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

Airstream Terraport - Airstream Factory, Jackson Center, Ohio (May 2017)

It seems that we head to Jackson Center, Ohio once our repair list get long enough. Jackson Center is where the Airstream factory and service center is located for Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

Rosie being towed into a service bay

We ended our Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) Springtime in Kentucky Caravan about four hours away from Jackson Center, so it seemed like a good time to schedule a visit to the service center. The problem was that we would arrive on Friday and our service appointment was on Monday. How is that a problem?

There normally isn't too many things to do over the weekend in Jackson Center. But this weekend was different in that the Dayton Hamfest was taking place and it was only 45 minutes away.

The Dayton Hamfest is the largest gathering of Amateur Radio enthusiasts in the world. More than 30,000 hams were descending on Dayton that weekend and that had to be a sight worth seeing.

Becky wanted to stay in Rosie and work on some watercolor paintings. That left me to head down the Interstate to Dayton for the Hamfest.

Becky with her original watercolor painting from the Springtime in Kentucky WBCCI  Caravan

I've been to big Hamfests before in Atlanta, Huntsville and Orlando. These don't compare to Dayton. I was very glad that things worked out so that I could experience the Dayton Hamfest.

Monday rolled around and Rosie was moved to the service bay. Our list wasn't too long, but it took two days to put Rosie back into tip-top shape.

Rosie in Airstream's service bay

We left Rosie at Airstream's Terraport on Wednesday for a quick trip to Cleveland. This gave us an opportunity to visit Cleveland's world-class art museum plus for me to drop by the Cleveland Clinic for my annual checkup. We enjoyed the museum and the reports from the tests ran at the Clinic were good.

Driving into Cleveland

The Art Museum

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There are four camping loops in the Terraport. Each is named after an Airstream model.
• There are eight back-in sites in each loop.
• Each site is paved.
• The sites have 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical connections. Actually, two sites share the same power connection box so one trailer has the 30 amp feed and the other has the 50 amp service. The people who parked next to us needed the 30 amp feed and didn't have a 50-to-30 converter cable. We had a converter cable so we moved over to the 50 amp power service and let our camping neighbors use the 30 amp plug. It is always a good idea to travel with some conversion cables because you never know when you will need them.
• Each site has water and sewer connections. Our sewer connection was slightly uphill behind Rosie. It took every extension we had to reach the sewer. It was a challenge to confuse gravity by lifting segments of the sewer hose when we dumped Rosie's tanks.
• There is a dump station at this park. The trailer parked next to us had to use it since they didn't have a sewer hose long enough to use the connection at their campsite. We gave up on trying to use the sewer connection at our site and used the dump station when we left the Terraport.
• AT&T placed a weak voice and data signal over our site. Campers with other cell providers said their service was also weak to nonexistent.
• I think we have learned where to park in order to use the Wi-Fi provided for the service customers. While it isn't the fastest connection to the Internet, it was adequate for our needs.
• We were able to receive TV signals from ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS. We saw digital signals from Antenna, Bounce, Comet, GET-TV, GRIT, ME-TV, MY-TV and one station that aired Ohio high school sports games all day and night.
• This is a pet friendly park.

Once our repairs and our visit to Cleveland were completed, it was time to turn Rosie south and head home.

The sign greeting us when we returned from Cleveland -- The Terraport was CLOSED for Alumapalooza

Airstream Terraport, Airstream Factory, Jackson Center, Ohio - Third Visit

We always have mixed emotions when we camp at the Terraport next to Airstream's factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. We love seeing other Airstream owners and taking the factory tour. We also depend on the high level of competence and professionalism of the technicians in the service area. I don't think you can find a better place for service on your Airstream trailer.

The Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio

The scary part is getting the bill for your repairs. This isn't to imply that Airstream charges more for their services than other places, just that we tend to save up our needed repairs and end up bringing a longer list of things to Jackson Center.

This is where them build them!

This trip was different. We didn't need any repairs on Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer. Instead, I was asked to help the Wally Byam Caravan Club International, the Airstream Owners Association, with the creation of the digital version of their monthly magazine. Translation: We would not end up with a repair bill at the end of our visit. Yes, this was going to be a great visit.

