Welcome to RCTOPIA | Our First Visitors Arrive (PT 1 - ROCK PiLE) | RC ADVENTURES

Before we get started, I just want to say thank you. Over the years, people have often told me how much RCSparks meant to them growing up… but what many may not realize is how much all of YOU have meant to me and my family too. Some of you have been watching since you were kids. Some of you drove hours just to be here today. And standing here together, watching strangers become friends through RC… it honestly means more to me than I can properly put into words. I know how special this is. Not many people get the opportunity to positively influence others through creativity, adventure, and community over such a long period of time. That’s something I’ll never take for granted. Over the years, you invited us into your homes through your screens, your comments, your support, and your time. Today, for the first time in years… we finally get to invite you into ours. And that means just as much to me as I think it does to many of you. As people arrived at the very first gathering at RCTopia, I greeted them the same way all good adventures should begin… With the rock pile. A 55-foot stretch of granite, logs, stone, bridges, and obstacles built here on my property over the last few years. A small “amuse-bouche” before leading everyone deeper into the experience… toward" Alder Run". One by one, new crawlers hit the rocks. Scale trucks tipped, climbed, scraped, and conquered. Strangers introduced themselves through the language of RC. And everywhere I looked, there were smiles. It’s been four years since I opened my home to others like this. There were repairs to make. Trails to build. Life to figure out. I needed time away from cameras and expectations to rediscover who I was beyond “RCSparks.” While the world only saw small pieces online, I was quietly building in the background… shaping this place by hand, one trail, bridge, rock, and memory at a time. Today, people finally got to see some of those efforts come together. This is the first of three films documenting the opening of RCTopia — and welcoming in the very people who made all of this possible over the years. Thank you.