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Friends: Sisters On The Fly
I have been looking forward to this post for some time now. Back in November, I connected with Irene Rawlings on Facebook. Double D was looking for a cute camper for the spring photo-shoot and Irene kindly helped us locate and nail down a "canned ham" for the shoot.As we were making arrangements, I learned Irene was putting the finishing touches on a book featuring the fun, weekend-vagabond lifestyle of Sisters on the Fly, a group of women who travel around the country in restored vintage trailers. I can go on and on, but I'm going to let Irene take it from here...
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I am thrilled to be writing a guest blog on DoubleTalk. Doubly thrilled, actually, because Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires and Tales from the Road (Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, $14.99) hits the bookstores today!
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Here's how I met the Sisters. I was in Big Sky, Montana, working on magazine assignment when a long caravan of vintage trailers drove by--the most colorful and fun trailers I've ever seen. I did a quick u-turn and followed the caravan. Sisters on the Fly, it turns out, is a group of women who buys, restores and decorates old trailers, giving them names like Sister Sioux, Rhinestone Cowgirl, Calamity Jane and Mustang Sally. Many of the Sisters find their trailers just sitting in a farmer's field or rancher's meadow. Sometimes they are allowed to just "haul that junk away." Other times, they pay as little as $50. A fully restored vintage trailer can cost more than $8,000 but most Sisters on the Fly agree they'd rather do it themselves, an appealingly old-fashioned idea in these cash-strapped times.
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Sisters on the Fly was started by two real-life sisters (Maurrie Sussman, Sister #1, and Becky Clarke, Sister #2) in 1999 and now has more than 1,500 members--ranging in age from 25 to more than 90. They share an interest in many things: fly-fishing, cowgirling, playing poker for pennies and cooking great food in cast iron (heavy, but you don't have to go to the gym quite so often). Maurrie calls it "Girl Scouts for grown-ups" and declares: "We have more fun than anyone."
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The Sisters caravan to some of the most beautiful spots in the U.S. to camp, fish and ride horses. But there's more. The Sisters inspire one another to step outside their busy roles of mother, daughter, grandmother, businesswoman, teacher, nurse, civil engineer or federal judge and to devote a little time to the true cowgirl within.
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I thought I was writing a book about a group of sassy women who decorate vintage trailers and go on cross-country trips. But, by the time I turned in my manuscript, I was hooked and now I'm Sister #1322. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I loved writing it.
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Irene and the rest of these sisters have got me hankering to join...In fact, I've got my eye on an old Airstream sitting in a oilfield tool yard that I would really like to get my hands on and Double D-it-up!  I'll keep you posted if I take the leap but for now, I'm relishing my very own copy of SOTF: Caravans, Campfires, and Tales from the Road. (I'll post more pics tomorrow)
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linda ritten
May 16, 2016
this is so cool! all the trailers are done so well ! my brother bought one of these last year in montana and he converted it into a hunting trailer for himself. i think he paid 50 bucks for it! he used deer horns for cupboard drawer pulls etc. he wasnt done with it when i last saw him. there was another one just sitting in a field not far from where he lived he had his eye on.