Camp Dawg

WHEN AN ALUMINUM CITY MAGICALLY RISES WITHIN A CITY, good things happen! The logistics can be challenging, but with this being the 66th Wally Byam Caravan Club International Rally (WBCCI), we’ve had a lot of practice. Rock Springs, Wyoming was the location for our meet up and what a rally it was! With almost 1,300 Airstreams coming from across the country and Canada, this year was the largest gathering of Airstreams in 20 years. The Sweetwater Event Complex was perfectly outfitted to host such a crowd providing places to gather and full hookups (50 amp/water/sewer) for all Airstreams.

White Mountain campground at Sweetwater Events Complex

Boars Tusk campground, Sweetwater Events Complex

Evening Glow at White Mountain campground

For Jim and me, gathering with our home club, the Greater Los Angeles Airstream Club, was truly a highlight. As full timers we have not seen most of our club friends in over two years so obviously many parties ensued along with dinners and impromptu gatherings. In my humble opinion, we are, of course, the BEST Airstream Club ever, filled with many amazing, big-hearted characters!

Over the week-long event there were informative seminars to attend; Opening Ceremonies to enjoy as 102 clubs presented their flags; reconnecting with Airstreamers we’ve met over the past 18 years; multiple jam sessions around the campground in addition to the always entertaining Airstream Band; art, pet, hobby and photo shows to participate in; daily yoga and bike rides; and tours to Utah’s nearby Flaming Gorge. The location in western Wyoming was the perfect jumping off point to explore the Flaming Gorge, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks following the rally.

Pleased as punch to take a red ribbon in the hobby photo show with my Airstream Inspiration cards. Happier yet to deliver a $500 check to the Rock Springs Humane Society!

Jim presenting, ‘Airstream Values, Trends & Insurance’ at the Rally

We found the City of Rock Springs extremely welcoming, just imagine having a couple thousand people drop into your hometown for 10 days! What I admire about our International Club is that it’s a win-win event. While we had a great event complex to gather and enjoy our friends and the rally, it was estimated this Airstream event would bring in $2.6 million to the community. This included our stay at the Complex, shopping done while in town including groceries, dining out, gas/diesel purchases, car wash, any repairs needed, laundromat, etc.

The United Way of Rock Springs was this year’s selected charity with thousands of dollars donated and a diaper drive which filled an 8-bed Airstream! In addition, the WBCCI Foundation provided grants of almost $30,000 to two local charities and the National Parks Foundation, National Forest Foundation and Tread Lightly! Our brand new intra-club for children, Future Streamers, collected over 150 pounds of can pop tops with proceeds donated to the Ronald McDonald House; Common Cents for Kids, which collects your spare change, provided grants to Cowboys Against Cancer and the JD Foundation of Sweetwater County for Juvenile Diabetes. Wow.

Diaper Drive filling up an 8-bunk Airstream

All this. THIS is why I Airstream! My heart is filled with gratitude and happiness as this Airstream-lifestyle is so much more than a weekend or occasional campout. It has given us the opportunity and flexibility to explore, discover, and dream…not to mention spending 24/7/365-non-stop-well-into-three-years-together-with-two-80-pound-mutties-in-220-square-feet. We are already looking ahead to Sedalia, Missouri’s International Rally in 2024!

With a population of less than 30,000 people, Mason City, Iowa has an amazing amount of history and what I can say is that it truly took me by surprise. We settled into the Margaret MacNider Campground a sizable, bucolic campground on the Winnebago River. With 100 sites, we found this to be an impressive in-town campground.

Incorporated in 1870, Mason City is home to Meredith Willson, who wrote the play, The Music Man, in 1957. The film premiered at the city’s Palace Theater in 1964 and is based on characters from his hometown. Willson died in 1984 and is buried in the Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery in the town where he was born and lived his life.

Another surprise? At the turn of the 20th century, famed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was commissioned to build a mixed-use structure incorporating the Historic Park Inn, a bank and retail shops right here in little Mason City. Completed in 1910, over the years the structure fell into disrepair. In 2005 local preservationists organized to save the building which reopened to its original glory in 2011. Also found here is Wright’s Stockman House built in 1908 and billed as a more affordable, ‘fire proof’, prairie-style home at $5,000. Located just a few blocks from the Historic Park Inn, the Stockman House is open for tours.

In 1959 at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, a 10-minute drive from Mason City, a concert by Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens became their final performance when their plane crashed into a field. The loss of these musical legends, often referred to as ‘The Day the Music Died’, is commemorated still today as the Surf Ballroom holds their February Winter Dance Party in celebration of these musicians.

