Home
ShowsBefore You GoBulletin BoardContactAboutSearch
Show and Features |
Culture Watch | Question of the Week | Letters of the Week |
Traveler's Aid | Library | Host's View
 
Click HERE to go to Judie Fein's Nunnery piece.

Deborah Clark drove 600 miles into the desert to check out our very first accommodation: the Shady Dell RV Park in Bisbee, Arizona.



by Deborah Clark

Listen with RealAudio: Shady Dell RV Park

Hello! I hear you saying. All that way for a trailer park? No, not just any trailer park. This one has vintage airstream trailers -- you know, the ones that look like lunar equipment, or giant silver bullets. At least, that was what I thought...

Rita: "In our whole line-up, there's only one Airstream, and when we first became interested in trailers...

"...we thought any aluminum trailer was an airstream. And then after quite a bit of research and really getting into it, we found that there were hundreds of trailer manufacturers that have come and gone."

That's Rita Personette. As you can probably tell, she's a stickler for detail. She and partner Rick smith started renting their collection of vintage trailers a couple of years back. Now they've got 7. The most expensive runs about 45 bucks a night. Airstreams of course are the best known but Spartan Air Ray, Airofloat, all those companies churned out trailers. Inside our 1951 Spartonette I see the length Ed and Rita have gone to maintain the feel of a forgotten era. down to the reproduction radios complete with hissy recordings (music) We munched cookies from the 1950s cookie jar. The cookies by the way were from the 90s. And mixed Bloody Marys in the vintage cocktail shaker. A couple of life magazines sit neatly on the table both from1950 back when the glossy was just 20 cents a pop. A blond babe adorns the cover of one New York's first lady the other. In the kitchen the beautiful shiny Kenmore toaster works, so does the Frigidaire GM superfreezer and to the morning I wake up to a rather loud percolator.

Looking for something a little quieter we followed Judie Fein who decided she needed to get away for a little R&R--Rest and Reflection. So she packed her belongings, took a vow of silence, and traveled to a place most of us would never think of going for vacation...a nunnery.



by Judith Fein

Listen with RealAudio: Rest and Reflection

I've been here one day and already I've managed to get myself in a mess of trouble. When I arrived the lovely mother superior said I was welcome even though I'm Jewish. Since I came to do a one week silent retreat I asked her permission to eat my meals away from the dining area so I wouldn't feel pressured to talk to anyone. She agreed, I thanked her and those were the last words I spoke. But when I headed out the door with my tray at lunch time, I was stopped by a nun. `You can't take food out of here,' she said. I just smiled, nodded and pointed toward the reception area before leaving the room. She ran around in front of me, `I said you cannot remove food from the dining room.' Again I smiled, shrugged apologetically and tried to make my getaway. She declared a tug of war by grabbing my tray away from me. I decided I'd have the final yank. I pulled the tray from the nun's steel grasp and bolted from the room. Nice, I had just had my first fight with a nun.

Looking for more information about Judith Fein?
Check out www.livefromsantafe.com.



Next Page

 

[ Features Index ]

 

American Public Media
American Public Media Home | Search | How to Listen
©2004 American Public Media |
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy