The Closet Reclamation Project - part 1

When Indiana Jones goes DIY

I knew it was there.

The "secret closet" was hidden behind mouthwash-blue paneling from an era of Mary Tyler Moore, Disco and Ford Mavericks.

I'd heard the rumors of the former storage space for years, and a closer look at the room showed there was a mystery wall space not accounted for.

My wife grew up in our circa 1917 Danish farmhouse, and remembers the lost cubby was "icky and dark" thirty years ago, back when it was her childhood room. That's when her Father decided to abandon the closet for a paneling job.

I had to see it. I had to be Indiana Jones for just a spell and peak into this time capsule, right down the hall.

Since our closet space was minimal, the "lost closet" could help our storage problems.

The paneling came off easily, and behind it was a spider web-laden broken plaster room about three feet deep and wide, with items on the floor and even a few hangers on the rod.

On the floor was a Milwaukee Brewer baseball card (pitcher Skip Lockwood) and a bright orange "tray" of sorts, dusty and textured.

"Hey, that's the piece for my 'Don't Spill the Beans' game!" My wife exclaimed, seeming to have really missed the item. "I wondered where that ended up."

The Closet Reclamation Project was successful all around: We gained much needed extra storage space in the Guest Room and it forced me to cover the wall in cool car siding wood, and even better, a mystery was finally solved.

She said there's another lost storage area above the stairs, this one larger and even "grosser," she warned.

I'm wondering if I'll need a whip and a fedora.

Pinstriped Phavoritism?

It doesn't matter that he hasn't broke the Top 50 All Time, what matters is that Derek Jeter is the hittingest Yankee Ever. Again, showing how the MARKET is more important than the team, player or event.

Nothing against DJ, or certainly the Late Mr. Gehrig, but fellas, there's others - including a certain Mr. Rose - who've kicked this records arse.

The 'Great Sconnie Commuter Secret

...and other reasons we will be watching the Stillwater Bridge lawsuit results.

Yes, it's true. We have a lack of quality jobs in Western Wisconsin. Maybe it's because of our affection for anything "Big Time" - a former local Mayor once declared a city holiday when a McDonalds opened in his river town eight years ago - or maybe it's because the State of Minnesota has decided that the World We Pay Attention To ends at the St. Croix River. Or maybe there's just not enough of us to justify working, living wages (Polk County's unemployment rates are traditionally among the highest in the Midwest.)

Regardless of why, until the recent housing meltdown/collapse, parts of the region (St. Croix County, specifically) were among the fastest growing areas in the Midwest, and ranked pretty high, nationally, as well.

Hence the long, drawn out fight for a new Stillwater Bridge (aka "The St. Croix River Crossing Project") which officially goes back nearly SIXTY years!

In an interview several years ago, current District 30 legislator Kitty Rhoades (R-Hudson) made her pitch for the new bridge, and brought up how some of the first correspondence on the need for a replacement to the venerable Lift Bridge would be needed soon.

"That first letter to the State Highway Commissioner was written the month I was born, April 1951!" She said without battling an eyelash on the obvious mathematical-age-determining-formula she handed me.

"And now I'm bombarded with AARP literature!"

Rep. Rhoades has joined forces with all Western Wisconsin legislators, and numerous Minnesotans, of all flavors, ages and parties in pushing for a new bridge, yesterday.

Several false starts along the way have seen the costs of the project mushroom from "several million dollars" in the early Sixties, to reports of almost $700 million today. But the real "fly in the ointment" in the past decade-and-a-half was a successful Sierra Club/National Park Service lawsuit in 1996 that sent the whole project back to Zero.

That lawsuit forced the creation of a group of so-called "Stakeholders" - ranging from local and state governments from both sides of the river, to environmental and transportation groups, as well as DNR and National Parks Service interests (The St. Croix Riverway is a Scenic National Riverway) to weigh-in on the most recent incarnation of a bridge, approved in a memorandum of Understanding by the Feds in

The NPS changed their tunes, and approved the most recent designs. Because of that, it has been pretty much the "Sierra Club against the World" in the latest lawsuit, which claims the most recent draft design is no real improvement over previous versions.

After several delays, that lawsuit comes to a head in the coming weeks in a Federal Courtroom in Minneapolis, and there seems to be little doubt by most of the players that some sort of bridge will come out of Chief Judge Michael Davis' summary judgement.

