Terry and Michelle Bone: Royal Tin Can Openers
The second generation of the Bone’s are proud represent the Tin Can Tourists. We recently retired and live in Michigan and we camp as much as we can in the surrounding states. We’ve been part of the TCT club since 1998 when the club was renewed and have owned four vintage trailers. Our current trailers are a 1957 Avion Regal (the oldest Avion on the road) and a 1949 American Homecrest)
Email: TCT1919@gmail.com
Address: Terry Bone, PO BOX 619, Prudenville, MI 48651
Representatives Role
The Representatives are asked to develop activities in their geographical region and serve as a sounding board for ideas concerning TCT events and policies. It is our goal to develop a major Gathering in each area. Gathering attendees can then develop additional activities through the Regional Representative.
TCT Representative responsibilities include:
- Grow the membership within their region and/or state
- Insure that the TCT guiding principals are adhered to by our members at rallies or in TCT venues: Our guiding principles are clean camps, friendliness among campers, decent behavior and plenty of clean, wholesome entertainment for those in camp.
- Representatives are role models to our members and set examples for others to follow at our events and in TCT forums
- Provide guidance and coordination for members and campgrounds wishing to host a TCT gathering
- Collaborate with other representatives on events and activities
- Provide consistency in Tin Can Tourists activities, logos, images, etc.
- Leverage the Tin Can Tourists membership FUNd (a percentage of membership fees) to help rallies and activities with their needs not covered by rally fees.
- Communicate events to TCT leaders & membership. Leverage the facebook groups, website and newsletters. Submit articles for the website and newsletters. Assistance in managing the facebook groups and other social media.
Our Regional Representatives are:
Tim Heintz – Southeast Regional Representative:
West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
Email: TCT.Heintz@gmail.com
Heintz Designs Vintage Trailer Restorations
Heintz Designs’ Vintage Restoration Team grew from the passion & hobby of its founder, Tim Heintz. For over 20 years Tim has been collecting and restoring vintage rv/trailer coaches and displaying them at various vintage rv shows and museums. Because of our love of vintage trailers Heintz Designs is committed to providing its clients with the same quality restoration that we would provide for a trailer in our own vintage collection. We enjoy and understand the excitement that is felt by a new vintage trailer owner but we also respect and appreciate the love and pride possessed by vintage trailer owners who have had their trailers for many years.
For over 10 years Tim has served as the Southeastern Representative of the Tin Can Tourists, an international, vintage rv & trailer coach club
Brandon & Liz Morrison: Mid-States Regional Representatives
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas.
Email: redbrandon03@gmail.com
My wife Liz and I are very honored and excited to be the new Mid States Representatives for the Tin Can Tourists. We first became involved with the organization in 2008 when we were in the process of restoring our first trailer, a 61 Avion T27. It didn’t take long to realize that we had stumbled upon something special, our kind of people! Since then we have hosted the West Michigan Vintage Gathering for 10 years and also organized the Super Dooper Yooper Looper caravan across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2015. Along the way we have made some of the best friends anyone could ask for as well as refined our trailer restoration skills. Currently we are camping in a 51 Lutes Coach built in Kalamazoo mi, and believed to be the first coach built! Outside of the TCT world Liz and I enjoy all things old, we have a couple classic cars and also enjoy working on our historic home in Muskegon Mi. We also house junior level hockey players in our home from September to May. We look forward to continuing to meet new people through this organization and are here to help any of our Mid States Tincanners anyway we can!
David Coon and Harry James – Northeast Regional Representatives:
New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New Jersey
David’s Email: fairviewfarm@frontier.com
Harry’s email: jameshywood7890@roadrunner.com
David Coon – On the personal side. We have been married for 46 years. We reside in Fairport, NY, just east of Rochester. We have one son who is married and has 2 daughters. Jan is a retired Nurse. I still work as a sales mgr. for a Wealth Management firm. We have been involved in the collector car hobby for many years. Owning a vintage trailer seemed like a natural extension of the hobby. We purchased a Winnebago trailer in 2008. With some help from Bill and Denise Fletcher we were able to make it Road and camping worthy. We attended the first NE Rally and been to every one. We also attending the Spring Rally at Camp Dearborn twice. We have really enjoyed all the events. Getting there and back with a vintage car adds to the fun. We have a new circle of friends from our camping adventures.
Harry James – I have lived in the Boston Hills, a piece of the South Towns of Western New York with my wife Nancy for the past 24 years. Our interest in vintage trailers began with a trip to Bill and Denise Fletcher’s in Trumansburg New York to check out his selection of slightly used trailers. We bought our new to us, 1965 Avion H-24 travel trailer from Bill the next week. Most of our camping trips are to the Adirondack mountains and their many state camp grounds. We look forward to working with co-representative Dave Coon in growing the annual North-East rally held at Sampson State park.
Eric and Licia Saffell – Northwest Regional Representatives:
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah
Email: 1975pathfindertrlr@gmail.com
Licia and I have been together for the better part of 25 years. We reside in Northern Utah. We both grew up tent campers and have always loved camping together. Our vintage trailer love came when another family members trailer was totaled by insurance and left on the property to rot. We decided to take it home and give it it’s former glory again. We both tackled this job together and now I know more about trailers then I ever thought I would. From framing to electrical, plumbing, painting, etc… we did it all ourselves. It’s an honor to be part of the TCT family. If anyone has any trailer repair questions or needs any info we’re here.
Jean Bundschuh – Southwest Regional Representative:
Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Hawaii and California
Email: ColoradoTincanners@gmail.com
My name is Jean Bundschuh, and I have been camping since I was 6 months old. I live in Colorado and have been here since 1999. The fascination with my grandparent’s 1960’s Coastline camper trailer as my playhouse in their driveway, had me lured from a young age. I grew up camping all around California because my grandparents had instilled the love of travel and camping and family togetherness. Once I grew up, and the family trailer was no longer, I yearned for one of my own. I was quickly infected with a disease called Aluminitis and had to have more. I have owned many more than handful in the last 12 years. My first was an unidentified one that I quickly learned was above my skill set. My second was a 1966 Avion 25M that we loved as a family and took to Yellowstone to enjoy. The 1954 Boles Aero near original MiraMar, was my prize however I had to sell her to purchase a home. Currently I own 3 trailers. One a prototype 1961 Compak Keuka, a 1953 Vagabond, and a 1948 Spartan Manor. I am also the caretaker for my Mother’s 1959 Coastline, 1966 Boles Aero and will soon be on a few year project of a 1972 Eriba Puck for my mother. Did I mention it is a disease?
I am looking forward to making many more camping friends in the near future and camping with some awesome folks of the southwest!
Ambassadors Role
The role of an Ambassador is to be the public face of the Tin Can Tourists. Their primary duties include creating awareness of the club, membership and rally opportunities. Interacting with TCT members to listen to their feedback and provide improvement opportunities to TCT Regional representatives and leadership.
Our Ambassadors are:
Georgia Ambassadors: Pete & Cindy Whitley
Email: pete_whitley@yahoo.com
Hello Everyone, My name is Pete Whitley, my wife is Cindy, and we live in Peachtree City, Georgia. We have two college aged daughters named Charlotte and Lane. I have been a Delta Air Lines mechanic for thirty five years specializing in the repair of engine composite components. Cindy and I met at Delta as members of the Outdoor Adventure Club where we went on backpacking, rock climbing, and mountain biking trips. Not only is camping in our blood, we have a love for history including our medieval artifact collection and anything mid century.
Our vintage trailer journey began about twenty five years ago near Clayton, Georgia in the mountains. We were driving home from a camping trip and saw two Shasta Airflytes in the Walmart parking lot. Amazed at what we saw, we turned around the car to get a closer look. That’s the moment we said we have to get one of these! Scouring Craigslist we found a 1964 Astroflyte in Virginia and site unseen had it shipped down to us. When the flatbed truck pulled up to our house we ran outside for a closer look. The thing was a mess. I got up on the flatbed to take a peek inside. That’s when a mouse jumped out at me when I opened the kitchen drawer. It was infested with ants and stink bugs and smelled like rotten wood. I thought what have we gotten ourselves into. We dragged it to the backyard and began tearing it apart. Two years later it was good to go and we pulled it all over the Southeast with our two young daughters. This is were our most precious memories lie, in the Shasta Astroflyte. We have since sold it and restored a 1956 Silver Dome which offers much more room.
We have been hosting rallies for over ten years, such as Gathering of the Times and Newadi, and look forward to continuing doing this under the TCT banner. Our goal is to make more people aware of Tin Can Tourist and grow the hobby of vintage trailer ownership.
