Welcome! We’re Mary and Rick Dotson and we are in the process of renovating a 1961 Airstream Safari trailer. It’s the kind of trailer we consider a classic, an icon of what Airstream founder Wally Byam called “the new way to adventurous living.”

In August 2004, we bought the Airstream trailer we call “the Toaster.” From outward appearances, what we purchased was a nice trailer. It had a pretty nice skin, the appliances worked as represented. The previous owners had driven it to Florida the winter before, but decided to buy a newer, larger Avion. Once we got it, Mary set to refinishing the interior, primarily making sewing finishes to make the interior appear more vintage and less country kitch.

When we went to our second Cherry Blossom Rally, Mary drove in a separate car and noticed that the trailer was bouncing an awful lot on the road. It wasn’t just the axles. An examination by vintage trailer expert Colin Hyde showed that the entire front of the chassis had eroded, due to a long ago battery leak. That set us on the road to rennovation, which has been rewarding–if long in duration. The full story of how this got started can be found here.

It’s taken us a long time to fix up this trailer. Part of this delay was due to our just not having enough spare time to work on it. Part of it was due to our wanting to add more and more features as we opened the structure up. Part of it was due to our own confusion as we figured out how to accomplish what we wanted to do.

And that’s where this website come in. It’s our attempt to document what we’ve learned, so that you don’t have to experience the dilemmas we faced.

Please enjoy this site. Leave a comment if you visit and let us know what’s up with your vintage trailer and adventures on the road. Better yet, add a link to our site from your blog or website (always appreciated)! If you wish to contact us privately, please click this link to contact us and send a message.

Good luck with your restoration efforts and happy journeys!

Mary and Rick