Finally, after over 3 months, we are close to getting back on the road and leaving Austin. It has been very interesting being here for this amount of time. We have learned the 40-mile radius from our campsite very well, and we know Austin as a whole pretty good also.
As of this writing, Roxie’s procedure has been completed and we just have to return next week for her final programming, then we plan on leaving here Wednesday. Our next stop will be the North Texas Airstream Community that is south of Dallas/Fort Worth. We will spend the Memorial Day weekend there to ensure we have a location for that busy time. Then we head north to Alaska.
While we have been here, we were able to accomplish some things (in addition to what I wrote about in the previous post). Two posts ago I showed some damage we incurred to the rock guard on the front of the trailer. I went to the local Airstream dealer, Camper Clinic II in Buda. The part was relatively cheap but the shipping was horrendous! Airstream, I am told, does not price their shipping, they box it up and call the shippers. The shippers then charge the rates. The shipping on the box was like $90! UPS charges the maximum rate for the box depending upon what can fit in it regardless of the weight. Oh well, we needed the part. Here is the repair:
The repair was not too bad. Initially, I thought that I could just trim it to the same size as the other. But with the curves, it is hard to get it accurate. The best solution was to attach it at one end, work it around, riveting as you go, and then trimming it on the end. It will do the job.
But there was not just one repair, oh no! I was walking back from the park’s restroom and I found Roxie out talking to our neighbors. I walked over to join the conversation. They asked me if I had heard the noise. I did not. It appears that the window in the trailer next to Roxie’s chair slammed shut and shattered! I went back and looked and found this all over the ground:
There was heavy rain forecast so I kicked into repair mode immediately. I contacted the Airstream dealer (again) to get a replacement window. They quoted me about 3-4 days shipping but this was Thursday so I was unsure if they could get it out on Friday. But I had to order it. I went to the local Home Depot to figure out how to close it off to the elements.
I got some bubble insulation, a paint drop cloth and some Gorilla tape. I left it open at the bottom for ventilation. It was not clean or pretty but it worked. After doing this, we went to Austin and got some more ‘insurance’. I got the window dimensions from Airstream, went to a local plastics company and ordered an acrylic window (sans holes). I also ordered an acrylic version of the larger windows on the trailer also. I figured if this happens again, I will have replacement versions with me until I can get the glass.
The glass version came in just under a week later and, ironically, that was the same day the acrylic ones were done. I used the glass one:
Thankfully we had an operational window again. But that rain forecast was very true. It was an interesting Friday for us.
We go to a town called Bee Cave to watch movies when we do. They have nice recliners in the theatre. I purchased the tickets online so we can also choose our seats. This time I purchased them for the wrong theatre! I rarely do that but I did today. The manager gave us a pass for the movies there but the movie was on an hour later, so we had to wait.
While we were in the movie I could hear rain on the roof of the theatre. I have heard that before and didn’t think anything about it. When we got out of the theatre there was a tremendous downpour. Of course we didn’t have an umbrella and I didn’t even have any coat. We had less that 100′ to walk to the truck but we were drenched. We also walked through water that was overwhelming the drainage and it was 4″-8″ deep. Wet feet also.
We tried to get back to our trailer in the Dripping Springs area. We tried at least 3 different low crossings but each of them were at least 2 feet deep with running water. I have a little video on Youtube of it:
We eventually decided to take major roads to get back. It added about 30 miles but was safer. I would drive through a foot of water but no more. It appears our local area received 8-9″ of rain in a 3 hour period! Luckily our trailer is almost to the top of a knoll so there is very little surface area for runoff. We survived!
One more thing I worked on for the truck in anticipation for Alaska and their roads:
Now, we just have to GET to those Alaska roads!
