After spending just a little over a week in Albuquerque boondocking at the balloon fiesta, we made our way towards Wellington, TX. It was time to boondock for a few more days at the first official NomadFest RV rally.
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If you haven’t heard me say it enough, GET TO AN RV RALLY!
Rallies are so different than going to a campground or RV park. Many people in RV parks or campgrounds just keep to themselves. At rallies, it’s almost expected that you get out and talk with people and get to know each other. There are also scheduled events you can attend to get you out of your shell.
While we knew that Wellington was on our way back to the DFW area from Albuquerque, we weren’t 100% sure we wanted to attend NomadFEST. Once Brent decided to look for tickets, it was sold out.
However, at the balloon fiesta rally closing ceremonies, there were tickets to NomadFEST as a door prize. Brent and I both put some of our “rally cash” into the drawing for the NomadFEST tickets…and we WON!
So off to NomadFEST we went!
What is NomadFEST?
This first NomadFEST was an event hosted by Epic Nomad TV and centered around the release of the RV Nomads movie premiere. It was a weekend jam-packed with events, food, panels, and discussions. The schedule included:
- Live concerts with Audrey Callahan and Drivin’ and Vibin’
- A fish fry
- A tour of the local cotton gin
- An RV Show in downtown Wellington
- Stargazing with GEOAstroRV
- Panels and discussions with Less Junk < More Journey, Exploring the Local Life, Chickery’s Travels, More Than a Wheelin’, Always on Liberty, Morton’s on the Move, and more
- The
premier of the RV Nomads documentary
What did we do at NomadFEST?
We pulled into the soggy and muddy Wellington Fairgrounds on Wednesday and set up our RV amongst a handful of other RV families. There were 5 or 6 of us from the balloon fiesta rally also attending NomadFEST, so we were all parked alongside each other.
Thursday and Friday we worked, played and chatted with others. We hit the fish fry and concert Friday night.
Saturday, Brent spent the morning at some of the panels and discussions where he also found out he won a year membership to Boondockers Welcome.
Saturday afternoon I took the opportunity to go to a lecture given by one of my RV blogging buddies, Julie Chickery of Chickery’s Travels. Then we spent a few minutes
Saturday evening was the big RV Nomads premier. We only had 3 tickets to the movie, so we set up two kids with a movie of their own in the camper while the rest of us went to the premier.
Sunday, we packed up the camper, said our goodbyes, and headed home to our S&Bs (sticks and bricks).
How is the NomadFEST RV rally different from other rallies?
While we have only been to two RV rallies at the time of this post, I can give you a few examples of the differences between rallies.
People
Many of the attendees at NomadFEST were either older than us with no children under 18, or they were young/middle-aged adults with no children.
All but 1 of the attendees at the Fulltime Families balloon fiesta rally in Albuquerque were families with all ages of children.
Schedule of activities
At NomadFEST, most of the activities were not geared towards children, but geared more towards adults who were digital nomads.
At the balloon fiesta rally, most of the activities revolved around things the entire family could participate in and enjoy.
Views
There was nothing special about boondocking at the Wellington Fairgrounds, and the views consisted of barns and mud.
Despite being parked in a cemetery parking lot in Albuquerque, every morning we had hundreds of hot air balloons flying overhead that enhanced the beauty of the mountains around us.
I’m sure we’ll be attending many more RV rallies in the future. As I said above, just going to random campgrounds or RV parks you can begin to feel alone. These rallies really create a sense of community.
Would we attend NomadFEST again? Yes, if it fits in our travel schedule.
If you are a nomad, or aspiring nomad, and want to connect with other nomads and share your story, get the Epic Nomad Life app today.
