Flying my drone over the Xscapers Annual Bash, held in the Lake Havasu Rodeo Grounds, Arizona. Hundreds of RVs attending the annual celebration of working-age RVers.
Xscapers Bash 2022
Xscapers Bash: aerial photos
It’s been months since I last flew my drone, in part due to not being permitted in some locations, or just not thinking of it. But at the Xscapers Bash seemed like a good opportunity, so I had a quick flight. Actually two: the first was just vertically above my coach, the second was a little further.
Let’s head up:
Looking towards the main event area; all the Bash events were held in the structures beyond the arena:
Looking towards the entrance, and the mountains beyond:
Back down:
I think our solar panels may be a bit dusty:
My second flight, the next day, I flew from one end of the Xscapers Bash site to the other. But first, a closer look at the dusty solar panels:
The nearby mountain:
A view of the rodeo grounds from the entrance, and flying towards the back, looking in various directions:
Nearby BMX course:
Stay tuned for a video flyby tomorrow!
Xscapers Bash: swap, BBQ
On the last full day of the Xscapers Annual Bash for 2022, we dropped off some stuff we no longer wanted at the buy/sell/trade tables; letting our junk become other people’s junk:
Some people were selling things, but most of the items were free to whoever wanted them. We got rid of a mop and bucket (quite nice, but too big), a couple of solar-powered keyboards, an Apple TV device (actually taken by our neighbor before we left our site), a power extension cord, shelving, and other things. All fine stuff, but there’s no point lugging around anything we don’t use, with our limited space.
That evening, we attended the farewell BBQ:
Jenn had a beer:
The evening’s entertainment was a highlight of the event, neon night with performances by Lyte Bryte and Boom Bandits. But we’re such old fogies, not into loud music and dancing; we just went back to our coach (and could hear it just fine from there):
Xscapers Bash: talks, dating game, talent show, fire
On Thursday at the Bash, we attended an interesting talk on RVing with cats (since we do):
Then a talk on traveling to Mexico (in an RV) for beginners:
That evening, we had dinner from a food truck (I had a burger and fries), then got a bag of kettle corn from another food truck:
Here’s me, wearing my thick fleecy sweatshirt, as it gets cold after dark:
Everyone had to provide proof of vaccination or negative test when arriving here, but inevitably there have been a couple of positive COVID cases, so they literally shut the barn door to the enclosed meeting space, and spaced out the seating in the open-sided tent for social distancing:
That evening’s entertainment started with a jokey dating game; three bachelors and one bachelorette:
The winning bachelor:
Then we had a talent show, “Xscapers got talent”, with dancing, dog tricks, an hypnotist, and several songs:
All the performers:
The fiery Xscapers logo:
Crowd waiting:
A performance of Fyregod ZOR:
Xscapers Bash: mechanical unicorn and olympics
On Wednesday evening at the Bash, we had Mexican and ice cream from the food trucks again, and watched people on the mechanical unicorn:
Then it was time for the Xscapers olympics:
Lighting of the flame:
The olympics consisted of a series of games in teams of four. One of the games was an obstacle course:
Another involved spinning around while wearing balloons, then running back and forth, for some reason:
Ball toss:
Velcro axe throwing:
Egg and cup (with I think ping-pong balls):
A cooperation rope game:
Throwing ping-pong balls into cups (this guy was very skilled):
Knocking off balance:
The Xscapers olympics flame:
Xscapers Bash: mac & cheese fest
Tuesday evening at the Xscapers Bash was the mac & cheese fest, where participants made their favorite macaroni & cheese recipes, and others sampled them and voted on their favorite. So that was our dinner:
Afterwards, we went to the top of the bleachers to capture the post-sunset glow:
And a selfie:
Xscapers Bash: food trucks, margarita throwdown, silent auction, bingo
After the morning seminar and visiting London Bridge (look for a post on that later), on Monday evening at the Bash, we partook of the food trucks, sampled lots of margaritas, donated and tried for the silent auction, and finished the evening with some raucous bingo.