Montana Ambassadors: Matt and Kelly Boldy
Email: giggler664@yahoo.com
Matt and Kelly’s first “date”, at least Matt thought it was a “date”, was a camping trip 28 years ago and They’ve enjoy camping to this day. Fast forward 8 years later and sick of sleeping on the ground in a tent, they said, “hey, we like old stuff lets get one them there old trailers and we’ll fix it up, it will be cool”. So they purchased a 1964 Jet rear entry, did a little work on it, then they found one of those things call a vintage trailer rally. So in 2008, they had their first experience at a TCT event in California and had a fantastic time, the people were so welcoming, and willing to share information, it was unlike any other group they had been apart of.
We rallied in the Jet for a few years and eventually sold it to get Kelly’s dream trailer, a 19 foot Shasta Deluxe named Madam Lovey we also were able to acquire a 1947 Higgins which we used while we were restoring the Lovey. We rallied in those trailers all over California for years.
In 2016, we made a life changing move to Montana and our trailers followed us. When we got to Montana, they thought with all the vintage trailers around here there had to be a ton of rallies, excited to meet new people see other trailers but you guessed it, not one! OK now what, hey lets start one, it will be cool, we said. So that is exactly what we did. We started Big Sky Vintage Trailer rally in Bozeman Montana with just 12 trailers, we are now in our fourth location and fill the park with pre 1970s vintage trailers. We change the theme yearly to keep it interesting and the creativity of our campers is astounding. We have followed TCT for all of our vintage camper life and were honored when we were recently asked to become ambassadors and look forward to meeting new trailers and their owners too.
Florida Ambassadors: Denis and Ginger Blaquiere
Email: tctdenisb@gmail.com
Hello, my name is Denis Blaquiere. My wife Ginger and I are originally
from Michigan although we have lived in both Southern and Northern
California. I spent my working career in Michigan as a design engineer
in the automotive industry. Ginger was a pre-school teacher and still
substitutes from time to time. We are now retired and live in Cape
Coral Florida. We have been lifelong campers, starting out with tents
during cross country motorcycle trips when we were a lot younger.
During our child raising years we did quite a bit of camping, mostly in
tents. After the kids moved out we finally got a camper. Our kids have
not forgiven us for that! We bought our 1975 Avion in 2007. It
belonged to a coworker of mine, his dad bought it new in 1975 and
used it until they could no longer travel. It is original unrestored. We
discovered TCT shortly after acquiring the trailer and attended our first Gathering in May of 2008. To our surprise our trailer won best reserve of show!
We have been representing TCT since 2019, hosting three rallies
during Florida’s winter season. Vintage Liftoff in November,
Mingle/Jingle in December and Rally With The Gators in January. You
will also find us helping out at the Florida Winter Convention in
February. Once the Florida season ends we usually hit the road and
go camping! Go figure. Besides all the cool vintage campers the real
secret of TCT is the wonderful members. We have made many lasting
friendships since joining. Come visit at one of our rallies us in Florida,
we love making new friends.
Florida Ambassadors: Ron and Alice Ramos
Email: tctalicer@gmail.com
Greetings from Ron and Alice Ramos.
My name is Alice and my husband Ron and I live in beautiful Lakeland, Florida.
I was born in New York and my family moved to Florida when I was under a year old. My parents owned an Airstream which they kept in the Florida Keys where I spent my childhood camping and fishing. Ron was born in Cuba and his family fled to the United States in 1980 during the Mariel Boat lift when he was 12 years old. We were married in 1986 and have one son. We both work in the roadway transportation industry; Ron is a Project Engineer, and I am a Community Outreach Manager. Shortly after we were married, we started tent camping and eventually bought a pop-up trailer. When our son was in the Boy Scouts, we decided we needed something more comfortable and purchase our 1983 Avion 30P. In 2017 a friend invited us to the TCT Florida Winter Convention, and we immediately realized we had found our tribe!
We are honored to be Tin Can Tourists Ambassadors and hope to see you around the campfire!
South Dakota Ambassadors: Randy and Sue Rhoades
Email: hishotrodgal@gmail.com
Randy saved our 1948 Spartan Manor from the wrecking yard, I told him I would like to restore it. Randy loves working on old cars. “I save old junk” he always says. We worked on the trailer together. We have been to many rallies with our Spartan and love it dearly. Even though we have redone other trailers, the Spartan is our favorite. When we lived in LaPine Oregon our friends who leased the campground in town asked us to run a vintage trailer rally. We did, and did it for 6 years. It was a blast!!
Now we are in South Dakota and we are looking forward to new adventures, and making new memories and friends with our Spartan.
