November 6, 2006 at 9:42 am · Filed under Uncategorized
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.
November 5, 2006 at 7:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
One of those wonderful and strange coincidences occurred today, throwing all our plans into disorder. As we were leaving Ft Wilderness with trailer in tow, we noticed a large number of Airstreams parked together in another loop of the campground. This couldn’t be a coincidence, yet how could there be a rally here that we hadn’t heard of?
As we pulled our Airstream slowly through the loop, I immediately spotted Norm, a fellow I’d met a year ago at a rally in St Petersburg. Seeing him confirmed it: there was a rally going on! Trailerworks, a restoration company in Beaufort SC, was sponsoring its 2nd Annual Vintage Rally, and as it turned out we knew several people who were attending, including Forrest and Jeri Bone of the Tin Can Tourists.
I had heard of this rally months ago but discounted it because we didn’t originally plan to be in Florida this early. Then I just plain forgot. But it has worked out well, because the Eric Drugge of Trailerworks generously gave us one of their spare campsites. So we settled in for another day.
Why not? The weather is perfect again (mid-70s, sunny, and dry), we have no pressing obligations, and our schedule can easily slip back a day. This has to go on record as our shortest day of towing yet: less than a mile.
I got a chance to meet with the Trailerworks staff and see some of the restorations they’ve done. There are some spectacular vintage trailers here, which I’ll document in photos soon. Among others, a Vagabond, a Boles-Aero, a Shasta, three Avions, many Airstreams, and an Airfloat.
But today was a day to chill, so instead of wandering around taking photos and interviewing owners as I usually do, I spent the afternoon in the Airstream reading my second book from Bobby: “Over The Edge of The World,” by Laurence Bergreen. This is a spectacular history of Magellan’s voyage around the world. It’s a riveting tale of challenge, disaster, and death aboard an armada of wooden ships attempting to find a route from Spain to the fabled Spice Islands. This one has many grisly forms of drama: political intrigue, religious conflict, mutiny, sex, and even torture, set against a background peppered with 16th century kings, aboriginal societies, and the unexplored open sea. It doesn’t have much to do with travel by Airstream (fortunately!) but it sure is a heck of a travel story.
Speaking of reading, Brett gave us about a dozen “Little Golden Books” that he picked up at a garage sale. Emma read one of them to us today, “The Little Red Hen,” which really psyched us. Her reading is coming right along and she is picking up new words quickly now. Eleanor has been doing flash cards with her in the car and we take every opportunity possible to get her to learn new words: signs, labels, menus, emails, and many other things.
A reader of this blog asked for more info about Ft Wilderness. If it weren’t located at Disney World, it would still be a top-notch campground in its own right. The sites are generally shady, set in circular loops, and separated by 20-30 feet with scattered pine trees. All sites are full-hookup, with dead-level paved pads surrounded by gravel and sand. The area is carefully maintained — they even send through a street sweeper. Sites are swept and raked between visitors.
A typical Ft Wilderness site with an atypical trailer
There are lots of little thoughtful touches. The bathrooms are exceptional (and of course, air conditioned). The trash cans are half buried into the ground to lower their visual impact. Asphalt is kept to a minimum. Recycling boxes are everywhere, which we appreciate since many campgrounds don’t recycle. Internet is available via cable modem on the “preferred” loops but you have to pay to activate it. We didn’t bother since we use cellular Internet from the trailer. There is also Internet service available in the reception area.
The campground is enormous, with hundreds of sites, but it never feels that way since the trees preevent you from seeing much beyond your own loop. There are multiple swimming pools, nightly sign-alongs & movies, and pretty much every other facility you can imagine. Transportation to any part of Disney is free by bus and ferryboat, and people are encouraged to rent golf carts to get around the campground (or ride their bikes) rather than drive, which keeps the campground relatively free of traffic and noise.
Rangers subtly patrol the campground, enforcing rules about parking on the narrow loop roads (one car blocking part of the street is enough to prevent most RV’s from getting by) and helping out where needed. Only charcoal fires are allowed (not wood), which is perhaps not as romantic, but something we really appreciate. Most other campgrounds get horribly smoky at night due to the numerous wood fires, and we usually have to keep the windows closed after 5 pm — or end up smelling like wood smoke in the morning. Here we can leave them open all night and enjoy the balmy late-fall Florida air.
Staying in Ft Wilderness gets you all the same privileges as guests at other Disney resorts: free parking, free transportation, extra “Magic hours” in the parks, charging privileges using your keycard, etc. There’s no “second class” stigma about it at all. Overall, I can recommend it. But if you want to save a few bucks and aren’t concerned about being on Disney property, you can try Tropical Palms in Kissimmee. We stayed there last April, although I didn’t talk about it on the blog at that time. While it was no match for Ft Wilderness, and quite a bit more crowded, it was fine and less expensive.
November 4, 2006 at 10:06 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The Disney park experience is different for everyone. For us, it was a nice day of riding and munching, with short lines and exotic foods.
After a few morning thrill rides, we wandered through the World Showcase sampling the treats available from each country, which run from $1.25 to $6.50 each (mostly $3). The little portions they serve at each food kiosk seem very small for the price, and I suppose they are, but after just a few we were all feeling full and thus the total expenditure was not bad. According to the express checkout invoice that appeared on our doorstep this morning, we spent about $78 for the day, to thoroughly stuff the three of us for lunch and dinner. By Disney standards, that’s a cheap day.
Today’s photos are by Brett.
Emma participates in a ceremony at the American pavilion
We didn’t get back until 10 pm, completely exhausted except for Brett (who never stops), and so this morning things will go more slowly. Brett and Lori are heading to Universal for the day, and we are going to Haines City where we will courtesy-park at the home of our friends Wendimere (The Health Chic) and Bill, who we last saw in Aurora CO and Yellowstone.
