| backyard traveler |
SUMMER 2022 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 73
Yesterday Café, complete with
buttermilk pie, and toured the
Old Gaol and soaked in the
history of the surrounding
area, before heading back to
base camp at A.H. Stephens
State Park.
“A.H. Stephens is beautiful,”
says Matty Garrett of Tucker,
Ga. “I grew up Georgia and
never even knew about it.”
“at’s what so great about
this, other than the social
aspect, you get to see places
you’ve never seen before,”
says Carol van Dyck, an artist
from Clayton, Ga. “e rallies
will take you to new places
and the best thing is, someone
else has already done
all of the work. e campgrounds
are arranged, the
restaurants are reserved, you
just get to enjoy it.”
Other rallies include a
“Catch Me if You Can” event
in Alabama, centered around
y shing, a “Farm Life” rally
at a member’s farm in Florida,
a rally on the Bourbon Trail
in Kentucky, and a “Taste of
Texas” rally along that state’s
barbecue trail.
In addition to these local
events, the club also participates
in national rallies
that bring together all of the
regional clubs.
An annual favorite, the
“Can Opener” is a national
rally that kicks o each year
during the rst week in January.
Held at the Topsail Hill
Preserve State Park in Santa
Rosa Beach, Fla., the event
generally draws more than
100 Airstreams from all over
the country.
And even more, the club at
large holds an international
rally each year that draws
Airstreams from around the
globe. is year’s 65th annual
international rally is being in
Fryeburg, Maine.
Last year’s international
event was held just outside
of Nashville, Tenn., and
drew 850 trailers, says Matt
Hackney of Young Harris
and founding member of the
Southeastern Camping Unit.
“is summer in Maine,
we’re expecting over 1,000
since the Canadians couldn’t
come last year,” explains
Hackney. “Well, they could
come, but they couldn’t go
home.”
Now that the borders are
back open in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic, the
national rallies and caravan
events are seeing renewed
excitement. Caravans are
dierent than rallies in that
instead of being at a xed
location, caravans are made
up of a group of Airstreams
traveling together to destinations
on a designated route.
Hackney and his wife are the
leaders of the “North to Alaska”
caravan, which will be
returning this summer after a
two-year hiatus. Hackney says
the caravan will meet up in
British Columbia in mid-July
and head out for Alaska. ey
will be on the road for two
weeks, spend four weeks in
Alaska, and two more getting
back to British Columbia.
e coronavirus may have
put a cramp in caravan plans
over the past two years, but
it also sparked a wave of new
adventurers discovering a
love of travel.
“More people went to RV
living during COVID,” says
Garrett. “A lot of them hit the
hny hacks fille tehens tate ark ths srng
during a ‘Stews and Brews’ rally where members of
the Southeastern Camping Unit celebrated St. Patrick’s
Day with an Irish potluck dinner. When not taking part
in the organized activities that included a day trip to
downtown Greensboro for buttermilk pie and local craft
beer, members of the club relax and socialize back at the
campground.
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Fellowship of ‘Stream
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