The Search Begins

Obsession.  That's the best and actually, only word to describe my frame of mind after returning home from Tybee Island and those bodacious Sisters on the Fly.  Every evening with Mac on lap, I was searching for websites and blogs about vintage trailers and their restoration.  I was taking names!

Here's what I knew to be true:

• I was going to locate a vintage trailer, somehow, someway!
• the ones for sale on the East Coast seemed to be far and few between
• I didn't have the skills or tools or space to do the work myself
• I didn't have a clue about choosing a trailer and what to look for
• I needed to find someone to do the work for me
• I had to choose which route to take...repair, restoration, re-frame

In the back of the Sisters on the Fly book was a list called "Fixin' It Up" and it seemed to me to be the logical place to start.  And so the research began.  After weighing in on all the possibilities, I chose to contact Y-Not Camper Restoration.  On Saturday morning, May 14th, I made a phone call to Jackson, Michigan and talked to Tony Secreto.   For 45 minutes I asked questions and Tony answered.  And as the story goes, the rest is history.

From the beginning of our conversation, it felt right.  Call it good vibes, camping karma, or serendipity, I knew I had found the right fellow to make my dream of owning a vintage trailer come true.  I had taken the next step in my Java Journey and it was exciting!!

Totally Hooked In Tybee

After reading the SOTF book, collecting all the magazine articles I could get my hands on, and bookmarking umpty-ump blogs about vintage trailers, I was totally hooked in Tybee after seeing them in person!  It's one thing to see these vintage gems in print, but in person, all I could say was, "OMG!"

I had seen this beauty at the Country Living Fair, but wasn't able to actually go inside to see the details.  Red is not a color in my decorating palate, but I have to admit that this Lady Bug motif was off the charts!

Beth's tropical theme was darling both inside and out.  I felt like I was parked right on Tybee Beach!

I loved so many things about Rebecca's "Bookmobile"...the size, the interior layout, the birchwood interior, the simplicity of her decorating.  

As I moved from trailer to trailer, taking pictures and making mental notes, I was starting to realize what I was truly attracted to...a trailer around the size of my SplashT@B, late 60's or early 70's, a Scotty Sportsman or Shasta Compact, earthy colors, comfy looking and feeling inside.  While I appreciated the cowgirl, western theme, that wasn't for me.  While I loved the wild, bold colors, I knew I wouldn't head in that direction either.  No comic strip characters, no animals, no fru-fru-lacy-girly stuff either. 

So I spent the entire weekend looking at the outsides, peeking in the insides, gathering ideas and getting totally hooked on the idea of owning my own vintage trailer!

Tybee Island Here I Come!

I put on my Big Girl Panties, hitched up SplashT@B, and headed south to Tybee Island, GA on April 5th for my very first outing with Sisters On The Fly! I was a bit nervous about the drive because it was the longest one I had ever done going solo. I was a bit nervous about the gathering because I simply didn't know what to expect from the Sisters.

The minute I drove into River's End Campground I began to feel at ease.  Under a canopy of live oaks and Spanish moss sat the cutest vintage trailers I had ever seen.  And on the face of every Sister that I encountered on that Tuesday afternoon, I saw a smile.

My sweet SplashT@B was just a baby among those old gals.  But that didn't seem to matter to one single Sister!  My site was # 30 and was the perfect spot...perched on a little sand hill, in the V of two intersecting roads, and centrally located in the campground.

I tried really hard not to rush setting up, but I was itching to grab my camera and start snapping pictures.  I was immediately drawn to one group of trailers in particular.  They were arranged in a semi-circle and looked like they came straight out of a magazine photo shoot for Sisters On The Fly.  I didn't know who they belonged to or even what kind of trailer I was looking at.  All I knew was that my Vintage Trailer Fever just got kicked up several degrees!

I remember lying in bed that Tuesday night on Tybee Island hardly believing I was at my first SOTF event and not being able to imagine all the fun I would have in the next 5 days!

Playing The Waiting Game

I had my membership certificate in hand, I had my official patch in hand.  What I didn't have was a Sister Experience!

After learning about a big Sister gathering on Tybee Island in April, I immediately contacted Anita (Sister #440 from GA) to register.  What I didn't know was that it was full and my name would go on a waiting list.  So I waited throughout November.  I waited all through December.  I got my official SOTF Christmas card and still I waited.

