JACK SISEMORE RV MUSEUM, AMARILLO,TX

Be prepared for a lot of photos on this post folks.  We loved this museum.  There was nothing fancy about it.  A series of metal buildings with wonderful old campers and motorcycles in it.  It was a bit warm on the hot summer day we choose to visit, but they had large fans all throughout the museum to help make the building a decent temperature, warm but not stifling.

I can’t begin to show you everything in the museum, but I can give you an idea of the variety of things, and the history to be learned there. 

First of all you need to go to Jack’s rv dealership at 4341 Canyon Expressway, Amarillo, TX, the museum is on their back lot, and in case I forgot to mention it is FREE, my favorite price.

First you need to find a place to park, no easy feat to begin with.  They have a tiny parking lot that is generally pretty full, but street parking on the service road in front of the dealership is allowed.

You let the greeter at the front desk know you are there to view the museum and they escort you to the museum, give you brief instructions on how to get back to the showroom and then they leave you to spend as little or a much time as you want exploring the museum.  We spent about two hours going through it and would have probably spent more if the temperatures had been cooler.

We really enjoyed the layout of the museum with the oldest rigs being at the entrance and the newer ones at the exit. 

We also enjoyed the fact that there were bits of ephemera appropriate to each time period around those units. 

Even better there was good clear signage and lots of it.

The very first thing that we saw as we entered was a Harley Davidson Motorcycle all decked out to go to war.  I had no idea that Harley’s were the bikes used in WWII and there were units that in fact used the Harley’s exclusively.  I found this very interesting.   Gary was aware they had been in the war, but not that they were THE bike of the war.

Of course this wasn’t the only motorcycle or dirt bike in the museum.  You saw them everywhere you looked, displayed in unusual ways. On shelves,

Hanging from the ceiling

Even in the back of an El Camino

They are everywhere and various brands of various eras are represented.

But this is an RV Museum, so what about them.  Well they are of course the main focal point of the museum.  There are tent trailers (as pictured above), a camper shell, bumper pull trailers (including air stream), a Woodstock “Jesus” bus and actual motor homes with some claim to fame to their existence.  But alas, no fifth wheels.

The first bumper pull on display was a 1941 Westcraft. I particularly liked this one.  It showed how much things have changed.  First of all it was short.  You can tell that from the photo.  I am only 5’1” tall and you can see how in comparison to me the thing was far tinier than its descendants of today.

It was also a very heavy trailer by today’s standards. Regular household furniture in it, wood paneling and a chamber pot.  This unit was really up town,

As I mentioned before I particularly liked the signage and period items by each rv.  As you go through the museum pay close attention to the prices mentioned in the signage of the individual units.  From around $100 in the 1930’s to today’s “Oh my Gosh” prices the rv industry really has gone forward with leaps and bounds. 

Seeing so much of the camping gear of my lifetime brought back a lot of memories. 

My brother had one of the little trikes like the green one in the photo, only his was blue.  I am sure it probably came the hand me town trail through my older cousins (Mom was the baby of 10 kids) because Jerry was born in 1956.

I have camped all of my life so the Pepsi coolers, old Coleman lanterns, campfire toasters and much more were all familiar to me.

Look closely as you go through as to how the various camper are stocked.  The 1941 Westcraft had an old Bing Crosby multi-record 33 1/3 album in it.

I mentioned rvs earlier with claims to fame.  One is this beauty.  Recognize it? It was the rv used by the oh so helpful Gornike family in the movie RV starring Robin Williams.

I could go on and on, but why spoil the fun of the museum for you.  If you like camping this free rv museum is very interesting.  It was our first rv museum to visit, but I am certain we will visit more in the future. 

Jan who hopes you enjoy the photos in OK