Idaho Ambassadors: Bob and Jacyn Gallagher
Email: usn@comcast.net
Greetings from Bob and Jacyn Gallagher, your Idaho Ambassadors. We live on the western edge of Idaho outside of Weiser and have a passion for all things vintage. Both of us have great childhood memories of camping in Oregon and we got our start with vintage travel trailers over 20 years ago with a cute little canned ham. We have enjoyed a variety of old trailers over the years. Our current inventory includes a 1955 Airfloat, a 1955 Rainbow that Jacyn completely rebuilt, and a custom two-story trailer we call Cupcake. Sitting in our field are a dozen old trailers awaiting future attention…we love projects! Along with old travel trailers we also enjoy classic cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and most anything old, weird, or mechanical. When we aren’t camping, Jacyn has stayed busy as an Idaho State Representative and Bob is a retired US Navy cryptologist and enjoys tinkering in our shop. We know what it is like to be new to the hobby, so if you have questions feel free to reach out at usn@comcast.net or 503-999-6626. We hope to see you around the campfire!
Washington Ambassador: Jayne Barocela
Email: relictrailers@gmail.com
Well a little bio about me:
I am married with 2 wonderful boys, I am so thankful my family all support my obsession with vintage trailers. I own and operate Relic Custom Trailers and have been in love with vintage everything for the past almost 20 years. I am obsessed with all things vintage but mainly mid century nostalgia. It all started for me when I found a 1952 Spartanette in the woods in Cle Elum WA. With zero experience I had it towed to my future in laws house where my husband and I cleaned it, staged it and found a buyer for it all the way in Florida. It now lives a great life in the Carolinas on an organic farm. About 5 years later I found my Relics in a warehouse up in Northern Michigan and again without experience brought them home and started a manufacturing business. I guess I like to take on new challenges and am really looking forward to this new adventure as a Tin Can Tourists Ambassador.
Indiana Ambassador: Dan Piper (VintageCampers.com)
Email: dan@vintagecampers.com
Hello, My name is Dan Piper. You might say that I have been involved in the RV industry all my life. When I was 4 years old my dad, Harold G. Piper started an RV dealership in our front yard. He named the business Hal-Dar Vacation Trailers. Hal for Harold, and Dar for Darlene, my mom. Even though I was not a large asset to the business then, I can remember handing tools to my dad when he was under a trailer working. I continued to work for Hal-Dar up through high school and even after graduating from college. I learned all aspects of the RV business including parts, repairing campers, sales and even picked up some good pointers on how to run a small business.
I have been camping ever since I was a young child. When I was in my early 20’s I found a 1960 Shasta cabover trailer that was in poor shape. I bought that camper, totally restored it and camped in it almost every weekend. My fellow employees at Hal-Dar thought that I was a little odd camping in an old trailer when I had access to newer RV’s to camp in. I would always come back with, “Well, my old camper is built better than anything we sell here.” At that time, I thought that I was the only old trailer nut in the state. One weekend I was out camping in my Shasta and I had many people wanting to see the inside of the camper, so I gave them a tour. I thought, when I get home, I am going to check the internet and see if I can find anything about vintage campers. And to my amazement, I found that there were other old trailer nuts out there besides me. Boy, did I get excited. Most of the information I found was on vintage Airstreams.
In 1993, my brother bought Hal-Dar because my dad was wanting to retire so he could travel more. Me and my brother did not see eye to eye so I ended up leaving Hal-Dar in 1994. I love everything old, so I opened a business selling Architectural Antiques. I named the business “Old House Warehouse” because me and my wife had recently bought an old County Home or Poor House which had over 11,000 square feet of space. We lived in the caretakers quarters of the house and used the rest of the space for old house inventory. When out traveling for this business, I would often see old trailers that looked neglected and un-used. Eventually, I started stopping to see if they were interested in selling their trailers. The first trailer I bought was a 1960 Fan 14’ camper. Oddly enough, Fan was the first brand of trailers my dad sold back in 1962. I fully restored this trailer just the way I would like it. The ceiling was bad so I installed a decorative tin ceiling like old buildings used to have. I put a very cool stained glass window in it and a lot of other cool things. I ended selling the trailer for a $1000 loss. I said to myself, “I’m going to have to do things a little differently if I want this business to succeed.” So I ended up selling both Architectural Antiques and vintage campers for several years but my love for vintage campers won out and I had an auction and sold off all the Architectural Antiques.