Other notable happenings here in Mason City include Charles Lindbergh who attended the dedication of the airport in 1927; and the notorious John Dillinger who, as he was known to do, unlawfully withdrew money from the First National Bank in 1934.

Saving the best for last, in 1931 Addison and Esther Birdsall opened Birdsall Ice Cream Company in a small building in Mason City. Over the years the town’s favorite ice cream shop is said to have brought couples together who worked here and the number of cones scooped continues to grow.

Today, Birdsall’s is owned by two local couples and continues to put smiles on customers’ faces (proprietor Gary Schmit, below). The line I waited patiently in was just about out the door but oh so worth the wait! One of my most favorite ice creams in the whole world, and no longer found at ice creams establishments (I know because I always hold my breath while perusing ice cream choices on the menu) is Butter Brickle. That creamy, buttery ice cream with little chunks of brickle that makes my heart happy can be found right here in Mason City at Birdsall’s! I made one stop for a single-scoop cone then returned for a quart and if there was more room in my Airstream freezer, well, it’s a good thing it’s a small freezer!

LOOKING FOR A LOCATION filled with entertainment that doesn’t include the neon lights of Las Vegas? Branson, Missouri is your place! Here we took in a couple of lively shows and enjoyed a beautiful, blue sky, calm water cruise on the Branson Belle paddlewheel. Located in the southwest portion of the state, Branson warmly welcomes visitors who are the livelihood of this entertainment community.

During our stay we continually heard one name dropped by locals…Johnny Morris. While not an entertainer, if you’re familiar with Bass Pro Shops, Morris is the local-guy-done-good and founder of this well-known retail shop, and owner of Cabela’s following a 2017 acquisition. Over time Morris has given back to the Branson community in many ways here on the Ozark Plateau. At Top of the Rock, he established golf courses, restaurants, the beautiful Chapel of the Ozarks, and an amazing Western museum filled with artifacts which depict carbon-dated ancient Missouri critter inhabitants along with history of the area through the Civil War and up to modern day cowboys.

About an hour north in Springfield, Missouri, you’ll find the granddaddy, literally, of all Bass Pro Shops, at 500,000 square feet. Connected to Bass Pro Shop is Morris’s Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and (1.5 million gallon) Aquarium.

It was interesting to learn of the back story of Bass Pro Shop and Johnny Morris’s lifelong emphasis on conservation and education. I feel both stops in Branson at Top of the Rock; and Springfield with the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium are worthy of your time. And BTW, Johnny, thanks for letting us occasionally spend the evening in a Cabela’s parking in our Silver Palace.

OUR TENNESSEE TRAVELS continued and brought us to another one of my Happy Places for a week, Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. This adorable hamlet with a population of about 600 rural residents is a 30-minute trek southwest of Nashville. But with its bucolic, rolling hills and a handful of local shops to peruse, including the Leiper’s Fork Distillery, its worlds away. And just like that, bingo! I finally figured out how to get Jim to travel to town with me!

However, disappointment with the lack of campgrounds and a desire to spend some time discovering this area sent us running to VRBO where, for our first time ever while full-timing in our Airstream, we found the perfect VRBO vacation rental to call home for a week. With our 30’ Silver Booty on the bumper, along with two 80# mutties, we were welcomed to the GratiDude Ranch by Demarco and Jason, also from California, along with their twin sons. For one week we seized the 800-square-foot guesthouse and in the blink of an eye, increased our living space four times over while we easily adapted to a bricks & mortar country home. The biggest plus? A spacious shower and a kitchen just slightly larger than our Airstream’s galley which got me in the cooking mood.

This stop also provided me the perfect opportunity to visit the Fork’s newest proprietor, Brooke Giannetti of Patina Home & Garden. Brooke along with her husband, Steve, who excels at beautiful & amazing architectural home plans while she and her creative eye easily designs a home’s interior so inviting that you will never want to leave, have settled in along with some farm critters who made the journey from Ojai. The Giannetti’s have chosen a beautiful 100-acre homestead complete with a 150-year-old cabin they renovated and live in. This dreamy lifestyle fits them both perfectly and the best part? They hail from Ojai so we had a lot to catch up on! https://www.patinahomeandgarden.com/

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE. Rumor has it this mid-sized town is ‘being discovered’ and quickly growing. What we’ve heard along the way is, “Chattanooga is what Austin used to be”, prior to the influx of people to the popular Texas destination. After our visit, I tend to agree. During our stay, a film crew descended on the Chattanooga Choo Choo train station working on an upcoming Tyler Perry Netflix film; and the neighboring coffeehouse, the Frothy Monkey, was filled to the brim, pun intended.