I serve on the WBCCI's Electronic Communication Committee and my role on the ECC is to help answer questions about the software used to create their Blue Beret Magazine. Their questions centered around moving the print production files into a digital product for computers, smartphones and tablets. Having taught an undergraduate class in digital publications at a university, I was able to be helpful and felt they had a handle on that process when I left.

Rosie parked in Airstream's Terraport

Sunset over the Airstream factory

Sunset is always great at Jackson Center

One of our neighbors in Airstream's Terraport suggested that we try a little restaurant next to the factory for breakfast. We did and enjoyed it. We noticed that our server also bussed the tables, cooked the orders then ran the cash register as we were leaving. We decided that she earned a bigger tip for smoothly running the entire restaurant by herself.

Something was different this time from our previous visits. We noticed that Wally Byam's golden Airstream along with several other early models were no longer parked in front of the service center building. (Wally Byam was Airstream 's founder and designer.) The staff said they needed more room for parking and Wally's trailer was demoted to the back lot.

Wally's Airstream trailer demoted to the back lot

We always learn about our trailers from the other campers staying in the Terraport. One was having the same problem with his tire pressure monitoring system that we were experiencing. His solution was something I think will be helpful to us.

We were able to share a couple of tips we learned from other Airstreamers during an earlier visit to Jackson Center. It felt good to contribute to that conversation.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There are four camping loops in the Terraport. Each is named after an Airstream model.
• There are eight back-in sites in each loop.
• Each site is paved.
• The sites have 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical connections.
• Each site has water and sewer connections. Our sewer connection was slightly uphill behind Rosie. It took every extension we had to reach the sewer. It was a challenge to confuse gravity by lifting segments of the sewer hose when we dumped Rosie's tanks.
• There is a dump station at this park. The trailer parked next to us had to use it since they didn't have a sewer hose long enough to use the connection at their campsite.
• AT&T placed a weak voice and data signal over our site. Campers with other cell providers said their service was also weak to nonexistent.
• I think we have learned where to park in order to use the Wi-Fi provided for the service customers. While it isn't the fastest connection to the Internet, it was adequate for our needs.
• We were able to receive TV signals from ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS. We saw digital signals from Antenna, Bounce, Comet, GET-TV, GRIT, ME-TV, MY-TV and one station that aired Ohio high school football games all day and night.

We always enjoy our visits to Jackson Center. We had to adjust to the temperatures. Highs were in the mid-90s and lows were in the mid-70s when we left Alabama. Less than 48 hours later, the high temperature was 76 and the low was 53. It was time to get the warmer clothes out!

Becky and Suzy, our Yorkie puppy, in the waiting room at Airstream's factory

Steve and Suzy out for a walk

Sunset

Snow shovel? That is something you don't see in Alabama!

Airstream Terraport, Airstream Factory, Jackson Center, Ohio - Second Visit

Our first visit to Airstream's factory in Jackson Center, Ohio, was to fix a list of nagging problems with Rosie, our 25 foot trailer. It is easy to see that we were impressed with their service department since we decided to return eight months later for a couple of factory installed upgrades to our Airstream.

The Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio

Our earlier visit to Jackson Center was during November and we had to deal with winter in Ohio. Snow flurries and freezing temperatures were what we faced during that trip. Weather would also play a role in our second visit.

Temperatures were better on this visit than during our winter trip

Our service appointment started on a Tuesday and our plan was to take our time and leisurely drive part of the way on Sunday. That would allow us to arrive in Jackson Center on Monday afternoon. That flew out the window on Saturday while looking at the weather apps on our iPhones. Severe thunderstorms with heavy rain and winds were moving into Ohio Sunday evening and were predicted for most of Monday. If we followed our original plan, it appeared that we would be traveling, arriving and setting up in a storm.

Plan B was to leave home earlier on Sunday morning and to drive straight through to Ohio. That would put us on the road more than 12 hours as we pulled Rosie nearly 700 miles in one day. While ambitious, we felt the benefits of arriving ahead of the storm outweighed the negatives.

