Tag Archives: New Airstream

Labor Day Trip

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Ok, a late post here.  It is now a bit past Labor Day 2013 but I am here to talk about it nonetheless.

After coming back from our previous 17+ day trip this was a quick turnaround (2 weekends).  We thought about just cancelling our reservation and staying home but there was one thing that kept our commitment.  Our granddaughter!

I made the reservations at Oceano campground at Pismo State Beach on the coast months ago and we told our granddaughter that we would take her along.  It was a good choice and we are glad we went through with it.

One of the things that I was working on was a front hitch for our bike rack (I talked about it in our Alumafandango threads).  I purchased one but part of the task was to remove the nuts off the front leaf springs and put on a helper bracket.  I could NOT get those nuts off!  I had to take it to a suspension shop but eventually got it on:

Front Hitch

Bike Rack 1

 

We went through Cholame, near where James Dean was killed.  We told our granddaughter about it and she was mesmerized about it and kept talking about it.  We told her we would stop on the way back so she could see the memorial.

We got to the campground just around dark.  Here was a shot from next day:

Oceano Campground

 

Our granddaughter, Paige, thoroughly enjoyed herself.  We went to the beach both days and she spent at least 3 hours in the water each day.  We don’t know HOW she did that as the water was so cold but there were many others that did so also and she made a few friends.  We also had a campfire one night with her cooking ‘Smores.  She really liked to ride her bike around the campground which kept her busy.  We rode with her a couple of times.

On the last day we took a walk around the pond that is by the campground.  It turned out to be longer than we though and here are a few pics:

Roger and Paige

Roxie and Paige

 

One evening Paige told us that she had never seen the sunset.  So what did we do?

Sunset

 

It was just a short walk from the campground to see the sunset.

It all comes to an end as usual.  We did stop at the James Dean memorial on the way back to show Paige.

One more thing about the bike rack on the front.  It performed well, but it did scare us from time to time because it sure did bounce at times!  Here is what we saw:

Bike Rack 2

 

We are very glad we went because it meant a lot to Paige.  Roxie turned around in the truck and told her, on the way home: “We did this trip just for you”.  Her positive reaction to that statement was all we needed.

Roger

Alumafandango trip – Day 1

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We had been busting our butts for a few days to get everything ready for our trip to Alumafandango.  18 days away.  5 nights up, 6 nights there and whatever nights are left for the way back.

Our granddaughter stayed the night one evening close to our departure and we put her to work washing the trailer the next day.  This is the first time she, or Roxie, had helped washing the trailer.  They did not know what a chore it was.  They found out!  It took us 1 1/2 hours to do it which is less than me doing it alone.  Roxie said she was beat the rest of that day.  Welcome to my world!!

We had most everything ready to go last night.  We just had to put in the food and hookup.  We got our at our ‘normal’ time of 10am.  I drove a leisurely 60mph on the freeways and we took 99 all the way to Stockton.  99 will give you a real beating but I just wanted to take it for a change of pace.  Plus at my speed everyone usually passes you anyway.

Around Merced we were thinking it was time to eat.  As we had done previously in Los Banos and Hollister, we started looking for a park to stop at.  On the freeway we noticed a sign for Applegate Park which is where the Merced Zoo is.  We headed there.  The park was sparsely populated and we were able to find a shady spot for lunch:

Day 1 Merced Lunch

The weather was very nice on the trip.  It was low 80’s in Merced for lunch and never got higher than 91 on the trip.

We made it to Chico and the Almond Tree RV Park about 5pm.  We disconnected the truck and hooked up the trailer to all the amenities.

One of the things we remember vividly from Chico (Roxie and I lived here when I was a student from 1980-1983) was the Burger Hut.  We loved the burgers there and the ambiance.  But at that time we didn’t know we loved the ambiance.  Things change in your memory as you get older.  The Burger Hut we frequented was on Nord Ave but that one closed about 1 month ago so we had to go to an alternate one.  Burgers still tasted the same, the condiment bar was there but it didn’t feel the same.  Darn.  I guess it is hard to go back…

We drove around Chico a bit and will do so more tomorrow.  Roxie said it really brought back some memories.  We saw the old crappy apartment we started in at $175/mo and then the fancier ones (perception) that we moved ‘up’ to for $250/mo.  Ah the memories.

The truck did very well, no fuel issues.  With the minor exception of running the tank almost dry (22 miles left).  It was over 310 miles here today and the fillup was $100.

An odd thing happened when we got here.  We hooked into the 50 amp service and had power (my little added light was lit) but some outlets weren’t working when others were?  I reset all the circuit breakers in the trailer, no dice.  I reset the breaker outside and viola!  Everything started working.  Hmmm….  Have to keep an eye on that one.

That’s all for now.