In April of 2012, Karla Cool received a mysterious text message from her son, Monte. The photo showed an old travel trailer sitting in a field, clearly in rough shape and badly in need of restoration. Curious—and a little confused—Karla immediately called Monte. His response? “Happy birthday.” The derelict trailer was her gift. Here is the story of how it ended up on the cover of the then-newly published Vintage Camper Trailers magazine.
Monte knew his mom loved camping with Sisters on the Fly and wanted her to have her own cool vintage trailer to travel in. What he didn’t fully realize at the time was just how big a gift he had given.
Soon after the purchase, Monte, his friend Roger Craig, and Karla headed to Shandon, California, to retrieve the trailer. It took two full days to extract it from the field. The trailer had no wheels or tongue—temporarily solved with a quick Walmart run—and was filled knee-high with trash. Miraculously, though, it didn’t leak and was structurally sound.
As they towed it north on Highway 101 in the middle of the night, Karla nervously asked if they might get a ticket for hauling an unlicensed trailer. Monte joked that they were more likely to be cited for littering. Karla glanced out the back window just in time to see the old leatherette skin peeling off in sheets and blowing down the highway.
At the time, they had no idea what kind of trailer they had found. A post to Sisters on the Fly brought a response from Margo Warner, who recognized it immediately—she and her husband Gary owned the same model. The trailer was a Travel-Ome, built in Los Angeles in the 1930s. Based on what they could tell, this one dated from 1934–1937. As far as anyone knew, only four Travel-Omes existed: the Warners’ trailer, one owned by Ed Smith of Arizona, one in the Detroit Historical Museum collection, and now Karla’s.
Monte and Roger brought the Travel-Ome to Roger’s shop, where a full restoration began—largely led by Roger, with Monte assisting. More than 70 years of grime and old materials were stripped away. Once the leatherette was removed, Monte installed plumbing while Roger rewired the trailer. A new water tank was fabricated, and damaged wood was replaced as needed.
Roger then recovered the sides and roof with marine-grade vinyl typically used for boat seating, carefully following the original colors and layout to create a look that was both authentic and updated. The original wood window frames were completely rebuilt using teak and fitted with tempered glass. Screens were recreated using 1930s-era screening sourced on eBay. As a final detail, Roger built a steam box to custom-bend the teak trim that wraps the trailer, giving it a refined and elegant finish.
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The restored Travel-Ome was returned to Karla on Mother’s Day in 2013—exactly one year after the project began. Grateful for the teamwork that brought the abandoned trailer back to life, Karla extends heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped along the way: Monte Cool and Roger Craig for the bulk of the restoration work; Joan Anderson for cleaning; Adrienne Leibowitz for the cushions and curtains; Kathy Howell for the porta-potty cover; Phil Terese for troubleshooting; Gary Warner and Ed Smith for their advice; and especially her husband, Steve Cool, for not insisting it be hauled straight to the dump.
