Airstream! (day 34)

It had been at the back of my mind for most of the trip. We’d discuss it occasionally, but it was way out of the way and the schedule didn’t permit it. But the changes we made in the last few days would allow us to go on the Airstream factory tour.

This thrilled me. Airstream is in the middle of nowhere, in Jackson Center Ohio, so chances to go there aren’t exactly frequent. They give daily free tours at 2pm; we got into town plenty early. Surprisingly, we had a fantastic lunch within walking distance of the plant at Café Veranda, in a restored Victorian on the main strip in Jackson Center.

Don, our tour guide, worked at the plant for decades before retiring and giving tours. (They don’t allow pictures inside the factory.) Production was closed for the week, which was probably better since it was quiet and we could roam through partly finished trailers.

The trailers are constructed in one building that seems smaller than I expected for a company that makes 2000 trailers a year or so. It was neat to see the trailers in various stages of competition. I covet one of the narrower, lighter European trailers that they were building for overseas, but they don’t sell them here. We also really liked an old Argosy (a painted lower-priced Airstream sold in the 70s) that was being fully refurbished in their service center. Half of the assembly workers are laid off due to the economy, but every service bay was full.

We got a picture of the T@B (built also by Airstream’s parent company, Thor Industries) in front of some of the old trailers they have on the property. The tour made me want an Airstream more - but not a new one. (All I bought was an Argosy by Airstream T-shirt.)

We headed to our campsite that night, Indian Lake State Park. It was full, so it was good we had booked a site the night before. Emphasis here is on the word “park” - it was like camping in a grassy park rather than a forest, with over 450 sites and kids riding bikes past the trailer constantly. (“That is the smallest trailer I’ve ever seen” said one during every lap.) Oh well. We grilled some sausage, pattipan squash, and corn we had bought at a farm stand down the road.

As if on Juliet’s cue, it started raining at 10pm, efficiently quieting the campground. (It was surprisingly quiet, actually, with no one obtrusively playing a radio or yelling.)