Travel from Salome to Lake Havasu City, AZ

We departed Salome, Arizona and headed to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, for the Xscapers Annual Bash. Our first coach drive of 2022.

Here’s the route map; just 83 miles, a couple of hours drive north in our coach:

Map route

Heading down the highway to Quartzsite:

Highway

Love’s fuel stop:

Love's fuel stop

We weighed our coach and truck again at a CAT Scale at Love’s:

CAT Scale

The weight was up a bit, in part due to adding more stuff, in part due to having a full tank of water, in preparation for dry camping at the Xscapers Bash. But still within acceptable tolerances:

CAT Scale report

Paladin wasn’t enjoying the trip, as usual:

Paladin

Heading north on the highway:

Highway

Highway

Highway

Highway

Highway

Highway

Road to park

Entrance to the bash:

Bash entrance

Sold out:

Entrance

Another Tiffin:

Another Tiffin

Paladin settled down:

Paladin

Backing in to our spot:

Backing in

We arrived a few days early, as Jenn is volunteering in the mail room. So there’s lots of empty space now, which will be filling in as everyone else arrives today:

Empty space

Our truck and coach in our spot:

Truck and RV

If you’re at the Xscapers Bash and see us, feel free to say hi. We’re introverts, and this is our first time at a rally, but we’re looking forward to it:

Xscapers stickers and badges

Stay tuned tomorrow for the timelapse video of our journey.

Xscapers Bash: quiet before the storm

We arrived a couple of days before the Xscapers Annual Bash kicked off, as Jenn is volunteering in the “FeMail” room (the mail room is apparently always staffed by women).

The bash is held each year at the Lake Havasu Rodeo grounds in Arizona.

I wandered around while things were still being set up, and took a few pictures of the rodeo grounds:

Rodeo grounds

Bar:

Bar

Some structures; the small one in the middle is the “FeMail” room where Jenn is volunteering:

Buildings

Seating area:

Seating area

Inside:

Inside

Tent:

Tent

Registration:

Registration

Games:

Games

Dusk:

Dusk

Stands:

Stands

Rodeo grounds:

Rodeo grounds

Bleachers:

Stands

Games and stuff:

Games and stuff

Fire pit:

Fire pit

Rave rocket:

Rave rocket

That first night was a volunteer dinner, ending with a beer puppet, valiantly but inexpertly demonstrated by the outgoing convergence coordinator:

Beer puppet

The next day, Saturday, was early arrival day for non-volunteers. Here’s a map of the bash grounds (from a screenshot of the bash app):

Map

Still lots of empty space in the solar section (for people who use solar power, with very restricted generator use):

Solar section

The general section was also mostly empty:

General section

As was the party section (closer to the noisy music etc):

Party section

A ferris wheel being set up:

Ferris wheel

Our coach:

Our coach

The following day, Saturday, was the regular arrival day; the remaining 300ish RVs turned up:

More RVs

Solar section:

Solar section

Party section:

More RVs

Ferris wheel ready to go:

Ferris wheel

Our coach again, this time with the awning out, and Jenn knitting outside:

Our coach

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:

Washing our coach

Washing our coach

View from inside:

View from inside

Drying:

Cleaning

Hand waxing:

Hand waxing

Hand waxing

Hand waxing

Hand waxing

It’s so nice to have a clean coach; so shiny!

Clean coach

Clean coach

Clean coach

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):

David with badge on hat

We also have wrist bands as proof of eligibility… which are color-coded to show first-time attendees in orange… colloquially called convirgins:

Wrist band

The kickoff event was a gathering of attendees in the rodeo stands, for announcements and such:

Attendees

Attendees

Announcements

They were dressed in boating themes for the evening’s entertainment, yacht rock.