And then the email arrived in late December!  There had been several cancellations and I had moved up to the list to take one of those spots.  Tybee here I come...or so I thought.  Next I had to contact River's End Campground to see if there were any sites available.  I must have had some good camping karma going on, because I snagged the very last site they had!

But now the real wait began...January, February, March...it seemed endless.  So I spent my time reading blogs, visiting vintage trailer websites, downloading pictures, learning all about these adorable trailers...and waiting.  This leg of my Java Journey was spent playing the waiting game!

Building My Vintage Trailer Library

Ready for the next chapter in my Java Journey?  OK then, let me tell you about my vintage trailer library.  After returning from the Country Living Fair in Atlanta last October, I began to devour articles and books and websites about vintage trailers.  I can't tell you how many I bookmarked to return to time and time again!

The first book I purchased was at the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center on top of Waterrock Knob near Cherokee.  It was titled, "Teardrops and Tiny Trailers" by Douglas Keister.  I poured over the text, drooled over the pictures, and thoroughly enjoyed every one of the 160 pages of these retro campers.

While browsing around the internet, I found a blog called "My Cool Caravan" and it referenced a book by the same name.  Written by Jane Field-Lewis and Chris Haddon, I was transported across the pond to view 30 retro caravans in all their glory.  Hoping to inspire a whole new generation of camper owners, they succeeded in sweeping me along in their journey.  Thanks to Amazon, I had the book in hand in no time at all.

The third addition to my VT library was another National Park visitor center find..."Silver Palaces", also written by Douglas Keister.  While I appreciate the big streamlined aluminum campers like the Airstream, I knew that would never be a camper on my wish list.  I love the handsome interiors, am fascinated by their renovations, and love looking at the pictures, but they are not for me.

And then I found my ultimate favorite..."Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road".  Written by Irene Rawlings, this book covers it all, from buying and restoring a vintage trailer, to turning it from trash to treasure.  Individual stories are shared about the Sisters' loving restorations.  There are recipes and shopping resources, websites and blogs.  And if I wasn't hooked after meeting a few Sisters in Georgia, I was hooked after pouring over this book!

So the daydream of owning a vintage trailer took on a whole new life!  Now I had pictures and words and inspiration in the palm of my hand.

Face To Face With The Sisters & Their Trailers

It was just over a year ago that I met my first Sister face to face and saw my first vintage trailer in person.  This all happened over the weekend that my sister Becky and I went down to Atlanta for the Country Living Fair at Stone Mountain.

I knew from checking out the SOTF website that there would be a couple of trailers parked at the Fair for people to look in.  That also meant that there would be Sisters there to chat with.  Becky and I both peeked inside and I couldn't believe my decorating eyes!  

Friday afternoon after spending hours at the Fair, we went over to the Stone Mountain Campground to see our TABbin' buddy Cheryl.  We weren't there 10 minutes until we were being offered wine and food and were being invited to sit and chat.  It was overwhelming!  I met Anita, Paula, and Peggy, but don't remember any other names.  What I do remember is their hospitality and those vintage trailers.  Oh my, those vintage trailers!

All I could think about the rest of the weekend were those Sisters and their vintage trailers.  I was hooked!  On the way home we opted for some back-road driving instead of I-85 and that's when we saw this long, beautiful, shiny trailer.  By the time we came out of the store where we had stopped, it had moved on.  

I came away from that weekend knowing that I had met some special women and had been bitten by the vintage trailer bug!  My journey towards The Coffee Cup was starting to take shape.

Where It All Began

A couple of years ago, after seeing a segment on the Travel channel about a bunch of women that liked to camp together in fixed-up vintage trailers, I began looking for info about these ladies...these Sisters on the Fly.

The idea of women camping together and doing it in such a "campy" style was doubly intriguing to me.  Little by little, I found newspaper interviews with Sisters, magazine articles written about these wild women on the road, video clips from TV news shows when they were camping in the area, YouTube videos and Sister blogs.

After finding the official SOTF website and seeing yet another program about them on A&E, I knew this was a group I was destined to join one day.  So in August of 2010, despite not having a vintage trailer of my own, I did just that!