Thursday, October 20, 2016

RV/Motor Home Museum/Hall of Fame

Vicki and I have owned recreational vehicles of one sort or another since 1970. Before that we traveled and camped in tents. (And we have done some time tenting since then too). Two VW campers, 3 class Bs, 2 class Cs, a big truck camper, a pop-up truck camper, and a tear-drop trailer. We've also rented a few in travels abroad. So it was natural for us to put Elkhart's RV/Motorhome Museum and Hall of Fame on our agenda for driving through the Great Lakes area. The Museum is by no means comprehensive--like any museum, it depends largely on donations to its collection--but the collection is no less impressive. We were most impressed with the older parts of the collection, before RVs and motorhomes became an "industry" (about 400,000 new units will be sold this year), and my post here will focus on those older, sometimes trail-blazing or otherwise historic rigs. Our first rig was a 1968 Dodge class B, very basic, and at the museum we didn't look at anything much younger than that.
This is just the entry hall, temporary exhibits, gift shoppe, etc; behind it are some
thousands of square feet of the permanent collection, with the hall of fame,
library, meeting rooms, and auditorium elsewhere in the building


















A smidgeon of the permanent collection
















One of the older rigs, a 1913 Earl trailer towed by a Model T

Thus



1958 22' Airstream, mid-evolution of the classic trailer

The Tennessee Traveler--1931 Model AA "Housecar"

Found in an Alabama barn in 1999 and beautifully restored

Cab view,  pretty Spartan

Just one specimen of the period decor found in all these vehicles,
some of it more interesting than the vehicles themselves

1955 Ranger "Crank-Up" Tent Trailer














































































Best in show, we thought: the 1937 Hunt Housecar, built for Hollywood
producer Roy Hunt; but then we like Art Deco

Interior of the Hunt Housecar

Thus


Dorsal view; note boat-tail

1939 Lindbergh Travel Trailer--custom-built for the famous/infamous aviator/fascist
scoundrel

1935 Bowlus Road Chief; design bought by Airstream in 1936; and the rest is
history (except the boat-tail)

1931 Mae West Housecar; Paramount Studios had this built to entice the vaudeville
star into the talkies; she mostly rode in it from house or hotel to studio or location

Ugliest in show, the 1988 Star Streak II; based on a Cadillac Eldorado with an Oldsmobile
Toronado engine; but it would fit in your garage; built in Coral Park, FL, Carole

1928 Pierce Arrow Fleet Housecar

1929 Covered Wagon, first production travel trailer in the US

Early plumbing fixture; some of our smaller rigs were not
much more advanced

1933 Ford Kamp Kar 

One wing of the 2nd floor Hall of Fame ("Industry" Hall of Fame)

In the library/research center













































Many interesting representations in the museum; here, the Airstream Ranch,
near Tampa, FL

1970s RV owners; if history is cyclical, I ask, why haven't leisure suits come back?



Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Road Trip USA, 2016

It's going to be a long road trip. We have always wanted to follow the fall foliage metamorphosis, from Nova Scotia south to where the leaves don't change. (We did this once before, but it was from Cracow to Istanbul; not so many maple trees along that route). Thus: drive from the Bay area to Nova Scotia (actually Prince Edward Island as it turned out), running a few errands en route, also seeing some loved ones, exploring Canada's Atlantic provinces, then turning back south, looking at leaves but also taking in some other sights of interest along the way; then turning back west, seeing more loved ones, family and friends, along a more southerly route, returning to Middle California sometime in December. 10,000-12,000 miles, give or take. It's a long way to Tipperary, and, candidly, what there is to see between California and New England we have seen before. We've even lived in some of those places...Montana, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts.... Besides, we are in a hurry. Time and tide, and leaf-peeping, wait for no man. So this will be the only post for the first 5,000 miles of our road trip.

