History Of The RV

Sometimes it’s difficult to see the road that leads to a particular vantage point. From where your feet are currently planted, and looking out on the horizon it’s nearly impossible to imagine all the twist and turns, each needing to happen at precisely the right order to get to this exact moment in time. One of my favorite parts of history is looking at the different pressures and opportunities that exist within a certain culture, period of time, and level of advancement that all work in harmony to produce something special or unique. This summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about the American love of the RV and travel trailer. It hard not to when you drive any of the highways or byways here in the Pacific Northwest. Go more than 15 minutes without passing a car and you would think nothing of it. Go more than 10 cars without seeing at least one trailer attached and you start to wonder if you accidently slipped into a parallel universe. Its always been that way around here, since Heather and I made this area our home, and it seems that the RV traffic grows by leaps and bound every summer. With our majestic scenery, abundant National Forests, breathtaking wildlife, and pristine rivers and lakes it’s easy to understand why so many people would want to camp around here. But it still staggering to see so many trailers and driven rigs out on the road. My favorite is when we are coming around the bend of a mountain pass and exchange a quick wave with a passing caravan of 3, or 5 or as many as 10 trailers all in a row. I love to try to look at the types and cars towing them and like to guess as to whether this is just a coincidence caused by a slower driver in the lead and lack of passing opportunities on a windy road, or if they might just all be out there on the highway together – a caravan of family and friends off on a shared adventure. So what got this all started? How did we suddenly decide, as a group, to take up the life of a turtle or snail on the weekends, and travel around with our house metaphorically on our back? When did the hitch become the most important accessory for so many motorists, and when did that first bed and toilet get added to the inside of a motorized vehicle? What series of seeming unconnected events had to unfold in order to get so many of us out on the open road, towing what essentially amounts to a small hotel behind us? Well, first there came the car. Sure, people were towing livable trailers with horses for hundreds of years before the first steamers or combustion engine vehicles hit the roads, but it was the automobile that kicked off the revolution. Romani populations have been traveling Europe and Asia Minor for more than 1000 years, but that iconic round-top caravan known as the Vardo didn’t seem to appear until the 1800’s. They had a curved top, four wheels, could be steered from the front, and were pulled by horses. Inside was an ornately carved, and well-furnished home complete with anything a family might need. These were like tiny, gilded mansions – complete with many of the comforts that might be found in a wealthy home of the era. Showmen and traveling preachers were using a similar design by the late 1800’s and a few were even commissioned for wealthy families that had plenty of discretionary time.

But travel in a heavy wagon, behind a team of horses was slow and uncomfortable. It was best suited to a life on the road but with longer stops at each location. This made it completely impractical for someone just wanting to get a way for a few days to enjoy an area not easily reachable from their own home. Once the car arrived, and quickly began to take on the power necessary to haul greater numbers of people and heavier arrangements of gear, the timing was right for someone to take that next logical step and create the camper.

But in the beginning cars were expensive and rare. And even once normal families could afford one, time was precious and there just wasn’t a collective consciousness focused on leisure and recreational pursuits – let alone the time to indulge in such idle play. But the outlook of an era changes, and eventually Americans found them at the perfect cross-roads of disposable income, discretionary time, and the means of easy travel.

Since the start of the industrial revolution, people’s work hours had been rapidly changing. While farmers might follow the sun, and make hay while it shines, factories were changing the way that people in city centers worked. Still, before the electric light, many had to operate at the mercy of daylight and close once it was too dark to clearly see the work at hand. Around the same time – the very end of the 1800’s the car arrives on the scene, the electric light is invented and quickly put to use in factories and offices, and labor unions around the country were pressing hard for the 8 hour work day that had only recently been enacted for government works.

For factory owners and office managers the timing was perfect. Using shifts, production could continue on seamlessly as new waves of workers arrived to replace those who were just finishing their 8 hours. The freedom granted by having 8 hours to labor, 8 hours for family and hobbies, and 8 hours to rest took hold, and quickly became the new standard. And many factories, especially in competitive labor markets, began the practice of half-holiday Saturdays. Now, armed with a day and a half off each week, disposable income, a burgeoning system of roads, and a need to get out of busy and congested cities to fee a bit of peace, all the element were falling perfectly in line. Just in time for the car to arrive and whisk families out to the country side for an afternoon of enjoyment.

Farmers selling fruits and vegetables on the side of the road for much better prices than in the crowded city, fresh breathable air away from the pollution, a chance to reconnect with nature, and endless adventures where some of the best advertising for early car dealerships, and America was ready willing and able to catch a quick ride on their newly found free days. And drivers began making modifications to cars as soon as at home and ready to be tinkered on. From canopies to cover the seats, to simple sleeping mats in truck beds. The race was on to add more wilderness comfort to the car and press the bounds of where you could travel. In those early days, hotels were often spaced too far apart, or simply too expensive for the every-day weekend travelers. Sleeping in tents just off the side of the road, or even on the car became commonplace. And since the average adventurer only had a day or two to get away from home, that worked out well. But America was quickly entering a new, more progressive era, where the average worker would have vacation time that was simply unimaginable just a generation before. It was time for the dedicated recreational vehicle.

