Airstreams everywhere

September 12- Neither of us had a good night with this chest thing.  We said we’d be ready to leave at 9, but that wasn’t happening.  We ate a small breakfast and finally left out about 10.  We were only going to Indian Lake State Park, drop the RV , then go to Jackson Center not far from there to tour the Airstream factory about 15 miles away.

The owner of Airstream used this all
 over the world
to lead travel caravans

The lake with a dredge and
lots of Canadian geese

It took FOREVER to get to the park.  It was all little back roads and I was beginning to think the GPS didn’t have a clue!  When we arrived, there’s no one if the entry station, so we drive in and see a sign to the office for registration.  Of course there’s only one person working the desk and there were people ahead of Bill.  Then when we got to our space there was no way we were going to try and put the RV in it.  There were trees up close and nasty mud along the side where we enter the RV.  So we took the spot next to it.  We didn’t have time to do anything but plug in the electric and turn on the AC for Molly.  We stopped at the office and I went in and told her we couldn’t get in the spot and went in the next one.  She said that was fine since no one was coming in until after we left. 

We made a wrong turn on the way to Jackson Center and lost some valuable time.  We

Inside a really old one

thought there’d be a fast food place to drive thru and grab a quick bite – Not Happening!  Luckily once we signed in for the tour I saw a water machine and a vending machine and had 3 singles.  I got a pack of Nabs and Bill got a tiny bag of chips.  I gave him one of my Nabs and they had jars of complimentary cookies so we each had a couple of cookies.  At least we wouldn’t have grumbling stomach sounds during the tour!

They told us no photos in the factory so Bill put the camera back in the truck.  Then as the tour started we were outside and they said we could take photos of the old models so I just used my phone.  The tour was good.  We got to see most of the entire process and everything is done by hand.  All of the furniture is made there, the side pieces are all cut out by hand and it’s all assembled by hand.  They have companies that supply the appliances, bathroom fixtures, chassis’s and tires.  We didn’t get to see many of them inside and most of the people touring are Airstream owners.  The tour was 90 minutes and it was all walking but we needed the exercise.  They are very well built units.  They are in the process of building new facility for expansion and to have their own Museum of old Airstreams.  They had a photo on the wall of the service office of the airstreams that used to be stuck in the ground along I-4 on the way to Tampa.

We got home faster than we got to the factory.  Bill had a snack to back up the lunch snack!  No satellite service again.  I did 2 loads of laundry while we had full hook up and we emptied some of the leftovers from the fridge.  The freezer is mostly rhubarb and blueberries.