The errands: we wanted to explore the possibility of installing automatic hydraulic levelers on Le Sport, and where better to do this than at the major manufacturers, HWH in Moscow, Iowa, and Bigfoot, in White Pigeon [sic], Michigan. LSS: both said it couldn't be done. :-( But we at least got to spend free nights at their factory camp sites. And White Pigeon took us through that Mecca of American RV manufacturing, Elkhart, Indiana, and...the irresistible RV/Motorhome Museum and Hall of Fame.

The loved ones were Joey and wife Jodi, and son Joseph. Joey was married to Vicki's deceased sister, Linda, and Joseph is Vicki's nephew. Jodi's work for the Sierra Club and other causes in Indiana is always interesting and admirable. We like to stay in touch.
It was Interstate 80 much of the way; here an overnight stop
at Little America, Wyoming, a landmark there; most of our
other overnight stops were savage-camping


















A souvenir shot from White Pigeon, MI (in Michiana, a term
new to me)

















In White Pigeon we ran into dear old friend US
Route 12, which we've driven many times in
and from Missoula; didn't know it was historic






















The incredible RV/MH (motor-home) Hall of Fame will get
its own detailed post

















After staying a couple nights with Joey and Jodi, we drove on
to old home Columbus, Ohio, where we lived 13 years (and 4
graduate degrees from Ohio State; 1 from Kent State); in the
third apartment to the right, above, Janet Circle Apartments,
we lived when Rebecca was born in 1974



















In 1976, we bought our first house, at 2736 Bellwood Avenue,
in Bexley; but this isn't it; later owners bought the adjacent
lot next door, demolished the old house, and built a new large
house on the site; sic transit, Gloria


















Bexley High, where Vicki taught English several years
















Not much has changed
















In 1978, we moved to Maplewood Drive, in Minerva Park, a
Columbus suburb; here we lived when Rachel was born in 1980;
subsequent owners apparently took down the crab apple trees,
the alders, and the World Ash Tree in the front yard


















Maplewood Drive, Minerva Park
















One of our favorite Columbus restaurants was
Schmidt's Sausage Haus in German Village; so
we had to go there for Bahama Mamas, just
one more time; we also drove High Street from
the downtown (I worked for a time in the State
Office Tower on Broad St.) to the Ohio State
campus
























Our travels took us next to Unity, Pennsylvania, near
Pittsburgh, and Vicki's childhood home there; after another long
day, we would be in New England





Return To Middle California, Again, 2016

Thanks to Carole and Jim's hospitality and great food and drink, not to mention the unending entertainment of Maisey and Cooper, their two Havanese, we had a great revisit to South Florida and Ft. Lauderdale. Alas, the only photo I have of this time--I was enjoying it too much--is of the two dogs. But it is not suitable for a family website. (Carole said it was a dominance thing on Maisey's part.) We'll let it go. Anyhow, thanks again, Carole and Jim. After the Nova reunion, we flew back to Middle California and Menlo Park, to reclaim our American camper, Le Sport, from storage, to reorganize and repack, and to spend some time with grand-daughter Penelope and her parents.
Family hike: Vicki and me, Penelope, Rebecca, and Jeremy

P doing stretches after the hike; she learned about stretches at
Tu Tu Camp this summer

It's Daddy's birthday, but P is clearly
overwhelmed by the dessert options from the
kiddie menu

Ballet lesson

Strapped in, ship-shape and Bristol fashion for
a camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa

To old-friend Pinnacles National Park, the
nearest source of old-friend rhyolitic breccia

A rest stop on the trail; note rock climbers in
the background

In one of Pinnacles' caves

Our campsite at Pinnacles...and Le Sport, now ready to undertake
a big cross-country trip

Always hard to leave our little princess behind

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Nova High School, Vicki's 50th Reunion

Informal first night


2nd night, great dinner


She was in the first graduating class of this
experimental high school, funded in part by
the Ford Foundation...three years a senior



Vicki and Janice, still marching side by side Titanaires


Can't wait for the 55th!