Airstream Cruising

Airstream Trailer Caravanning ----- PAR_DSCN1095
Originally uploaded by metropol2.

Do you remember when hundreds of these aluminum-clad Airstream Trailers caravanned across North America each summer? I do.

My sister Betsy and I saw several such caravans in both the US and Canada when we drove to Alaska oh so many years ago.

I recall one particulalry large group of the shinning icons parked neatly in a field in Dawson Creek, British Columbia -- gateway to the Alcan Highway.

We were camping out in our Volkswagen Van, but these folks were living large. They had antennas on the their roofs, air conditioning units, refirgerators, plushy beds, sofas, tables, and just about every comfort of home right there in their uber-modern gypsy wagons.

Gypsies of the paved highways they were. And happy as happy can be too. So were we, but with a lot less stuff.

I do miss seeing the Airstreams gleem in the sun. Like a bright future, they beckon to travelers to follow the call of the wild.

And while I might prefer voyaging on my motorcycle, those earlier travelers surely enjoyed their aluminum wagons just the same. Classical in every sense, the Airstream represented the height of luxury road tripping for an entire generation.