Retrospective

Retrospective...by Jennifer Zartman Romano

In Capistrano, the return of the swallows signals springtime. Yesterday, I learned that spring comes to Hickley, Ohio, in the form of turkey vultures – better known by many as buzzards. With the theme of flight, we welcome spring in the form of the Avions.

In our family, spring is heralded by the return of our vintage camper collection from storage (a 1959 and a 1969 Avion) and this year, the reappearance of our “new” boat which we hope will fly across the lake this summer carried by it’s winged Johnson motor.

In 2005, we found our “dream camper” on eBay, a 1959 silver Avion – a brand of camper made in Benton Harbor, Michigan, using aircraft-style construction. We’re the third owners of the little 23 foot gem and though having been past through several families, it still maintains its original charm and is a treasure trove of 1950s kitch – which I adore. When we bought it, the silvery sheen had dulled a bit and my husband has been investing hours and energy to polish it to perfection. You can now see your reflection in the surface, but in his eyes it still hasn’t reached ultimate shininess just yet.

Inside, there will be plenty of dusting and fluffing to do after the long hibernation over at the 4-H grounds. Cabinets will need to be restocked for spring and summer camping trips, beds will need to be made up and a good overall freshening will take place. As soon as we get a few nice, warmer days, I’ll crank open the old windows and let the breeze blow in. A load of fixings for pudgie pies and s’mores and we’ll be ready for a camping trip in May. If all goes well, we’re hoping to go up to the Tin Can Tourist Rally in Milford, Michigan, in late May to view other vintage campers from around the country. Did you even know such groups existed? Indeed, the Tin Canners, as they’re called, have been an organization of camping enthusiasts around since the early 1900s. With the growing popularity of camping in the post-war years, the excitement about camping grew and now there are many, many members.

We enjoy the Tin Can gatherings and the Silver Avion Fellowship, a different camping group dedicated to our make of camper, which were made from the 1950s-1990s, for a variety of reasons – including the chance to meet new people, share information and tour some amazing campers. Many of these campers are now or will eventually become museum quality representations of a unique slice of Americana.

Having (we hope) won the war against violent chipmunks (another story for another day!), my in-laws are hoping to begin sprucing their 1969 Avion up for their summer use. They don’t go anywhere with theirs, but it gets a fair amount of use up at the lake each summer. They might event stay overnight in there now that the invading critters have been, shall we say, run off.

At the end of last fall, we made an uncharacteristic impulse buy on eBay to add to the collection of vintage recreational fun we call “Romano’s RetroCamp” – we bought a 1956 Thunder Bay runabout boat made in Columbia City. This rare find will be the focus of an interesting story I’ll write later this spring. It has what is believed to be its original 1955 Johnson motor with wings and we think it still works. I guess we’ll know for sure when the ice is off the lake – perhaps the day the ice is off the lake as Tony is very eager to give it a run. The boat, too, came out of storage over the weekend.

So, indeed, spring has arrived in Whitley County. We now need a few warmer days for the grass to green up, the flowers to pop, the trees to don their leaves and we’ll all be in excellent spirits…and ready for a full season of camping and boating!