It seems like it was just a year ago that we literally pressed the ‘launch’ button on unleashing RVillage to the world.
Oh wait.. it WAS just a year ago this week!
It’s been a crazy year since, and now RVillage has over 17,000 members who are connecting with each other and making new friends in campgrounds across the continent.
We had the pleasure of ramping up to this milestone by ‘Curtis-y’ parking with RVillage’s founder – Curtis Coleman – at his digs in Arizona City a couple weeks ago.
He’s rented a great lakefront (yes, in Arizona) house to use as a base camp for continuing the hard work of polishing up RVillage.
Yes, Curtis is an RVer, but he simply found that RVing was distracting him from his passion of growing the RVillage community.
It was awesome to catch up with him for a few days and share in community with the man who had this great vision that has benefited so many.
Our dear friend Helene also joined up with us, having JUST hit the road herself in her new travel trailer.
After departing Curtis’ home we moved on to Picacho Peak State Park (our review), about 40 miles north of Tucson to re-charge a bit and finalize our presentations we were to give at the Escapee’s 55th Escapade.
We had one secret rendezvous planned there already, but just as soon as we checked in on RVillage.com – we started getting notifications of others checking in too. Soon enough, we had 6 other rigs parked nearby.
Well.. what a great opportunity to put some RVillage magic in action.
I clicked the ‘Create Get Together’ button and set up a sunset happy hour at our place. All of our RVillage neighbors said yes, and showed up.
It was a delightful evening making new friends and new connections.
It brought a HUGE smile to our face to see the magic of RVillage in action.. yet again.
A year ago, this didn’t exist. We could have very likely pulled on out of the park without these new friendships.
RVillage is making connections like this regularly, and we’ve met and connected with so many this past year as a result.
With so many features to invite people around you to meet up for happy hour, a campfire, a hike, a photo walk or whatever you like – there’s no excuse anymore for being lonely on the road, unless you simply want to be.
Our few days at the lovely Picacho State Park were over way too quickly. Such a beautiful park, especially during a spring wildflower bloom. But we had to move on to the big event – the Escapade at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson.
There was so much awesome there, that we’ll follow-up with a couple posts next week – including announcing our latest big and exciting project that was unleashed there. Some of you following along on Instagram and Facebook might have already caught the tease about Xscapers. We’re excited to share the details… so stay tuned!
But I did want to take a special moment and share some of the excitement from Escapade were we also celebrated the 1st birthday of RVillage!
With a first birthday… the ‘Beta’ label has been towed away into the sunset.
What a year it’s been. While we’re no longer involved in the daily operations of RVillage, we were deeply involved from the very beginning – we’re pretty darn proud parents to see RVillage all grown up now.
Have you checked into your current location on RVillage? The magic can’t happen unless you show up. 🙂
mtwaggin says
Am signed up and will share my travels when they get started here hopefully in May (not full time but hey a girl has to pay the bills – haha). I think it is a great venture and so glad you guys helped bring it to life!
Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick says
RVillage is great fun and it’s how we met you and Chris at Picacho last week. We have met some other couple this way too and made new friends. Congrats on your birthday!
Ed
http://www.whackamolewheels.com
Lynn says
So many congrats! Almost every RVer we met this week ended the conversation with, “find me on RVillage!” Such an awesome way to keep in touch.
Cherie Ve Ard says
It’s so wonderful that RVillage is part of the everyday words RVers use now. And it was extra wonderful to meet you guys this past week too! Find us on RVillage 🙂
Patricia Neuzil says
You and Curtis, and others, have worked tremendously hard in making RVillage a reality and it’s really paid off. I can’t believe it’s been a year already and over 17,000 members. We’ve made new friends through RVillage and appreciate it very much. Congratulations!
Cherie Ve Ard says
So love hearing of how folks are making new friends on RVillage.. that’s what it’s all about.
Rowanova says
Great to see a new post from you again, especially after such a busy spurt of activities. I love the pictures of the area but couldn’t narrow it down to one favorite, so I guess they’re all awesome. (As always!)
Congrats on the successful first year of RVillage! I hope it continues to grow and succeed. I’ll keep an eye out for your new Xscapers announcement. I’m guessing it’ll be as interesting as RVillage? 🙂
Cherie Ve Ard says
Glad you enjoyed the pictures… the spring bloom made taking great photos easy 🙂
Jodee Gravel says
Can’t believe it’s been a year already! The 5,000 member milestone seems like a couple months ago 🙂 Looking forward to plugging in when we hit the road. I can tell you’re loving life – you both look amazing!
Cherie Ve Ard says
Ahh… thanks. We are pretty darn happy with all the amazing things and people we’ve gotten to be around lately. Guess it’s shining through 🙂