Alumapalooza THE Airstream Event is Just Around the Corner!

There is nothing, nothing, nothing like a shiny Airstream to illustrate what “glamping” is all about. The most recognized and beloved brand of RV on the road, whether vintage or brand new, they are show stoppers anywhere they go. That’s why we would love to go to the upcoming Alumapalooza May 26-31, 2015 at the Airstream, Inc. factory in Jackson Center, Ohio!

Alumapalooza is an annual event sponsored by Airstream and Airstream Live Magazine. It’s five days of fabulous glamping, seminars, entertainment, door prizes, factory tours (FACTORY TOURS!) and mixing and mingling with the kings and queens of aluminum. Although it’s an Airstream sponsored event, all brands of RVs are welcome to attend and enjoy the fun.

For all the info, and to register visit their website athttp://alumapalooza.com/

Can’t make it this year? Neither can we, sadly. But you can check out this awesome video from the 2014 event, to see what it’s all about. 

Fashion on the Fly...

Guest blogger today: Cindy Mundschenk!

One thing that all glampers have in common is this – a sense of creativity. It’s what separates the campers in their plain tents with their barren air mattresses from the glampers in their portable French chateaus with their chandeliers. Glampers do everything in style, from their dishes to their outfits, and Cindy Mundschenk of Abeline, Texas might be the very Queen of Glamping Fashion.

By week, Cindy owns a dance studio and puts on full scale productions, complete with costumes, choreography, incredible sets and entire stages full of young dancers ready to storm the world in their ballet slippers. On the weekends, she likes to get away in her 1965 Shasta, but she still likes to put on a good show.

All hail the Glamping Queen, and see what SHE has to say below about her fabulous wardrobe and her adorable little Shasta Polly Esther.

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I’ve always been into costuming since I started ballet at the age of two in Montana.   As a dancer, an actress, and a dance studio owner I have had my share of costumes.  I even played Queen Elizabeth for six years for the West Texas Renaissance Fair, now that is a costume! It is easy to pull off a look, it doesn’t have to be uncomfortable, just fun!  I have always loved hats and I have quite an extensive collection of hats.  I have over twenty-five hats on my antique hall tree, ranging from Victorian to a Deerstalker I got at a vintage market in London.   I have over half a dozen hats in Polly Esther right now.  Cowboy hats, vintage hats, pink sequin fedora and vintage scarves and purses.  Of course I also have the hounds tooth cap and pink cancan and of course a pair of pink camo Duck Dynasty footie pajamas.

After a friend let us borrow her vintage trailer to take to a motorcycle rally I was hooked.   When I purchased my Shasta Compact a year and a half ago I was searching online for decorating ideas.  I kept coming across pictures of all these cool trailers and I was immediately hooked.   In particular I found pictures of Sisters on the Fly in Waxahachie, TX.  There was one picture of a parade of their cute trailers as far as the eye could see.  All their trailers were so clever and fun.   I loved the fact that they went all out and even dressed the part with their cancans and tutus.   

I found out that the Sisters on the Fly were having a gathering at Buffalo Gap near where I lived the following month and I joined on the spot. I didn’t read the rules till after I joined.   The rules are NO MEN (Oops that meant my husband was out), NO KIDS (Mine were grown so that wasn’t a big deal and I wasn’t a grandma… yet), NO PETS (Oops that meant my Pugs weren’t going camping with me) and BE NICE (I can handle that).   

As a child we always had a cabin in the mountains of Montana (where I grew up).   I guess having a trailer is basically a cabin or a doll house on wheels.  I love having all the comforts of home on your own two wheels.  Polly Esther is only 10 foot long (13 with the hitch) and it is amazing how much stuff I can pack into her.   Being surrounded by things you love is part of the fun. 

Ever since I painted Polly Esther in houndstooth everyone thinks of me when they run across something when they are out shopping. I love houndstooth.  It is a very classic pattern that has been around for quite a while.  I love the Audrey Hepburn era and the glamour lifestyle with dressing up for dinner and cocktails.   I have a magazine article from LIFE June 1965.  In article they show how to make different headpieces from a piece of houndstooth fabric.  This was my inspiration behind painting Polly Esther in Houndstooth. The expanded size and color are a modern take on the classic houndstooth.  The teal is a nod to the turquoise that was popular in the 60s.

I’ve been given several houndstooth scarves and one of my favorite is a cashmere houndstooth scarf from my Christmas SOTF Sister. I’ve been given things for Polly Esther like houndstooth sheets and a vintage tablecloth.  People have even sent me vintage skirts and jackets they have come across as well as a backpack and just this weekend a SOTF Sister flagged me down in the middle of the road to give me a travel bag of houndstooth with hot pink trim that she found and said it reminded her of me.  I treasure each and every one and it makes it really easy to keep up the glam.   

When I recently had the opportunity to be part of a trailer tour I was able to find a couple really cool vintage houndstooth outfits on eBay.  I like to wear at least one article of houndstooth each day.  It might be just a hat but it makes it easier for people to make the connection between me and my trailer.  It might be just a cap or a sweater or maybe leggings I found in Vegas.  How crazy I really get might depend on if I am giving trailer tours.   Since a lot of the Sisters have outdoors themes I love that Polly Esther is different. 

At a trailer tour in Blanco, TX recently when one of the spectators came around the corner and saw Polly Esther and me in all my houndstooth glory and the vintage prom dress and the vintage accessories from 1965, she stated, “This is the Glamorous one!”  I love it!  

It would be hard to say which my favorite outfit is.  The pink camo PJs with ducks on the feet have to be one of my favorite.   We were at a Rally in Amarillo, TX and a tornado came thru.  We had to dash thru the rain and hail to get to the storm shelter and the ducks on my feet were swimming in the puddles.  

