vintage trailer rally, a potluck & dutch ovens?

Hi Sweet Hearts!!

I'm back on my final chapter of the Vintage Trailer Rally Saga & it's time for a 'POTLUCK'!

Now, we've established in an earlier post, '10 Little Things About Me', that I don't cook. So, when I heard about the Potluck long before we were at this event, I thought to myself...

Self...since you cook like crap & it's gonna be real hot & you won't have room in the trailer to make anything big enough for this size of a group...

{this was my absolute favorite!!! I had 2 helpings of it, it was like an enchilada casserole & it was delicious...thank you to whoever made this yummy dish!}
maybe you could just bring a big seedless watermelon & cut it up into nice little cubes. That would be refreshing & you wouldn't have to cook!
{my mind is always trying to come up with new ways to get out of cooking}

So it was thought & so it was done.
Now, walking over to the potluck with my refreshing watermelon cubes displayed in a cool vintage enamel frig container, I felt..."this is good, it's gonna work, this is probably the same kind of thing everybody else is bringing". Until I saw 35 of these!!!

Now, we've been to many different Vintage Trailer Rallies over the years. Maybe I was drunk, maybe I was a hermit & didn't go out, maybe I just wasn't looking, but I have never seen or even heard of a 'Dutch Oven' until this event & all I can say is WOW!

As I walked over to the tables & saw this vast array of cast iron pots filled with the most delectable smelling & looking dishes I had ever seen, I thought..."I must live under a rock or someone didn't send me the memo, cuz nobody told me to cook anything in one of these crazy pots". My watermelon looked ridiculous!!! ;(

Thus was my sad, but enlightening, introduction to the
Dutch Oven!

Now this is an art people! It goes something like this...

You add all of the ingredients of your fabulous dish into this huge cast iron, well seasoned pot. You heat up charcoal brickets & place them in a strategic way under & on top of the Magic Pot.

The general consensus is...4 or 5 brickets on the bottom & 14 brickets on the top lid.

This slowly cooks for about 1 1/2 hours in which you give the lid a quarter turn every 15 minutes or so. There is a special handle you use to turn the lid so your hands don't 'CATCH ON FIRE'!

The benefits...

You can cook a heck of a lot of food without getting your trailer hot.

You can cook everything for your meal in 1 pot.

You can even make dessert & biscuits in this same pot.

The downfalls...

I don't even think I could lift this pot. This is a 2 man show & when I say man, I do mean man. Do not attempt this alone. And I was wondering...do they make elbow length oven gloves???

Oh look, I took a 2nd picture of my favorite enchilada dish...sooooo goooood!

I have now shared with you my complete knowledge about dutch ovens, other then every single thing we tried out of one was delicious. Needless to say, this group knew what they were doing & now comes the monumental decision...do we get one?

OK, do you see how all the campers are serving themselves from this cute horseshoe bench that had all the dutch ovens on it??

My watermelon & the items brought by the other non-cookers, were sadly designated to the table where, as you can see above, not many people circled around.

Not even I circled around.

Why would you fill up on watermelon when there was so many astonishing meals to be had on the horseshoe? I didn't. So in conclusion of our Vintage Trailer Rally's Potluck I would have to say...WOW!

Loved it, stuffed myself, gorged myself, it was fantastic & fun too! We laughed, we ate, we looked at old trailers & spoke vintage trailer to each other.

The Best!

So friends, it looks like we will be looking into purchasing a Dutch Oven. I only said LOOKING. I have issues with the microwave, so this is really a huge decision for me.

Now, as you may remember the 1st night we didn't crank up the generator, but after the potluck we were fired up like the Space Shuttle getting ready to launch at Kennedy.

And just in case there are any Dutch Oven cookers out there, I will leave you with my friend Kristy's wonderful dessert recipe. {& you can even do this in a reg oven too!}

Berry Cobbler

Fresh or Frozen bag of any misc. berries

1/4 cup of berry jam to add for sweetening

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

1 cube of butter

Add the berries & jam together & place in the bottom of pan

Sprinkle the cake mix on top

Melt butter & drizzle on top

Cook for 1/2 hour or more, checking to make sure the top is brown

Soooo Yummy!!!!

