NuRVers Gathering 2010: Day 3

Day three of the rally started off bright and early with a pancake breakfast. There is nothing better than the smell of pancakes and coffee OUTSIDE in the morning. Love it. It probably stems back to the days of when my dad would make “bacon grease pancakes” when we camped out as a family...along with coffee in the percolator.

As nostalgic as those grease pancakes may be...sorry Dad. None for me anymore! These days, I make a much healthier version. I tried out a new recipe today from Tara…oat pancakes. Super healthy…like eating a bowl of oatmeal. Check out the recipe here!

After breakfast, we scattered and then reconvened for the afternoon workshops. Michelle taught a wildly popular jewelry making class. I had a BLAST learning how to make my very own earrings. I’ve always wanted to know how…and now I do. Yippee! I made 4 pairs (yes, it was that fun). Michelle also fixed some necklaces of mine that had broken clasps. I’m pretty much in love with her.

Michelle has been working full time creating eco-friendly, earth sensitive and sustainable jewelry for over 10 years and she is AMAZING at it. I loved hearing her tell us about the origins of all the stones and beads. So fascinating! You can see Michelle's work at her Etsy store, Mad Earth.

Next up was Matt’s veggie oil system demonstration. There was a great question and answer session and everyone came away knowing A LOT more about using veggie oil as fuel.

I also hosted a small green smoothie demo at our house…and we had a great time talking about all things green and healthy.

The costumed happy hour started in the late afternoon and there were some very creative costumes! We may not have big closets, but apparently we have enough room for elaborate outfits! Cherie even had on a CUSTOM fitted corset. Wow. It was so great seeing what everyone came up with.

Next up: "Asian fusion" themed supper. Oh. My. Yumminess. There were tons of curries and stir fries and rice and seafood…it just keeps getter better each night! One of my favorites was a cilantro peanut chutney. I wanted to jump right in the bowl and swim around.

And the best part? It’s not over yet. We still have an entire fun-filled day yet tomorrow. We kick off the day at 11:00 a.m. with the RV "Garage Sale" where we trade, sell, and barter our stuff and services. Can’t wait!!

Lastly, we were excited to welcome TWO new families to the rally today. Gillian, Kwamena, and Efua rolled in right after breakfast this morning. And Skipper, Selena, and Levi arrived just before supper. They have meshed with our little community perfectly and we're thrilled they are here! Tomorrow we will meet the Tacky Texans, Brice and Rose!

I have now edited all the photos up to this point...so go check out our adventures in more detail HERE.

Follow along:
Twitter: #NURV
NüRVers Flickr group
Our photo gallery is here and our Flickr set is here.



NüRVers Gathering 2010: Day 2

It's no secret that the majority of the NüRVers enjoy a good drink now and then. And today, they celebrated that fact! Around 10:00 a.m., a train of vehicles headed East to Shiner, Texas to tour the Spoetzl Brewery...home of Shiner Bock Beers.

We stayed home, but judging from the photos...it looks like they had a great time! I heard that the bottling and labeling operation was quite fun to watch. Thanks to Karen Nace for capturing the memories!

Back at Hill Shade, we had a full living room as we all tried to avoid the staggering humidity outside. I enjoyed chatting with Tara, Becky, and Beverly about life on the road, choosing an RV, blogging, unschooling, food choices, and more. Justin and Matt ran to town to pick up some odd and ends (including Avatar...I still haven't seen it!). The kids ran in and out all day...playing legos and jumping on the trampoline. They stopped for a moment to eat...but only for a moment!

Later in the afternoon, the much-anticipated "Bartender Wars" began! I rarely drink and Matt doesn't drink at all...but these tasty concoctions were not to be missed.

My favorite of them all was the "Thai Tea" served up by Damien and Michelle. They just returned from 3 weeks in Thailand (and 1 in Japan) and their drink was like Tom Kha soup in a glass. Oooooh so yummy. Lemongrass makes me happy.

After much hoopla and lots of creative drinks, everyone voted...and the winners were:

Jim and Rene for Best Presentation. I don't remember exactly what was in their drink, but I do know that it was a very pretty bright blue and had a little umbrella and pineapple wedge. :) They even had a special song for Kevin to play while they prepared it. Such fun.

Ben won Best Overall with his "Blazing Bloody Mary". I've never had a bloody mary, so I had to taste it. It's not as bad as I imagined :) My dad would love it. It had all kinds of fresh veggies and good stuff in it.

Look at all the pretty colors!

Next on the agenda...supper! This has been the highlight for me, of course. I'm such a food geek, so I love seeing what other people's favorite dishes are. Plus, there are many vegetarians in our group, and tonight 2/3 of the table was either vegan or vegetarian dishes. Woo! The theme was "free for all"...with everyone bringing their favorites. We brought kale salad, watermelon, and brownies. I filled my plate with orange curry potatoes, tabouleh, broccoli + poblanos, a Cambodian noodle dish, salads, and a pita. To top it off, I had a little scotcheroo and a vegan chocolate cake truffle from Quack's Bakery in Austin that was divine (thanks Jennifer!). My tummy is still happy.

Other happenings at the rally...Richard (the egg/raw milk/homemade wine guy) stopped over to say hello. Dr. Bob, a retired science teacher and neighbor stopped in as well. The local newspaper came out to do a story on the "young nomads". And lastly, a new piece of wi-fi equipment that will improve the signal arrived at the park today to keep all the geeks happy.

We're looking forward to another fun-filled day tomorrow!

Note: I am pulling "highlight" photos for the daily blog updates and then uploading all the other photos as I have time. Lots of new pics from today...check them out!

Follow along:
Twitter: #NURV
NüRVers Flickr group
Our photo gallery is here and our Flickr set is here.

NüRVers Gathering 2010: Day 1

Hill Shade has been steadily filling up to capacity with NuRVers, and today was the "official" kick-off of the 2nd annual rally! It's been SO MUCH FUN living in this temporary nomadic community...side by side with other "young" full-time travelers. There is much information to glean and endless inspiration to share.

One of our favorite aspects of a gathering like this is the diverse mix of people. There is a lot of "geekiness" here, as you might expect, because most of us use computers in some way to make a living. And there is a lot of "granola"...as many of us are vegetarian and are into sustainability. There are also many motorcycle-drivers, margarita-drinkers, photography buffs, animal-lovers, and Vibram FiveFinger wearers. Be sure to watch the video above to "meet" everyone here!

We kicked off the day at 4:30 p.m. with happy hour and announcements...and then rolled into a "crowd-sourced" Tex-Mex themed meal at 6:30 p.m. The food...oh the FOOD! It was amazing. After that, there was lot of stimulating conversation, campfire & marshmallows, more margaritas, and flaming poi spinning by Cherie!

We're looking forward to an amazing weekend...there is a lot of cool stuff planned! I have taken lots of photos already and I will work on getting them posted soon...along with a daily update. And if you've been reading our blog for any time at all, you will know that it's a BIG DEAL for me to post something the within the same day. Or the same week for that matter. So you KNOW I must really be having fun!

If you have a Twitter account and want to follow along, search for #NURV and you'll be able to see everyone's tweets! If you don't have a Twitter acccount, what are you waiting for?!

There is also a new NüRVers Flickr group that will have photos of all NüRVer events.

Our photo gallery is here and the Flickr set is here.