At that point, which I believe was 1997, I re-named the business Vintage Campers and acquired the domain name of VintageCampers.com. Within a year of forming this business I discovered a vintage camper club called Tin Can Tourists (TCT). I learned that they were going to be having a vintage camper rally in Milford, MI in May and I said, “I’VE GOT TO GO TO THAT RALLY.” So I picked the best vintage camper that I had in my inventory which I believe was an Airstream Caravel and went to the rally. The rally was awesome, there were about 20 vintage campers there with the majority being Airstreams. The people were very nice and friendly, the vintage campers were very cool and the campground was nice as well. I met the hosts of the rally, Forrest and Jeri Bone who were wonderful people. They shared their experience with Vintage Airstreams, the early history of the Tin Can Tourists and their desire to have a club that includes all vintage camper brands. I learned that they would be having another vintage camper rally in the Fall so I put that on my calendar right away. I continued to attend both the Spring and Fall rallies in Michigan and the only one I have ever missed was the very first one. But wait, there was one TCT Fall Rally that everyone missed except for me and a few other vintage camper enthusiasts. It was the Fall Rally in 2001. Due to the terrorist attack on our country on 9-11-2001, the rally was cancelled but me and a few others did not get the memo.
It was not until we arrived at Camp Dearborn that we learned the rally was cancelled. So we decided to stay and have our own un-official TCT Rally.
Attending the TCT Rallies is the highlight of my Summers. I can go spend 3-4 days camping with other vintage camper enthusiasts, make a bunch of new friends, see a bunch of cool vintage campers, hand out business cards to everyone I meet and it is all a legitimate business expense. In the earlier days of the TCT rallies that I attended , I would buy a vintage camper up in Michigan shortly before the rally, get it ready to tow then just take it to the rally to show and camp in for the weekend. All my TCT friends I made would ask, “So what kind of vintage trailer did you bring this time?” After attending rallies for a few years, Forrest asked me if I would be interested in being the Concours Steward for judging the vintage campers. I asked him what my responsibilities would be and he told me that I would not judge the trailers myself but be responsible for instructing the judges, keeping the trailer owners from bribing the judges, tallying the votes, and presenting the awards. I felt that I could handle that with a little guidance from Forrest, so I accepted the position. After doing this for several years I discovered that they were not paying me enough for this position ($0). However, due to my love for vintage campers and friendship with Forrest and Jeri, I continued to carry out my responsibilities as Concours Steward until the judging of trailers was dis-continued. I also served TCT Regional Representative for the Mid-States for many years.
In 2015, I had the great privilege and honor of being inducted into the Tin Can Tourist Hall of Fame.
Vintage Campers LLC is a full service vintage camper shop. We specialize in Spartan brand trailer but also deal in other riveted trailers like: Airstream, Avion, Silver Streak, Curtis Wright and many others. We buy and sell vintage campers, do restoration work and sell vintage camper parts. Our website is www.vintagecampers.com and my e-mail is dan@vintagecampers.com.
I wish to thank Forrest and Jeri Bone for all their hard work in resurrecting the Tin Can Tourist Club and special thanks to Terry and Michelle Bone for their hard work and dedication to maintaining and growing the club into the best vintage camper club in the world.
Indiana Ambassadors: Rebecca Shrode & Paul Lashbrooke
Email: rebecca@brookrode.com
A hearty Hoosier howdy!!!!
We would like to introduce ourselves. We are Rebecca Shrode, Paul Lashbrook, and Ivory. We live in South Bend, Indiana, one mile from the Indiana/Michigan state line. Paul and I are humbled and honored to be invited to serve as TCT’s Ambassadors for the State of Indiana.
A bit about us: We purchased our trailer “Harmony” in April 2012. At the time our family included three pups. Ebony, Ivory, and Livey. When we traveled, we were “Ebony and Ivory, Livey in Harmony.” Harmony was 12 years old when we purchased her. Early on, we had a question about the trailer.
When we researched online, the first site to come up was the TCT Facebook site. Our question was answered by folks who generously shared their knowledge and experience. We looked a bit further into
TCT and decided to join the club. The $25 membership fee is some of the best use of money we have spent in a long time.