"The biggest issue now will be money," stated Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R- River Falls) at a recent Wisconsin Towns Association meeting. "We're staring at a lot of red ink in the (Wisconsin) state budget, and Minnesota isn't much better off."

A number of local elected officials were disappointed the Bridge Project did not qualify for economic stimulus cash, since it is still at least three years away from having ground broken - even if the latest Sierra Club lawsuit collapses.

But much of the design and prep work has already been completed or is ready to roll, since the various stages of Environmental Impact Studies have made their way sluggishly while the lawsuit spooled up and moved eventually into a courtroom.

The need for a new bridge may have waned somewhat in the past year with the "cooled" Western Wisconsin housing build-up, but the region will no doubt continue to be a growing metropolitan player, as the tired and aging Lift Bridge sputters like a 50s Buick - classic in design, but woefully behind the times in modern terms.

History played a role in the Stakeholders Group, with several historians and preservation players pushing for and winning approval for a sort of "bike and hike retirement" for the old bridge.

The near-final plan would save the rare, classic lifter, and turn it into a silent sports icon if the new bridge is built, and part of a grandiose bike and hike trail that runs the old alignment from downtown Stillwater across to Houlton and downstream to the new bridge and into Oak Park Heights.

That brought quite a few historians on board, and also some of the very people who fought so hard to kill the project previously.

While the monetary costs continue to spiral up - more than doubling since the original Sierra Club/NPS lawsuit was filed - the cost in environmental damage is also noteworthy: Hundreds of thousands of idling, creeping car and trucks every year.

The volume of vehicles continuing to make their way through St. Croix County and into downtown Stillwater and back again each day continues to grow, sometimes pausing for half-an-hour at a time to wait for river traffic or obsolete engineering repairs or upgrades. Those repairs can cause legendary congestion or detours, since there are only a few nearby crossing alternatives: Hudson, Osceola and St. Croix Falls.

And while the Twin Cities suburban ring inches west to Big Lake, St. Cloud and the like, the Metropolitan Council has only recently begun to take the western Wisconsin region into their future plans. meaning commuter trains and rail alternatives are decades away from fruition.

But the Western Wisconsin Commuter Secret - previously only relayed by realtors and commuters with a few to many 'Leinies' under their belts means the 'Sconnie growth should continue.

That secret? The sun is always to our backs.

Don't tell 'em, I told you.

Vintage Camper Showcase #19 - 007's weekender

Those wacky Brits! First they drive on the wrong side of the road, then they eat "pie" made of meat and without fruit, and drink warm beer with an egg in it, and then they make this crazy camper!
Somewhere in between they conjured up James Bond, Robin Hood and Twiggy - which are all cool - and of course the music is among the best in all of humanity.
Oh yeah, and I'm totally all over Monty Python and slinky brunettes with a British accent are sexier than the Victoria's catalog.
But leave the campers to the bloody Yanks! Here's why.
Even though it looks sorta cool, it reportedly didn't work all that well. It's a 1963 Martin Walter Romany Conversion Bedford Dormobile. 

Yes, I know. A mouthful. Quick say it by memory! A little clunky, maybe, but worthy of a view. And I'm sure they're worth a pretty pound these days!
"I say, Love, throw me a few quid for a loxie if you might. The old birds' feeling a bit randy, if you know what I mean..."

Columbus Day Blue

"Columbus Day Blue" is a jokey-esque theme tune I wrote a few years back, in response to my good friend J.Skibbe's dedication to education, and his amazing MLKjr themed program for his elementary students.
Frankly, mine's a bit too depressing for fourth graders, but it forced me to do a little research on Columbus, and his day in the American sun.
I'm sure some will find it "politically correct," or some other "I don't agree with it - so it must be wrong" term.
I've included the subscripts, and forgot that it actually had a ring of iambic pentameter, to it, occasionally.

"Columbus Day Blue"
by G. Marsten

One Monday... in October
(repeat twice, slow swell in ferocity)
We close the banks, let the kids watch cartoons,
and forget to deliver our junk mail
Recalling the day in 1492
when Columbus crossed the oceans blue.
America just slows down a bit,
and forgets who brought the flu.

