Vintage travel trailer is becoming home away from home

By Deborah Buckhalter

Published: July 3, 2008

It’s an eye-catching outfit, the little travel trailer that Candy and Chris Nowling own.
That’s not because it’s a flashy unit with all the latest gizmos, but because it draws the mind back to simpler times.
Outside, the paint is fading on the compact, rounded trailer, making it clear that the unit is weather-worn and aged to vintage status.
But the Nowlings, of DeFuniak Springs, are restoring their 1972 ‘Argosy 22’, known as “the painted Airstream” model.
They’ve put aside their tools for the weekend, though, to camp in the trailer this 4th of July weekend. They pulled into the Arrowhead campsite in Marianna Thursday with their trailer packed full of holiday supplies.
To be so small, it holds a lot; a wading pool, a kid’s picnic table, and lots of water toys for their two-year-old son, Mason were stowed inside. A big standing hammock they just bought, a large rainbow-colored umbrella, and cook-out supplies were also stashed away.
The Nowling’s daughter, 12-year-old Savannah, and her friend, Haley Jernigan, swung happily on the hammock after it had been unpacked and set up beside the trailer.
Three months ago, the Nowlings would practically have had to drag their daughter to such an outing in the Argosy 22.
That’s because, until a few months ago, her dad had been content to leave the trailer pretty much as it looked when he bought it from a friend five years ago. It still had its 1970’s 8-track tape player and a 12-volt radio for entertainment.
He’d been using it all that time mostly to take solo trips to car races. He even called it is “Talledega wagon,” to reflect that favorite use.
It still had all its original material inside; avocado green shag carpet, avocado green fridge and stove, and avocado green cushions. The air-conditioner, original, worked only sporadically.
“It was gross,” Savannah said Thursday. “The carpet was pukey green. And it had bugs.”
A few months ago, with a major change his life-view, Nowling in turn decided to go through with what his wife had wanted to do all along; make a change in the look of the trailer.
“Its the difference between unsaved and saved,” he said in comparing the renovated trailer and its old state to what he says has been a major overhaul in his life since he became a born-again Christian.
He found that he was no longer satisfied to leave the trailer in a condition more suited to the casual lifestyle of a carefree bachelor. Instead, he’s fixing it up to be very family-friendly.
He and his wife, working side by side, have put in a new, non-green countertop. They’ve put in a new air-conditioner, and they’ve recovered the cushions with tan leather-like material. They put in good subflooring to replace some rotting, water-damaged material and topped it off with a surface of laminate wood. They’ll soon add a new stove. It’s black rather than green, and the all-electric updated model will replace the trailer’s already-discarded old gas stove.
Their next big project is the bathroom.
For now, its fixtures are stored in the space, and the tumble of hardware fills the currently unusable bathroom. For the moment, they’re using campground restrooms or sharing with friends who sometimes camp along with them in their own travel trailers.
Eventually, the Nowlings will finish off the renovation with a new exterior paint job. To preserve its vintage appearance, they are keeping the original window--
Savannah is thrilled with the changes, and is no longer afraid to sleep in the trailer for fear of the creepy-crawlies she imagined hiding in every corner.
This is the Nowling’s second trip in the trailer since the renovation process began, and she was proud to bring a friend along this time around.
The family has already spent more on the renovation than Chris paid for the trailer. But Nowlings say their money has been well-spent.
The trailer has become more than a get-by shelter; now it’s a family fun house.