Monthly Archives: July 2006

The non-Airstream year

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Ok, so this post is not specifically related to Airstreams but it is related to our trips. Around 2000 we decided that we wanted to go camping more and we were going to get a travel trailer. Now it had been almost 20 years since I had gone in my parents’ Airstream. I was not really ‘up’ on trailers anymore. We looked around, our kids were 10 and 16 at the time. We found a Nomad 24′ trailer for $3500. It had bunks in the back for the kids and a foldout in the front for us. Here are some photos:

Nomad

Nomad interior

It had its’ share of fixing up that was needed. I put an new power converter in it. The awning was shot so the trailer sales said they would split the cost of a new one. We took it back to repair the door. The fiberglass blew off the outside of it as we were driving it home. As I dropped it off for repair I asked if they wanted a key for the trailer. They said, No, just leave it unlocked. So I checked that the door was unlocked. When we returned, the fix was not done. They said that the door was locked and it was! That was an easy way to get out of it. They gave me a piece of fiberglass and I fixed it my self. Made the door stronger by putting in some more crossbracing.

The first trip we made in this was with some friends to a campground called ‘Landslide’, local to us. I have gone back and looked at the site years after and was amazed that I was able to get the trailer in there. Was I nuts or something? The refrigerator didn’t work well, naturally. The most exciting part was towing it. This was the first trailer that I had towed and we were using our 4.6L Expedition. There is a 3 mile stretch of road that is pretty steep and I wasn’t sure if the rig would make it. I was happy to get to the top. It could have just been my inexperience and I didn’t downshift. After that was a steady climb that we did fine on. Our friends’ truck kept overheating so we would stop and get water out of our trailer (lucky for them) and then continue on. The next fun was coming down that 3 mile stretch. Again, being a greenhorn, I didn’t downshift and was relying too much on the brakes. I started smelling brakes and the pedal was getting real mushy by the time I was near the bottom and the last 90 degree turn. We made it. However I went out and got a new tow vehicle, a 6.8L V-10 Excursion.

We made a major trip in this one, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Zion and Bryce. The trip was not without its’ incidents. In Kingman we had to replace the tongue jack. We stayed at the full hookup park at the Grand Canyon. My wife and I woke up in the middle of the night with our front door wide open! It should have been an omen. Two days later we were leaving the park and we couldn’t even open the front door. We were locked out and the refrigerator wasn’t doing well. I knew the ice cream was melting. We were able to pry open the emergency window and have our son climb in and open the door. Time for a new lockset. Lake Powell went well, other than a very bumpy boat ride that made my wife ill. At Zion we were out and about and there was a thunderstorm. We came back and found out that our front vent leaked. Luckily our front bed was not out and the water went right on the floor. Time to seal it a bit better.

The most bonehead mistake that I made was this:

Tires

These are NOT trailer tires. These were takeoffs from a Buick. The guy at the tire store said they would be fine. The did work but knowing what I know now, I am amazed that they did do well.

All in all it was a good trailer and a good floorplan but that color scheme was a bit dated .

My later Airstream years

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1971 was an interesting year for our family. My father’s employer told him they were closing his office in Southern California. His choice was either to leave the company or move to Baltimore, MD. My father grew up in Pennsylvania and may have been “allergic to snow” so he chose to leave. But he needed something to do. So they bought the KOA Kampground in Redding. Quite a change!

I was 11, moving to Northern California and going to live at a campground. We didn’t have anywhere to stay when we first got there so we lived for 6 months in our Airstream. 3 people and a dog in a 25′ travel trailer. Needless to say I didn’t stay home sick much that year.

Another thing that happened around then was that my parents joined the local WBCCI (Wally Byam Caravan Club International) unit. They were some of the youngest to join at that time. I enjoyed it immensely being around all those “grandparent-types”. Even then, all the pomp and circumstance, and stodginess was there, just like now. It was geared for older retired people. You know the ritual, get to the rally on Tuesday, do all the fun stuff Wednesday or Thursday, on the weekend everything is ‘on your own’. Eventually my father became president of the local unit. The fun started there.

Previously, the unit would go to the same places that they did every year. Even down to the month! My dad mixed things up, he didn’t follow the previous ‘schedule’, he would go to dry camping areas, tours were done on Saturday! The existing group did not think too much of that. How things never change.

We Airstreamed on and off for the next 8-9 years. We went to Florida one time but I had to fly back because it was during high school. With the campground my parents didn’t get away as often and when then did they would leave me in charge so I couldn’t go. I do remember being in Jasper on August 16, 1977. We were in Whistler Mountain campground making lunch in the Airstream and had the radio on. They told us that Elvis had died.

I moved away in 1980 which ended my Airstream escapades with my parents. They continued on doing as much as they could. They sold their campground (it is now the Premier RV Resort) in Redding. However they couldn’t travel as frequently because they had to care for parents.

From then until 2000 our family tent camped whenever we did go camping. Everyone remember how much fun tent camping ISN’T?

The next installment will talk about our SOB.