First Annual Sweet Vintage Trailer Show & Flea Market ~ This Saturday August 16th!!!

GinGilli’s Vintage Home, 21079 Geyserville Avenue, is hosting the First Annual Sweet Vintage Trailer Show and Flea Market Saturday August 16th, 8:00am-3:00pm.

Cloverdale local, Laura Waterhouse  is also the  Tow Girlz  Club NorCal Chapter President, part of Vintage Camper Trailers Club & Magazine.

Laura Waterhouse has been in Early Childhood Education for 30+ years and has a passion for Vintage Trailers.

What is a Vintage Trailer? We currently consider pre 1969 & older Vintage although there are some great 1970′s trailers that have joined our campouts.

How did you get into the Vintage Trailer scene? My boyfriend Nick Uribe thought it would be great to get out of a tent & camp in an old trailer, on a bed, especially now that we’re older & desire more comfort!

What was your first trailer? It was a backyard built 10′  1968 canned ham that we found & won the bid on ebay near Palm Springs.

How did you decorate it? I didn’t get much of a chance to decorate it after only camping in it for about a year. Nick decided to tear it apart to replace the rotten wood & he never could find enough time to finish it so he put the parts in the yard, than in the garage, than to the dump!

Why the obsession? I was obsessed from the beginning of camping in our little vintage trailer. It felt like a secret clubhouse that was away from everything, and it became our special place to get away from our busy day to day lives, to hideout. There was an instant feeling of being young again, like when we made tree houses & forts,  only the trailer has a real kitchen for food & we can stay inside & watch movies when it’s raining & take walks in the woods & sleep in & wake up in peace & quiet.

How many trailers have you had since you began and how many do you have now? We said good bye to the Drifter & I was anxious to replace it & to keep exploring other campgrounds,  so I found a 14′ 68 Shasta LoFlyte on ebay in January 2008 and won the bid & picked it up outside of Sacramento. Nick & I both fell in love with the Shasta Trailers with the wings & starting looking at the history of the Shasta Trailer. They were originally built for portable military housing back in the early 40′s.

Once when we camped in our first little Drifter trailer at Cassini Ranch the campground host told us about a Vintage Trailer Rally that would be there so we signed up for our first VCT Rally in 2008 & we took our 68 Shasta. As Nick was replacing the new laminate tiles in the floor for our first Rally, right before we were going to leave, he sliced his thumb with the exacto knife! He said we were still going to go so I made him go to the ER on the way & we got to our first Rally around midnight that night!

I decorated the 68 Shasta in a vibrant tropical theme which included the ever popular pink flamingos.

After a couple years of camping & going to Rallies Nick found a longer Shasta on ebay that had a toilet & shower. Once again we won the bid for a 20′ 67 Shasta StarFlyte in October 2008 we drove up to Bend, Oregon to pick it up. Nick had to replace a lot of rotten wood in the back of this trailer but he knew how to do it this time after practicing on the old Drifter. Oh it’s been wonderful having a toilet while camping! I decided to go with the “Summer of Love” and  “Flower Power” theme for the decor in our 67 Shasta. I’ve had so much fun at GinGilli’s Vintage Collective  for things to put in the trailer. Pyrex, Melmac, a shiny percolator, a rotary telephone, a chenille bed spread & an atomic clock are just a few of the mid century items. Now I’m starting to collect mid century outfits to wear to the big rallies.

We have made some life long great friendships in the last couple of years. I find that we all have similar things in common. A love for a simpler old school way of life, very artistic & creative minds, explorers & eagerness to bring these old trailers back to life and  collect & save the things that are disappearing.

Where do you store all your trailers? The smaller 68 Shasta is in our Driveway and  our 67 Shasta is stored at the Citrus Fairgrounds. Somewhere a long the way we started connecting with more Vintage Camper Trailer enthusiasts & scheduling more camping trips & one of our friends that we bought our 68 smaller Shasta from, started our VCT Magazine & Clubs & Website & Facebook Page & it took off! We have become a super subculture sharing the love of Vintage Camper Trailers. It takes you back to a simpler way of life. Nick & I are hoping to downsize & retire & live & travel in our Vintage Trailers.We are crazy about the trailers now & can spot them from a mile away and are always searching to look at them on the internet.

I recently volunteered to be the first NorCal Tow Girlz Vintage Camper Trailers President. Our motto’s are “Rescue! Restore! Rally!” and “Trailerites Unite!”

What does your family think about Vintage Trailers? At first our respective adult kids  thought we were off our rocker! Now they see that it is actually really cool. None of our 5 grown kids have camped in the trailers with us yet. That’ll probably happen after the grandkids start coming.

When will you be showcasing your trailers next? We will be a part of a Vintage Trailer Flea Market & Open House at Gin’Gillis Vintage Home Collective. Mid September our VCT Club will be at the Petaluma KOA with a Public Open House of approximately 150 trailers & Yard Sales from 10-2 on Saturday. We’ll be out at the Lodi KOA mid October for a sold out rally & classic car show. There will be an Open House & Yard Sales from 10-2 on Saturday & someone’s getting hitched at this rally! In February Citrus Fair Weekend,  Nick & I will be hosting our 3rd VCT Rally at the Cloverdale KOA. There are a whole list of activities at the Campouts or Rallies including potlucks.

How can people find you? You can like our Vintage Camper Trailers page on Facebook to see all of the amazing trailers & events & also find postings of trailers for sale. You can also read the updated event news & order tshirts to be in our club and order our Magazine on our website @ vintagecampertrailers.com

Article By: Deborah Serval Geyserville correspondent For The Press Democrat.