For Civil War buffs, however, in late 1863 with a population of 2,500, Chattanooga was in the sights of Generals Grant and Sherman who knew taking the town would open the deep south, and bring the eventual end to the Civil War. Prized for its location with both rail and water access, Chattanooga played a pivotal role in the Civil War with two major battles. The Union’s loss in September at the nearby Battle of Chickamauga resulted in the second deadliest battle of the Civil War following Gettysburg. November’s Battle of Chattanooga, however, pushed the Confederate Army into Georgia and paved the way for Sherman’s March to the Sea.

To walk the battlefield of Chickamauga and take in a portion of the 600 stone and bronze monuments, was a humbling experience; then a drive up 2,400 feet to the top of Lookout Mountain where the ‘Battle Above the Clouds’ took place revealed a jaw-dropping commanding view of the Tennessee River, Missionary Ridge and Medicine Bow where most of the fighting took place. The mountaintop, originally held by the South, was enveloped in a thick fog allowing the North to make their way up the steep slope and lay claim to Lookout Mountain.

The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park established in 1890 precedes Gettysburg’s dedication in 1895. At the center is the New York Peace Monument, a 95’ high monument completed in 1907. This centerpiece on Lookout Mountain depicts a Northern and Southern soldier standing together with a poignant inscription which reads, “Reunited. One country again and forever”.

Adding a pic of me and my girl, Piper, high atop Point Park….just because. We’re all getting older 🙂

BUC-EEEEEEE’S!! I yelled like a seven-year-old seeing Santa Claus at the mall. After several miles of intriguing billboards we turned off the interstate and pulled into BUC-EE’s. While this is not our first stop at this mega-gas-station-deli and more, the time has come to share this one-stop shopping experience with you.

What we encountered along the way was a similar feeling I had as a child in the 1960s when I spotted the Wall Drug signs on trips to the Black Hills of South Dakota from our home in Minnesota…only times a million! Here on multiple acres was a one-stop-has-it-all from a dazzling service station with no less than 120 pumps, the cleanest restrooms ever to be found on an interstate, a gift shop, a clothing store with various items branded with the bright Buc-ee beaver logo, an out-of-this-world BBQ brisket counter with regular and XL size sandwiches, a sweet fudge shop, charcuterie boards the size of Texas and a tantalizing bakery with which I have a love/hate relationship. We found diesel fuel ($3.49/gal) and gas more than reasonably priced.

Not to be overlooked was an electric vehicle charging station filled with Teslas, several large areas to walk the dawgs and the famous Beaver Nuggets for which Buc-ee’s is well known. In the market for a job? If you have an upbeat, welcoming attitude (which we found in all those who work at Buc-ee’s) and are looking for a position, the pay seems sweet, too.

With five months spent in the Sunshine State now in our rear view mirror, we have turned our trusty Ford F250, aka the Sexy Beast, north and with the Silver Palace on our bumper, we continue to roll. And as we kick off our third year of a full-time Airstream lifestyle, thank you for riding shotgun with us and keeping us company along the way.

WITHIN OUR AIRSTREAM COMMUNITY there is an endearing gesture and that is the gifting of flamingos. Usually done in secret while you are away from your Airstream, it is guaranteed to put a smile on your face when you return. Getting ‘flocked’, or flamingo’d, is always a sweet surprise!

SHAKING THINGS UP A BIT found my friend of over 50 years, Debbie, trading her winter boots for flip flops as we boarded Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady at the Port of Miami. The home port for Virgin is just a few hours south of our campsite at Fort Wilderness, where Jim literally held down the fort with the dawgs while I traded one little house for another, but oh what a house! While I have a few cruises under my belt, my only experience has been on Disney’s ships with the g’kids, so Richard Branson’s new cruise line was amazingly alluring as this ship sets sail for those 21 years old and up.

Launched in 2020 with a crew of 1,200, the Scarlet Lady holds 2,700 guests and held an almost equal number of surprises for me. Gone are the two dinner settings in themed restaurants with an enormous number of fellow travelers and in its place, no less than 20 delicious eateries around the ship to choose from. With reservations made ahead of time at four of the restaurants including the Pink Agave, the Test Kitchen, Extra Virgin and The Wake, we dined on the most creative dishes in wonderfully appointed restaurants, with food plated so beautifully that it looked like art. The customer focus and service aboard the ship, I am happy to share, was extraordinarily superb and no tipping allowed, ever.

First stop, Key West where we had a day to enjoy the island. Here, I was happy to play tour guide with Debbie and share my favorites stops where we bellied up to the bar for lunch at Blue Heaven, then toured the Hemingway House and the Light Keeper’s Museum before heading to the shops on my favorite tropical island. Having recently spent three months in Key West, it was fun to see the island from my perch on 13th deck of a cruise ship, the highest point (just off) the island. In fact, my love for this sweet & salty town began in 2019 when our Disney ship pulled into port and it continues to hold my heart today.

