Airstream Factory Tour, Jackson Centre, OHIO, A little out of Chronological Order But here it is from our Visit there April 5 - 7,2009

Jackson Centre is a small farming town about an hour North of Dayton, Ohio and two hours south of Toledo off Interstate 75. As you can see from the welcome sign it is Airstream that figures prominently into the town's history. The factory in Jackson Centre opened in the early 50's after the war and the return of Wally Byam's (Airstream founder) attention from war to adventure on the road. As the sign says Airstream was, is, and remains an "American Legend". We met some wonderful people there at the plant who were very helpful and generous with their time. They welcomed our pet menagerie into the Service lounge (very comfortable place indeed) Photo's of the lounge are at the end.

We parked on Classic Circle at least one night. If you are having work done they come out with a tractor and pick up your rig at 7 am so you have to be up early! The sites are full hook-up and free if you are having work done but $10 (on an honour system) if you are an Airstream just passing through! You can see lots of old trailers in the background, some in for refurbishing, some in for maintenance, and one among them is the first to come off the assembly line of this plant in the early 50's.

The next shot are our Airstream "Airebella" waiting patiently for something to happen... I was not allowed pictures inside the plant but I can tell you it was something to see. They do a free tour every day at 2 pm. The work is mainly done manually with chains, pulleys, and rollers moving the Airstream from one work centre to the next. No robotics that I could see and people who work here seem to love it. Three employees were celebrating 50 years with Airstream that month! Wow!

A shot of the factory building ...

This next shot is of someones trailer getting dropped off by the tractor after some work was done. It is not ours since it only has two axles, ours has three.

As we head back out on the road again we pass through beautiful farmland on the way to the Interstate.


Inside the Customer Lounge with our pets...

Lisa's 30th Birthday

Lisa, Derek, Payton and Brooklyn at their new home site...

Payton with colour and smiles!

Well everyone , my youngest daughter turned 30 so now I am really feeling like I am in another generation! I won't say I am feeling old - that would be silly and sooooo not true! Here are some pics and a video of the "Taming of the Orange Wedge"...

We Were Interviewed in Alabama for Being SNOWBIRDS!!!

Check out the SNOWBIRD Video at http://www.longlonghoneymoon.com/ .



Mother and Father were also snowbirds. April 17th was Mother's birthday and she would have turned 91 had she still been alive. She is alive in my heart and she and Father are with me in many cherished memories.

Return to Ottawa!

Look at the eight teeth I have Grandma!



Brushing Biter after a long winter away!

After eating Aunt Cathy's Cheezecake! You get a little on the hands, and on the face and up the nose and of course, in the tummy!

Payton loving Rudy and Reggie again...three peas in a pod!

Home! No Snow! Yeah!

The Thousand Islands Bridge....

The wine country of the Finger Lakes district of Upstate New York...

Hello everyone ! You must have thought we dropped off the map! Well we are back home and just got our Internet Connection resurrected ... the Airstream, now named Airebella, is resting at the storage facility...We have seen the grandchildren! and the children, nieces, siblings....neighbours and friends....

We drove through Florida, Alabama,Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio (including the Airstream Plant), Pennsylvania, and New York States and Ontario!

Lima South KOA in Ohio

Before I tell you about the Lima KOA I just want to tell you about the trip from Kentucky to Ohio and what fun we had with the GPS...

We got up at 8am CST thinking we would be staying in Kentucky another night. But the severe weather had been chasing us from the Florida Panhandle right through Alabama as we kept a few hours ahead! We saw severe thunderstorms and high winds in the afternoon forecast and given that we were parked between two beautiful trees (that could easily have been blown down by wind) we decided that we should take advantage of the sunshine and hit the road. As we headed North through Kentucky we saw beautiful green pastures, and amazing fruit trees in full bloom. The further North we drove the more I noticed broken trees and it reminded me of our 1998 ice storm damage in Eastern Ontario. Then I remembered hearing about that happening in Kentucky on the weather channel in January/February. They clearly hadn't started to clean it up yet.

We let the GPS lead us between Kentucky and Ohio and it took us through smack dab in the centre of both Cincinnati and Dayton during rush hour. As we entered Ohio I saw my first tim hortons!!! Yeah!!! We saw a humongous Church with a semi submerged, ten story high (at least), plaster of paris white, Jesus, sitting in a big pond with arms outstretched heaven ward at the Solid Rock Church. Indiana Wesleyan University is just south of Dayton Ohio which I found odd since Indiana is the next state over.

Here in Ohio there is some green grass and flowers but the trees are not in as advanced a state of budding as a little further south. We are about at the same latitude as Baltimore here so it is still warm feels about 70 F. (22C). It was a long day with some white knuckle stretches but Richard is now a pro with the long trailer!!We are now in eastern standard time!!

Birmingham, Alabama to Bowling Green, Kentucky April 1, 2009

We left Birmingham in bright sunshine headed for Kentucky and another KOA (Kampgrounds of America). It was just an amazing drive through beautiful countryside interrupted by the cities of Birmingham, Nashville and Bowling Green.