He sailed three ships, with a crew of Spaniards
luffing sails and lashed down lanyards
One Monday... in October
It's Columbus Day, hey, hey
it's Columbus Day, whoa, whoa
we'll celebrate
with a box of Chardonnay,
spread evil bugs to dark skinned neighbors
Pandemic fever, native culture favors,
bloodshed, scalped heads and shiny gold dublooms...
From King Ferdinand himself
That's worthy, I'd say
of another bank holiday

The Nina was the fast one
and the Pinta speedy, too,
but the booty stayed on the Santa M
where Ol' Chris' dreams came true.
Too cool to ask for guidance,
Columbus' boys kept sailin on
and hoped they'd stay on track
for another wavy island Caribbe-ahn
(repeat chorus, add lapping waves, native chants and island drums)

(bkgrnd, syncopated)
we'll let the stars be our guides
and let destiny rule our souls and tides.

white pepper, thyme and basil
marjoram, salts, witch hazel .
Columbus' boys had spicy goals
as they navigated the rocky shoals.
spreading Europe's spicy ways
in a renaissance black pepper haze.
It wasn't Chris' fault, you know...
(repeat chorus, louder bkgrnd chants)

That shortcut burned,
The crown was spurned
It was superhero destiny.
a continent found, now culture's doomed...
lets stay inside our Spanish room

Just one day...
in October
Fill the spice rack with pride
That Monday
in October.
Take the Pinta for a ride
Just one day
to notice all we've done
all we've broke and all we fixed
all we've took and all that's mixed.
America was born again
with Columbus' detour west.

The locals had been here years before
but dead reckoning ain't always best...
when land gets in the way.

But it wasn't all Chris' fault, I'm sure
His crew was sick and didn't know it.
Columbus found the shortcut...
but we all let that Genie out
(Repeat and fade chorus with slow chants, lapping waves and sand friction, like a boat landing. Drink beer and pretend you're healthy.)


(copyright 2007/prairie spy productions, downstream music)

The mystery of Lac qui Parle Church

One of my lifelong, best friends, JW - who affectionately brags of "having known me since I was a fetus" - recently moved some of his life to the semi-abandoned "ghost town" of Lac qui Parle, Minnesota.




















Just a few dozen miles from the South Dakota border, the semi-abandoned village may have been one of the possible original choices for the pre-state, territorial Minnesota capitolship, and prominently displays a sign bragging of its' Post Office roots.



Very little history can be found on-line, and the winter hours of the local historical society make it unrealistic to dig into archives when it isn't warm.
But the town seems poised on the verge of fading into the prairie, and that troubles me.
Specifically, there is an old church, pictured here and in my blog's title, that seems close to being a loss forever.

Many people have no trouble with that, and find old, decaying structures or objects "eyesores," and worthy of burial.

I'm just the opposite, and have found a stunning beauty in that decay, but mainly for the history behind it.
I have elicited the help of some of my Flickr photoshop wizards to try and decipher the NAME of the church, which is all but illegible. I could only make out "church" and "synod," and a few Flickr-ites found "Ev Luth" and "John" in the battered wood with extensive digitizing, maybe even a "St." before the John. 

The Minnesota State Historical Society has one photo of the church, from 1971, although they list as the Lac qui Parle 'Union Church."

Hmmm- the plot thickens.

I took several dozen photos in and out of the church, but one of the more stunning features is a nearly century old wood stove (shown here) that I was able to trace back to at least 1912!
Next on the order was genealogical society records, which seem to indicate little about the church, but may reference a cemetery near the site - which I couldn't see through the four-foot-tall snowdrifts. However, that is a game changer, and if a cemetery is "lost," it MUST be noted or reclaimed for protection, by many state statutes.
If that "lost" cemetery is for real, it may indicate the church had an actual congregation until no later than 1922, before pulling up stakes when the village fell apart.
Regardless, the biggest threat to this once amazing structure is obvious: The former landscaping trees that lined its flanks!
Imagine, one hundred years ago, a group of dedicated people did their best to beautify the plain-sided church, and "pretty it up" with some bushes, or shrubs and small trees from their clippings. Those trees/shrubs/bushes are now over thirty feet tall, and growing through the walls and windows, threatening the old church more than the elements, development, critters or even other denominations!

JW and a few of us who moved helped move him have discussed a "save the church" weekend, where we bring our chainsaws, trailers and formidable muscles in to cut those offending trees back and give the church - and possible cemetery - a new chance.
It would be a cool retreat, or shop, or showroom, or ski/snowmobile/ATV stop, or yes, Brother JW, again as a church.

As Lac qui Parle's newest resident put it, he's hoping the church returns the favor.