A Mexican food truck for dinner:
Jenn donated a knitted shawl and hat that she made to the silent auction; here’s the shawl while being blocked (she didn’t bring her blocking mat in the RV, so made do with cardboard):
And the hat:
The silent auction; Jenn bid on a quilt, but was out-bid. Her items had several bids, too; the auction raised over $5k for Escapees CARE, an assistance program for members who can no longer travel:
After that was a margarita throwdown, a competition of margarita samples. Our two favorites were the winners, too:
It was a cool evening, but despite that, we availed ourselves of the ice cream truck for dessert:
We offset the ice cream with the warmth of a heater:
Then chatted with others (around another heater) while the bingo was being set up in the big tent:
Bingo starting:
They played six games, with a half-hour intermission, and hilarity from people who didn’t understand the rules (we’d never played bingo before, but picked it up easily enough):
The prize for the final game, filling all spaces, was an ebike:
Jenn was playing my and her bingo cards:
She was dangerously close to winning; just needed two more:
There were three winners (who all had the same card layout). So they decided on the final winner with a dance-off:
A busy and tiring day.
Xscapers Bash: lot crawl
The highlight of Sunday at the Bash was the lot crawl — like a pub crawl or progressive dinner, but going from RV to RV, one section at a time. Attendees could put out food and/or beverages for others to enjoy.
First up were the party then solar sections:
Leashed cat:
We were briefly distracted by some nice-looking ebikes; something we want to get at some point:
Then it was the General 1 section’s turn — ours. So we set up our spread on our truck’s tailgate, covered with a tablecloth (mainly to hide the junk in our truck bed), since our table was too small to contain everything:
White, red, and virgin sangria, plus banana/PB/nutella and chicken enchilada pinwheel rolls:
The pinwheels seemed fairly popular; several times people came up saying they’d heard about them from others. Though we still ended up with another plate of each left over; we always over-cater, especially when we didn’t know exactly what to expect.
More scenes from in front of our rig:
After an hour, it was time to move up to the General 2 section, as it got dark:
The next day, a moment of Paladin being cute. “How you doin’?”
The Bash isn’t all entertainment, food, and drinking; there are RV-related talks, too. We attended a “Boondocking 101” seminar, since that’s something we want to try sometime; mostly stuff we already knew from prior research, but some interesting tidbits:
Finally, piles of mail by the FeMail room (with Jenn helping out, and a pile for us second-from-right):
Xscapers Bash: let’s get the party started
The Xscapers Annual Bash kicked off on Saturday (January 8, 2022).
Here’s me with my name badge on my hat, a clever idea we saw on another attendee (easier than transferring it between shirts):
We also have wrist bands as proof of eligibility… which are color-coded to show first-time attendees in orange… colloquially called convirgins:
The kickoff event was a gathering of attendees in the rodeo stands, for announcements and such:
They were dressed in boating themes for the evening’s entertainment, yacht rock.
A drone recorded the event:
Afterwards, as the sun set behind the mountains, everyone gathered on the bleachers and ferris wheel for a group photo:
Looking from the top of the bleachers over some of the RVs at sunset:
Looking towards the ferris wheel from our coach (on the right):
The ferris wheel was only there for one day:
Ferris wheel GIF:
People mingling:
Walking back to our coach, the party section near the central area was well lit:
While the general section was darker:
The next morning, packing up the ferris wheel; it was impressive how compact it was:
They replaced it with a couple of bounce castle things for the kids:
A marketplace where attendees could buy and sell stuff:
A nice motorcycle with sidecar by a toy hauler fiver RV with deck:
Xscapers Bash: Every Little Detail Mobile Detailing
One of the sponsors of the Xscapers Annual Bash is a local business, Every Little Detail Mobile Detailing. We saw them washing neighboring rigs, and decided to get them to wash and wax ours, too, since it needed it — we haven’t had a chance to wash it since we bought it a few months ago. Washing an RV is a bit more complicated than a car.
They had a team of four working on it:
View from inside:
Drying:
Hand waxing:
It’s so nice to have a clean coach; so shiny!