Sisters on the Fly started with two real sisters on a fly-fishing trip in Montana in 1999, because of that a lot of SOTF centers on cowgirls.  An outdoor adventure group for women now pushing six thousand members (I’m #4198).  Growing up in Montana and living most of my adult life in Texas has instilled the cowgirl spirit in me.   To complete the look I found some cool chaps at an vintage/antique store around the corner from my house, I added a neat old cowboy hat from Austin, and a vintage leather fringe jacket from eBay and I’m good to go.   I love searching estate sales and vintage markets.

I have a closet in Polly Esther that I keep certain things that I don’t use at home, like the pink camo footie PJs.   The rest I pack in my carry-on bag.  I also have several pairs of shoes, boots and hats to complete each ensemble.   Some I pack into nooks and crannies in the trailer or in the trunk of my red convertible Mustang I pull her with.   And yes I do pull her with the Mustang.   My car has a 2,000 lbs tow capacity and Polly Esther is only 1100 lbs.  

When I first acquired Polly Esther I was all about the history.   I loved researching the clothes, the games and the magazines from that time period.   To me she is a time capsule and it is like stepping back into a simpler time.  Not only does it evoke memories of my childhood but a time when America was on the move.   There were social issues like the Vietnam War; the Space Program was in full swing and the fashions of the Jet Set.  The World’s Fair of 1965 was in New York City.   I loved brushing my teeth at the kitchen window, looking out and wondering what the young housewife in 1965 was feeling standing at the kitchen window and brushing her teeth in her brand new trailer.

 I guess I love glamping so much because it allows me to express my creativity.  From what I choose to wear to how I decorate my trailer.  I have also sewn my own awning and cushions for my outdoor furniture.  I think a lot of people live vicariously thru those that do and they don’t have to.  It is empowering to be able to hook up and back up a trailer.  They can be the ones out there having fun and learning new skills and making new friends.   TWANDA!

You ARE a glamper!

So some of you may remember Milly, from one of our earlier posts. Milly is my 1964 Avion project, that's currently sitting on the back forty collecting dust... and dreams. I started work on her, stopped work, started work, stored Christmas decorations and despair, and am now starting work on her again. These vintage camper projects are work. And some of it is fun, and some of it is just work, and the end result is worth it. I realize I won't find much sympathy here though, because a lot of you are saying, "If I had that awesome trailer I would work day and night on it, and never complain, and just be completely pleased as punch. I wish I had one, but I can't even call myself a glamper because I can't afford one, don't have space for one, can't find one on Craigslist, work too many hours to even think about it..." or whatever your reason is. And they are all valid reasons, my friend. But my concern is this... the idea that you can't be a "glamper" until you buy your camper. That simply isn't true.

Just like Milly here, I hate dreams that sit on shelves and collect dust. Dreams are meant to be lived. I see the phrase YOLO everywhere, and admit I had to go check the urban dictionary (buyers beware, there is tons of stuff on there you DON'T want to know, but I digress) and it said that YOLO means "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE." Well, I can get behind that sentiment a thousand times. You only live once, and if you're here reading this blog, if you've joined our Facebook group or liked our Facebook page, if you've ever seen a camper pass you on the highway and been tempted to follow them to wherever they are going so you could ask if they'd adopt you... then you my dear ARE already a glamper. 

I don't think you have to own a camper to be a glamper. You don't have to own a tent. You don't have to buy a kayak, or a pair of boots. What you need is a sense of adventure, an appreciation for the stars in the sky and the great outdoors, and a dream of hitting the open road. Sunday or someday, it doesn't matter. If you have a gypsy heart beating in your chest, and the desire to hang a chandelier anywhere Martha Stewart would balk at... you my friend are a glamper.

You don't need a budget or vacation time to join the Glamping Nation. You don't need a destination or a bank account. You don't need a road buddy (although it's sure nice if you have one), or an air mattress. As far as I'm concerned, you can work with what you've got, and go glamping on your lunch break if that's what floats your boat.

What do I mean by that? I mean taking that old quilt you have in the closet and building a blanket fort in your own backyard. Making s'mores on a Sterno can while you look up at the sky and see if you can find the Big Dipper, or one last glimpse of that hunk Orion before he goes away for the summer. I mean you take your lunch to the park, and eat it off real dishes in the middle of the day, with a vase of wildflowers. I mean you buy those camper dish towels at TJ Maxx, and put them by the sink in your kitchen, and dream of the day you have your own. I mean you put a piggy bank next to the bed and you put your pennies and wishes in it, so someday you can live the life you want. But here's the catch, if you wait until SOMEDAY to live the life you want... you're going to be living a looooooong time in a life that isn't the one you dream about at night when you fall into bed exhausted, wondering if you locked the front door and remembered to put your phone on the charger.

You are a glamper, sweetheart, and you deserve all the best the road has to offer. You don't have to go far, being a glamper is a matter of soul - start where you are and see where your journey takes you. And don't forget to be completely fabulous along the way. And that thing about not talking to strangers? Yeah... remember that. Don't talk to strangers, only say hello to new friends you haven't met yet instead. 

Keep calm and glamp on sisters. We're chasing some amazing dreams down the road to share with you, as we prepare the first issue of Glamping Nation Magazine. I can't wait for you to read the stories we have to share... but you have to have a subscription. Lucky for you, we're giving them away for free right now - click back to the home page and fill out that itty bitty "Subscribe Now" form, and if that won't work (because sometimes it just hates us) send me an email atblog@glampingnation.com and I will personally put you on the list, because trust me, you will not want to miss it!!