The first day of Alumafandango, well it was a partial day.  The registration started at 7am, or was it or 2pm or was it 1pm?  The program said one thing, Brett said another and Rich said another.  We decided 7am was WAY too early and thought we would just go at 1:30 and split the difference.

Prior to that we went into the town of Canyonville.  It is a cute town, not very big but it had the things we needed.  I discovered that a rivet had come loose from one of my outside storage compartments.  I needed to rivet it back but my old rivet gun stopped working and I had not got another.  I was able to find one at the Ace Hardware store.  It was interesting to see 4 people come in during that time and the clerk knew each one’s name!  We also needed some groceries, notably laundry detergent.  Yes, when you are way for a while you need to do laundry (ugh).  We also scoped out some back roads in anticipation of a bike ride later when it was cooler.

I came back and re-riveted BOTH rivets on the bracket, just to be safe.  I did this before a lot of trailers came because I knew that I would end up with a cadre of viewers and/or helpers.  At that time I could only see about 7 trailers from our site.  I knew the onslaught would begin soon!  We had our lunch and headed over to the convention center (via shuttle bus) to register and hear the first ‘seminar’.  On the way there we saw at least 5 Airstreams heading to the RV park.

Registration went smooth and we got to say hello to Rich for the first time.  He seemed out of sorts but I attributed that to being tired.  We glanced at the three trailers that George Sutton RV brought down for display (there was a 4th in the RV park).  Later we were talking to Rich and noticed he was having a hard time talking.  It appears he did something to his mouth but he would not say more.  He did say, as he was eating yogurt, that was was doing better than 3 days ago, but this was as solid as it was for his food right now.  Poor guy but he did admirably.

The first ‘seminar’ was on trailer maintenance.  I knew some of the things but also learned a few new things.  Like how to stop our windows from sticking closed.  At the end the technician from George Sutton RV asked some questions with the correct answer getting a Coupler Vault to secure the Airstream when you aren’t around.

Q1: What was made in the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, OH before Wally Byam purchased it in 1952?
A1:  Bazookas   (no one got it)

Q2: What was the name of the bicycle rider that was pulling an Airstream in the famous photo?
A2: Latourn   (no one got it)

Q3: When was Wally Byam born?
A3: Any WBCCI member would know that he was born on July 4 since that is always the last day of their international rallies.  Roxie gave this answer but no one could get the year so we won!

And here it is, in the box.  It appears the actual one that we got will not fit our trailer so the technician is investigating it and when I get it on the trailer I will post a picture.

There was a small break between the seminar and the next event which was Rich and Brett talking about upcoming things, giving out green flag and some door prizes.  But before that we went outside to warm up (ironically the event center was SOOO COLD!) and found the SmallRoomCollective.  They have a small 1963 Globetrotter and travel around to show their love of small rooms and to sell a few wares.  If there was ever something one could call a small room it would be an Airstream (especially the 16′ Bambi parked next to us).  Here is the inside of their trailer with Roxie looking at some items and the outside of their trailer:

We went back in to listen to the ‘happy hour’ from Rich and Brett.  There were drinks and food.  We didn’t eat any food and forgot our drink tickets.  Alas.  The aforementioned green flags were taken by volunteers to put in front of their trailers for that evening’s roving happy hour.  You are encouraged to stop by a trailer with a green flag and mingle.  At the end names were pulled out to win door prizes.  We won a t-shirt from, I believe, MoonDoggie apparel?  I will find out and make sure that is right.

After that we had a bite to eat and at 7pm started the roving happy hour.  We met many nice people, too many to remember ALL the names and I am sure we will keep on talking to them the next few days.  We hit all 5 flags and then went to the campfire.  Yes, there was a campfire even though it was at least 80 degrees and some major fires burning south of us.  It was the principal of the thing.

Right now?  We (I use that term loosely) are doing some laundry, hence the laundry detergent.  Tomorrow holds a TRULY full day of Alumafandango.  Until then…

I am finally up to date now!  Also WordPress says this is my 100th post.

Day 5 was essentially a travel day.  I told Roxie we should not probably sleep in today but get a relatively early start since we had some hills to go over and I would rather do it when it is cooler.  She complied, indirectly.  Her back was hurting her in bed so she was up around 6am!  I didn’t roll out until about 8am which is NOT sleeping in for me when traveling!

We worked on all the teardown and tow vehicle connecting.  Roxie is trying to learn all the aspects about the trailer, she tells me it is in case something happens to me when traveling.  I am thinking she might want to go out WITHOUT me sometimes!  She still has not actually towed it on the road so that will be the dead giveaway when that happens!

We got on the road about 9:15 or 9:30.  Immediately we pulled the grade up to Shasta Lake and the Pit River Bridge.  After that is was a bunch of minor ups and downs until Dunsmuir which had a long steep stretch.  A bit after Yreka we had another up AND down portion of road.  The down portion ended up at the Randolph Collier rest area where we decided to have lunch.  I always remember this rest area as a very nice one.  I was teasing that California puts a nice one here to convince all visitors that the rest of the rest areas will be just like this.  HA!  The Klamath river runs right by it.  Hiway 96 takes off there which will take you to Happy Camp (a road I would NEVER take a trailer on).  Here is a pic Roxie took of the river there:

After the rest area we had more climbing but the real treat came with the descent into Ashland, OR.  This is a pretty long 6% descent.  Roxie doesn’t mind climbing hills with the trailer but she really doesn’t like coming down.  The truck did very will, I will explain at the end.  It got a little tense for her when she started smelling brakes but luckily it was someone else because I wasn’t using any.

When we were descending we could see all the smoke in the air from the Oregon fires.  It got progressively worse and hotter, it seemed, the farther north we went.  Medford was worse and Grants Pass was the worst.  It got better after Grants Pass and is relatively clear here in Canyonville.  We had some more hills until we arrived it it was all good.

My concerns for the truck have to do with the fact that it is getting older and we are taxing it more with the current trailers.  The old trailer maxed out at 6300lb weight.  This one will max at 10000lb even though we are only pushing 8000 in it.  I can feel the extra weight going up and down the hills.  The truck is 10 years old with 122000 miles on it.  Some will say that is young for a diesel but this is the first year of the notorious Ford 6.0 diesel.  On the flip side, I do not chip the engine, I have appropriate maintenance and I don’t push it beyond what it should be designed to do.  All that said I am still on the lookout for oddities.

The performance up hills is different.  No more boiling up a hill at 65mph with the 25′ trailer, barely getting out of overdrive.  Now we can still get up the hill but we may go down to 50mph.  Down the hill is very different.  Using the tow haul mode I always had a problem keeping the 25′ at a good speed without too many RPM’s.  Oddly the 31′ seems to work fantastic with tow haul and can keep us at 50-55 on a 5% grade.  Not sure why.

I guess I am just being a bit worrisome about this and I should just take it as it comes.

We are now sitting outside in the cool under that stars and listing to the insects in the woods.  Nice to finally get here.