I’d like to recap and call out some people who were an incredible help in getting on the road.

Two weeks ago Matt and I traveled down to his hometown in Albemarle, North Carolina. There, Matt’s father, Rick Burris, donated a set of tires to the Airstream and hours of work by his shop crew. Their help and knowledge was invaluable.

how many people does it take to fix an Airtream?

Rick Burris in the Burris Tire office. His father, pictured on the wall, started the business. Thanks for all your help Rick!

Here is Kevin, auto-electrician-extraordinaire. He wired up the Airstream and trailer hitch in a matter of hours. Thanks for your help and for buying a print Kevin. You know we will be calling when we break down!

The official shop crew that helped so much. From left: Steven, Kevin, Boo, Alan, and Eric. Thanks guys!

I’d also like to thank Matt’s sister and brother-in-law for taking their only day off and helping us to clean and fix the Airstream. You all are so generous! Here, Julie braves the ammonia fumes and give the trailer a scrub-down.

Dan the man working on the Airstream seals. Danny took his only day off to help us on the trailer, then spent an hour after work the next day to do some welding on the bumper.

Here’s the whole Burris crew in the shop. Matt is being sent off with a good support team behind him! Thanks Rick, Sue, Julie, and Steven.

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On Thursday afternoon we received the WVO conversion kit from Golden Fuel Systems. What should have been a 2-day installation turned into a maddening 4-day challenge to get the system installed because we were not sent adequate directions. Nonetheless, we had a genius behind us all the way, Mr. Wheeler Gum himself:

If it were not for Wheeler, and a few others, we never would have figured out the installation. Wheeler worked endlessly for almost three days to help us leave in time.

Our other savior was Mr. Dan Raudenbush (left). He swept in at the point of despair and laid out a diagram for the wiring. Thanks Dan!

Mr. Tom Hughes devoting his whole weekend to help us. Thanks Tom!

I can’t remember who took this picture of me covered in veggie oil.

The crew doing some problem solving.

Another big thank you goes out to Emily Gum and Hope Sowell. Emily shared her husband with us for three days and did some beautiful upholstery work for our couch. If you may remember from before, Hope re-plumbed the Airstream and put in more hours than what we traded for. Thanks for your knowledge and work and sharing your tools!

Lastly, I have to thank the two people who really assisted in helping during the last few months of preparation. Jeff Erkelens and Joey Conover gave me a free house to live in for a few months and let me park the Airstream on the street for its two-month slumber in Charlottesville. They let me store my personal items, use a bathroom, and borrow tools. Thanks Jeff and Joey for your generosity, flexibility, and support!

I’m writing from the backwoods of North Carolina, in the middle of soy bean country. That’s our truck and Airstream trailer sitting in Matt’s front yard. (Note the blue square. Basically we have some more work to do..) There is plenty of open sky and sweet tea down here.

Have we officially left on our trip yet? No-far from it! Well, not too far. We have 7 days to take off and right now Matt and I are in Albemarle, N.C. visiting with his family, packing up Matt’s belongings, and doing some detail work to the Airstream. What does one do with spare time in North Carolina? Why shoot guns of course!

Matt’s brother Steven took us out into the soy bean fields to do some target practice. The family is trying to convince me to take a gun on the trip. It’s a hard decision, but I imagine we’ll meet some characters on the road where a little bit of intimidation could come in handy.  I met a guy last week who traveled in an RV all across America for three years and he said he would never go on a trip without a gun.  I think I’ve been living a sheltered life in Charlottesville because it has been years since I’ve ever felt threatened.   Personally, I’d rather be shot than shoot someone else.

The past week has involved lots of preparation for the trip. There’s been goodbye meals, visits from friends, and Airstream work with Matt. Here’s a sample from the week:

Dark skies on I-81.

Dinner with gracious hosts Cameron and Rose. The best meal I’ve had in weeks (and all local)!

