This rally was a great find. I finally got a chance to meet some people in the vintage trailer world who I've kept missing for years, namely Eric Drugge and his crew. Emma also scored, meeting some of the many children attending the event.

Eric Drugge, Trailerworks

We also got to see a great range of spectacular and rare trailers. I think my favorite was this incredible 1956 Airfloat "Flagship", which was more or less a park model trailer made for the elite Hollywood crowd. Eric and his wife Jennifer are currently using it as their personal trailer. It is anodized gold on the exterior (with a painted gold tongue) and the interior is simply amazing.

I've posted many more pictures of the cool trailers I saw, and their owners, on our Flickr photo album. Some of their stories are amazing too. One fellow, 81 years old, is full-timing in the 1947 Westcraft Coronado that he bought new originally. Another is towing a beautiful red Vagabond with a slick customized black Dodge Magnum, and another is towing a modern teardrop with a convertible VW New Beetle. All the pictures are on the Flickr album.

We towed a mere 25 miles or so yesterday, ending up in downtown Haines City, FL at the shop of our friends Wendimere and Bill. Eventually they'll move into the shop (upstairs), but for now it is a conveniently located spot with a big driveway where our Airstream and theirs are parked. Being downtown, it was pretty noisy last night (boom cars driving by, a train practically in the backyard, a Mexican nightclub one block away), but we'll survive for a couple of nights. We know this area well, since we used to winter only a few miles from here.

Since we haven't seen Bill and Wendimere since we were in Colorado, we had some catching up to do ... which we did until 10 pm over tea, toast, figs, goat cheese, crackers, toasted soy nuts, and other things. Bill and Wendimere are into healthy eating and I like to try their stuff when we see them.

Today Emma is going to get more bicycle riding practice with Bill. He started teaching her last summer in Colorado, and he's anxious to get on with it. That works for Eleanor and I!

As I write this, the train is rumbling by again along the tracks that separate us from the giant orange processing facility. You can see our location on Google Earth by downloading this link.