We own a modern motorhome – a class C – and had two other recreational vehicles previously. We bought the first one in the late 1980s, a small, used travel trailer. The second was a fifth wheel trailer that we bought new. We’ve had our motorhome for a little over two years.
I’ve been a bit curious about the history of recreational vehicles in America and, last weekend, came across an article from the early days of vehicle camping, “Luxury Trailers create new army of Modern Gypsies,” published in the April 1936 issue of Popular Science.
I’ve republished the article , Modern Gypsies, as part of a reference library of vintage articles and articles I’ve written related to recreational vehicles. At this point, though, the library is rather sparse, with only three articles.
Needless to say, the campers of 1936 differed greatly from many that we see today. There are a lot of similarities, though, and a lot of innovation. There are also “interesting” snippets:
Jack Bartlett, Tucson, Ariz., showman, recently purchased a trailer for $395, loaded into it a trained donkey weighing 800 pounds and a trunk containing fifty horned toads. With these as his performers, Bartlett tours the southwestern United States staging toad races and exhibitions of animal intelligence in hotel lobbies and schools.
An itinerant minister, traveling through sparsely settled sections of the West, has converted a house-type trailer into a portable church. He seats a dozen people, preaching from a small chapel and pulpit at one end. A woman evangelist, Mrs. Julia A. Locke, tours the country in her trailer, preaching from a platform while music is provided by a bungalow-type piano carried within.
The early days of work campers, I guess.
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The next day we took a road trip to go check it out and also visited two state parks.
We talked about it over the weekend and, on Monday, called our salesman to tell him that we wanted it. He took down all our information so that he could talk to his boss and tell us what it would cost us after our trade-in. We waited all day for him to call back. He finally did — during supper — with bad news. We owed so much on the fifth wheel we were wanting to trade in that he didn’t think they would be able to do the deal. I told him that we knew that going in and that we were figured we were going to have to include some kind of down payment in order to get the camper. He said he would take it to the owner of the dealership and that he would get back to us the next day.
What’s a blog?
November 14, 2009
About our blogs
I’ve been blogging for several years now and currently have 3 active blogs.
I post to Exit78 the most, sharing some of my photos, vintage images I’ve discovered, and — occasionally — commentary and thoughts from retired life.
Haw Creek Out ‘n About is images and information about places — where we are, where we’ve been, and where we’d like to go, while Haw Creek is intended to be primarily related to information on recreational vehicles.
I publish posts on our travels simultaneously on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.
Karen’s blog, Quilts….etc., as the title implies, is mostly about her quilting, but she also chats about a lot of other things that interest her.
We both have regular readers, though I think Karen has more than I do, and we both read a number of other blogs.
There are several different, though similar, definitions of the word, “blog.”
The word “blog” is a contraction of the term “weblog” or “web log.”
The term actually originated from online diarists. Early web diaries (c. 1994) evolved into web journals, then web logs, and, today, blogs.
While many hobby bloggers enjoy blogging and stick with it, most blogs actually die quite quickly. Other blogs die a slow death, with irregular, hit-and-miss posting, and then… nothing. Last year, I took a look back at the blogs I had been reading a year earlier. Less than a quarter of them were still active.
For more information on blogs and blogging see Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere – 2009 or Wikipedia’s article, Blog.
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