By 1910 there had already been several custom-ordered and home-made attempts at the RV or travel trailer, but it was Pierce Arrow that took that first national spotlight with their Touring Landau. First show in Madison Square Garden in New York, the Touring Landau was the first truly purpose built recreational vehicle and camper. It had a sink that could fold down behind the driver’s compartment, a couch that acted as the rear seat and could become a bed, a chamber-pot toilet, and even telephone connecting the passenger and chauffer compartments. And it looked…well, it looked like a classier version of the Beverly Hillbillies vehicle. But at the time, it was an absolute revolution in design and thinking. That same year, across the country dozens of companies began making custom conversions for vehicles and camping trailers. There was no more need to set up a tent, and do without creature comforts when out on the road. Everything you needed for days at a time could now travel with you.

And as families got out there, tested what worked and what didn’t, the desire to get out there longer was continuing. Just like today, passing a vehicle towing a trailer today and noticing license plates from the east coast all the way out here in the Pacific Northwest, thinking to yourself about how much fun this trip must be. Well, once the race was on, it didn’t take long to see incredible improvements.

In 1915 the Conklin family in New York made the national news, traveling in their custom build, double-decker RV bus all the way cross country to San Francisco. The country could be crossed. The automobile had become dependable, the National Parks and National Forests were all the rage, and no luxury of modern living needed to be left behind. The roads were now calling to souls ready to wander.

At this same time, a group that affectionately called themselves the Vagabonds took their first annual camping trip. The four men, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs began getting together each year, and heading out into the wilds in specially designed vehicles that Ford had created just for this outing. Their annual trips continued for more than a decade until the popularity eventually created too large a following and they had to call it quits. By 1922, Denver had a campground with 800 spaces, a golf course and full service hair salon. The nostalgia of camping in a simple a-frame tent was still available to those who wanted it, but the days of roughing it by necessity were certainly over. In 1928 Ford produced the Model A House Car – with an interior that reminds me of many of the popular van conversions seen today. And it was in the late 1920’s that Wally Byam used a Model T chassis to build his first travel trailer. For five dollars you could buy the plans and build your own, or Wally would make one for you. Known as the Torpedo, it was the first trailer by the company that would become Airstream.

As the depression faded, and troops eventually came home from the Second World War, America had another great surge. Families moved quickly out into the suburbs, jobs became far more available, the economy was booming, and leisure time was again on the rise. Families often had a discretionary week or even two each year. Full weekend, and national holiday also added extra chances to get out on the road. The factories were expanded coming off of two round of war-time production, and the production of automobiles, travel trailers, recreational vehicles with their own engines, caught that perfect timing of people having both the money to buy them and the opportunity to use them. Again the industry surged.

In the 1950’s Wally Byam came up with a crazy idea to take a group of friends on a trip all the way down to central America. A magazine ran a story on the planned adventure and over 60 families showed up in time to embark with them on that first epic journey. This would become the first trip of the legendary Wally Byam Caravan Club. The members, all in Airstreams would go on to paint big red numbers on the front and back of their trailers as identification. They started with the number 1 for Wally and his wife and continued upward for each new member of the group in the order that they joined.

And while Heather and I normally camp alone, I always look at the faded numbers on front and back of our vintage Airstream and wonder just how many people had been in camping groups with the previous owners. I’ve seen pictures of that Wally Byam Caravan Club camping out in front of the Great Pyramid with a long line of pristine Airsteams and families that had all made the trek together. I’ve seen them forming a parade around the Coliseum in Rome, and even read about trips to South America. And though our trailer was built in 1960’s, the numbers were already 5 digits long. Thousands of families all hitting the road together.

As the car progressed, so did the camping trailer and recreational vehicle. The ability to pull ever increasing weight lead to stunning breakthroughs. Once you could haul a large water tank, showers and flushing toilets became easily included. With canned propane lines, refrigeration and cooking stoves became a must have. Now, most families have a television, and even an ability to hook into cable when they are at a sight with full connections, or even a satellite for when they are not. We even have the toy hauler class, which allows all the amenities of any other trailers, along with the space to park 4-wheelers or motorcycles right in the camper so they can always go along with you.

Coming back around full circle, the Tiny House movement even has people returning to the origins of travel trailers and building their own custom designs. There are more factories now than ever before, and production just continues to increase. Hundreds of models, and thousands of floorplans guarantee that there is something out there for everyone.

So maybe it isn’t crazy to imagine that when I see a long line of trailers coming over a mountain pass, they could all be out there on the road together. Ready to create new favorite memories and cherished jokes. Tin can tourists out to see America together. Or maybe that guy in front just really needs to get to the right at the next passing lane.