Community

One of the best things about owning an Airstream is the instant community you join. Everywhere we go, we find people in their Airstreams enjoying life and welcoming us into their homes.

The past two days at Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort, SC, we met a pair of Airstream owners and had nice conversations with them. This afternoon, on the road northward, we met a couple in a rest area who had coincidentally parked right behind us at the Florida State Rally.

Along the way today we stopped in at Don-Mar RV in Spartanburg, SC. Don and Mary are a sweet pair of folks with a terrific collection of new and vintage Airstreams on their lot. I spotted a rare Argosy rear-door model, as well as a row of about twenty Spartan Mansionettes. Don says at one point he owned 500 of them. Plus the lot held quite a few “one off” Airstreams, mostly conversions for commercial purposes.

Of course, no trip up I-95 would be complete without a stop at South of the Border. This place is tacky incarnate. They have cheap camping, but we didn’t want to stop that early, so we grabbed a few marginal burritos and hit the road. By the way, the gas prices at South of the Border are about 20 cents higher than the places just an exit or two down the road.


Tonight we are doing the Wal-Mart thing, since we drove all day and want to hit the road again tomorrow. Boondocking is fine, but Vintage Thunder has only a 10 gallon gray tank and so more than one night can be a problem. Tomorrow we’ll get a traditional campsite (or hit the rally early).

Of course, as soon as we pulled in we spotted an Airstream, so we parked right next to them (a Classic Limited 34). The couple who owns it are from Ontario, and of course this is their fourth Airstream, and of course they subscribe to Airstream Life! I dropped off a copy of the new Spring issue with them, since they won’t be home for a few weeks.