Our 3rd day of Alumafandango started with Mila getting a tummy ache and throwing up her breakfast all over the Airstream floor. Our poor little girl was not a happy camper and she and Marlene decided to stay in for the morning until things turned around for her.
Ava on the other hand was ready for some more action. She donned her new Airstream shirt today and headed out with me on the bus ride to the Timeless Travel Trailers factory tour.
Timeless Travel Trailers is located right here in Denver and they are a co-sponsor of the event along with Airstream Life magazine. Not only that, the owner Brett Hall along with all of his staff have worked tirelessly to convert the former junk yard into a home for all of us here at the event for the week.
This is one of two locomotives used at Lakeside Amusement Park that is currently out of commission. This one is on its way out for some boiler work this morning.
The bus ride to Timeless Travel Trailers was packed and we were excited to see where the magic happens.
We sat next to Tiffani from Weaselmouth and she told me that the Airstream factory tour is something we have to see. Let’s just say that they take a much more laissez-faire approach to their visitor’s safety precautions. Here at Timeless, we were all issued these stylist safety goggle before we entered their shop.
Here is Brett Hall giving us a little explanation of their staff and work environment. They only use solid hardwood in their cabinetry and never any compressed board or MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). All of their staff is also required to be cross trained in another set of skills to be more versatile around the shop. For example, the master carpenter that was working on a set of kitchen cabinets, also happens to be well versed in sheet metal work.
All of this information is REALLY exciting for Ava.
In the shop, they are working on a few projects while we were there. The shop is surprisingly small from what I had imagined. There are probably only 4 or 5 bays for trailers to be worked on at any given moment. This project with the body hoisted in the air is a vintage Caravel that will be headed to New Zealand to become a mobile pizza parlor.
Ava couldn’t believe they ripped the body right off of that Mali Mish. Yes, the girls refer to all other Airstream trailers as Mali Mishes.
This Mali Mish might look like your usual Jackson Center creation, but in reality, it has been completely revamped by Timeless. The owners of this coach are avid birders and will drive anywhere and through anything to check birds off of their list. The original factory furnishings literally rattled right off of the walls through the abuse they put it through. At the Airstream factory, each trailer is worked on by skilled installers at each station. Each station has exactly 160 minutes to work on their job before it will move on to the next station. If it cannot be done in that time, it doesn’t get done. In order to strengthen the interior of this trailer for the owners, Timeless is one of the go-to shop for those Airstream customers.
The craftsmanship and materials used by Timeless is definitely top notch. They carefully design each item to the owner needs and also fully engineer them to achieve the highest specifications possible.
The overhead cabinets in this trailer is a perfect blend of the classic hardwood with a little splash of inspiration from the CCD International models.
Ava was particularly impressed with the toilet. I don’t know why.
If you must know, these are some of their tools of the trade.
Ava was not the smallest visitor on this tour. I think this little guy is hoping to get a fully-engineered suite installed into his owner’s trailer.
During the last 3 days of the event, Timeless is preparing a trailer to have its kitchen installed on site at the amusement park. They have been prepping it all week and here it is being pulled out of the rear storage lot. My initial impression was that it was much smaller than I imagined. Being one of the top customizers of Airstreams in the world, it is a pretty modest shop. They only work on trailers based on customer’s requests so they don’t compete against other Airstream dealers in the area. For the same reason, they also don’t sell parts without installing them. I did find out on our way back to the campground that behind the main shop in a fenced-in lot, is where they keep nearly a dozen of vintage trailers. All are either in various stages of restoration or were bought as a parts-stream.
We got back to Lakeside and spent the afternoon roaming the vendor exhibits and the vintage trailer showcase.
This is some of the loot we brought home from the vendor exhibits. Looks like someone will be getting postcards soon!
With our morning field trip to Timeless out of the way, Ava has to get back to her daily kindergarten routine. After all, it is a school day.
Even though we are about half way through the event, more people arrived today at our already crowded rally field. I can’t even imagine what this place will look like on Sunday when we all try to hitch up and leave at the same time.
Each day at 4PM, there is a happy hour where Rich and Brett perform their impromptu comedy routine and hand out prizes to the attendees. The happy hour usually leaves us yapping about our traveling experiences. I got to catch up with Kyle from WhereIsKyleNow.com and Josh from 1337stream.com again along with a few other fellow Airstreamers who have tons more Airstreaming experience than us.
This is Frank and Debbie from StreamingTogether. They are a newly retired couple traveling the country in their 28 ft. Airstream Safari named Diva. We have been following each other’s blogs and it was great to finally meet them in person. They had not planned to be here until just a couple of weeks ago when they found out about it. They had already been in the Denver area for a wedding and decided to stay longer to join in on the festivities.
Each day at 6pm, they fire up a big community propane grill in the middle of the vintage showcase area and we all get together to make a little BBQ. The girls and Jack are really enjoying each others company.
And of course, mayhem ensued once dinner was over. I don’t know who’s idea this was but they decided to play ‘Angry Birds’ with the caution tape.
While the kids are destroying the exteriors of the trailers, we took over the lounge area of this extremely rare Western Pacific rail car Airstream. Only about 10 were ever made and this is only 1 or 2 that are known to exist. Many Airstreamers do not even know of its existence but for us, seeing is believing.
Josh, Kyle and I did our best in breaking in the couch cushions for the new owner. This 40 footer is on its way to Alberta, Canada where it will serve as the living quarters of the owner who will place it inside a barn. It has no holding tanks, no 12-volt system and an amazing tiled shower.
Looks like Mila is finally starting to feel better from her stomach flu.
Tomorrow, the amusement park will finally be open and we are all getting free ride bracelets!
over and out,
dan
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