Yesterday was a splurge day financially, but not a problem for our budget given the savings afforded us by traveling in the Airstream. It really is cheaper than staying home. Thanks to the generosity of our friends who offer courtesy parking, and a little effort to seek out campground bargains, we are well below the budget we lived on last year. I’m hoping to keep it that way for the remainder of the winter.
November 4, 2006 at 9:40 am · Filed under The scam
Our scammer is squirming under the pressure of Ayre’s relentless Aunt Abel Avion:
——
From: richard williams
Subject: RE: PAYMENT CONFIRMATION AND SHIPPING ARRANGEMENTS
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 07:49:07 -0800 (PST)
hello,
what do you mean by that?i am richard williams and my
accounttant sent the check so why are you asking me
all those questions,pls let me hear from Ayer and let
him tell me whats going on.
——
And Aunt Abel replies:
WHERE IS THE CHECK? It has not arrived. Tell your accountant to track the UPS shipment. It is lost. Send another check or I’m calling off this deal.
Abel Avion
PS: Ayres is still in the hospital and not doing well. Dr. Valterra says he needs enzyme treatments, and Dr Byam says he may have to be caravanned over to the Blooberray Regional Medical Center.
November 3, 2006 at 8:25 am · Filed under Places to go
Yesterday we bid adieu to our new friends, Steve, Misty, and Brianna. We spent a lot of time with them in the past few days, and it was great. We had an enormous amount in common, just as we did when we met Bobby, Danine, and Elise in Virginia. We may see them again tonight if they drop in on Ft Wilderness, or maybe as we pass by their home on the Florida panhandle in December.
Ft Wilderness is one of the nicest commercial campgrounds you can visit — it’s Disney, after all. From check-in to check-out, the experience is superb and convenient. It’s not overly “Disnified” with little Mickeys hanging from every tree, but there are free movies and sing-alongs every night, along with a full page of other amenities and programs.
Our friend Brett, and his sister Lori, pulled in a few hours after we did. Lori flew in from Colorado and they are parked right next to us in Brett’s Argosy 28 motorhome. The plan is to spend all day together chowing down at the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival (and riding plenty of rides, as Emma has reminded us).
Halloween dogs, from St Augustine. Click for larger
My latest bedside reading comes courtesy of Bobby (of Virginia), who gave me a couple of books he’d recently read. I just finished “The Professor and the Madman“, which is a fascinating account of the life of the major contributor to the original Oxford English Dictionary — who just happened to be insane and committed for life to a facility in England for having murdered someone. It’s also an interesting account of how the Oxford English Dictionary was made. It might sound like hearing about paint drying, but actually it is quite good. The creation of the OED (the first ever comprehensive English dictionary) was a massive project that took about 80 years and was done with 19th century technology. Reading it, I am reminded of how relatively easy it is to produce an 80 page magazine using computers …
November 3, 2006 at 8:09 am · Filed under The scam
Our scammer(s) are getting tangled up in their own web of lies. A couple of days ago I received another notice from another shipping company. The first one, as you may recall, was supposedly from Cosco Shipping Lines. Here’s the second one:
——
Hello Ayers Reem,
How are you doing today..this is calvary shipping kompany.we represent Dr williams in shipping of his goods he buy in abroad..we will like to confirm if this name is you real name and your contact address.writting below..
Ayres T Reem
[address deleted]
If this is your full info kindly email us back to let us no so will can come over to your location and have the items ship to his client.
Also Dr williams said you are the one that will send us our payment..so will we also like to comfirm that from you .so will can send you the information you will use in sending the money to us via..westernunion money transfer.
will be expecting your reply soon.
regards,
MANAGEMENT.
Low, Low, Low Rates! Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s cheap PC-to-Phone call rates.
——
Wow, that’s believable … NOT! (“shipping kompany”?)
However, we got an interesting break. UPS managed to lose the package with the second check! As of this morning it has not been delivered and UPS cannot account for it on their tracking page. It was last seen in Louisville three days ago. Plus, our scammer is getting nervy again by threatening the Feds. So Ayre’s aunt took the opportunity to push back a little:
This Ayres’ Aunt Abel again … I am very concerned. I just found out that the first check you sent him wasn’t good, and today checked UPS and found that the second check you keep promising is “missing”. That’s what UPS said when I tracked the number you sent. Are you going to send a check or not?
And Ayre’s cousin says someone has been sending him messages threatening to talk to the FBI and CIA about this. Who is Johnson Cole? Who is Velecia Farmer? Who is John Kinsey? You need to decide where the money is supposed to be sent because I can’t tell from all the names you have sent, and I am supposed to help Ayres sell his car while he is in the hospital.
But first tell me where the check is. It has not been delivered and if you don’t send a check right away I’m going to tell Ayres to sell his car to someone else.
Let’s see if we can get the scammer to send a third check at his expense!
November 2, 2006 at 8:57 am · Filed under Uncategorized
One of the perils of living in a Florida State Park: the dreaded affliction, “Lizard Butt”.
Another odd thing that roamed by today: the “Cruzin’ Cooler“. David Young, a dealer in these things, whipped by at about 13 MPH riding atop his electric cooler, towing a trailer with his dog!
I can’t think of a good reason I need to go 13 MPH in a campground on my cooler, but perhaps you can. If you do, a 500-watt battery powered Cruzin Cooler will cost you $349.
For our part, we will be pulling our cooler (a Dometic refrigerator installed in the Airstream) at about 65 MPH down to Kissimmee, where we have a reservation at Fort Wilderness.
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