Airstream travel trailer rally comes to town

Airstream travel trailer enthusiasts held their Hands Across the Border rally - their 49th annual event - 10 miles east of Havre at the Hansen Family Campground & Storage LLC, where 20 Airstream camper owners gathered for the event.

Teri Giao, president of the Montana unit of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International, or WCCI, said the goal is to find a meeting place where members have something to do.

The rally alternates every year between Canada and Montana.

Giao and her husband, Mike, arrived at the campground Wednesday, with most members of the club arriving Thursday and departing Monday.

By Saturday, those who had come from Alberta and Saskatchewan to join their fellow Montanan club members had already been to the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump, H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum, Havre Beneath the Streets and Fort Assinniboine. The evening event would include dance performances by members of the Nakoda Tribe.

The Giaos, who are from Livingston, own a 20-foot 1968 Airstream Ambassador they found in a Pocatello, Idaho, field in 2009. The camper, now stocked with air conditioning and full-size sinks in the bathroom and kitchen, was in need of major "TLC" when they found it.

But Mike found out he had cancer at the base of his tongue shortly after the Giaos bought the camper and they wondered if they should still do it.

"Let's do it," Mike said, remembering the decision to have the camper fixed up. "If I die, I might as well travel."

They hired Mintage Airstream out of Missoula to do the restoration.

Six years later, the luxury camper has everything the Giaos need, and some things they don't, like a DVD player and surround sound. The plan, the Giaos said, is to one day get rid of everything else, house included, and to live and travel in the Ambassador.

Mike has since had treatment, and has been free of cancer for five years.

Ron and Tobe Green of Bozeman have a newer airstream, a 1995.

"We've had 14 people in here," Ron Green said, as he showed off the dining area.

"They couldn't get out, I will admit," Tobe Green added, lightly laughing.

A bad storm was hitting the area, so everyone gathered inside, the Greens said, explaining why they would have so many people in their Airstream.

But there were no clouds in the sky Saturday early afternoon and a group was gathered outside their Airstream. They were lounging in foldout chairs, going over the days' activities. Then they all took turns, chiming in on how the point of the Airstream is to accommodate high winds.

That's the point of the rounded corners, one enthusiast said.