AirPocono Impressions – Leo G

I’m hoping this is merely the 1st of many personal attendee impressions. Whether you have photos to share or not, you certainly have stories to share, and we’d like to put them all online. Please put something together and let’s document this rally right.

There was so much to see and do — we tried to keep the rally schedule free of conflict with track and TV schedules. We limited our schedule to 2 community breakfasts, nightly Happy Hours, nightly campfires, and a 1-night movie night. The Pocono Raceway venue offered plenty to see and do which left us all with many different experiences.

So here’s my take… I didn’t even get to meet you all, never mind get any real time in. When I wasn’t busy with rally business, in the grandstands, or down trying to get our event on TV, I was crashing at our Airstream, my brother’s Airstream, under the tent, around the campfire, or at Dave’s Sit-In Movie Theater. Of course many of you saw that I was in a pretty sticky situation. Most of those that I talked to found the venue interesting and unique at a minimum. Many found this rally concept extremely exciting and some could barely contain themselves (you know who you are ).

Personal Highlights: Happy faces and big smiles seemed to be everywhere. There were more kids in attendance, from toddlers through teenagers, than I could even imagine (and I had the list!). We actually had the complete realm of possible attendees from singles, young couples with kids, up through retired couples. Some married gentleman actually managed to pull off a bachelor’s weekend at AirPocono. Ladies — you know better… Happy Hours focused on people, conversations, and a relaxing beverage or two — exactly as it should be. We were treated like Royalty by Pocono Speedway. The arrangements, discounts, the tent and hospitality that they provided us with were all 1st rate, 1st class, and it wasn’t until you experienced it that you could grasp just how much they did for us. The Pocono Raceway staff from head office to entry gate were all simply exceptional – an extremely professional and accommodating organization! A huge thank you to everyone at Pocono Raceway!!! Movie Night – we had never been to one before. It seems like a crazy quirky concept (to me) for a rally, but it was perfect! A great wind-down from a long hard day — and American Graffiti turned to be the perfect car aficionado movie! Thanks to Dave Morrison for hauling out all of that expensive gear! Fireworks – awesome – who knew — really, who knew? Videos to follow. ARCA Driver Nick Idgalsky and his wife Brandy made a quick stop in to say hello. They were on their way to dinner, but oops, so sorry, dinner might be late. Kids and adults all lined up to have Nick sign tickets, programs, t-shirts, and have photos taken. Nick has been our primary contact at Pocono and it wasn’t until that moment that we both realized we had been working on AirPocono for an entire year. We simply can’t thank Nick enough! Bobby Labonte, 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion motored in with his family while most were out. Bobby, his wife Donna, and daughter Madison were cruising the infield and stopped in to look at our Airstreams. We talked for 20-30 minutes about Airstreams, racing, and Bobby’s move to the JTG 47 car for 2011. We’re hoping that the JTG team can give Bobby what he needs to get into the championship chase or better for 2011. YES, I have saved the best for last… Joe Fodor – if you’ve ever been to a rally with Joe you know one thing – Joe is an Airstream hauling one-man catering machine. Joe not only hauled an entire weekend’s worth of hardware, shelter and food, he controlled every foodie aspect of the weekend including fresh hot popcorn for the fireworks and the movies. Someone actually spotted Joe without a pair of tongs in his hand — amazing! Joe will tell you that he loves it, that he thrives on it, that more than anything, taking care of other people is his camping experience. Joe doubled his commitment by providing a 2nd breakfast for ~100 people without even being asked. For this rally, Joe even made it into the Grandstands and also got to drive across the track. Who was watching Joe’s domain while he was gone is anyone’s guess.

The gallery below is my collection of photos from the weekend. If you attended AirPocono you should have received a free Dropbox invitation and if you choose to accept it I can easily make all of my photos, your photos, without cluttering up your system. Dropbox behaves just like a hard drive, only it will sync between you and me, your desktop, your laptop, even your smart phone. I hope that you’ll sign up for DropBox and share some photos back. I’ll be happy to take your full size photos and edit them down so that they are compatible with HDTV (720 x 1280 pixels). You’ll be able to copy these photos to a USB thumb drive, stick it in your HDTV USB port and have yourself a slide show on your own big screen…

For non-attendees, you can still download full size photos fairly easily, just follow the instructions below:

Gallery directions:
Click once to enlarge.
Under the title you will see a link after the words “Full Size”, click on that link.
Click again for 100% magnification.
Right click and select “save image as” to download to your computer.

NOTE: Panoramic photos will likely become many screens wide on your computer. You’ll need to scroll left and right (or left and right arrow keys) to view the entire uninterrupted image, at least one of which is a full 360+ degrees around. If you’re having problems with this, just write me at NortheastAO@gmail.com…

A big thank you to everyone for putting AirPocono on your schedule for 2010. Maybe we’ll get to see you next year? Maybe you’ll want to put AirSchuyler on your schedule too? AirSchuyler has a strict 40 rig maximum. Be there or be SOB, uh, I mean SQUARE…

Leo G
Airstream Owner GAR 119