It is hard to see how people are managing to thrive in this climate without air conditioning, but some are, including our very durable friends the Fabers. This is much tougher than southern Arizona at 105 degrees.

Last night several of us guys were talking until nearly 11:30 under the awning at Colin's, swatting at gnats and constantly sipping at cold drinks. Sitting there in the light of a single bulb, watching small beads of sweat coming down the faces of my friends, I suddenly had a moment where I imagined we were all British officers in colonial Africa, passing an evening at the Club by telling outrageous stories on the patio, and wondering secretly when we would all be back home. That's when I knew it was time to get to bed.

A perennial part of every International Rally is a display of new Airstream trailers. The closest dealer(s) bring a bunch of their inventory over for anyone to drop by and check out. It's free, no pressure, and a great way to compare floorplans and interiors.

This year about two dozen trailers and motorhomes are on display, but unfortunately they are parked outside in the relentless heat and humidity. With that in mind, we decided to make our visit early in the day. Even in the relative cool of the morning, we didn't exactly have to fight a crowd. I suspect there will be quite a few more people dropping in over the weekend, however.

The President and the Chairman of Airstream were both there, completely available to anyone who wanted to talk, so it was a superb opportunity for anyone interested in the product to get a personal tour. We snagged them for a while to talk about what we were seeing.

As I reported from the dealer meeting a few weeks ago, the trend in trailers is smaller and lighter. The popular floorplans are the 25FB (front bedroom/rear door), the similar 27FB, and the 19-foot Bambi. A few intermediate sizes are also looking good in the 2008 line. We checked them all out before the heat became too much, and then retreated into one of the air conditioned buildings.

Later we had a meeting I have been looking forward to all week. We're going to introduce a new advertising section of the magazine solely for Airstream Parks. We brought together as many of the Airstream Park representatives as we could, explained the super discount offer, and got a great positive response. It looks like this section will be a Go (as in, "The Fit Is Go!") If you represent an Airstream Park and didn't know about this, get in touch with us ASAP so you can participate.

Vincent ladles up the spaghetti sauce

In yesterday's blog I mentioned that we'd been invited by the Dixie Campers to join them for dinner, but I mistakenly said Saturday night instead of Friday night. Fortunately my head was re-attached this morning and I got the date straightened out in time to join them. After all, the most important element of an International Rally is socializing.

Susan, Adam, Leo, Suzanne, Colin, and Rich

Alas, the gnats came after us in wave after wave, and for some reason they were less intimidated by the bug spray today than they were last night. The little winged annoyances were landing in our spaghetti sauce (sampling?), in our ears, our eyes, and industriously forming small clouds around us. They seem to love the heat, and it was very hot and very humid. Adam, Susan, Brett and I lasted only about an hour before surrendering and retreating back to the cool bug-free interior of the motorhome for the rest of the evening. It's a shame because we didn't get to spend much time with Vince, Lonnie, and the rest of the Dixie Campers tonight. We will have come up with a battle plan so that we can survive the Vintage Open House (11 to 3) on Saturday.