A drone recorded the event:

Drone

Afterwards, as the sun set behind the mountains, everyone gathered on the bleachers and ferris wheel for a group photo:

Group photo

Looking from the top of the bleachers over some of the RVs at sunset:

RVs at sunset

RVs at sunset

Looking towards the ferris wheel from our coach (on the right):

Ferris wheel from our coach

The ferris wheel was only there for one day:

Ferris wheel

Ferris wheel GIF:

Ferris wheel

Ferris wheel

People mingling:

People

Walking back to our coach, the party section near the central area was well lit:

Party section

While the general section was darker:

General section

The next morning, packing up the ferris wheel; it was impressive how compact it was:

Packing up the ferris wheel

They replaced it with a couple of bounce castle things for the kids:

Bounce castle

A marketplace where attendees could buy and sell stuff:

Marketplace

A nice motorcycle with sidecar by a toy hauler fiver RV with deck:

Nice motorcycle with sidecar

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:

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Leashed cat:

Cat

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

We were briefly distracted by some nice-looking ebikes; something we want to get at some point:

Ebike

Ebikes

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:

Jenn with our spread

White, red, and virgin sangria, plus banana/PB/nutella and chicken enchilada pinwheel rolls:

Sangria and pinwheels

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:

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Sunset

Food and RVs

After an hour, it was time to move up to the General 2 section, as it got dark:

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

Food and RVs

The next day, a moment of Paladin being cute. “How you doin’?”

Paladin

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:

Boondocking 101 seminar

Boondocking 101 seminar

Boondocking 101 seminar

Finally, piles of mail by the FeMail room (with Jenn helping out, and a pile for us second-from-right):

Mail

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:

Mexican food truck

Mexican food

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):

Shawl

And the hat:

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:

Silent auction

Silent auction

After that was a margarita throwdown, a competition of margarita samples. Our two favorites were the winners, too:

Margarita throwdown

Margarita throwdown

Margarita throwdown

Margarita throwdown

Margarita throwdown

Margarita throwdown

It was a cool evening, but despite that, we availed ourselves of the ice cream truck for dessert:

Ice cream truck

Ice cream cone

Ice cream cone

We offset the ice cream with the warmth of a heater:

Heater

Then chatted with others (around another heater) while the bingo was being set up in the big tent:

Preparing for bingo

Bingo starting:

Bingo

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):

Bingo

Bingo

Bingo

The prize for the final game, filling all spaces, was an ebike:

Bingo

Jenn was playing my and her bingo cards:

Bingo

She was dangerously close to winning; just needed two more:

Bingo

There were three winners (who all had the same card layout). So they decided on the final winner with a dance-off:

Bingo

Bingo

A busy and tiring day.

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:

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese

Mac and cheese gathering

Afterwards, we went to the top of the bleachers to capture the post-sunset glow:

Sunset

Sunset

And a selfie:

Sunset selfie

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:

Mechanical unicorn

Mechanical unicorn

Mechanical unicorn

Mechanical unicorn

Mechanical unicorn

Mechanical unicorn

Then it was time for the Xscapers olympics:

Xscapers olympics

Lighting of the flame:

Xscapers olympics

The olympics consisted of a series of games in teams of four. One of the games was an obstacle course:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Another involved spinning around while wearing balloons, then running back and forth, for some reason:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Ball toss:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Velcro axe throwing:

Xscapers olympics

Egg and cup (with I think ping-pong balls):

Xscapers olympics

A cooperation rope game:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Throwing ping-pong balls into cups (this guy was very skilled):

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

Knocking off balance:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

The Xscapers olympics flame:

Xscapers olympics

Xscapers olympics

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):

RVing with cats talk

Then a talk on traveling to Mexico (in an RV) for beginners:

Traveling to Mexico for beginners talk

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:

Kettle corn food truck

Here’s me, wearing my thick fleecy sweatshirt, as it gets cold after dark:

David

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:

Social distancing

That evening’s entertainment started with a jokey dating game; three bachelors and one bachelorette:

The dating game

The dating game

The dating game

The winning bachelor:

The dating game

Then we had a talent show, “Xscapers got talent”, with dancing, dog tricks, an hypnotist, and several songs:

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

Xscapers got talent

All the performers:

Xscapers got talent

The fiery Xscapers logo:

God of Fire ZOR

Crowd waiting:

Crowd

A performance of Fyregod ZOR:

God of Fire ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR

Fyregod ZOR