STATE 39: GEORGIA
[PLEASE BE PATIENT AS HI-RES IMAGES LOAD]
Back in late December 2017, we were staying in Hollywood, South Carolina, for our STATE 14: SOUTH CAROLINA project and we realized we were closer to Savannah, GA now than we would be during the Georgia project later on in the tour. Not sure if we’d be able to make it there when we’re back in the southeast later in the tour, we made the day trip to the Hostess City as it was nearing Christmas time in the South.
We didn’t really have a plan of action other than walking around Savannah’s historic neighborhoods that featured parks, statues, and fountains on just about every block of beautifully-aged homes, architecture, moss-draped oaks, and even the renowned Savannah College of Art and Design.
Fast forward nearly 18 months later, we were a few months into pausing the tour due to funding while we were living in Kendra’s parents’ basement. Our Airstream was being stored in Florida and we had a ticking clock counting down for some warranty work to be done on the trailer before its 2-year warranty expired, so we needed to make the trip down south to pick it up and bring it home. On the way down, we conducted the STATE 38: ALABAMA in Jacksonville before making it to Lakeland, FL to retrieve our home on wheels.
Once we cleaned and prepared it for travel again, we headed to Atlanta to meet with the agency See.Spark.Go who manages the social media and public relations creative work for corporate Airstream. They had been following the 50 States tour for some time, including re-sharing some of our photos on Instagram, so it was nice to sit down for a cup of coffee with them in person to share our vision, mission, and partnership opportunities. Here’s a sampling of what we put together to share with them, including some product design ideas we envision between a [HAS HEART] x Airstream partnership.
After a great meeting, we asked for a local recommendation for a sight to see nearby. They suggested the beautiful Oakland Cemetery across the street, which to some may sound like a strange suggestion for some, but it was right up our alley. We’ve probably walked through more cemeteries in more states that we’ve gone out to dinner and drinks — which sounds pretty sad, but cemeteries are a free walk through local history, which we’ve grown to appreciate more and more.
For instance, in STATE 04: MASSACHUSETTS we saw gravestones from Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower and in STATE 07: CONNECTICUT, Kendra even found missing links to generations of her family tree. In this cemetery we didn’t unlock any family secrets, instead we just took in the beautiful manicured gardens, flowers, and a #lifegoal greenhouse.
One thing we did come across were gravestones of Confederate soldiers in a large section and a designated black section that included the resting place of slaves. In response to the ongoing racial injustice protests that have been happening across the country, the Oakland Cemetery website had a interesting statement:
“Oakland Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 70,000 Atlantans. The enslaved and their enslavers, the oppressed and their oppressors, the empowered and those who sought to take that power away – all rest beneath the gravestones and gardens of Oakland. Historic Oakland Foundation is committed to truth-telling and sharing the whole history of Atlanta, especially the injustices faced by many of its citizens.
We stand in solidarity with all Black people in the fight against racial injustice and inequality. As a historic site, we have the responsibility to recognize and challenge historic oppression. As a city park, we strive to make Oakland more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable for everyone. As members of the Atlanta community, we will listen to and support our fellow Atlantans as we all fight for real and lasting change.”
For our STATE 39: GEORGIA project, we were able to work with Realtree, that camouflage company that makes you disappear into the woods. Even though neither Kendra or I have ever hunted or even held a loaded gun, their designer Richard Longhi reached out to us early on in the tour as both a graphic designer AND a U.S. Marine veteran. They invited us to stay at a hotel in town not far from their corporate offices, so although we just picked up our Airstream a few days ago, we kept watch over it from our hotel room for these couple days so that we could spend time with their team in the mornings for breakfast and evenings for dinner.
We visited their corporate office space, which was smaller than we expected for such a large brand. We learned that much of their business is done via licensing their trademarked camouflage patterns to third party companies, so they didn’t need a large storage warehouse or retail supply team like most consumer brands. Instead, much of their office space was dedicated to video production, which was also something we didn’t know about before visiting their team. They product A LOT of hunting videos for both outdoor TV channels and their Youtube page. Essentially, Realtree is a camouflage design company and a media production company. Hmm.
Beyond hunting and their typical consumer, their camo patterns have also transcended their original intended use and have been used in streetwear collaborations with the likes of Supreme, Nike, Palace, Vans, and more.
We really enjoyed working with the Realtree creative crew. Even though Richard was a Marine vet himself, he was our designer this time around and his co-worker Wakenia Leonard, who served in the U.S. Army, was our veteran. We also were able to have their internal video guru John Houzer document their collaborative design process and story.
