I haven't posted for a while because all our campering time over the last few weeks was spent getting our Airflyte back together in time to attend the 2010 Tin Can Tourists NE Regional Rally. We made a lot of progress with everyone in the family pitching in, and all our efforts over the last couple of weeks (and years) really paid off as we came home with plaque that says "Best in Show" on it! A huge thank you goes out to everyone who voted for us!
This was our second year attending the Northeast Regional TCT rally and again it was held at Sampson State Park on Seneca Lake, the largest of New York state's Finger Lakes. This year there were 54 trailers and the variety of makes, condition, and renovation/restoration approaches seemed broader than last year. Another big thanks goes out to Bill Fletcher who does a really great job running this rally, if you're in the Northeast you should consider attending next year. When we first got our Shasta back on the road we were intimidated by the apparent seriousness of the TCT rallies, but I can assure you that if you show up with any kind of vintage trailer you will be welcome and folks will be interested in it. Two of my favorite trailers at the show had just enough work done during the last month or so to make the trip, I can't wait to see the progress on these ones next year! The open sharing of knowledge and experience at these events is just amazing. If you want to see some of the other trailers that were there I've posted a bunch of photos from the rally in a Flickr photo set here. (now fixed)
I also highly recommend attending smaller vintage trailer rallies. For us attending one of these small events gave us of the comfort factor that we needed before registering for the larger event. If you enjoy sitting at home reading about what others are doing with their vintage trailers just imagine how great it would be to sit around a campfire and talk about this stuff in person!