Dishing it out

Casserole or hot dish? As long as it tastes good, we judges don't care

judge |jəj|
noun
a public official appointed to decide cases in a court of law.
• a person who decides the results of a competition.
• an official at a sports contest who watches for infractions of the rules.
• a person able or qualified to give an opinion on something : he was a good judge of tasty recipes, talent and band names.

Yes, I modified the definition a bit, but the role is important.




It is one of the lesser-known debates on naming: "Casserole" or "Hot Dish."
The Frederic, Wisconsin Historical Society has usurped that great debate altogether and instead has an annual contest to decide who has the best recipe for the loosely-named Sunday staple in many local households.
I was asked to be a judge in this critical "Hot Dish Competition" for the second straight time. It is one of the most coveted judging calls I've been honored to have.
Hey, I'm not going to turn down free food.
In my quasi-professional career in the media, I've been asked to host, emcee and judge numerous contests: From a bowling alley grand opening to the county fair talent contest and several in between. People think I apparently am a "good judge of talent."
Little do they know how deep it goes.
Hormel made our family one of their "testers" back in the late 70s, and while the dishes seemed to all be various varieties of TV dinner, I did get an early look at food judging.
But I'm not one to insult any food, so they all seemed pretty good to me.
"Hmm, this one would go good with The Six Million Dollar Man and that one would be good with Charlie's Angels!"
Of course, what doesn't go good with bionic action shows and cute female detectives?
The accompanying Hormel letter with each food test made you realize the importance of your judging task - how it will influence the diets and meals of America and the World.
I took it very seriously.
But my career of influencing America was off an running even before that.
As a child, I (mistakenly) told my little brother that I "made up" the phrase "shut up."
I guess I heard it somewhere else, but it made my brother a minor celebrity at Sister Elizabeth Kenny Elementary.
The whole episode also made for a good "meet my Brother" story at college parties later in life.
"Dude, you've got to meet Nate's big brother, he's the guy who INVENTED 'SHUT-UP!'"
The chortles of laughter and hand shaking usually overcomes the ridiculousness of the matter. But back in the late 70s, for several days after the claim, his elementary-age friends had the utmost respect for me.
"I use your word all the time!" they would say at his ball games and birthday parties.
Regardless of whether I really invented the phrase, I consider myself a generally good judge of a product, phrase, band or talent.
I predicted long ago the growth of the flavored coffee creamer market; I saw Star Wars on opening night, and convinced nearly half my Susan B. Anthony Junior High homeroom class to attend in the coming days. That one sealed my fate.
I also count at least two band name to my credit, as well; "The Genuine Imitations" and "Ghost Runner," out of Minneapolis. The first name comes courtesy my late Grandfather, Oscar, who referred to their silverware as "genuine imitation silver."
The other band name, Ghost Runner, comes from our whiffle ball days, when two people could play each other on a backyard, urban "field."
(Once referred to, affectionately, as "Freeman Field at Marsten Park." Man, I WAS ahead of our time.)
"Ghost Runner on third, two outs. You lead, 8 to 5."
I was hoping to make another discovery beneath the Frederic Depot picnic shelter, tasting strange hot dish/casseroles on a hot Saturday afternoon.
The competition included a celebrity of sorts in '08 State Senate candidate Alison Page of River Falls. The contest is also a chance to schmooze with the Frederic royalty, local elected folk and business leaders and of course, the actual hot dish creators.
The great "Hot Dish vs. Casserole" debate seemed moot, but there was a variety of atypical-styled dishes, including one with - hang on to your apron - CURRY and coconut.
I don't think Campbell's makes a flavor of soup for that.
Another entry was nothing but carrots, simmering in a sweet-and-sour style broth that amazingly won raves from the participants.
Even with the curry, coconuts and carrots, the variety was not as wild as last year, when an exotic seafood-based noodley-thing was the winner.
The judging criteria is up in the air, but the three of us - myself, Frederic native Kenny Java and former Burnett County Sentinel editor Byron Higgin (Who was my boss for about four days a few summers back, during a "business courtship.")
We all did our best to be "Fox News-like" in our judging: Fair, balanced and most of all, full.
I personally planned to eat nothing but rice cakes, sweet corn and water for three days prior, so I could be famished enough to eat something I might not normally like.
Didn't quite work out that way.
In the end, the taste buds had a workout, and a less-than-exotic "calico bean" style hot dish won top prize. It was hard work but I think our judging was of professional caliber.
I mean, I hope we did a good job. My waistline thought so.
And there wasn't a tater tot anywhere to be seen...or tasted.

