PILGRIMAGE TO THE MOTHERSHIP… OR FIVE STATES IN FIVE DAYS…

colorful highways

With the White Mountains at our backs we hook it across Vermont towards New York State.  We opt for the back roads through the Green Mountains instead of the interstate highways.  The fall colors are a variety of turning to peak and the quaint towns seem to say, “Come back when you can stay awhile.”

no time to dally…
we're on a mission!

We make it to The Arrowhead Marina and RV Park just past Schenectady.  This is a real pretty park right on the Mohawk River.  We get a full hook-up site at the far end along the river, so the advertised free WIFI does not connect.  Whoever designed this park must have liked circles, as most of the sites are back in, like spokes on a wheel.   A nonissue for all the rigs with no back windows but we get views of everyone’s ass.   It is also in close proximity to a busy rail corridor and a non-gated crossing so there is a lot of rumbling and train whistles throughout the night.   It’s an ok spot to stop for the night, but not sure that we would come back for an extended stay in the area.

View from the passenger seat

NY state @ 70mph

We choose the southern route (SR 17 & across New York State because: A) the toll on the northern route will cost almost $30.   And B) the gas mileage differential is $10.00 more for the southern route. Quick math: $20 savings.  More fall colors as we pass the New York countryside and the return of the occasional roadside billboard. (New England prides itself on limiting these advertising goliaths and Maine and Vermont actually ban them.) The route takes us along the NY/PA border and we cross into Pennsylvania for about five minutes.  We stop in the southwestern area of the Finger Lakes near the western shore of Keuka Lake at Camp Elmbois.  Another beautiful campground; with ponds, free use of paddleboats, trees and grass, water and electric hook-ups, dump service and great WIFI.  It is also just down the road from the three wineries that were recommended by Wendy & Tom (a great couple we met back in Lubec, ME.) 

Dr. Frank's

Vineyards and Keuka Lake

After setting up we head over to Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellar, New York’s most award winning winery to do a little tasting. They also claim to have the second oldest old vine pinot noir vineyard in the nation.  After excessive tasting (and re-tasting) we choose a 2012 Pinot Noir, 2012 Cab Franc and a Salmon Run Meritage The Pinot and Cab Franc would probably do well after a few years in the cellar, but since our “cellar” is the space under the fridge – we’ll compensate with the Vinotemp.  We also get a bottle of their Blanc de Noirs, a sparkling vintage from Pinot Noir grapes. It’s a fruit forward rollercoaster on the tongue and a dry finish with a pucker.

We stay one day in the Keuka Lake area. The weatherman lied. It is supposed to be sunny and warm and it’s cloudy and windy.  More wineries are on our agenda today.  Bully Hill is another recommendation. It’s $1 per pour for full menu tastings or $5 for 5 from a limited menu and a commemorative wine glass: The pours are exceptionally stingy and the cost of tasting is not applied to a purchase. Yesterday at Dr. Franks we observed an unpleasant tarry chemical finish in all of their white wines, it was not too pronounced in their reds.  Here at Bully all of their wines both white and red have the same note, but more intense.  When we discussed this with our server, his comment was, “Welcome to New York, did you get lost on your way to California?”  We laughed, “We are from California.” He gave us two complimentary tastings of some of their signature wines, but they still had the same note.  Oh well, we tried…

Walking to the parking lot the smell from their smoker assaults us and we immediately turn to the restaurant for lunch.  Since we’re not enamored with their wines, we order a couple of local brews.  Interesting, these also have that same tarry chemical finish… so it must be the water, or the soil or the air here.  Weird…  We order a couple of the specials: The Sauerbraten is, juicy and tender with sides of braised red cabbage and potato salad, a delightful meal. The Oktoberfest Sampler comes with smoked pork, smoked sausages, sauerkraut and Pierogies. Neither of the smoked meats have any real smoky flavor.  The sausages are pretty pedestrian, the smoked pork is two thin boneless pork chops that you need a chainsaw to cut. Ray Chainsaw Sawyer Murphy could saw the Ten Commandments on these babies.  The best part of this meal is the Pierogies they have just the right amount of crunch on the outside and a creamy potato filling.  The views of lake Keuka are great.   At this point we’re not ready to face any more disappointment so we call it a day.

Back at camp, owner Dave and Sheila invite us to come out drinking and dancing with them… we are so tempted, but we know us… we’ll go out drinking, wake up not feeling like traveling… extend another day… and…. before you know it, it’s November… as painful as it is, we have to keep to the plan.

It’s raining again.  We want to just say, “Screw this!” Extend our stay and wait out the storm.  But, we dilly-dallied way too long in New England and we have to keep pushing on.  The weather breaks mid morning and we get back on the Southern Tier Expressway and head out across New York toward Lake Erie. We’re driving into a heavy head wind, which makes us really glad we chose Airstream!  Still lots of fall colors and pretty scenery, but it fades as we approach PA.  We get to the western end of the Southern Tier Expressway and follow onto I90 across the western end of Pennsylvania along the shore of Lake Erie.  Before you know it we’re in Ohio stopping at the Indian Creek Camping Resort in Geneva.  We get a full hook-up pull through on the end by a pond.  They charge for WIFI, so we pass on it. It’s pretty for a mega resort and great for a one-nighter.

Next Stop THE MOTHERSHIP!  There is an unwritten rule that every Airstream owner needs to make at least one pilgrimage to the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio.  It is the best place to have body work done with a full warranty, so lots of people bring their dented and ripped Airstreams to the factory to be made new again.

Rural Ohio

The village of Jackson Center sports a population of about 1,500 people and 315 of them work at Airstream.  Reading on-line reviews of Airstream one gets the impression that this is the center of nowhere. Yeah, its rural here, surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans but this is just small town America and there is plenty of “civilization” within an hours drive or less in any direction. We spend a couple of nights at the Terra Port, (Airstream’s on site RV Park.) It’s free if you’re having work done and $10 for Airstream geeks who just want to visit and take a factory tour.  We fall into the latter category. 

Vintage Parade

 The factory is surrounded by Airstreams.  It’s a sea of silver bullets, some shiny and others not so much.  A line of vintage units, including Wally Byam’s gold trailer are displayed out front.   Behind the service center, customer units wait for repairs (some with pretty big ouchies.) and more vintage trailers await renovation. We actually recognized one trailer from California with a huge tear in the right rear corner.  Two months ago we saw this unit pull in when we were in Lubec.  (We didn’t get a chance to meet them before they left the next day.) We’re really not surprised to see it here, since it takes 2 months to get an appointment for repair.

Welcome!

End Caps A Waiting

The factory tour starts with a brief history of the plant.  Since we will be entering a busy manufacturing facility, visitors must wear closed toe shoes, earplugs and safety glasses.   Airstreams are built entirely by hand.  The only automated process we see is one robotic arm drilling the rivet holes and cutting out the windows and doors in giant sheets of aluminum.  Everything from the laminates on the cabinets to the riveted bodies is constructed without the aid of robotics or conveyor systems like other manufactures. Just men and women with hand tools. Even the trailers are moved around the plant by hand or forklifts as they near completion.  It appears to be a complicated crowded maze and the tour takes us right through the middle of this organized chaos.  They currently produce approximately 150 trailers a month in their 135,000 sq. ft.  facility and have a backlog of about 600 units.  No wonder they just announced a $5.9 million expansion project to add 94,000 sq. ft. by 2015 and 125 jobs over the next three years.

Airstream Body Assembly

Well, we have now visited the birthplace of our darling Dimples. Four years ago this month we ordered her… time sure flies when you’re having fun… and we sure are!

k