My dear friend Gregory comes for a visit and lunch at Mel’s–Charlottesville’s best diner/burger joint!

I had the fun experience of helping The Mr. and Mrs. Gum with their soon-to-be very impressive, traditional wood working bench. It’s a shame we’ll be leaving before it is completed. If you want fine furniture made, Wheeler Gum is your man. Besides, with a name like that, don’t you just want to meet him!

The very serious gluing process….

Hope Sowell saves the day with her impressive and patient plumbing skills!

Matt on the roof of the Airstream, riveting a new panel from where we removed the TV antenna. Look at those arms!

The neighborhood painter has taken a liking to the Airstream. Edward showed up about two weeks ago and has since completed a number of paintings. Last week he drove up in his eight-year old Honda hybrid and painted the Airstream and his car together. He told me they were the two most over-the-top futuristic things on the road and they had to be painted together. I’m giving him the old appliances from the Airstream and he’s giving me a painting. I love doing trades with artists. Edward paints all over Charlottesville and always wears headphones when doing so. He had a teepee in his backyard until a few months ago.

We’re in N.C. until Monday and then we return to Charlottesville for the vegetable oil truck conversion, continued preparations, and then a send off party on the 30th! Please come out and join us at 817 King St. Starts at 6pm. Bring us a good novel or mix CD for the road.

The American Festivals Project, partially funded by a National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant, is led by photographers Ross McDermott and Matt Burris. The project explores America’s variety of small-town festivals, with the aim of discovering a rich diversity of culture that has in part remained hidden. Traveling in a Waste Vegetable Oil-powered truck, and living in a 1969 Airstream trailer, Ross and Matt are covering over one year of unique festival life from forty-nine of America’s states.

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Herein marks the first post to the American Festivals Project blog. For the next year (and possibly longer), Matt and I will take you across the United States as we visit over sixty small, hidden, and bizarre festivals. What an adventure lies ahead, but how much work we have to get there!!

I am currently in Charlottesville, VA working on our newly purchased vehicles that will take us around this grand country. We’ve acquired a 1969 Airstream trailer (our home for the next year), and a big ol’ Dodge Ram 2500 that will soon be converted to run on waste vegetable oil. More on that later.

We received some of our first press last week from the C-Ville Weekly. My friend Brendan was nice enough to do a small article. Read it HERE.

My days are spent fixing up the Airstream. We’ve had to re-plumb the entire trailer as the copper piping had ruptured in several places. My friend Hope is helping me with the plumbing because the project is a little beyond me. If you ever need a great builder (and female), Hope is the best! I’m also working on converting the bathroom area into a darkroom. I ripped out all the old, ugly bathroom appliances and I’m kind of simplifying the space. We will still have a shower, but the rest of the bathroom will just be counter tops for the darkroom. It’s been a big job, but a fun learning process. If I had the time and the money, I’d love to gut the entire trailer and start from scratch. However, with our budget, we are stuck to living with the 1969 decor. It won’t be so bad.
At this point, I don’t even know if the gas, or power converters work. I have yet to test the stove, fridge, fans, and exterior lights. There are so many old components to the Airstream that it can be very overwhelming to think about them at once. I’m sort of taking on one appliance at a time, and reading as I go. Hopefully it will all come together in the next few weeks. One day at a time, right?

The next few weeks look like this:
Continue renovation to the Airstream trailer.
Continue seeking sponsorship and selling prints.
Matt comes to Charlottesville around the 17th or 18th, or I go down to N.C. to meet him while we get more work done to the Airstream.
We plan our route and set up the darkroom in the week leading up to departure.
Truck gets converted to WVO a few days before departure.
August 31st-Hit the Road!

For those of you reading our first post, I hope you’ll bookmark the page and continue to read as our project progresses. Please note that we are currently pre-selling photographs from the project to be given out at the conclusion of the project. Matt and I hope you will take advantage of owning a print and in doing so, support the project.

Farther up and further in!