###

Vintage Camper showcase #13

I'm showering in the Forest! Imagine that! 

That's one slick, sleek piece of modern conveniences, Madge. The new Airstream was more than just a "camper," it was a mobile two-star hotel room. You could be in the jungle, forest, desert or prairie, and the modern world was just behind your bumper. 

"Oh, pass me the soap, cowboy, I'm felling very dirty after a big day outdoors." 

Oh-la-la! Or as the ad says, "...all the world is truly their home."

Photos courtesy the RV/MH Museum in Indiana, and also part of the C. Dickenson collection. Don't think they go together, but were in the same batch. I believe the Airstream exterior is a 1958, while the shower photo may be a different critter, since it says 1952. But still, imagine how revolutionary the shower was for RV campers. It was the last excuse for many people.  

The salvaged Chicago "Black Friday" Series #1

All photos were once thought lost on a previous computer, from a now-retired Nikon. The computer - a Dell, I should mention - that had a tendency to swallow programs whole, and not in a good way.
The shots are all from downtown Chicago over Thanksgiving 2005, and include several of the really cool people in my life: My wife, daughter, brother and his wife and eventually some others. I highly recommend going to DT Chicago on a Black Friday at least once in your life. It is an exhilarating, exciting and pretty safe time to do it. Big crowds, all enjoying the experience. Amazing people watching, inspiring lights, music, usually snow. Turns Scrooge into Prancer.

The Lost Belize Study #2

Even more goodies from my favorite Central American Parliamentary Democracy, Belize.
Included here are some of the goodies I recorded in 2005 while touring the region by large ship (ah, it was a cruise.) Enjoy, and look for UFOs!

Lost Belize Study #1

My one and only trip to Belize - and other Central American stops - included a few fantastic little junkets across the tiny nation with several Mayan ruins, cool coastline and some of the richest history in the world. I shot about 40 photos, maybe ten are worth showing. Here's batch #1. The locations are Belize City, Altun Ha Mayan ruins and a lighthouse/warning structure on the beach near La Caracol. I forgot about the shots when I got a new hot rod computer, and they never made the transfer. I found them and the memories came flooding back in like a high tide.  

"Took a Detour" (aka: Milltown Study # 1)

All photos by me, taken a few hours before a winter storm and all within about eight minutes of each other. Took a detour through nearby Milltown, Wisconsin. There's plenty of old wood and iron, much of it strangely historic: The little Polk County village served as an "internment town" during WWII, for German POWs. Many worked at a local Stokely Canning facility, and became an integral part of the area for a spell. Being a "detainee" was a little different then. I have a B/W photo study series of remaining Milltown military facilities, but not on the digital yet. That and about 16,000 other photos. Hmmm, biz opportunity or massive pain in the Blagojevich? Maybe a bit of both. ("Are you there, Santa? It's me, G Mars. I could really use a good negative film scanner for Christmas. I'd ask for a Senate seat, but I don't have the cash. I've been pretty good, this year. Sorry about the whole "power outtage thing," that won't happen again! Thanks! Help yourself to the cookies. Your friend, Greg [Who could really use a negative film scanner] Mars.)

:>)  

Jealous of this disaster

This is one of the strangest photos I've ever seen. It comes courtesy of Joshua Heineman, and is titled "Camera Death." It is supposedly the last shot ever taken with one of his digital cameras before it died. It's one of my faves. I highly recommend his site, as well, which includes a study on something I am also getting into: Cataloguing of old museum photos and "stereoscopic" images. He's nailed it, and made me think twice on even moving on in the field. His are so cool, so haunting and awe-unsparing, It makes me think twice. Bravo. (Also, Josh has one of the coolest, art-of-all-flavors "E-zines" you'll ever find. I especially dig the "lost & found 35mm slides" feature. It's basically a fella named Jason Cawood, who found a bunch of old slide trays with pix in them in Canada. He saved them from the trash at a thrift store and shows the best of the lot. Total time machines. It's in Issue #1.)

Origin of the Species

Oldest friend JW - who routinely introduces me as someone he has known "Since I was a fetus" - passed along one of the rare, but oh-so-cool Fels-Naptha Soap ads and background on the origins of "Tattletale Gray."
Thanks, Jay-Dub, for the history, kitsch and Americana!




The term “tattle tale” wasn’t exactly a very nice name to associate with people who intentionally got a friend, acquaintance, family member, and even adversary in trouble. It also wasn’t a very nice name for the laundry, either.