Happy Trails Friends, until we meet again!

vintage trailer rally, day 1!

Greetings Friends & Travel Pals!!

We're back from our fun-filled,

Tear-Drop & Vintage Trailer Rally

in Hurkey Creek State Park.
I have so many pictures & stories to tell, I'm going to split this event up into several posts,

but before I get started I want to thank you all for your delightful comments on my last post!

I loved finding out a little more about each one of you & thought Petite Michelle Louise idea of having a '10 Little Things About Me' party was inspired! I will start work on putting that together ASAP...but for now here's our Vintage Trailer Adventure.

Enjoy!!!

I'm so excited about you getting to come along on this journey, as I have taken you on a Vintage Vacation with us before, but never to a Vintage Trailer Rally!

They just...'ROCK'!

The 1st day is all about the Set-Up.
We were greeted by the Rally Hosts Carrousel & Ray, & were given our name sign to put up in the window, a cute little Dutch Oven Patch {which I have soooo much to talk about} & a cute little battery closet light, which we needed since it was a dry camp. {for you novices, that's when you have no power, or water, or hook-ups of any kind, again...TG for generators!}

Hubby gets going on the outside, while I play with all our vintage vignette's on the inside.

Right before we left, I made all new curtains for our baby with cool, old vintage tablecloths...aren't they sew cute!!

And guess what hubby got this year for his birthday??? You got it...a new 22" HD Flat Screen TV for his trailer!!! It's the height of decadence & we LOVE it!

Now unfortunately...to be able to watch our new glorious TV we had to turn on our loud & possibly annoying generator, which many of our closer neighbors did not appreciate. So Day 1 we stayed dark & stared at the stars & held hands & used our little propane lantern & just appreciated the beauty of nature & the sound of the wind rustling through the pines. Ahhhhhh....

But by Day 2...we were over that! ;)

This is our awesome vintage fan we use to cool ourselves, that needs power in order to work. We were really HOT on Day 1!

Did you notice our brand new matching awning hubby just had made? We were looking on ebay for a vintage one, which we've had & sold several of...arghhhhh, but we couldn't find one with the right color & the prices were just outrageous! I adore this one!!! Hubster did a Good Job!

And you know another reason why I just LOVE our trailer?
It has a Happy Face on the back.
How cool is that???

So....in the last post you learned I don't cook. Well, this is my idea of the perfect, well balanced meal. Hotdogs for protein, onions for veggies...

butter as the milk product & beanies as a carb or starch or bread, or whatever the heck it is! Thus, our Day 1 meal...that I did cook was,
Beanies & Weanies!
Does anyone else think of this as a perfectly fine meal choice... not just for camping, I mean for all the time!

As Day 1 comes to an end & the sun slowly sinks in the west, we watch as our little trailer is cast in an awesome, amber glow. {the amber shellac on the wood doesn't hurt, lol} This adventure is just beginning, Day 2 gets even better cuz it involves more vintage trailers, dutch ovens, a potluck & power!!!

XOXO

until we meet again!

Our Vintage Travel Trailers & Spamboree

Good Morning Friends...

The sun is shining, the sky is blue & I'm in the mood for hitting the road, traveling Route 66 in our Vintage 1956 Pathfinder to see the USA! Now, I know we can't do this today because my shop is waiting for me to show up & my Hunny has a couple of jobs to finish...but soon, very, very soon we will be heading out for a couple of weeks. In anticipation for this much needed trip I'm sharing a little movie I made with some of our over 60 vintage trailers we've owned, sold, restored, camped in & loved. We have been involved in Vintage Vacationing for about 10 years & it has been a HUGE JOY in our lives. We go to gatherings or Rallies where everyone comes in their vintage cars & trailers to share, laugh & camp together, sooooo much fun! One such rally, Spamboree, is in Oceanside, CA in September. In the video our current 'BABY' is at the beginning, then you'll see some Spamboree fun, we have a yellow Tear-Drop trailer at that event & then after Doheny Beach are pics of some of our favorites & a pic of me in front of our flamingo colored Shasta with Wings. Good Times!!! I can't wait to FLY again!!!

XOXO Friends,