In June of 2012, our first rally was at Hoffmaster State Park, south of Muskegon in Norton Shore, Michigan. It turns out that was the first year for the Hoffmaster Rally. Our 1 st site was one loop over
from the main action. We wanted to watch and learn. On Saturday during the Open House, a little over 1000 visitors enjoyed touring the trailers. That Saturday Open House was absolutely crazy and
wonderful. By the end of the day, we were caught up in the fun hook, line, and sinker! Folks told us we HAD to attend the rally in September at Camp Dearborn. One of them wrote CD’s phone number on a
tattered brochure. As Paul drove us out of Hoffmaster State Park, I had CD’s # dialed and watched my phone, waiting for the appearance of first bar of coverage so I could finish making the call. Well, that
September 2012 rally was “The Wedding.” Oh goodness! Here we are over 13 years later! Over the 13 years we have been camping with TCT, we’ve made more lifetime friendships than we can
count. During those years, Paul became known as the “drone dude” and Michigan’s mad scientist and all over McGiver. I serve as a “Moderator” for TCT’s Facebook page and love to make name tags and maps for the gatherings we attend and a few we don’t.
We are honored to serve on the committees of several rallies and are thrilled to be the Hostess & Host for the Shadow Of The Bear Rally at Orchard Beach State Park Campground in Manistee, Michigan.
We look forward to serving the TCT members from Indiana and also growing the club in our Hoosier Homeland.
Safe travels!
Rebecca, Paul, and Ivory
Oregon Ambassador: Staci Bloomer
Email: Oregontct@gmail.com
Hello! My name is Staci Bloomer and I reside in the beautiful state of Oregon with my handsome husband, Tim Dunks, our amazing son, Brody and our fur baby (aka trailer security) Willy. Our family has a love of all things vintage. We have attended Hot August Nights in Reno, NV for many years. It has become a reunion of sorts as we converge as a family, along with our parents, aunts and uncles and friends to “ooh and ahh” over the eye candy. Two years ago, while cruising Facebook, I came across a post for Trailerfest. It was only an hour away (we lived in Napa, CA at the time) and the theme was Christmas in the Trailer Park. While we were still on the hunt for our first trailer, I simply could not pass this up. It encompassed all of my favorite things; vintage trailers, Christmas décor, ugly sweaters, camping and family! We booked a cabin, loaded up in our 1956 Chevy 210 Wagon and headed to Lodi. GAME OVER! We purchased and began work on our 1970 Ideal soon after. My husband and I both work full time, so we spent weekends and other free time working on “The Brat Pack.”
During the restoration, our family made the decision to move home to Oregon. Shortly after, we completed (is it ever really complete?) restoration and headed to Brooks, OR for our first rally, in the trailer. I was literally applying decals and other finishing touches at the rally! My husband asked me to kick him if he ever said he wanted to restore another vintage trailer. Four trailers later…his legs are still intact! We are now the proud owners of a 1970 Ideal, 1958 Ideal, 1967 Shasta and an early 1960’s Conway Caravan out of the UK. We have also committed (and are super excited) to help restore a 1951 Spartanette that my parents purchased after accompanying us to Trailerfest the last two years. In addition to growing our fleet of vintage trailers, we met some of the best friends a girl could ask for! (You know who you are!)
It is safe to say, we are HOOKED and we love every minute of it. Please feel free to reach out to us. If we don’t know the answer, we will help you find it. We are SO excited and honored to represent Tin Can Tourists in our home state.
Washington Ambassador: Rene’ Perret
Email: downriver11@yahoo.com
Hello all. My name is Rene’ Perret, my handsome guy, Jeremy Ralston, and I live in SW Washington. Together we have 5 adult children, 1 adorable grandbaby, and 1 fur baby. We started our vintage trailer addiction with a 1955 Aloha we found on Craigslist in 2012. “Tin Lizzy” was restored right in our carport, we signed up for our first rally, Mt. Baker Vintage Trailer Rally and from there we’ve been taking BIG gulps of the Vintage Trailer Kool-Aid ever since. I joined Sisters on the Fly, started an Aloha Facebook page with a friend and began making connections with some wonderful people. 6 years later we now host the Mt. Baker Rally, largest vintage trailer gathering in the NW. We have 2 personal trailers we currently use, a 1955 Aloha and 1956 Jewel. Our 1953 Nashua is next on our list for restoration. We own 20 trailers ranging from 1942-1962, and we started a business Down River Vintage Trailer Restoration Down River Vintage Trailer Restoration. We live in a floating home on the river. We love this lifestyle and attend approximately 12 rally’s a year. We have made the best friendships that we would not trade for anything. We are fully embracing this honor to represent Tin Can Tourist in Washington State and can’t wait to make more amazing connections in the Vintage Trailer world.