The next day was spent sailing which is always my favorite as it gives you time to explore the ship, take in a show, shop some (slightly!) extravagant stores and even get a little ‘ink’ at The Squid, if you are so inclined. Remember Virgin Records? Yes, you can still purchase albums. One of my favorite indulgences was the ice cream store on ship where I discovered orange ricotta ice cream. Along with the beautiful turquoise Caribbean waters, this is one thing that clearly remains in my memory! While exploring the ship I was really taken with the variety of intimate spaces available for guests, or sailors, as we are called on board; spaces to relax, alone; gather with friends; play board games, or to enjoy a cocktail. And one space that I utilized most often, the beautiful, bright red hammock hanging on our terrace.

Our final day was spent on the island of Bimini, known as the Gateway to the Bahamas and located a short 50 miles off the coast of Miami. Our Bimini Heritage and Food tour took us across the island and introduced us to conch harvesting; the Dolphin House Museum; local music and dance; and finished with a Bimini bread and conch salad tasting along with island punch. From there we jumped on a trolley and headed to The Beach Club spread across an enormous, white sand beach, which Virgin sailors have exclusive use to while in port. Virgin employees seem to always be on the job and provided some great dance entertainment which got the crowd on their feet or onto the numerous floaties in the pool. High five to Sir Richard Branson who had an Airstream trailer for his crew’s hangout at The Beach Club. Obviously, he has good taste in travel trailers!

We returned to the Port of Miami and made our way back to Orlando as we continued to catch up on our high school days, the great experiences we had on board the Scarlet Lady and the adventures we’re looking ahead to this summer. Cheers to my friend, Debbie, who provided me with smiles and friendship not only on this journey but in life.

TWO DELICIOUS THINGS that I’ll never tire of in Key West…great food and live music. Both are found in abundance in this town! It’s been a whirlwind three months here in the Southernmost point of the United States and we have enjoyed every moment being welcomed into this tropical town while soaking in the island breezes. But seriously, if you’re looking for great food and music anytime of day or night, this is your town!

We moved from Boyd’s Campground, a sweet, vintage, family-run establishment at Mile 5 (from Key West center) to the sparkling, brand new KOA at Mile 20 for our final month. The Sugarloaf KOA has been completely rebuilt and opened in 2021 after being swept away by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. KOA hit it out of the park as the resort offered its own island hospitality with a beautiful pool and hot tub, an Airstream bar, evening entertainment, eco boat tours, kayak rentals and friendly staff. This campground surely reigns supreme in the KOA portfolio and is worth a stay.

To experience Key West, grab a campsite at Boyd’s which is an easy bike ride or short Uber ride to town. To relax and soak up the sea, Sugarloaf KOA is a good bet!

The time has come (too soon) to say good-bye to my Happy Place, my very own island bubble, as we now begin our journey north. Somehow, knowing reservations are already made for a return visit makes leaving this tropical paradise just a little bit easier.

Key West has no shortage of great museums and although I’ve attempted to hit them all over the past couple of years, I’ve left a few for our return trip. At the top of great museums to visit are the Hemingway House, the Truman Little White House and a ferry or seaplane flight 70 miles west of Key West to Dry Tortuga National Park (fort). The variety of museums is endless, such as the Maritime Museum, Key West Lighthouse and Keeper’s Museum, the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens/Geiger House, the Oldest House Museum (1829), and the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory to name just a few.

I had high hopes for the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum after several recommendations. Fisher’s lifelong passion was diving when he opened the first dive shop in Southern California in 1950; and the hunt for the Spanish treasure ship, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sunk off the Florida coast in 1622. In 1985 following a 16 year search, Fisher and his team discovered the vessel off the Florida Keys and claimed almost a half billion dollars in silver bullion, coins and gold. Following legal disputes with the state of Florida and the federal government, the Supreme Court awarded the findings to Fisher and his investors. While the Fisher story is amazing, and not without personal sacrifice and loss, I felt the exhibits were not engaging and the museum lacked in presentation.

Just across the street, however, at the historic seaport, is a colossal, red brick building whose color and height stands out from all other island structures. Built in 1891, the Old Custom House/Post Office/Federal Courthouse is today home of the Key West Museum of Art & History and provided an outstanding history of Key West, especially great for first-timers to the island. I found this non-profit museum to be an amazing stop filled with the island’s history, an ever-changing exhibit room, and Guy Harvey’s fabulous drawings depicting Hemingway’s, ‘Old Man and the Sea’, the latter worth the price of admission alone! In the late 19th century, Key West was one of the largest, and richest cities in Florida and this stunning building definitely reflects the wealth this island held.