It was like a reunion of people who had never met — but were glad they did, as a group of travelers, going new places and seeing new faces, drove in the antique RV Tin Can Caravan down Route 66 in Amarillo.
As road warriors, the caravan trekkers crossed state lines and also personal boundaries, which have held people apart for so long. The only left and right on the Mother Road were the left and right lanes they drove on. North and south became only directions on an old map or road sign.
Voyagers from the East met up with those from the West at the midpoint of Route 66, which is Adrian. They traveled to the Big Texan RV Ranch, which hosted them for four days during the Texas centennial festival that ran June 4-13 in Amarillo.
Visitors booked the RV Ranch a year ahead, according to Andy Roseberg, who owns and runs the popular stopping place. It hosts not only RVs, but also has attractive, Amish built cabins and even Conestoga wagons from Montana that people can rent for a night or more.
Rosenberg said this was the first year the RV ranch had opened up the antique RVs to the public, being the centennial of Route 66 and all.
“What better way to really appreciate history than to see what people traveled in back in the day?” Rosenberg said. “A lot of them came from Chicago and a lot from Florida.”
There were large and small antique trailers from the ’40s through the ’90s driving through the famous Mother Road. Rosenberg claimed that they were a great bunch of people, as he drove his classic silver Cadillac through the crowds and waved, his grey hair flying around his cowboy hat.
“There’s one RV built in 1946 with an upper level in it with two queen beds, and it’s absolutely beautiful,” he said. “Then, you have Airstreams that are pointed, round and some made in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, showing the evolution of them. Then you have the tiny little RVs that are just so cool that you want to hook them up behind your car and go to the beach.”
Boyce Wilson and his wife, Amy, from Dallas, joined the caravan from Dallas in a 1949 Vagabond, which was decked out with momentos from the ’50s including an old Coca-Cola cooler that matched the red RV.
Wilson said someone he knew inherited the Vagabond, along with an 89,000-acre ranch. “The trailer was sitting there in the woods since 1952,” Wilson said, and he was told he could have it if he could get it out.
“I had to drag it 12 miles through pastures and dirt roads, gravel pits and everything else, but I got it out,” Wilson said. “And I just started fixing it.”
Wilson said the Vagabond model was unique in ways that other vintage trailers weren’t — it has a pocket door with a screen so people could open the door and keep flies out. “It just stays inside until you need it and slide it out,” he said.
Wilson showed off the interior, which at first seemed tiny but had room for everything, including a fold-down table and folding wooden chairs. Not only did the table fold down, but the ingenious builders fixed it to swing out so they could seat four people.
He said he replaced the wood inside the traveling home, since it had been home to rattlesnakes and raccoons, but a lot of it was the same. The tiny RV also has a small refrigerator, stove, bathroom and bedroom — with room to spare, amazingly.
The Wilsons have enjoyed traveling around the last four years and have made 17 trips so far, one to West Virgina and back, and they said their grandchildren love it, too.
Travelers from the Northeast like friendly people of Panhandle
Two women sitting in the shade, behind a visiting small Airstream Bambi, were Jo Ellen Doscher and Dawn Bastian from Michigan and Illinois. The caravan met up in Springfield because Chicago was hard to start out from. They met with a big group coming in from the west at the halfway point in Adrian and then went together to the RV Ranch.
The two women were surprised to know that not all of Texas was flat and windy like Amarillo and the Panhandle — one of them did know about the Texas Hill Country, with flowers and trees.
“I like the people,” said Doscher. “They really nice and friendly — you know, not every state is like that,” she added. “We’ve had really, really good service, too. We met some KOAs after Springfield, and they were nice, too.”
The two said that they were going to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum later and had been to Cadillac Ranch earlier. They had breakfast for dinner at the Big Texan when they arrived in the caravan, and they were planning on rounding it up with the finale on Saturday.
After that, part of the group was spending some days in the Palo Duro Canyon State Park and were planning to see the show, “TEXAS”.
The wild trip it took to get the the Lighthouse Duplex RV to its home
Ethan Langley, who owns a Lighthouse RV participating in the caravan, said his “wife (Amanda) that had everything” wanted a Lighthouse duplex trailer and that he started a search for it online — with 83 people ahead of him, but they wanted cash only for it.
“I had a driver that was going to pick up a 1953 Shasta trailer for me who was already headed that way, and he got there before anyone else with cash. And, luckily, they had another driver available in their tiny house business who was delivering a tiny house.
“He was coming back with it, and about 30 miles outside town, the roof came off it,” he said with a laugh. “He was so upset, he left the trailer in the middle of the freeway and dropped it.”
Langley found two people who went out with him to California put a roof back on, called the driver and gave him another $2,000 to drive it.
When the guy got to the middle of the desert, one of the wheels came off, he said.
“I paid him another $2,000, and two days later, he came back and had to have another axle for it. The driver made it all the way to within two miles of Dallas, and had a blowout. By that time, he said he was done with it and that it was cursed,” Langley said with a laugh.
He then sent his brother to fix the tires and pick it up and finally got it. By the time Langley got it, they were out so much money that they couldn’t work on it for another eight months. Then they had to find all the parts for the inside because it was completely gutted.
“Within two months, we had spent $60,000 for it,” he said. “Within eight years, we had it done, and we’ve been on the highway now close to 90,000 miles showing it off. That’s what we do for a living in an American RV.”
The amazing Lighthouse features an upstairs with two large beds and areas for a TV or radio. It was built in 1951, with restoration completed in 2023 by American RV Restoration.
As the RVs left Amarillo and headed their own destination — east or west — all them will carry special memories only found on the unending road of destiny that brought people and promises together for a better future.
Nell Williams is a staff writer covering trends and other news for the Amarillo Globe-News. Have a story idea? Email her at nwilliams@usatodayco.com .
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: RV Tin Can Caravan forms new friendships on Route 66 travels
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
