Camping Rally in Montello, Wisc. - 2012

Oh man, I love camping! We went camping the weekend of September 13-16th at the Buffalo Lake Camping Resort in a little town named Montello, in Wisconsin. I think the town of Montello was at one point in time the bottom of a lake or something because the whole town has sand instead of dirt. Even the grass is weird compared to Illinois grass. Then again, a lot of the country seems weird compared to Illinois. Now that I am thinking about it, maybe Illinois is weird and everything else is normal!?

Ginger the Gingerbread House is FINALLY making her camping debut!

Ginger is a 1959 Shasta Airflyte, and this was her very first camping trip. I found out that Bob the Burger made his debut during the same rally in Montello five years ago.

The rally in Montello with Bob the Burger was the first rally that Norm & Julia ever attended. The welcome into the vintage camper world that they received makes going back to Montello every year very special.

The first night was the progressive cocktail & appetizer party. It was more like a welcoming of old friends and meet and greet of new ones.





A major bonus are the tasty beverages and snacks along the way. Not to mention the free entertainment, either from those talented enough to play an instrument or those who had too many tasty beverages. Big Bill fell into the later category.

It is also used as a time to get a sneak peek into everyone's campers. That is if you wait in line and can actually get in the door. Sometimes it is quicker to go the peeping tom route and double back during the show & shine for a good look inside.


Health Warning: The peeping tom operation you just witnessed is only acceptable during the progressive cocktail party. Any other use of this method at any other time is strictly prohibited and dangerous to one's health!

See, I'm not the ONLY one at the rally that likes to color outside of the lines. It keeps life interesting.

Some of our new friends dressed in period clothing for the whole weekend!

Hi Mary & Kristi!

Check out our cool glasses! Everyone was calling them redneck stemware. Whatever that means. All I know is that they were a great size! By the time you got to the bottom of the glass we were at the next camper refilling them!

Big Bill and I found this awesome looking carnival ride. The lights were terrific.

I think it was broken down though, or the operator was off somewhere getting his own tasty beverages, because the ride didn't move at all. 

This is Rick & Jeanne's trailer. Considering how long this camper is, I was wondering why they needed two doors? Its not like the boyfriend could sneak out the back door unnoticed when the husband was walking in the front door.

There were a set of oversize chairs at one site. This is BJ (aka Barb) sitting in the chair getting the same feeling I get whenever I sit in any chair.

Here is Scott & Dawn. They brought their Shasta to this rally too. It seemed like Shastas were all over the campground this year. They are the folks that my new friend Otis rolls with.

This is Otis, he is one cool kat.

I'm not too sure who the guy to Otis' right is, but he was a tad gruff when I said hello. Otis said he just needed to get to know you some before he got friendly.

I almost forgot to mention that Otis has his own blog page too. I copied the address for it under Friend's Blogs on the left of this page.

We visited a few more campsites and ended the evening at the starting point, Kimberly's campsite. Kimberly was the rally hostess.

We decided to turn in a bit earlier than some. Thursday was a long but very fun day!

Friday was a laid back kind of day. Nothing scheduled until early evening. I pretty much just snoozed around the campsite most of the day. Lounging all day was a nice "change of pace" from some rallies where there are a lot of activities planned throughout the day.

BJ and her friend, Sven,were camped next to Jules & Norm. Sven was all bummed out Friday because his & Norm's team, The Chicago Bears, did their impression of playing football the night before. They got whipped by the Packers, as usual.

I know bears live and do other stuff in the woods, but football playing bears in Chicago? I wonder if they stayed behind when the circus left town.



Cookies anyone?

During the Montello Rally, Kimberly, our hostess, delivers "trailer mail" every morning. Trailer mail is an agenda for the day's activities. It also might include an old magazine, pictures, newspaper, advertising or any other cool vintage stuff. We got an antique medicine bottle a couple years ago that Julia uses as a flower vase in Bob. Anyhow, leaving all the mail at the various campsites gave her an idea. Having everyone make a mailbox.

This was our mailbox for Ginger.

I had to put out a special thank-you to my cousin Gunther's family from Wisconsin. Jessica was the person that rescued this from certain disaster and thought about Julia & Norm when she saw it. She immediately thought it would be a great addition for Ginger. A fresh coat of paint and Jessica's vision is a reality. A tongue stand made out of peppermints.



These cupcakes were FANTASTIC!

One of the best things about the Montello rally is the food. There is a lot of it. Friday night is the potluck. Everyone brings a dish to pass and your own meat to grill. These cupcakes were one of the deserts. Laurie, who owns a pink Shasta, made them. They were delicious!

This year there was a jello contest again. I didn't take any pictures for some reason. I will describe the winning entry. It was a brain in a jar like the one in the movie Young Frankenstein. Another entry was a drug test sample that had spilled.

Creative? Most certainly!      Appetizing? Not so much...      Fun? Abbey Solutely.

The view from our campsite was phenomenal.

How can anyone have a bad day when they open their door in the morning and see this?

I really love vintage trailer (camper) rallies!

So which is the right terminology? Vintage Trailer or Vintage Camper?

Saturday, during the Show & Shine" Big Bill and I went touring the trailers. This time we got to GO inside and look around! They were all so cool!

I really thought the curved shelf above the counter was very clever.

We stopped by to say hi to Otis too. He was on his house, but I think he used it like a trampoline during the day.

This is Jo Ellen & George's camper. They made the awning, fencing and flower box to dress up the front of their Avion and to hide the tongue.

Big Bill didn't know why the flowers didn't smell nice. I thought pine smelled nice.

We made our way up to the campground office and store to get a cold pop. I got so involved talking to Linda & Tatum that we left and I forgot to get the pop!

Saturday evening was spent at Kimberly & Gib's campsite.

There were a number of games to play. One was called Hammerschlagen.

Mike (Jessica's hubby) was kind enough to show me how the game was played. I would have liked it better had he just told me rather than WHACKING the nail that was in front of me!

I learned in that one moment that 1) Standing on the tree stump while players are consuming tasty beverages is dangerous to one's health; 2) Mike luckily is very skilled with a hammer. Gunther must have taught him.

Big Bill and I stoked the fire with a few logs when Gib was busy.



After the fire it was time to get some rest!

Big Bill was discussing the sleeping arrangements with the Gingerbread Man again. Big Bill thought that the beds should have already been turned down while we were out. I had to pull Big Bill back before the Gingerbread Man gave him a poke in the eye.

Anyhow, Sunday morning came way too soon and so did the end of the rally. Before we left though we had to eat one more time! The rally hosts provided breakfast for everyone.

The food was great!

Big Bill missed breakfast though. He was snuggled up in the camper and said it was too cold to get up.

We had a very memorable weekend.

If you see us in a campground, stop by and say hello!

Travis