Manifesting a dream

Day 4 of Alumapalooza:

Although it’s Friday and it feels that things should be ramping uP with the start of the weekend, Alumapalooza seems to be winding down for me. Perhaps because I know that, come Sunday morning early, the bulk of Airstreamers will hitch themselves up and hit the road in pursuit of other adventures. Ourselves included. I suppose that I’m reluctant to leave this small piece of soggy heaven where lovely new friends have been made, many through the connection of yoga and yogaFLIGHT. 🙂

So many seminars to go to today, where do I start? With an early morning yoga class to kick-start my day, I was looking forward to the polishing demo / seminar. This Fall, slaDE~ and I would like to strip our trailer of the clear coat exterior (which is peeling off in large quantities), bringing it down to the bare aluminum. At 34 feet long, I can’t tell you how much work this will be to polish Airabella to a shiny mirror-like sheen. We’re talking weeks for the whole process! Although I was hoping to pick up a few valuable tips, the approaching rain stalled the seminar and scared away any electric tools that had come out to play. And with the threat of soggy weather forecast in sporadic spurts all day, this aluminum polishing demo would have to be put on hold until next year. Drat!

For the first time all week, I was able to lie down for a quick power-nap. My blog had been suffering all week from the lack of personal time to just breath. We seemed to be running at full throttle from sunup to sundown (and beyond). So any quality ‘me’ time was truly a blessing.

The long and fully engaging / educational discussion on towing was incredibly valuable. Despite the threat of flailing awnings seeking our diligent attention, I was able to garner an abundance of useful tips and words of wisdom from Can-Am (Canadian!) spokesman Andy Thomson. I found it fascinating to hear the honest and concise facts about tow vehicles (i.e. what is appropriate, safe and necessary, at a bare minimum), especially with uS being a faithful follower and user of a Hensley Hitch. Many myths were dispelled, especially concerning the specifications around what makes a safe tow vehicle (i.e. no trailer sway, safe driving techniques, weight & balance, tire size and pressure), and whether one really needs a big heavy-duty truck to pull our long portly 34 foot Airstream. Not necessarily the case, as proven by Andy’s VW diesel Jetta that he has hooked up to a brand new 23′ Airstream; Rich Luhr is also towing their 30′ trailer with a snazzy diesel Mercedes Benz. Quite extraordinary really when you think about all the misinformation out there on the world wide web! I felt an even greater relief when Andy had a personal look at our own setuP. A sincerely nice and incredibly knowledgeable man who has done a tremendous amount of research and field testing on the towing of trailers (with a heavy focus on Airstreams).

This evening, before dinner, slaDE and I discussed with Bob Wheeler (CEO and President of Airstream) and his superfit wife Kelly, the possibility of showing them the benefits of yogaFLIGHT through a demo of what we do. Kelly was open to the experience, and I narrated for those attending happy hour what exactly yogaFLIGHT was all about and the sequence of the unique stretches slaDE takes his flyers through. Hence, not many photos of Kelly from my viewpoint. But I’m more than certain that many people captured this unique event for Kelly and Bob’s digital Alumapalooza photo album :).

Afterwards, the rally participants we were treated to an amazingly yummy and decadent dinner slaDE and I were blessed to share in the company of our new friend, Becky Blanton ~ a very talented independent writer for Airstream Life magazine. Becky interviewed uS a monthago for an article in Airstream Life magazine (SO exciting!). But in reversing the roles, Becky has just as fascinating story as we do, but with far more heartbreaking in which reality took an about face  … from the vision of hoping to travel the country as a journalist and live out of her van for a year, Becky found herself unemployed, homeless and depressed in the process. But in her story of recovery (Ted.com), Becky pulled herself out of homelessness and turned her life around. She still travels and lives at large in her van, and currently is manifesting a dream of her own Airstream travel trailer, where her home will exist wherever she chooses to pull in for the night. We live this life as well, of transient freedom, using our skills based on whims of passion and flight to help feed the dream and future. Do you think that slaDE and I are considered homeless? Nomadic dream-makers, living the quintessential non-conventional life? A fine line exists between ownership and homelessness, prolifically visible in the great collapse of America’s housing market. So in helping Becky to manifest her dream, we offered her a simple sticker of Airstream whimsy to light her fire whenever that dream may seem to fade at the immensity of it all. Friendship in the form of hope, love and inspiration will out-survive any amount of debt and ‘placelessness’ that we may have in this world. Here’s to inspiring and lifting up others who are also launching skywards for their goals and dreams.

Other favourite photos from the day: