Eating Crow

Well, we knew it would not be long... but I've got another Airstream related birthday present coming.. I could not resist this one... and yes, it's a 70s Airstream.. actually a 1973 Sovereign (not of the road) that is sitting in Pennsylvania in a field.. Thanks Marc! This one will be brought back to life while I use it as my home office (Zoe' wants me out of the house)..... So, here are a few pictures.. Plan right now is to go fetch it mid August.. Thanks Zoe' - my fabulous, wonderful, wife.. if she were a Native American - her name would be OneWhoPutsUpWithTons! It is in remarkable condition. Rear twin beds, front gaucho, center bath. It has some hail damage outside but nothing major. We'll also turn this one into a little guest cottage as well for here on the farm.

Knoebels

Here we are on Ole' Smokey!

The boys waiting on the log car!

This past weekend we traveled down to Catawissa, Pa to go to Knoebel's Family Amusement Park.. we LOVE this place. So, on Friday afternoon we departed and headed south. As we were leaving our place, the sky opened up on us and it rained all the way to Scranton... and in Scranton, it was really a deluge!!! I got off of I81 due to the construction and traffic and took the Turnpike there in Clarks Summit and at the first exit, I bailed and headed for US Route 11 south... it was alot of fun in and out of small towns, all the way to Bloomsburg, PA.. where we then headed south to the Springbrook Family Campground. When we pulled in, there was Hunt and Sue Jones of New Jersey waiting.. a pleasant surprise. I knew Jerry and Sonia McConnell were coming too, with their daughter Colleen, who is my son Stanton's age. It turned into rain that night.. so we hit the hay early. The next morning, I awoke to Hunt's 50s GMC rumble and went outside.... Hunt and Sue were headed out.. seems his truck insurance was expiring that day, so they headed for home.. they'd been up to Michigan to the Tin Can Tourists Rally.. and had a blast...we missed you guys. So, around 11am us two families headed for Knoebels.. it was a beautiful summer day and we had fun.. well, my second ride was a motion ride and it took me a few hours to have fun... but I did none-the-less.... for some reason, roller coasters make me laugh... and laugh I did... some say it's screaming like a little girl.. but, I'm laughing - really I am...
Here are a few pictures.... we departed early on Sunday and took our time meandering along in the spitting rain... a nice weekend. Our next outing is our very own 1st Annual Baker's Acres of Chenango Family "Just Camping" Get Together here on our farm, August 7-9. I'm working on getting things ready for it..

My new plaque - sneak peak

A while ago I purchased a "Wally Byam Cravanner's" plaque off Ebay and I had some stickers from it made for our WDCU and joint METRO DETROIT Caravan members. Then, I sent it off the Vintage Trailer Supply (link at left) to have then re-created.. and when I got home from this week's trip, this is what was waiting for me.. it's a nice treat after a red-eye from California. Now, I've got to mount it! Thanks Steve. He'll have them on their web site soon - within the next week I'm told but here's a little sneak peak.

Haying it!

Ok, here are some pictures I took around the farm today.. the two bigger upper fields are getting the hay on them cut and baled. Then, since we've been gone, I've been mowing around the farm too to get the lawn under wraps.. We are hosting a Baker's Acres Family "Just Camping" Get Together August 7, 8 and 9so I've been working up at the Rally site too... Enjoy!

This is the upper drive up to the back of the barn. You can see Sophia sitting on the land bridge into the hay mow in the distance.
The pool is waiting for the August Rally goers.

There's the mighty Buick Electra.. thought I'd throw a picture of it in here. You can see Sophia up on the hill behind the barn.

Here's a cool shot from up above the barn.

And another of Sophia patiently waiting for her next tow.

Look at all that hay... You can see the 64 Trade Wind that's up for raffle up where the Rally site it located.

More hay... it'll be baled tomorrow.

A nice sunset tonight.. the property line is those pines in the distance.

Take care everyone and thanks for stopping in.

Some photos of our family trip

Ok, so here's some shots from our trip. As you may of may not know, here was where our trip took us.. We left on the 22nd of June and returned on the 5th of July.... around 3000 miles on the Suburban (it rolled over 100k miles about 3 miles from home)... house to Covington, Pa to Pittsburgh, Pa (about 10 miles from the Airport - again - THANKS Roy), to Jackson Center, Oh to Peru, Ind to Elkhart, Ind to Jefferson, Wi by way of LaSalle, Ill to Madison, Wi to Waubasha, Wi to Green Bay, Wi to Houghton (Atlantic Mine), Mi to Marquette, Mi to Omer, Mi to Sandusky, Oh to Jamestown, NY and finally home via some of the finger lakes going through Hammondsport, Watkins Glen, Ithaca to home... wow! What a trip... memories to last a lifetime....

This photo is of our rig on State Street in Madison, Wi outside of Wisconsin House of Cheese - all for the store owner, Jeff.

Above, find us on the driveway of the Braeloch up in Atlantic Mine, Michigan. This is where we stayed on Wednesday evening, on the shores of Lake Superior.

This is us at a rest area overlooking the Mighty Mackinac Bridge on the Upper Peninsula side of Michigan. That is Ken Faber's rig that we met up with just outside a smoked fish shack.

One of the big things in the Michigan's UP is smoked fish.. we bought some smoked trout... and snacked all the way across the UP... it was something good!

This is a shot where in the background is the Mackinac bridge... that's Ken Faber in the shot on the right.

Here Stanton, Bryce, Braedon and I are with the Donovan's - Karen and Bill. We left the International early to go up near Houghton, Mi to visit longtime family friends. In 1989 there son and my twin (yes, my twin - I even fooled his mom we looked so much alike) and one of my teammates as well as one of my best friends, Will, was killed in an auto accident with three of my other teammates (Packo, Donnie and Andy) on the Navy Cross Country team. This was a special trip for me since it was 20 years ago that the accident happened up in Gifford Pinchot State Park near York, Pa. I've kept in touch with the Donovans over the years and we even named our middle boy Bryce Donovan with special thoughts of Will. Spending time (although only a day) with Will's parents on our trip was the best part of the trip for us! They have a wonderful summer get away on the north shores of the UP outside of Atlantic Mine, Mi looking out towards Minnesota and Canada. It was a wonderful time and visit. I'm so glad we went. I loved the walk on the shore Bill and Karen, the talking, the chance for you to meet our boys, and collecting the sea glass to capture the special moments. A special time and very special memories for us that we will talk about for a long time I'm sure. We look forward to share our farm with you too and we're looking forward for more courtesy parking on Superior.

There's the rig parked in the Donovan's front yard with the water of Lake Superior in the background. Special memories formed here!

Now, this is the shot of the Sovereign of the Road parked at the VAC rhendevous in Jefferson, Wi in the morning around 5am.. I forgot about the time change. What a sunrise it was! I've got more photos.. just need the time to upload them.

Happy Hour challenge

This post is about Happy Hours... and a comparison of what we experienced at the VAC Happy Hours as compared to what we in the WDCU are used to. First, there were somewhere near 66 vintage rigs at International.. and at CBR, around 50 or so... so this is Apples to Apples in size comparison... The first picture is what we at WDCU do for Happy Hour... quite the spread where everyone pitches in. After a WDCU Happy Hour one needs not to have dinner.


Now, below is what we experienced at the VAC Happy Hour. Of the 60 or so people that say around the pavillion... I'd say some did not pull their weight by bringing a small dish... by the time we got there, about 15 minutes into it, this was what there was.. a few 7 or so bowls of pretzels plus a bag of pretzels.. we brought a Boss Sub that was sliced into about 10 or so mini sandwiches and it was gone in a flash...


Just one of the experiences we had... where our expectations were that of a huge spread / feast... we did spend $390 on our rally fee (and no meals given) and only 3amp of electric. What did my $390 pay for? More on our trip in my next post.

On the way home

Our boys out in front of the House of Wisconsin Cheese!

On State Street, downtown Madison, Wi

Well, we departed the International Tuesday after the Delegates meeting. We headed over to Waukashaw, Wi for dinner with the Klohn's and it was great. Thanks Kelly for the fabulous dinner. We headed out of there around 845pm for Houghton, Mi - making it about an hour before we crashed in a Walmart parking lot. We slept in and got back on the road around 9am then next morning, arriving up in Atlantic Mine, Mi outside of Houghton at our friends the Donovan's ( Bryce's middle name after their son Will ).... more on that later when I have photos. We spent last night there at their house on the shore of Lake Superior looking out towards Duluth, Minn. It was great and we did not want to leave. We headed for home this afternoon, making it to just east of Marquette, Mi - again on the shores of Lake Superior. We're here at a little Campground. Tomorrow, we're on the road early for a long day of trailering - I hope to make it to Ohio. Today was the VAC awards for the Concourse d'Elegance that I entered and I hear that Sophia took the Silver in the 50s... at least something positive came out of the rally. More on that later too! So, I'm headed for bed to get ready for tomorrow. See ya down the Road everyone! Ps - when we pulled out of International - I headed for downtown where I paraded down a No Cars road - State Street and then around the capitol. Check out Obie's blog photos as well as the House of Wisconsin Cheese's website. Thanks Obie for the photos! The VAC parade blew so we decided to go parade downtown on our own on the way out of town! That store owner had a sign out front - Airstream Parking - so I just had to take him up on it... it was worth an $8 bag of cheese curds he gave me for doing what I did so he could get the photo - and no, I did not get a ticket.

Almost there

We've gone from central NY to an overnight stay in Covington, PA to Pittsburgh (wrong Cracker Barrel directions in the GPS took us right downtown to the not so nice part of Pittsburgh) to a nice stay at the Log House Gardens (thanks Roy in a huge way!). We then departed Pitt on Wed am heading for Jackson Center where we arrived at 130pm in time for the tour, spending the night in the heat! I put our Dometic AC to use on the Terraport. Up and at em at 7am, departing for Elhart at 730am. We cruised by Dan's at Vintage Campers where we had lunch then cruised up here to Elkhart arriving around 220pm. It was so hot, we decided on the Elkhart Campground about 4 miles away. The pool and power was nice! Now, we're rising and hope to be Caravanning at 8am heading for Jefferson, Wi by way of LaSalle on I80 - I-39. The VAC rhendevous is tonight and we parade into International tomorrow. Almost there!

On the side of the road!

Here I sit.. dumb @#$ me I left my spare at home. Sitting on the side of I-380 here in the Poconos waiting for my hero from the Good Sam emergency Road Side Service to arrive. I called a tire shop and found a 7X14.5 and bought it over the phone and the tire guy is going by there to get it for me on his way. Front curb side blew again. Something is amiss as I keep blowing that tire. So, while I sit I am surfing the net! Take care everyone. We depart Monday night for Madison, Wisconsin.

Busy, Busy

Well, I've been on the road for work for the past two weeks, and next week we depart on Monday for International! I hope our Caravanners are ready - I know I am. I've got the trailer down here this week working on a few things (refilling the propane tanks, cleaning, going through drawers that have become junk drawers... three weeks and the five of us - we'll need all the room for storage we can get. I'll post about the Pageant Rally I held tonight - I just need some pictures..... my main computer motherboard died so I'm a little hampered digitally right now. Hope for good weather next week!

Dickinson Heat

We (DickPerkins and I - thanks Dick!) installed the Dickinson propane fireplace today... it's been a hectic day and it's not over yet! Enjoy... short and sweet - like the Sovereign of the Road!

2006 CBR Video - Check it out!

What IT'S ALL ABOUT - A really cool video - I remember when they did this and it really turned out well.

I just took these photos tonight of our place... except for all the mowing - we love it!

I can live with it.

Deciding on the roof top ac was a no brainer this year - my wife's almost 4 months pregnant and there's no way I'm going through a summer of camping without AC - that's what she said.. lol. Seriously, these pictures were what my big deal with my rooftop unit was about. I have a center 12v/110v ceiling light that I thought was going to be interfered with more with the inside control panel. It's not too bad once installed. So, we'll live with it for now. Let me know what you all think. Take care!
Rooftop AC inside the trailer.

Note how close the light is.. it should stay cool.

I can live with it for now.

Thanks again Dick and Doug! You are Zoe's hero!

AC Install - yes, the Hehr Vent is out!

Today, sitting here at work dialed into a teleconference for work, our dog started barking and I knew someone was here. I went outside and low and behold it was Dick Perkins and Doug Rowbottum, fellow WDCU members and good friends. They said, hey - we're here to install your Air Conditioner. I knew Doug and Terry had pulled down early for the Pageant of Bands Rally and were courtesy parking over at Dick's place. Doug opened up his truck door and he had 65 tubes of Vulkem that he just scored for $1 a tube at our local $ store. Good score.
So, I said, "Seriously?" and they said if you want...... and so I took them up on it. WDCU spirit in full swing!!! So, we went down to my old barn, got the AC and then we drove it up to the hill where the sweet SOTR is sitting. So, here's a picture essay of the install. Thanks Dick and Doug - this summer we'll be thinking of you while chillin in the trailer!

See Dick climb. Don't fall Dick!
Doug's up on top taking out the Hehr Vent.

Doug's cleaning up the old vent.

More cleaning and putting down the grey butyl tape.

Putting up some cardboard to put the AC unit on to line it up.

The unit to be installed.

Up and on from the back of Doug's truck.

Lining it up.

Making sure all the foam shipping pieces are removed.

Doug says, "It looks good." Now to the inside.

Here you can see the light and vent hole.

The light might be able to stay.

The old Hehr vent recently rebuilt.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 - thanks guys! These two guys get around inside Airstreams (see below)

Who's got my glasses?

Putting the cover on.

And now all we need to do is to paint that brite white top cover aluminum color. Oh, by the way, this is a Dometic Duo-therm w/ Heat Pump 13,500 BTU (I think) AC / Heat unit.

Got AC!