Think Pink! at Haydocy Airstream!

October is pumpkins and football and sweaters and comfort food! It is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month!! I have to admit that I haven't paid much attention to this because cancer doesn't run in my family and I have no relatives that have ever had breast cancer. The awareness part of the program though alerted me to the FACT that 80% of breast cancer diagnosis' do not have a family relationship to the disease! Whoa! That's staggering and shook me out of complacency and made me make an appointment for a mammogram.

 



My favorite Ohio RV dealership and sponsor of Girl Campers, "Camper College" program, Haydocy Airstream of Columbus, Ohio, is taking their support for women campers to a whole new level with their October campaign to support the Susan B Komen Foundation through the sale of their Tab trailers! Tab trailers has a "Tabitha" model trailer designed by the talented Mary Jane Butters from Mary Jane's Farm Magazine. The sweet Tab is "girly"! It has the touch of femininity that we girl campers appreciate. Haydocy has taken the Tabitha and "pinked" it for Breast Cancer Awareness month. For every sale of this special model Tab, Haydocy will donate $250 in the buyers name to the Susan B Komen Foundation.



When I asked Mike Harlan, GM of Haydocy, why this was important enough to put so much time and effort behind, he replied, "My sister is a breast cancer survivor and I am a husband and father to three girls. I want to make sure my 'girls' are aware of the dangers of this disease. If I can do something to make that happen, I am happy to do so." 




Our October "Camper College" at Haydocy Airstream.


Haydocy Airstream recently hosted the Girl Campers for Camper College. There were trailer tutorials, towing 101, Q & A's with the staff and really good food!

 



One of our Girl Campers being tutored by Mike on Towing 101 !!
She did it!!



Mike and I at Camper College. Another successful Girl Camper event! Thanks to Haydocy for all they do to support the Girl Campers!


FYI - Last year Haydocy Airstream sold trailers to buyers from 37 different states!!



Rally Ho! RV Family Travel Atlas Fall Rally!

I hate to see the camping season end and each year I extend it a little further into fall. This year I am winding up the season at the RV Family Travel Atlas Rally at the Philadelphia/Westchester KOA the weekend of October 23 and 24th. I attended the first ever RV Family Travel Atlas rally in the spring of this year and met some really great new camping buddies.

 

 Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi who are the voices behind the highly rated podcast of the same name really know how to draw a crowd. There were singles, and families and glampers and retirees! I loved the mix of those who love to camp. Stephanie and Jeremy's top rated podcast is sponsored by Go RVing and is chock full of tips and tricks for campers of all styles. They also write prolifically for many camping publications! The rally is sure to draw a mixed crowd and I am so excited to be camping there with my family!

 

 

Stephanie Puglisi getting those great photos we all love!!  

 

 

This trip is going to be a winner for my husband who, by trade, is a home inspector with a specialty in historic homes. We used to live in a house constructed in 1749 with additions in 1850 and 1905. My husbands hobby and new passion though is landscape painting which makes the Philadelphia/Westchester KOA the ideal spot to 'camp like a family'  for us.

 

 

This campground is in the beautiful Brandywine Valley which is home to Longwood Gardens and Winterthur Museum.  I really want to get to the Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Winterthur, Delaware which is a 25 minute ride from the campground. I have always wanted to go there and even though it is less than two hours from home and, last year had a beautiful exhibit of the Downton Abbey costumes, I have yet to make it down there.  In addition to the stunning gardens and grounds there is a DuPont built family manse that is now the museum. It is always fun to see how those blessed with extreme wealth lived in the days before the words carbon foot print even existed.

 

 

In addition to that there are the Longwood Gardens which I have been to in the past but never in the fall. Longwood is, according to their website,  a "horticultural display garden created by Pierre DuPont in the 19th century".  It too has a magnificent home/mansion attached to it. It looks like a starter castle compared to the "home" at Winterthur though. It is only 15 minutes from the campground in the same direction as Winterthur if you are hearty enough to do both in one day.

 

 

 I won't be doing that because my husband feels that once he has paid his admission fee he is somehow obliged to read every single little placard explaining every single little detail of mansion life. Our children have flat out refused to accompany him to museums anymore! I just endure and get the headphones tour so I can avoid what my grandmother called the "Pete and Repeat" syndrome.  Here's how it works...Rick and I are standing side by side  behind the velvet ropes with our maps and brochures in hand in a group of fellow curiosity seekers. The tour guide says, "The fireplace mantle came from a castle in Europe that was pillaged by torch wielding villagers and an agent of the duPonts was able to secure it at the fire sale and bring it here for their castle."  The head nodding group begins moving to the next fortuitous acquisition and Rick turns to me and says, "Hey honey, the fireplace mantle came from a castle in Europe that was pillaged by torch wielding villagers and an agent of the duPonts was able to secure it at a fire sale and bring it here!!! How cool is that?"  After thirty two years of stereophonic museum tours I have now developed a system that is fool proof. I pay for the headphone version of the tour and every time Rick tries to repeat to me what we all just heard, I gesture kindly, pointing at my headphone covered ears to signal that I am listening to a segment and can't chat right now. This is fool proof because there is no danger of Rick springing for the headphones himself. He has been asking since he turned 40 how old you have to be to get the senior discount! With the advent of the headphone option, I am now safe to enjoy the tour without back up!

My Mister doing what he does best! Caulking!