Check out Boyd Lake State park.
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I wish I were still stationed in Colorado Springs now⌠That would have been a great event to go to. Stuck on the East coast now. Be sure to post any show a bit closer to the Appalachians, not the Rockies!
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The East Coast Rep Rap Festival is the most eastern one.
As you know DIA is a very accessible airport, maybe you can find a deal for some airfare and a hotel?
Time for some planning.
IF we can burn a couple of hundred thousand FF points, we are making plans to be there!
Our US experience thus far has been limited to a nice drive in the north-eastern states, a week or two in NY, and a few days in LA.
LA is where we land and Iâd probably hang there abouts for a couple of days to let the worst of the jetlag subside, then we have to get to CO and this is where itâs up to you guys to suggest an itinerary!!
Driving is no problem - perhaps a one-way circuit and fly back via Denver, or a loop is not impossible?
2 or more likely 3 weeks would be our hope because we have to get back in time to head in the other direction to visit @Tokoloshe and @Fabien 
- the map shows lots of places enroute that we should visit. We are sadly no longer in the âhike for a couple of daysâ category of mobility, but a mile or two (preferably one⌠or less!) is no problem with painkillers at dayâs end! 
So - where do we go, how do we get there, and will we be warm enough?
Thanks in anticipation.
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I am looking forward to it. Maybe we can coax some more people to come over for a meeting. 
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Sounds like a plan!!
We havenât looked at EU yet and itâs going to be complicated and completely mad, but we are coming and letâs look seriously at that! (Donât forget the Olympics in Paris will make travel in some directions problematic.
Maybe we can get together for the EU launch of the Kobalt gadget in 220V!
First though⌠A little drive from LA to Vegas to the Grand Canyon to Denver and Loveland!
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I was going to suggest LV and the Grand Canyon. They are both pretty unique experiences. I donât go to Vegas often. But the hotels are cheap and have a lot of features because they want everyone to come gambling. The grand canyon is just a pit stop (an amazing one) unless you book something like a helicopter tour or a stay at the lodge. I have only ever visited the viewing areas because we never had the money for helicopter tours when I was growing up. 
You can rent a car and drive it one way. In my experience:
- They charge you by the mile. They donât when you do a loop. Pay attention to the fees and mile cost or be surprised. We drove from LA to British Columbia and back to Seattle a long time ago and it was over $1k. I also drove from San Diego, CA to Denver when I caught covid before a flight and with my corporate discount it was less than $250.
- They sometimes give out their worst cars. I think it is because the cars donât really make it back, the stock just adjusts a bit.
- The airport sites for car rentals have much more agreeable customer service than the offices in the cities. I usually rent Avis, but that is because I get a discount through my work. Their standard rates are pretty high.
There is a train by Amtrak called the California Zephyr. They have sleeper cars and the train travels back and forth from San Francisco to Chicago by way of Denver. SF â Denver â Chicago. We loved this train. Especially the ride from Denver to SF. It takes 30 hours and goes into some of the best mountain views in the US. Through the Rocky Mountains and near Lake Tahoe. It left Denver at 10am and went through western Colorado (which is amazing). We slept through most of Utah and Nevada and we spent the second day in the California mountains before arriving at about 6pm. It would spit you out in Emeryville and you would need a taxi/Uber to get into SF. Then rent another car or flight out of SF. The amtrak trains are notorious for being late, so be ready for that too.
We have family in SF and Sacramento, CA. So we travel out west a lot. SF, San Diego, Portland and Seattle are excellent places to just ride in public transport, take taxis, visit the best museums and eat the very best food.
AirBnB and VRBO are very popular in the western US. I would highly recommend looking for lodging there first. In Loveland, there is a hotel everyone stays at in the same parking lot as the event. I am considering booking there even though I live an hour away.
April 20th is pretty late in spring. The weather in CO is high altitude and far from any oceans. So it is a bit of a crap shoot for temperatures. I would expect anything east of California could have snow and freezing temperatures overnight. If you stay in New Mexico and Arizona until you reach Sante Fe, NM, you will have much lower risk. But the drive isnât as pretty as western Colorado (IMHO). The green chili is better in NM though.
Moab, UT is home of Arches National park. That is worth visiting or staying overnight. Most of the ski towns will be at the beginning of the âmud seasonâ. There will be a lot of things closed and a lot of construction. Palisade, CO has a lot of farms and wineries (they are not world class wineries). They are famous for the peaches, but they will be out of season.
That route is a very traditional road trip route. So there are a lot of hotels that try to entice families with plenty of open rooms and swimming pools. Keep an eye on your gas tank because there are areas where the refills are not at every exit. FWIW, you can drive from CA to Denver in 2 days. Thatâs not the point of your trip. But if you donât see anything interesting between LV and GC, that is because there isnât much.
I look forward to seeing you there! 
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We have toes and fingers crossed!
Thanks so much for that - thatâs exactly the sort of outline that will get me started and youâve sent my head spinning. (tomorrow hopefully it will be the Makita spinning!)
Will look carefully at all of that, and some maps Denver to SF back by train sounds super too!!
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I am going to try to make it, since Iâm not too far away in Utah!
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Iâm pretty sure Iâm used to that!
Iâm in the middle of travel planning madness involving other things, but Iâll get a bit serious in the next week or two.
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Mostly enjoyed drive to RMRRF '23, but have book flights for RMRRF 2024.
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They just sent out a new info packet about sponsorship. I need to decide what level ASAP. Same as before or drop down one and help sponsor the lanyard.
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Cool, if weâre moved by then, itâll only be a two hour flight!
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Moving again!?!
Okay I just had a chat and the RMRRF team is looking to possibly open up some sort of donation with the goal of helping to cover some makerâs costs of coming to the show. Hotel and flights. They are also probably going to need some extra help this year, so some extra volunteers are probably going to be needed.
The companies can directly sponsor makers of course, but I think that is mostly getting coverage there. This is more of getting some actual makers there, or some smaller youtubers, and community help as well.
I also suggested some sort of half day volunteer sign up, I am sure there are a ton of significant others that would be willing to jump in on that.
Any other ideas?
I am not good with this sort of money stuff.
Admission, imagine what 2 bucks a person would do. Or even 5.
I would have paid to get into MRRF!
I really cannot see how they canât charge admission!
And pre-sell so they do not have everyone coming in and paying. Pre-sale will generate early money also!
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I think that is part of calling it a *RRF free admission.
We had a lot of people that werenât into 3D printing come up and ask about the sand table.
$2 probably wouldnât cover the credit card fees.
$5-10 might make people think twice about showing up.
I would be happy to see a donation link or system. A recommended donation of $5 would probably get 25% of the participants to donate more than $5.
Another fun thing would be to have a few hours blocked off of Friday for field trips. There are a ton of schools within an hour drive and I am sure a lot of the makers would love to talk about design, building, etc with a bunch of 4th graders. IDK if the schools would pay for something like that, or what sort of assurances youâd have to do to make sure the trip was safe and SFW. I know the schools like field trips at the end of the school year. Some schools would have standard tests that day, but only a few could come anyway.
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I think a donation link with an explanation of what it is going for would get a lot of attention.
Field trips would be cool.
Justin checks in on this every so often.
Yea, we decided the heat isnât an issue, itâs the humidity.