Wednesday, June 15, 2022

The Way We Were Wednesday : Tin Can Tourists


My mother's parents were some of the original trailer tourists, or they were sometimes called tin can tourists.  They bought some of the earliest travel trailers. This photo was taken in the 1940's, that was not their first travel trailer.  I think my grandfather would have been happy camping in a tent, but my grandmother wanted a bed, and a kitchen - tiny and basic as they could be.  

My mother finished high school during World War II, and around that time, her parents shuttered the farm one winter and spent a couple of months touring the US, they went to California, as far south as Mexico (the only time my mother was ever in Mexico.) That experience shaped my mother's life.  She understood the diversity and grandeur of the people and landscape. She had a respect for immigrants based on people she met who were oh so different from the people she was surrounded by as a child.  She stood on the corner of Hollywood and Vine hoping to be discovered.  

 

12 comments:

  1. I could do that. I heard stories of my aunt and uncle traveling and living in a airstream for a year and half and settled in Alaska for another year before coming back east.

    That's a great picture!

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    1. I rented a motor home for a mobile office for a couple of weeks one time, they are largish to drive.

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  2. We used to fantasize about doing that. So cool that your grandparents did it all those years ago. What a great photo!

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    1. My idea of roughing it, is a Holiday Inn

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  3. My grandparents traveled all over the US and Mexico pulling their Holiday Rambler. They sent post cards from all their destinations. Now when I travel, I send post cards to my family and friends.

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    1. Wish I had saved some of the psot cards

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  4. My parents had an RV for many years and would take off for months at a time traveling the country.
    Sounds nice.

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    1. I need to write about my parents motor home experience,

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  5. Do you take after your Mom? I can see you in her face.

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  6. My parents were some of those early 'campers'. We traveled with a travel trailer as early as the late 50's.

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