Husbands immediately knew their wives were washing the laundry with inferior soap. How did they know? Their (supposedly) white shirts were an awful shade of “Tattle Tale Gray.” When this happened, husbands weren’t bashful in letting their wives know about the error of their ways--- in a less than happy manner. Although Tattle Tale Gray wasn’t the major reason for divorces back then, it sure did make life miserable.

This dingy looking color was awful, but it could easily be dealt with. Actually, there were 2 possible solutions for the wife. First (and it’s an excellent thought), let hubby wash his own shirts. Guaranteed, it prevented him from complaining further on this subject, but it didn’t exactly solve the overall problem of Tattle Tale Gray. The practical solution was to wash the laundry with Fels-Naptha. It didn’t matter if it was the original Fels-Naptha Soap Bar or Fels-Naptha Soap Chips--- as long as it said Fels-Naptha on the wrapper or box. When Fels-Naptha was used, the white clothes were actually white. That meant white shirts and happy husbands. With Tattle Tale Gray an unpleasant, but distant memory, husbands and wives were getting along very well, thanks to Fels-Naptha.




(Photo above is JW, posing with his patented "People Mover" golf cart trailers. He can build you a way-cool ride for less than it takes to buy an Illinois Zoning Commissioner seat from Rod Blagojevich. Plus, you can customize the trailer with hot rod wheels, hot colors and graphics and even a stereo or cooler! Full feature to come, along with a shameless promotional link!)

"Say cream danish!" Caption Contest #3 (also, Vintage Camper Showcase #11)

This photo has it all: A classic Buick LeSabre, vintage Airstream, mock windmill and a smiling family in their Sunday best! If it had a puppy and a Gerber baby it would qualify for federal restoration funding. GBA! (Ah, that's "God Bless America") Let loose with the captions!

Frank Lloyd Wright Thanksgiving Photo Study

All photos taken Thanksgiving Day, 2006 at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed and built Seth Peterson Cottage, on Mirror Lake near the Wisconsin Dells. Owned by the State DNR, and up for rent by the weekend! 

(Thanks to Brother Brian and Cheryl Freeman, and the 'rents for footing the bill at this Amazing Piece of architectural history.) And yes, I'm including a rare, former smoker self-portrait (the last one, on the porch.)
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Hope the last photo doesn't wreck your appetite!

Caption Contest Two; "Edward, don't waste your film on us..." (Vintage Camper Showcase #10. a/k/a "Ed's new hat")

Some photos tell stories accidentally. Those stories not only have dialog and humor, but act as a snapshot that could be deep and interesting or dryer than cotton lint. Hmm, what was the occasion? Thanksgiving, maybe? Retirement? Or are they several siblings or cousins, seeing each other for the first time in years? Maybe only neighbors. Maybe mob figures on Holiday.
Regardless, it's a caption contest natural. Run with it!

(Airstream photo courtesy the C. Dickenson - RV/MH Museum Collection. No other details.)

Vintage Camper Showcase #8 - NPS

Oh, doesn't it make you want to throw on some Bermuda shorts, grab a High Life and head for the fishing hole? Maybe grab a heater along the way, and then complain about the way music has gone "downhill," you know, with all that "rock-and-roller stuff." Heck, I'm thinking of investing in the National Broadcasting Corporation, ever since they added stations west of the Rockies! You know this radio thing could be the future. (Photo courtesy the National Park Service. 1933 at Glacier National Park. No details on car or camper.)

How about that? A home printing press!

This shows how far we've come: From a world where physical writing was the norm, to a world where home-based printing presses became affordable for the masses! Suddenly, not only could we write and print, we could write and embarrass the heck out of ourselves, for the world to see. Yes, for one of my first jobs, I sold these things, serviced them and was a master at finding a cartridge for the vintage versions.This goes out to my old friends D. Rass and Hayes. Who managed to liberate dozens of these machines from their tombs of despair.

Vintage Camper Showcase #7 - Meet Miss Spartanette!

She's a sassy little vixen, all smooth and shiny like a lake's reflection on a sunny day. Spartans were known for their shiny polished styling, variety in sizes and lush, rich interiors and woodwork. They have become one of the primary vintage campers for restoration, in part because of that classic look, which I like to call the "Jetson's Style." Here's a few prime Spartans for the first time on TTG.




(All photos and literature courtesy the RV/MH Museum in Indiana.)