Entrance to Airstream's Terraport

We had to stay focused on our goal and were successful in arriving at the Airstream factory in Jackson Center at sunset and about 40 minutes ahead of the storm. That gave us enough time to park Rosie in the Terraport and get set-up before the rain and winds started.

According to our weather radio, the winds were 25-30 mph and gusting up to 50 mph. We placed a tarp over our bicycles and I ended up having to go outside to better secure it. Rain drops hitting at 50 mph leave an impression on you.

There is a story shared among Airstreamers about three families traveling out west. One in this group was pulling an Airstream and the others had some other brand of campers. When they arrived at the campground for the evening, the other RV'ers were talking about the high winds that rocked their rigs as they traveled down the road. That was when the Airstreamer asked, "What winds?"

I thought about that when I had to go out to the truck to get some stuff. I was shocked when I felt the wind grab the door as I tried to open it. I was unaware inside Rosie that we were really suffering through 25-30 mph winds with gusts up to 50 mph. While we could hear the rain hitting Rosie, I thought the winds were in the 10-15 mph neighborhood. I was wrong.

There is always a group of nervous Airstream owners on their first morning in the Terraport. The tractor starts pulling trailers into the service bay at 7 a.m. Since our minds tend to think in Central Time, that translates into 6 a.m. for us. There is a rush to disconnect the trailers from the utilities to get them ready to travel the hundred or so feet to the shop. Most people leave some things on their site to let campers arriving that day know that the site is occupied.

The tractor hitching-up Rosie

Rosie being pulled to Airstream's service bay area

Once the tractor picked up Rosie, we rushed over to Airstream's service department to talk with the service writer. (Don't drop by wanting service without an appointment because both the bays and technicians are busy all day!) In a few moments, the service technician assigned to work on Rosie went over the the list with us.

The people that were anxious moments ago in the Terraport were now in the service area lounge draining the coffee machine and swapping adventure stories. As before, we learned about some interesting places to go and we shared some of our favorites with the other owners.

Rosie in the service bay

Airstream's service bays

The tractor brings the trailers back to the Terraport as the technicians complete the projects or at the end of the day. If there are more things to be done, the tractor will return at 7 a.m. the next day to start pulling the trailers back to the service bays.

When our technician found us in the customer waiting area, he said that he sent Rosie back to the Terraport and that he would only need three or four hours the next day to finish everything. That meant we could get an early start the following day on a new Rosie adventure.

A funny thing happened as we arrived back at the Terraport. There was a box motorhome in Rosie's spot. Yes, this fellow camper (non-Airstreamer) ignored our power cord, water hose and the two tarps we left in the site and commandeered Rosie's place. We found Rosie sitting on the site next-door to our original one.

Many of the power boxes are shared between sites at Airstream's Terraport. That shouldn't be a problem because the 30 and 50 amp services are on different circuit breakers. A few minutes after I plugged Rosie in, the box motor home's breakers blew along with our new neighbor's congenial spirit. He was convinced that I was responsible for his power problems. It appeared that the neighborhood was going downhill fast so I flagged down the tractor driver and he moved us to another loop.

View of the sky from the Terraport

Rosie's new camping site was in a loop quickly filling up with Airstream campers returning to the "mothership" for factory service. It didn't take long before we were all outside talking and helping each other. We were very glad we moved. The sharing and fellowship among the Airstreamers was similar to being at a rally.

This visit to Airstream's factory service was more about upgrades to Rosie than for repairs. We added new awnings on the side and rear and a rear-view camera that paid for itself a little more than an hour after we left Jackson Center.

We were a few miles south of Cincinnati heading to our next campground when a big 18-wheel truck suddenly swerved into our lane and hit the breaks. That forced me into a panic stop. As I was watching the road ahead, I was thankful that our Pro-Pride hitch was keeping Rosie straight and that we had left plenty of space between us and the car formerly in front of us, Becky was paying attention to the new camera and saw that the 18-wheeler behind us was quickly running out of road and was about to rear-end us. She excitedly told me to go forward and I closed the gap between us and the front truck giving the truck behind us enough room to stop. Needless to say, the camera alone justified our trip to Airstream's factory.

Here are some specifics about the Airstream Terraport:

• There are multiple camping loops (we think four) in the Airstream Terraport. Each loop is named after an Airstream model.
  
• Each loop is a circle with back-in sites.
• Each site has concrete pads.
• The sites have water, electric and sewer connections.
• There is a dump station in the park.
• AT&T placed a dismal signal over the Terraport and Jackson Center. Most of the time our iPhones failed to connect any better than at Edge speeds. Fellow campers with Verizon and T-Mobile also complained about their service. One person said his Sprint service was adequate.
• There is Wi-Fi in the Service Department's Customer Lounge. That signal tends to leak out to the Terraport area. It helps to choose a loop close to the service building.
• This is a pet friendly place.
• There are lots and lots of over-the-air TV signals. We were able to watch ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC and PBS. Digital channels included ME-TV, MY-TV, GET-TV, GRIT and Bounce.
• Jackson Center isn't known for its vast variety of restaurants. Your choices are Subway, the bar or the other bar. We joked that one of the bars claiming to serve food must have used "I Can't Believe It's Not Lard" as its secret seasoning. There are other choices about 15 miles away along I-75.

This was our second trip to Airstream HQ for service. We came away both times glad we made the trip to Ohio and appreciative of Airstream's hard-working service technicians and staff. We were very impressed with the knowledge, skills and professionalism our service technician exhibited.

While nothing else is planned at this time, I have a feeling that Rosie will return one day for more modifications and service work.

Display of some early model Airstream trailers at the factory

Selfie at the factory

At the start of the factory tour

Every Airstream trailer leaves the factory with this sign

What a sad sight! A new Airstream on its way to a dealer was rear-ended.

Boondocking at a truck stop on I-65 near the Kentucky/Tennessee state line

After four days in the service center at Airstream's headquarters in Jackson Center, Ohio, our camper was ready and we got on the road around 5 p.m. We wanted to get a few hours down the road so that we could reach home before sunset the following day. (See the previous posting to learn about our adventures at Airstream's factory service center.) That meant we needed to be south of Cincinnati and Louisville before stopping for the night. Our goal was to find a place to camp before 10 p.m. and to be back on the road early the following morning.
We use the AllStays app on our iPhones to find potential places to camp for the night. As we were heading south on I-65 in Kentucky, we were running out of options and decided to stop at the Flying J Travel Plaza at Exit 2.

Rosie spot for the night

This turned out to be a huge truck stop with spaces for more than 170 trucks. Since we were arriving late that night, it appeared that most of the truck parking spots were full.
One of the things we learned from our first night boondocking at a truck stop was to get as far away from the trucks as possible. That way you don't have to listen to their desel engines and air breaks all night. We found a place to park next to the curb in front of the Denny's restaurant and figured we found our spot for the night.
The temperature was in the teens and the memory foam on Rosie's bed (our 25 foot Airstream trailer) was hard as a rock. We fired up the furnace and went inside the truck stop while the heater took the chill off inside Rosie.
The cold may have been responsible for the LED lights in the main cabin area not working. We would turn them on and they would quickly dim. The LED lights in the bedroom area worked fine. The main cabin LED lights are on a dimmer while the bedroom lights are not. Now that we are home and Rosie is in her inside storage space, we have been unable to replicate that problem.
After hanging out inside the store for a while, we ventured back out to Rosie. The furnace was working hard and we doubt that it turned off during the night. The memory foam on the bed didn't have time to thaw out and continued to be stiff, but we were warm enough inside Rosie.
The lessons we learned from our first camping experience at a truck stop paid off. By not parking in the middle of the trucks, we didn't hear their constant loud noises.
We were glad we decided to start heading home when Rosie was released from Airstream's service center. Once we were on the road that morning, we realized that we would be home in time to pick up our dog, who we boarded at her vet.
We have to classify our trip to Ohio as a success. We were able to make some improvements to Rosie, fix several nagging problems and learned many new things about camping in an Airstream trailer. In addition, we found the farm that Becky's father grew up on and that led us to many pleasant memories.
We are already planning the next round of improvements for our next trip to Jackson Center, Ohio.

Airstream Terraport, Airstream Factory, Jackson Center, Ohio

Our service appointment at the Airstream Factory Center in Jackson Center, Ohio, was for Wednesday, but we arrived on Monday. We didn't want to arrive during snow and freezing rain predicted for Tuesday. Living in the Deep South means we have very little experience in driving on snow and ice and we felt that we didn't want to learn while pulling Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

The Ohio State Line

In case you are wondering why two cold weather novices had an appointment in northern Ohio during November, you need to know that we called during August for an appointment only to discover that the next available service time was in the middle of November. We decided to chance it and hope that the weather didn't force us to cancel. It turned out that we saw temperatures in the low teens and snow flurries during our visit.

Selfie at a rest stop in Ohio

Jackson Center's city limits

Our new fear once we arrived in Ohio was the following week. If the Airstream people could not finish our repairs by Friday, we would have to spend the weekend there and the lows were going to be single digits the next week, the highs were going to be below freezing plus it was going to snow. We are poor candidates for camping in freezing weather.

Rosie arriving at Airstream's Factory

Wally Byum's Airstream trailer

Airstream's Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio

A 1930s version of an Airstream

Looking at the historic display at the Airstream Factory

If you are in Jackson Center for factory service, you can camp without charge in Airstream's Terraport area. The Terraport offers water, 30 and 50 amp electrical service plus sewage connections. The sewer connection was too far away from the dump port on Rosie, so we would have to rely on the dump station found near the exit of the camping area.

Airstream's Terraport

This turned out to be an interesting place to camp. The common thread linking all of the campers together was that we were all Airstreamers and had decided to adopt that lifestyle. We did see one non-Airstream truck camper pull into the Terraport one night. It was interesting in that they kept saying their other camper was an Airstream.

Rosie in Airstream's Terraport

We picked a camp site at the rear of the Terraport. We felt this would give us a better view of the factory area and the campground.

As winter camping rookies, we were warned to disconnect the water feed to Rosie if the temperature dipped below freezing. It was clear at 10 p.m. that it was going to freeze that night and we were outside in the cold removing the water hose. We were unable to reconnect the water the rest of our time there because of the cold weather.

We were also told to run our propane heater when it gets below freezing because it vents warm air to the camper's water tanks. This would help keep the fresh, gray and black water tanks from freezing. Armed with that knowledge, we used our electric heater to take the chill off in Rosie but the furnace to heat it.

On the morning of our service appointment, we heard Airstream's tractor heading towards Rosie around 7 a.m. It only took a moment for the driver to hitch up Rosie, then she was heading to the service bay.

Airstream's tractor hitching-up Rosie

Rosie on her way to the service bays

We jumped into the truck and drove to the service office. We met the technician there who was in charge of fixing Rosie. We had a long list of little things and one or two potentially big problems for him to solve. Our service technician decided to start with the scariest problem first.

We had a ground problem in the 12-volt power system. The ground cable was not making a solid connection with the batteries and my quick fix was to use a battery jumper cable to patch the negative terminals on the batteries to Rosie's frame. While this was effective, it didn't fix the underlying problem.

Our service rep said this could be a simple wire loose in the tongue jack or it could be a tedious process of tracing out the wires at $115 an hour. Turns out it was the latter and we invested more than two hours to fix this problem.

Our service rep would put Rosie back together every afternoon around 4 p.m. and the Airstream people would tow Rosie back to our site in the Terraport so that we could spend the night there. Then the whole process started over again the next morning.

Rosie in the service bay

Our service technician found and corrected a serious propane gas valve problem in our water heater that we were unaware of and could have been a serious problem later on. When he told us about that issue, we remembered smelling the propane gas "rotten eggs" scent a couple of times and mistakenly thinking we had a black water tank problem.

In addition to fixing the things on our list (missing rivets, door hinge problem, grounding system issue, a slow water leak around the panorama window, etc.), we wanted to add a couple of improvements. They installed a new bicycle rack to Rosie's back bumper and LED lights in the cabin.

