We packed up the roadshow at Fort Wilderness this morning, and pointed the Airstream west on I-4 to return to Tampa. With no particular schedule, we weren't in a hurry to move on, so we stopped off at Camping World to pick up a few items and have lunch in Brett's motorhome.

A couple of months ago, someone asked me about
maintenance items. At the time, I listed a few basic things we do. Since then, I've added a few items to the list and deleted others. This morning as we were preparing to go, I was noting that most of them have to do with lubrication.

For example, the entrance door hinges started squeaking a few weeks ago. I used powdered graphite in a liquid suspension for that -- the same stuff I use on the compartment locks.

One of the stabilizer jacks started squeaking also. I put a dab of "Anti-Seize" compound on the threads of the jack screws and ran them up and down a few times. (A fellow Airstreamer gave me that stuff. You can find it in hardware stores.)

While we were at Camping World, I bought a level for the front of the Airstream. Up to now, we've determined level just by feel. We'll be attaching the new level to the front of the trailer next weekend. Most of the projects I get into on the trailer are like that, little improvements rather than repairs (like our modification of the LCD TV to 12v). We've got a few other tweaks in mind for this week as well.

On Wednesday, Eleanor and Emma are flying home to Vermont for a visit, while I hang back here in Tampa doing "guy stuff" with my friends. This will be the first time we've been separated on this trip. It should be an interesting change for a few days. What might happen? Probably more maintenance!

We're planning to use the interim to do some long-term planning, also. We need to cross the country again, and we want to make the most of every mile. I'll be working out routes and stops from Myrtle Beach to Las Vegas, and then to Salem, Oregon. We need to cover the country in less than two months, which is faster than we'd like. With good planning, we'll be able to take advantage of courtesy parking and see some great parks. As we work out the stops, I'll post them to the Schedule page.