Terry and Julie Morris are Trying New Things, Sticking With the Old

August 2, 2026 jasonspiess The Crude Life 0

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Terry and Julie Morris drove in from Crane, Missouri, towing a piece of 1970s history behind them, and by the time I clipped a lapel mic on for the first time — trying new things, right, that’s what Route 66 does to you — they were already deep into the kind of easy, group-camp-out contentment that comes from doing something you love with people who love it too.

“Great. I’m doing fantastic. Having a good time,” Terry told me when I asked how they were holding up at the AAA Route 66 Road Fest.

What they’d brought with them was an Argosy motorhome, a sub-brand built by Airstream between 1972 and 1979. They’d picked it up not long ago, and while it needed some work to get roadworthy, Terry was quick to point out it was in better shape than most of the Argosies still out there. That’s saying something, because the Morrises know from experience — they’ve had other vintage campers before this one.

The Argosy isn’t a solo project, either. Terry and Julie travel in a loose orbit of other vintage-camper owners, people they’ve come to know well enough that showing up to an event like this doubles as a reunion.

“We know a lot of the other people that have campers here also, and we all kind of have group camp-outs together,” Terry said. “So we’ve really had a blast doing it.”

Crane, Missouri sits about 30 miles south of Springfield, which puts the Morrises close to the Mother Road without being directly on it. Still, they’ve driven parts of Route 66 — not the whole stretch, but enough to have opinions, even if deflected when I pushed for a favorite spot.

“It’s like trying to pick a favorite child,” he said. “That’s like picking a favorite trailer. It’s kind of hard to do that.”

The conversation wandered from there into food — Carthage’s Mexican food scene, Springfield’s claim on cashew chicken, an Indian food truck outside a battered-looking bus in Pacific, Missouri.

Where Terry and Julie did close the loop on the wandering conversation was on a practical note – get AAA. This was the kind of thing that only makes sense once you’ve lived it and they did.

Once the Morrises let their AAA lapse once — and long story short — and it caused them real trouble, trouble that would have cost far less to avoid than it did to fix. So now, whatever it is, they keep their AAA current. It’s the unglamorous, hard-won wisdom of anyone who’s restored something old enough to have outlived its paperwork.

Terry and Julie Morris, and their Argosy, out of Crane, Missouri — one more example of the diversity Route 66 collects, vintage aluminum and all.

jasonspiess
Author: jasonspiess

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