Washington State University WSU Airstream Trailer Design Project

My friend Cat told me about the Airstream project that the students at Washington State University were working on as a class project.  I decided to take a visit to see what they were up to and look at the progress the students have made to the project thus far.

As their website describes, "The WSU Airstream Studio is a Summer 2010 design build course for students of architecture and interior design at the Interdisciplinary Design Institute.

The course will focus on the design transformation of an American ICON of manufacturing–the Airstream trailer.  This transformation includes the redesign and build of interior (and perhaps exterior) components of a 1958 26’ Airstream chassis.

Design research for the studio includes a focus on ICONICITY, MOBILITY, and PRODUCT DESIGN."
Read more: http://spokane.wsu.edu/academics/Design/airstream/#ixzz0v5teZagh

Follow their progress on their Facebook Fan page HERE

I met the professor, Todd at the warehouse on campus where the Airstream is housed.  They just finished buffing the shiny exterior shell and plans for the design were laid out on a bench.  They took to the time to explain what they were doing to make it unique.  To read more about the idea behind the design and their progress, click HERE.

Meeting the students working hard on the project took me back to my college days.  It's so inspiring to see young minds developing new ideas and solutions to things when there aren't any rules.  As adults, we become more custom to why things won't work rather then thinking of new ideas on how things can be accomplished.  I look forward to following their progress in the next few months.  Thank you to Todd and the students for taking the time to meet with me and pose for the camera. 

I even pushed through my fear of heights by climbing on the scaffolding ladder (seen on right) to the top to take the image on the top right of the blog.  They kept saying, "you can get higher...go up higher."  Slowly but surely I climbed up to the top with my flip flops on to take a shot.  Very carefully I might add (as it turns out, you can see my reflection on the Airstream getting the shot).  As long as I didn't look down I was ok.  Unfortunately, I needed to look down to get off.  I don't see being a house painter in my future.  

We Can Do It Too!

I love stories of women achieving their dreams.  There really isn't anything we can't do once we put our mind to it.  We are so fortunate in America to be able to do what we want to do.  We can set forth and achieve any goal we wish with hard work and determination, unlike many women in other countries.

At this moment, 16 year old Abby Sunderland is setting sail to reach her personal goal; to sail around the world solo.  You can read about her journey on her blog by clicking here.

How inspiring to young women!  She realized her dream and is living it at such a young age. Also, how great is it that her parents are supportive of that?  At 16, I was crossing my fingers and hoping to pass classes so I could graduate high school.

I always played sports growing up and my family enjoyed camping together when I was young.  I have one brother who is 7 years older so as I child I learned how to entertain myself and explore on my own.  It could be a reason why I enjoy wandering and exploring new places today, at 38.  It's just inside of me.

The thing is...it's never too late to do what you have always dreamed of doing.  I have to admit that it is easier for me since I chose not to have kids.  Instead, I worked right out of college and continued to work hard and climb a corporate ladder until I just couldn't stand it anymore.  The suits and heels weren't me.  I was pushing a product that didn't inspire or excite me.  Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the opportunity I had and I learned a lot in the process but even as I left the company, most people knew and commented that the job just wasn't a reflection of who I was.

Who am I?  Well, I am a work in progress, as we all are.  I know that I am enjoying taking pictures and traveling.  Camping and being in nature rank high on my list of things that bring me joy.  As I mentioned with a previous blog, I met up with a group of strangers with one thing in common: we all had silver trailers and a love of the outdoors and camping.  A common topic of discussion among the group was how great it was for them to ditch their "normal" lives to come and spend a weekend with other women to talk about ideas, life and support each other with the belief of yes, we can do it too!  There were stories of how men would be in control of hitching and towing and that they never had the chance to do it or the opportunity to learn how to do it.  This was their chance to learn something new, feel empowered and leave with a sense of hope that they can achieve anything they set their mind to.

I am thankful to all of the women who paved the way for title 9 so I was able to have the opportunity to play basketball in college.  There are so many women who stuck their neck out to be trailblazers for a realization that yes, we can do it too.

I started a group on facebook for women who have a shared interest in camping and the outdoors.  If this is you, please click here to join (there is also a widget on the right of the blog).  No fees, just fun.

Today I am thankful for all of the women who took a chance so we are able to do the same.