Instead of hosting the project in a conference room in the office, they offered the use of their Realtree Farms, an enormous plot of 9,000 acres natural preserve land outside of the Columbus area where they shoot some of their shows and host special guests. The day before we were scheduled to arrive, they were supposed to have former President Jimmy Carter onsite for his annual turkey hunt, but he had fallen at his home as he was getting ready to leave and had to undergo surgery instead.
Although we weren’t fans of the countless mounted animal heads on the wall, we did really enjoy the cozy cabin vibes, being surrounded by the outdoors, and the sunshine and cool breeze coming through the patio windows and doors. Not to mention, the BBQ joint nearby that rivaled my favorite BBQ lunch we had at our Kansas City, Missouri project was a tasty bonus.
With each project we finish, we always feel a sense of sadness when they come to an end because within a short period of time, we get very close to the participants. This project was no exception. Wakenia, Richard, and John were incredible people, to start. Secondly, working with them was incredibly uplifting and inspiring, especially seeing Richard expertly craft her life story into such a well thought out and executed design concept. This project will go down as one of our favorites, as little as we like to have “favorites.”
We can’t wait for their design and story to be released by [HAS HEART] in the future. To get a preview, Realtree did share a portion of it last Veterans Day in an article: “HAS HEART: Where Veterans and Artists Unite.”
After we finished up our Georgia project, we pulled away with our Airstream in tow from the 9,000 acres of Realtree Farms and headed North. After a night spent in a Walmart parking lot, we made it to Jackson Center, Ohio — home of the corporate headquarters and manufacturing center for Airstream, Inc, AKA: The Mothership.
After our initial meeting with Airstream’s creative agency See.Spark.Go in Atlanta earlier in the week, we were introduced to and invited to meet with Airstream’s internal marketing team. Long story short, the meeting went great and it ended up being the beginning of a collaborative partnerships between [HAS HEART] and Airstream Supply Co. Yay!
Other than a great meeting, we really enjoyed spending time around fellow Airstreamers and vintage Airstreams that were waiting to be cleaned up or rebuilt. We couldn’t help ourselves from looking around and maybe peering inside some of the Silver Bullets waiting to get their work done. The details, vintage Airstream logos, and variety of different co-branded editions were an added motivator to hopefully co-build a future Airstream x [HAS HEART] Limited Edition trailer down the road — no pun intended. If/when that times come, I have a notebook’s work of ideas ready to be implemented — wink, wink.
Also a major draw to visit The Mothership for a lot of brand loyal fans is the Airstream Factory Tour. We met our new friend Jeff who drove up by himself from Florida to get work done on his family’s trailer. He recently retired from a career as a doctor in the U.S. Army after 20+ years and was the friendliest person we’ve ever met. He particularly loved photobombing and having a good laugh about it afterwards, which is a play taken directly from Kendra’s playbook, as well!
My favorite part of the pre-tour tour during the walk from Service Center to the factory was seeing some of the very early trailers, including those of Airstream creator Wally Byam and his wife Stella’s gold painted trailer which was one his creations they traveled in across the world in the 1950s.
As with most founding stories, Wally started tinkering in order to solve a problem: his first wife didn’t like to sleep in a tent on the ground. He first used a Model-T chassis with a tent on top, but it was tedious to put together onsite and didn’t provide protection from the elements. He then tried another variation by taking that same platform and building a teardrop shaped structure on it that included a sleeping space, stove, and ice chest inside.
He eventually published a DIY guide in Popular Mechanics on how to build the trailer; several of his neighbors commissioned him to build trailers for them and eventually, the demand was big enough that Wally opened a small trailer factory in California. He would soon call these rounded tow-behinds “Airstreams” because of their teardrop shape that enabled the trailers to move “like a stream of air” down the road. And as you can imagine, the riveted aluminium production did come from the technology of building airplanes throughout WWII — which is one big piece of their brand story what would make for a great [HAS HEART] x Airstream collaborative product partnership, amiright?
I already love touring factories of any kind, but to be able to walk through step-by-step how they handcrafted the aluminium shell and premium interiors of the same home on wheels as ours was an even bigger than normal treat for me. Unfortunately, photos inside the factory tour weren’t permitted, but I was able to sneak a few with my iPhone that shouldn’t be giving away any trade secrets, so I’ll allow it of myself to share.
After our meeting and tour of The Mothership, we drove back up to Michigan just in time before our two-year warranty date was expiring to get some minor repairs made in our interior by the good people at Woodland Airstream in Grand Rapids.
Unfortunately we haven’t made it back out on the road since this trip since the funding goal for the 50 States tour hasn’t been reached yet, but we’re still working towards it. We’ll see what the future holds, but one way or another, we’ll figure out a way to complete this nationwide mission. Your support (and/or your company’s partnership) would be a help to give veterans their creative voice from all fifty states of our union.