Airstream's waiting room

Factory tours start at this desk

During the day, we would talk with other Airstream owners who were also there having their trailers serviced. We saw that valuable information was being passed on by experienced Airstreamers in the waiting room. We picked up on the "must visit" campgrounds, the best WBCCI caravans plus towing and maintenance tips for keeping Rosie in tip-top shape.

The store at Airstream's factory

Our trip to northern Ohio wasn't only about Rosie. Jackson Center is less than 50 miles from the farm Becky's father grew up on and where she visited her grandparents as a child. So, one day was dedicated to the nostalgia tour of the family farm.

A section of Becky's family farm

Another picture of the farm

With some crucial help from her father providing us with street names and landmarks, we found the farm. It was sad that the farmhouse Becky remembered visiting was no longer there, but the corn field and the livestock areas were. There were some emotional moments as Becky reminisced about visiting her grandparents at the farm and how much she wished they were greeting us from the porch as we arrived.

Old family photo of Becky's grandparents on the farm

We also found the K-12 school Becky's father attended. It continues to be used for all grade levels under one roof.

K-12 School in Ohio

Temperatures were an issue while camping at the Airstream factory in Ohio. Nighttime lows were in the low teens and we saw some snow flurries. We burned through a 30 pound bottle of propane in four days! We discovered that we can survive in Rosie through freezing temperatures, but it is more fun to be out in warmer weather.

Becky with a few snow flakes on her coat

Some specifics about the Airstream Terraport camping area:

• There are four or five camping loops in the park. All of the loops are named after Airstream models. We camped in the Safari loop.
• There are five camping pads in each loop. The sites are very close together, but the campers here are there for factory service and not for the park's features.
• There is no shade in the Terraport.
• The sites offer 20, 30 and 50 amp service.
• There are water and sewer connections at each site.
• There are no bath houses at the Terraport.
  
• All of the camping pads are paved and close to being level. We dropped the stabilizers the first night, but not the rest of the time to help speed up our preparation time in the mornings waiting for the tractor to arrive and tow Rosie to the service bay.
• There is a dump station at the park.
• AT&T provided moderate 3G and 4G service over the park. Our service would frequently drop back to Edge while there.
• There is Wi-Fi service in the customer service waiting room. We were able to use this Wi-Fi from the Terraport.
• There isn't a lot of variety in restaurants near the factory. We quickly found our favorite table at the local Subway.
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS using our TV antenna. We also saw digital signals from THiS-TV, MY-TV, GET-TV and ME-TV.
• Make sure you take the factory tour while in Jackson Center. You will see how Airstream trailers are hand-crafted and it will make you proud to own one.

We plan to return next year to add a few more modifications to Rosie.

On our last day in the service center, we were having to make decisions about what was important for this visit and what could wait until next time. We had to finish no later than 4 p.m. on Friday so that we would not have to stay over the weekend. Snow and single digit low temperatures were predicted and the next week was going to be much colder. We needed to head south before the service staff quit for the day on Friday.

The waiting room thinned out on Friday afternoon to just us, an Airstream owner from Louisiana and an Airstream motor coach owner. We had said earlier that we planned to hitch up that evening and pull out early Saturday morning. Our service technician promised that we would be ready that afternoon and as they tallied the bill, we started to dread spending the night in Ohio's sub-freezing temperatures. That was when we started thinking about getting three or four hours down the road towards home that night.

We able to make it close to the Kentucky/Tennessee state line before we stopped for the night. While traveling, we wondered if the Airstreamer from Louisiana was able to get on the road that night or if he needed to stay over the weekend so that his service crew could complete the work on his camper. When we left Jackson Center, the service technicians were working on his roof and his trailer didn't appear to be ready to roll. While talking about him, we heard his horn as he passed us on I-71 near Cincinnati. We were glad he was able to get on the road that evening. We saw him two more times that night on I-71 and I-65.

We mentioned earlier that several Airstreamers told us that it was worth heading to the factory in Ohio when you have Airstream specific repairs. We agree and plan to return in the future. Maybe next time we will be able to get an appointment earlier than the middle of November.