Arkansas Ambassadors: Rob & Lrae Wintercorn
Email: scion4rob@gmail.com
Hello my name is Rob and my wife Lrae are so stoked with the honor of helping represent the Arkansas area of Tin Can Tourists! We have been married 34 years with 4 grown kids all now doing the life thing on their own. One newly married in the Marine Corps. Soon to get out and join us in the Northwest Arkansas area. Our camping roots are deep with a camp out in our early dating days, to my kids growing up with vacations in tents or in our 65 Volkswagen Sundial camper. As they got too big for that our 73 Starcraft pop up. We had camp outs in the backyard or our favorite regular state park Devils den. I picked up a 68 Serro Scotty Gaucho as a project for Lrae and I to get back into camping back in 2013 and we’ve been joining in all the ones in the area we can as life allows since finished in 2014. I also run a page called Rats and Rods with camper trailers on Facebook. A great site for car people to kick the tires on the vintage trailer idea. We have also been hosting an event for the past 3 years called the Ozark Vintage Trailer Rally in Eureka Springs. The town loves us and we have a great time! We hope to help share the love and fun of this great club and hobby. Also to help others plan and put on events. Thanks you so much for the privilege of this position! Rob & Lrae Wintercorn.
Michigan Ambassadors: Kirk & Beth Olmsted
Email: wagongirl@gmail.com
Hello, we are Kirk and Beth Olmsted, and we are very excited and extremely honored to serve as Ambassadors for the Tin Can Tourists.
Our TCT journey began in May of 2003 when we attended the Spring Rally in Milford, Michigan as spectators. We had heard of an open house of vintage trailers near us and decided to check it out for ourselves. Already having a passion for vintage cars, motorcycles, furniture, and design, it was a great experience to see all the creativity that people put into their rigs. We knew right away that these were our kind of folks. When we attended that rally, we toured many trailers, discovered the many sizes and types of trailers we liked, and made lifelong friends. We planned to get a trailer in the next 5 years. But one month later, we hastily installed a trailer hitch on a Ford Explorer Sport and drove to Pennsylvania to pull home our first trailer. It was a 1967 Airstream Globetrotter, and that fall we attended our first TCT rally. It did not take us long to realize we had no idea what we were doing, but with each other’s help, and the many years of wisdom shared with us from our new TCT family, we learned how to RV safely and have fun camping!
Since then, we discovered and shared the joys of rescuing vintage RVs. We have renovated a 1967 20’Airsteam Globetrotter, 1976 26’ Revcon motor home, 1964 24’ Avion Holiday and currently travel with our recently restored 1989 Avion 30P. We have attended many TCT and Silver Avion Fellowship (SAF) rallies, traveled on four TCT Caravans: Route 6 (2010), Route 40 (2012), The Super Dooper Yooper Looper (2015), and the Centennial Celebration (2019), and have been blessed with many years of camping in our vintage rigs with our TCT family.
Outside of the TCT world we enjoy all things old, from our Mid-Century Modern home, vintage cars, and motorcycles. We also have our newer 3 wheeled unique vehicles (a Ural Retro and a Morgan) that have that vintage feel. No matter the vehicle, “We love to go a traveling”!
As we learn the “ropes” as your TCT Ambassadors, we look forward helping new and current members as well as meeting more fine vintage RV enthusiasts here in The Enchanted Mitten and across the world!
All our best,
Kirk and Beth Olmsted
Arizona Ambassador: Gail Leggett
Email: ggleggett@hotmail.com
I live on an acre in the foothills of Oro Valley (Tucson), Arizona with my husband, 2 dogs, and 2 horses. I had attended the University of New Mexico and continued to make regular visits back there while raising my children. In those days, we were still tent camping and shaking our shoes to check for scorpions.
My interest in vintage trailers began in 1994 when I started camping with my husband up in the Yellowstone area of Montana for the summers. Tents were not allowed due to the danger of bears so I began to look for a small trailer and bought a 1958 Corvette (trailer) from a neighbor. We lived in it for two summers before upgrading to our current 18’ 1958 Kenskill- which, yes, we found in a barn when attending a party at a local ranch. I loved the wood interior of the trailers and bought them for their timeless appeal.
When vintage trailers became popular, I became involved with various vintage trailer groups and attended a number of rallies. It was back in New Mexico at a Taos rally that I first met Karen Campbell, now the Southwest Representative for Tin Can Tourists.
