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Silver City

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I finished Americana this week.  Interesting collection of "dispatches" over a 15-20 year span of time. It lacked any cohesiveness, but Hampton Sides touched on some interesting themes.  I liked his description of the Airstream conventions held every year, in which thousands gather at pre-selected sites to create a gleaming "silver city" and swap road stories and engage in various activities.  They name their club after Wally Byam, who launched the first Airstream caravan back in 1936.  More important, he set an ethos in caravaning that lives to this day, with events held all around the world.  Sides notes one particular road trip that stretched from Cape Town to Cairo, taking in the immense reach of Africa in 1959.
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  1. avrdsSeptember 23, 2011 at 5:44 AM

    I admit it -- I love airstreams, particularly the little ones. And if I could figure out how to tow one, I'd probably own one. They are really wonderful. Don't think I'd fit in with the Wally Byams though. They are a bit too regimented for me.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 23, 2011 at 6:54 AM

    There used to be an all airstream park next to the Melbourne,FL airport but they tore it up some years back.It looked really cool from the air as you came into Melbourne.bosox

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  3. avrdsSeptember 23, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    My kind of place!

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