I can’t summarize the rally better than Roy and Marie:

“The rally was great!

DanB, the idea was excellent and we truly appreciate all of your effort and coordination. On the drive into the location, just as I was starting to think the road was pretty rough and dusty, it dawned on me, Pee Wee and the 1959 caravanners would have been thrilled to have roads this good. He confirmed that Friday evening by saying, “that would have been a super highway to them in many areas they travelled.” So, to me, that was actually a great way to start the rally. That evening, Pee Wee regaled us with eye witness accounts of the trip and answered questions until there were no more to be asked. The mood was clearly set.

The open space, the dry grass, the odd small tree here and there, maybe one could envision an overnight somewhere on the savanna of the dark continent. Add some rustically hung black and white enlarged photos from 1959, a central campfire, and a clear night sky with stars so close you don’t really need your iPhone to pick them out, and perhaps we’re even one step closer. Now, some good food and good drink (although way too much of both to draw a fair parallel) and another step is taken. A service project with some teamwork and “moderately” heavy lifting, pulling, pushing, sawing and digging takes us a little closer still. Everyone pitching in for a community “pot luck” lunch was probably a frequent experience on the real caravan. Now, throw in the safari. Some kind of cow that looks like a bear and walks like a bear, camels, wild dogs, Cheetah, deer with racks the size of a Buick, unicorns (really Nick, ask your daughters), Zebra and many others greeted us. We even got to pet a Rhinoceros. (That was a first for me, although many of you probably pet Rhinos all the time.) So now, we’ve taken a few more steps toward Africa and 1959. Then, watching the caravan documentary video around the campfire, with Pee Wee to fill in answers to any new questions, surely we’ve made it to the 1959 caravan experience. Well, probably not. Not until you add the one ingredient that can’t be easily measured. In a very short period of time, people with a common interest and excitement about Airstreaming, came together, worked together, ate together, and enjoyed each other’s company. We became friends with a common memory of a very special time. That is likely the single thing most like the 1959 caravan, and that is an experience worth its weight in gold trailers.

Thanks for allowing us to be a part of the experience,

Marie and Roy”