Oklahoma Ambassador: Rose Larson
Email: roselarson@att.net
Hello, I’m Rose Larson. My husband and I collect and restore vintage campers. Our collection spans 5 decades of campers (30’s-70’s) and I love every single one of them! I actually closed my Real Estate Brokerage and retired at 55 to spend more time restoring and decorating them and to have more time to camp with fellow vintage camper enthusiasts. We attend approx 12 rallies a year in Oklahoma, Colorado and Texas and I’m excited at the opportunity to represent TCT here in my home State of Oklahoma where spectacular camping opportunities abound. (See pic).
Feel free to contact me with any questions at all.
Canada Ambassador: Rick Myer
New Jersey Ambassador: Hunt Jones (Susan)
- Mountain Lakes NJ
- Braden Castle Park FL
- Anywhere in the lower 48’s
- Usually found: under the hood
- TCT Member since 2001
- Towing vintage with vintage since 1997 (13K miles/year)
- Motto #1: “Noise to some, Music to others” (exhaust note)
- Motto #2: “Never pass by a beater tavern”
Email: hhcjones@att.net
Montana Ambassador: Dal Smilie
Dal Smilie – Helena, MT
I’ve camped all my life and like old stuff and history. Vintage campers were a logical next step. And you know you’ve found your people when you join the TCT.
Since joining we have hosted 15 rallies and a vintage caravan, in three different states. Attended rallies too numerous to count. Written a bit on vintage trailer related history and assisted with the Curtis Wright Registry.
We currently own a 1946 Model 1 and a 1949 Model 5 Curtis Wright.
Email: dalsmilie@aol.com
TCT International Ambassadors
Australian Ambassador: Trish Martin
My husband Dave and I are musicians and have a duo called “Leather and Lace”, Dave is a cabinet maker and works for the local shire council, we have three daughters aged 15, 13 and 9 and live in an old Hotel in country Victoria, Australia. We are renovating the old pub and it isn’t open for business and hasn’t been for some time, it is 140 years of age.
I have always had a love for caravans and currently have three old ones: 1970 Travel Home DeLuxe, an old English Fairholme Romeo from the 1950’s and the other a Hawthorn built in Hawthorn Melbourne in the 1940’s. A few others have came to us and been sold on to other enthusiasts who proudly tow them behind their vintage vehicles. I would love to give your members an Australian perspective and show you vintage caravans that I come across, we live in a very beautiful and unspoiled area of the country and I always feel proud to share that with others. I feel honored to be a representative for Australia.
Email: sandford@netspace.net.au
Netherlands Ambassador: René Leenders
My name is René Leenders, 48 years old, father of 2 beautiful sons and known in this part of the world as Mr. Airstream. Back in 1999 I owned a catering- and event business who was looking for something special to promote my company. I ended up with the Tin Can Trailers as I thought back then that every US Travel trailer looked like that. It became quite a journey trying to find out how to import one of those shiny trailers and to become familiar with the huge differences between the US spec travel trailers and the European ones. Internet was not as well spread as it is today. In fact the TCT site was one of the few providing some information. The Airstream plant did not even have a website back then.
To share my experience with the rest of the world I started a small website called www.airstream-holland.nl and that is how I became “famous” in the world of aluminum travel trailers here. I imported and converted a lot of Vintage trailers and started my own business in renting them out. In 2008 I was then approached by Airstream to become an official dealer for their European spec Airstream models. The Rental & Vintage business was then broadened to what it is today with www.airstreamprofessionals.com . Our client base is continental Europe with clients from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. We learned this business the “trial and error” way and with an 11 year experience we know our ways.
The business does not only include Airstream. We also serve other brands provided they give the Tin Can feeling or add something to the camping experience not available in Europe. We are selling teardrop trailers of our own brand FunTear and will soon release the FunTear Retro – a new 1950’s inspired aluminum travel trailer. Our showroom has been given the name “American Caravan Center”. The word caravan in the UK and Europe means travel trailer (not what it means in the US)
The install base of Tin Cans in the Benelux has now come to a point of almost 300 trailers. I guess now is the time to start a local unit of TCT. There is going to be a rally from the UK via Belgium to The Netherlands on June 17 expected to be the largest one of all so far with 50 participants.
Email: r.g@leenders-online.nl
Website: http://www.airstream-holland.nl/
Japan Ambassador – Hiroshi Okamoto
Website: http://www.airstreamcafe.jp/
Click here to watch Hiroshi’s airstream conversion
Forrest and Jeri Bone: Retired Royal Exalted Tin Can Opener and First Lady
Email: tincantourists@gmail.com