This past week, Brian and I attended an Xscapers’ Convergence in Casa Grande, Arizona.  The event marked our third Xscapers’ event with Halloween in Downtown Las Vegas as our first followed by a New Year’s Eve celebration in Quartzsite, Arizona.  Xscapers, a group for working-aged RVers, offers services like mail forwarding and RV discounts under the parent organization, Escapees, while also providing participating members with a social outlet.

About 160 RVs and about 275 people made up the latest event at Pinal County fairgrounds.  Scheduled events began on Saturday, February 29^th, and ended on Sunday morning, March 8^th.  The schedule takes into account that most attendees work weekdays with events, aside from weekends, daily morning yoga, and scheduled group dog walks, starting after “normal” work hours. 

To give you an idea, here’s what this past week’s schedule of events looked like:

• Saturday evening:  Meet and Greet with potluck appetizers and a DJ.
• Sunday afternoon:  Potluck skewers to grill together with entertainment by The Status Crowes, Xscapers “house” band.
• Monday evening:  Designated as a free night for exploring on your own, Brian and I had about 55 people join us at an event we organized and posted on Facebook Group and in the event’s app, suggesting that we meet for dinner and drinks at The Thirsty Donkey, a local bar with 40 beers on self-serve taps.

• Tuesday evening:  A couple of food trucks sold food to those interested, and the Matt Farris band played.
• Wednesday evening:  Lot crawl — think progressive dinner with drinks in one section, appetizers in the next, more appetizers in the next, desserts, and more drinks.  Many people opened their homes up for others to see and get ideas.

• Thursday evening:  La Mesa RV, one of the sponsors for the week’s events, hosted a taco buffet and casino night.
• Friday evening:  We opted to host two other couples who we’ve become friends with over several events at our rig for dinner instead of attending the evening showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast.  Many others dressed in costume for the movie.

• Saturday afternoon:  College rodeo in Casa Grande

• Saturday evening:  Potluck appetizer party followed by Roller Derby match at the fairgrounds followed by the farewell party.

In addition to these events, there were a few other things on the main schedule, including a daily kids’ camp, an evening happy hour for teens, and more.  Xscapers includes many full-time families, so there are always kids around and things for them to do.

Using Glide app as a platform, each Convergence has a main schedule (put together by J.P. Joel Smith, the Convergence Director), FAQs for the event, a place to introduce yourself and provide contact information to others, and a place for community added events like our night at the Thirsty Donkey.  Between the community added events page and a Facebook group, people shared other events throughout the week, including game night, pickleball lessons, hikes, Jeep off-roading, family movie, etc.

The group truly welcomes ALL.  Over the three events that we’ve attended, we’ve met couples traveling with their children, from toddlers to teenagers, solo travelers, people of all sexual orientations and many religions.  The group is open to all RVers, whether you are full-time travelers, like us, or weekenders.  They welcome people with RVs of all types from the Class A motorhome, like ours, to conversion vans.  We even met a woman traveling with her mini labradoodle in her Tesla car!  In terms of age, Brian (currently 46) and I (currently 48) are about in the middle with many attendees who are younger and many who are older.

When you spend most of your time alone or just with the person(s) with whom you are traveling, it’s very refreshing to spend time with other people living a similar lifestyle.  As third-time-Convergence-attendees, it’s fun to reconnect with people that we’ve met at other events or through meet-ups during our travels while meeting new people.  And it’s especially heartwarming to see and feel the sentiment behind a welcome home sign.

As Xscapers’ group just celebrated its 5^th anniversary, we are far from experts when it comes to the group or their convergences.  And as we have recently been newbies, AKA “Convirgins” within the group, we have a few thoughts and pointers for those attending future Convergences:

1. Be sure to install the app for the Convergence on your phone.  You can find the link in J.P.’s email or on the Facebook group for the Convergence.  Note that in any of the tabs, you can click to get more information.  For instance, when you click an event in the calendar, there are details about the event, i.e., how to dress, what to bring, etc.
2. Join the Facebook group for the Convergence you are attending.  You may hear additional announcements, including last-minute details, here.  And who doesn’t love to see pictures from parties that they just attended or missed because they partied too much the night before?
3. Order a name badge and wear it.  And if you didn’t order a nametag when you signed up for the convergence, order one now. Here’s how:  go to www.escapees.com >>> click on STORE >>> select badges >>> select your style >>> select your color >>> enter your information >>> add to cart and have it shipped to you before the Convergence.  Not only did we wear our nametags for the first time at Casa Grande, we wore them every day and at every event.  It is super helpful in meeting people and having them remember who you are.
4. Don’t feel like you need to meet everyone attending.  We’ve learned that we are better in a small group getting to know a handful or two of people beyond a name, what kind of rig they have, where they launched from, what they do for work, etc., etc.
5. Don’t forget to meet new people. Whether they are first-timers or you haven’t had the chance to meet them, there’s a lot to be learned from the people in the group.  I’m reminded of the Girl Scout campfire song, “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”
6. Don’t feel like you need to participate in every activity.  There are a lot of events, and if you didn’t take the week off from work participating in everything for all of the hours is likely to lead to employer disappointment.
7. Share the activity that you want to do on the “Community Ad” and FB group page.  It’s a great way to meet people who have similar interests.
8. Plan ahead!  Read through the schedule and take note of the “potluck” events where participation includes bringing a dish or some other food.  While you don’t need to organize a twelve-course meal, showing up with a half-eaten bag of chips and some leftover hummus is not only inappropriate, but rude.  From our experience, the cost of the Convergence includes one catered dinner, but you will want to have easy food on hand for your other meals.
9. Consider staying in the area before or after.  (We are still learning this one!)  A short drive on either end helps prevent exhaustion when going in or coming out of the Convergence.  Plus, there’s an opportunity to spend extra time with those people with whom you have bonded.  We loved getting to Casa Grande early so we could get set up and make our way to the opening party without racing.  We regret having a six-hour drive on Sunday to get to our next spot as this added to our exhaustion in starting this week.
10. Consider volunteering.  If you have time, it’s a great way to meet people and to help make the event a success.
11. Most importantly, have fun!  At a minimum, you have Xscapers in common with all of the attendees and are bound to find something else you share with others in the group.