Monthly Archives: January 2013

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

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With a nod to David Bowie, I begin this post.  There are some changes going on in our Airstream and truck world.  

The truck side is a bit mundane but interesting, to me, at least.  When we purchased the truck back in August of 2003 we got a fiberglass lid for it.  I wanted to get something that would cover and secure any contents in the bed.  However our vehicle prior was an Excursion and I guess I didn't want to make the new truck look like an Excursion.  The lid was great.  But it did have limits.  The primary one was the height of items to fit under the lid.

Here is how it is with the lid:

Truck with Lid

Clean and functional. 

However, looking toward the future I thought it would be good to look for a shell for the truck.  Since it is definitely NOT a new truck (almost 10 years and 115K miles old) I was not looking for a new shell.  Where to look?  Craigslist!  Craigslist is a hotbed of people selling things.  More about that in my next post about trailers.  I started a search of Craigslist about 4 months ago with an IF This Then That recipe.

I should have refined my recipe a bit better than 'shell'.  I got all kinds of entries, none of which were helpful, but I didn't want to miss anything.

Last week I got a hit for a Leer Shell for an F250 Shortbed and it was in WHITE in Fresno!  I contacted the seller and they told me that a 'gentleman' was going to come look at it that Tuesday evening (he had to drive 2 hours there).  I asked on Wednesday if the shell was still available and it turns out the 'gentleman' did not show up!  We went to Fresno that evening and purchased the shell.

Here it is:

Truck with Shell

So far I am very pleased as I can now put taller items in but Roxie reminded me there is one negative.  People can now see what is in there.  I will have to work on that one but I will live with it for now.

Only 2 hours from some nice places…

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Yes, another three day weekend trip thanks to Roxie's employer.  Since it was just after the 4th of July I thought where else should we go but to somewhere that would be HOT!  We had already done the cool areas, coast, mountains, etc.  Did I choose some exotic location?  Not really, we went to Stockton! 

I like to stay on the water, as you can see in the previous post.  But is there water in Stockton?  Sure is.  There is a canal that brings in largish ships to drop supplies.  They come in all the way from the ocean.

Previously the only stops in Stockton had been brief to refuel or relieve.  The one item that got me to try it out was a blog post from Aluminarium.  I loved that picture and got some reservations to the RiverPoint landing and off we went.

Here is my attempt at recreating their picture:

Sunset in Stockton

That is a JetSkier in the picture.

The daytime temperature there was mid to high 90's so we found things to do indoors.  HOWEVER, the evenings were wonderful.  The back of trailer has our bedroom in it so we would open up the windows on 3 sides and let the cool breezes just waft through the trailer.  Made the days worthwhile.

We saw many pleasure craft going up and down the waterway.  Saw some rowers in long row boats, saw a sailing class for young sailors.  A very wide variety.  However one evening it got exciting.  We heard a very LOUD horn sound.  We look toward the ocean direction of the waterway and see a very large ship heading our way.

As it got closer we see a smaller boat in front if it.  Here is that boat:

CoastGuard

It is a Coast Guard vessel.  The guy in the front is manning a machine gun.  We wondered what is going on?

Here is the large ship behind it:

EupenIn

It is pretty impressive to see a large ship go by in relatively close proximity.  I wondered why this one had a Coast Guard escort since there was another 'gun boat' guarding the rear of the ship.  I looked it up on the Internet and this ship is hauling Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).  I guess the US does not want any type of attack on this ship.

The next day we wandered around Stockton and got a good feel for the town.  We even ate at a Vietnamese restaurant (a first).  We also went to visit a very nice museum, The Haggin.

That evening we were sitting by the water and enjoying the cooling breeze and we heard the loud horn again.  We looked in the same location but there was no ship.  Suddenly, from the other direction came the large ship again.  This time much higher in the water and without any escort.  Here is a pic but not quite as nice since it surprised us and it was getting pretty dark:EupenOutbound

Thus ends our stay at Stockton.  Time to go back to the grind.

I almost forgot to tell you about the title of my post.  In some of the meetings are people that live or work in Stockton.  One of them made the comment that Stockton should have the motto of "It is only two hours from some nice places".  I don't know if I totally agree with that because Stockton was not as bad as it could have been.