs on the truck as I was driving it around. I figured I could tell the potential buyer that once I was back from this trip it was fair game. I also had a potential buyer in the dealership where I ordered the new truck.
Off to Jackson!
We had a very nice time at the event. We were relatively close to the clubhouse so it wasn’t too far to walk. There was a lot of downtime built into the schedule. We got to meet some new people and catch up with old friends. There were informative seminars, good entertainment, and good food. Some of the highlights:
Caravan to Alaska
A group of WBCCI members talked about their summer trip to Alaska. This is something we are planning to do, with others in the summer of 2018 so it was pertinent. The basic plan is to choose a set of stops to make with specific dates on them. Each couple would take one, or more, stops and research them for the rest. What you did between stops was up to you as long as you made the stop on the right date. Just enough organization.
Swap Meet
Whoever was interested could bring items to sell and buy other’s items. No one bought my old RV antenna. But Roxie did buy some collapsible pots and pans. So we came out negative.
Izzy
Izzy Tooinski was the entertainment one afternoon. He was very entertaining and even involved Ted in his act:
And here is some footage of Ted and his tutu:
Antsy
The main entertainment on the last was Antsy McClain. We have seen Antsy before, once with his band and once with Edgar Cruz but this performance would be solo and acoustic only. It also was done in the RV park’s parking lot with illumination provided by Antsy’s rental car. How appropriate, might be a song there sometime.
It was a bit chilly that evening but there was a full crowd and Antsy performed a nice set of songs. He even had some accompaniment by a couple of Airstreamers that we met earlier that were musicians with a tie to an orchestra in Canada. They played percussion:
Near the end of the show, prior to the time of an encore, Brett announced that Antsy would come back for an encore if we would go over and buy some CDs. I was game and bought 2 that I didn’t have. Others did also but by the end of the selling, there were 5 people left! Everyone else took off but to their defense it was pretty cold.
There was one couple that had their mother with them and I am guessing she was a big fan of Antsy’s or really liked him. They asked if Antsy could play a few songs for her. He readily agreed as there wasn’t anyone else there anyway. I was there though.
Antsy pulled up a fold up chair and sat down in front of them. I sat off to the side. For 2-3 songs, he played fully acoustic, as he was, but very soft. It was very refreshing and I felt privileged that I stayed for that.
The end came much too soon and we had to head home but we took our time and continued down CA49 until Sonora. Not much longer until we won’t have to head home because our home will be with us!
