Airstream Terraport - Jackson Center, Ohio (March 2020)

Early March wasn’t our first choice for a trip to Jackson Center, Ohio. We wanted to bring Rosie, our new Airstream trailer, back to the factory for some service. 

A logical question to ask was why did we take a trailer we had for less than two months back to the factory for some service? Our “shakedown” camping trips identified a few minor bugs in Rosie, our Airstream trailer, and we wanted to fix them before camping season was in full swing.

Another question was why didn’t we take our trailer back to the dealer for this service? Yes, it is true that Airstream dealers have factory trained service departments and are competent in all things Airstream. A couple of things on our list potentially involved what we would call “Airstream specific” parts and we figured we wouldn’t have to wait for delivery from the factory to our dealer if we were at the factory. Another factor in this decision was that we were quickly approaching the time for our first beach trip of the year and the timing worked better for us to take Rosie to Ohio.

Entrance to the service area

It is usually a challenge to book timely service appointments at the factory in Jackson Center, but we were surprised when we talked to the service center representative. He said someone cancelled his or her appointment and they could fit us in. 

We started watching the weather along our route to Ohio as our scheduled appointment time approached. Freezing temperatures and snow were in the forecast leading up to our appointment. Some friends from our local Wally Byam Airstream Club had an appointment about three weeks before our's and they told us about driving through snow to get to Jackson Center. We were relieved when the forecast for our travel time changed from snow to rain. We would have to deal with freezing temperatures during our stay in Ohio, but not snow and ice. 

We saw a few patches of snow on the side of the road as we drove to Jackson Center. We arrived early afternoon the day before our appointment. That was significant in that it allowed us to talk to our service rep to firm up what we needed.

Snow in the parking lot

We parked Rosie in its second of the three loops in Airstream’s Terraport. The first loop was full with about a dozen trailers that were dropped off for service over the winter. There were dozens more “drop off” trailers behind the service building. It was easy to see why it is difficult to get a service appointment there even during the winter. The dozens of service bays at Jackson Center were full.

Rosie in the Terraport

We had the afternoon to ourselves and decided to make a quick trip to Columbus, Ohio. We needed a few supplies and one of Becky’s favorite stores was there. We enjoyed our visit there and watched a rainstorm in the distance as we drove back to Jackson Center that evening.

Clouds on the road to Columbus

Rain in the distance

Wind blowing the rain

There were only two occupied Airstream trailers in the Terraport on our service appointment day and the tractor picked up Rosie first. That meant our service crew was able to start early fixing our issues.

Tractor pulling Rosie to the service bays

We are always impressed with how professional and efficient the service teams are at Jackson Center. The items on our list that we thought would take a full day were quickly completed.

Rosie in the service bay

Checking on Rosie

Waiting in the lobby

The service bays

Two additional Airstream trailers joined us for the second night in the Terraport. Like clockwork, the tractor started pulling the trailers needing service into the work-bays at 7 a.m.  We waited until the temperatures warmed up above freezing before starting our trip home so we wouldn’t need to winterize Rosie. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was paved with asphalt 
• Our site had 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection. We disconnected the water from Rosie at night because the temperatures dipped into the mid 20s and reconnected during the day when temperatures were above freezing 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station at this park. 
• AT&T placed a weak voice and data signal over our site.
• We were unable to see from our site the WiFi service provided in the service lobby. We were able to use the WiFi several times in the past, but not on this visit 
• We were able to receive TV signals from ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, ION, NBC and PBS. We saw digital signals from Antenna, Charge, Comet, Escape, LAFF, ME-TV, MY-TV and Stadium 
• This is a pet friendly park.

We were impressed with the new Airstream factory, which we passed while on our way to the factory service area. Factory tours haven’t started yet in the new factory building, but we look forward to seeing it on our next trip. 

Selfie in the Terraport