August 20, 2008 at 12:31 am · Filed under Places to go
Our big trip for today was out to Wheat Ridge, CO, where Timeless Travel Trailers is based. They’re a relatively new advertiser in Airstream Life magazine, and Brett and I wanted to check out the operation. We’d heard very good things about them from the Airstream folks in Jackson Center.
We were extremely impressed. They’ve got 30 people working in two buildings, cranking out two completed trailer projects each month. The staff includes two full-time designers, an estimator, and a couple dozen craftsmen in various specialty areas. The head of the operation, Brett Hall, gave us a tour of the facility and then sat down with us over lunch to talk about the industry.
TTT is on the way to becoming the official builder of custom Airstreams. Right now, Airstream doesn’t normally sell trailer shells, for lots of reasons. TTT has been allowed to buy a few direct from the factory for customization, and if all goes well they’ll formalize the relationship with Airstream and be the only shop in the country allowed to build custom Airstreams from new shells. The photo at left shows a new 31 foot Airstream shell in which TTT staff have begun to run wiring for a client.
TTT also rebuilds vintage and late model Airstreams for customers. There were about six projects in the shop when we arrived, each one being renovated at a fantastic pace. The 34-footer in the photo at right as been in the shop for five weeks and will be done in one more week. The customizations run from about $50,000 up, with many projects exceeding $100k.
I love visiting my advertising clients because they all have interesting stories to tell, and interesting businesses. In the past week we’ve been to see Airstream, Bill Thomas Camper Sales, and Timeless Travel Trailers. All of them have been completely different, but share a common excitement for the product and the lifestyle it enables.
This evening’s entertainment was bowling downtown at Lucky Strike Lanes with Brett G’s sister, who lives in Denver. Emma loves bowling, and it seems to be something everyone can enjoy, even the lousy players. (Tonight I was the lousy player for some reason.)
Brett G is spending the next couple of nights at his sister’s house, so our Airstream is a bit emptier than it has been lately. We’re gearing up to get back into our usual 3-person travel mode. I’ve finally made plans for our weekend (Colorado Springs), and we have a tentative plan for the next couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone who suggested their favorite national park in Utah — we plan to take that advice soon.
August 18, 2008 at 11:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We’re back in a favorite spot, Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora, CO, with all eight wheels parked on the pink concrete. I’ve spent the day digging through work tasks that fell by the wayside last week, and slurping down all kinds of fluids to fight the cold. Recovery is not far away, thankfully.
Emma enjoys a movie on the laptop, in our bed, on a rainy Sunday morning in Goodland KS
There was a cold rain in Goodland KS when we left, and it continued occasionally along I-70 through Colorado, leading me to wonder if we would ever escape the rain. These are dry areas, normally. But it was just a reminder of the weather we have finally left behind. Today Aurora has bloomed into sunshine and 82 degrees, without a trace of precipitation in the week’s forecast.
It’s time to regroup a bit. We’ve got more meetings this week before Brett flies home to Florida (to see if his home is still standing after Hurricane Fay). But mostly I’ve got to put things in order, on the business and personal side. For this reason, and to recover comfortably from the cold, I set up the Official World Headquarters of Airstream Life magazine on the queen bed, and parked myself for the day.
One task is to figure out where we are going next. The firm plan only extends to this weekend; after that it’s just a series of vague ideas. Generally speaking we were going to head to southern Colorado and visit some national parks, ending up at Mesa Verde and then moving into Utah. This still sounds good, but work has begun to intrude. I’m starting some new projects (in addition to working on the Winter 2008 magazine), which requires me to spend a lot of time where I have reliable cell phone and Internet access. The timing isn’t good to go wandering around remote parts of Utah.
But I hate to cut the trip short. We are 15 hours drive from home base, and if we head back now it will be a while before we are ready to make the trip back up the Utah. Tough call. I’ll be looking for some compromise plan this week. We might pick just one major national park in Utah, but which one? They’re all great.
August 16, 2008 at 9:24 pm · Filed under Roadtrips
I suppose if I must have a cold while trying to cross a broad swath of the USA, Kansas is a good place to have it. That’s because I can never equalize my ears when I have a cold. Nothing works for this problem, including medications and various techniques used by divers. So typically a cold means I am restricted to one elevation until it clears up, and absolutely no flying.
Fortunately, the drive east to west across Kansas is a gentle rise most of the way. We pulled out this morning from our quiet and scenic spot by the lake near Baldwin City at about 1,600 feet elevation, and eventually ended up here in Goodland at 3,700 feet. That climb — if you can call it a climb — was spread over about 300 miles, or about 3.6 feet elevation gain per mile. Nice and gradual, and easy on the three people in the car who have colds at the moment.
Yes, now there are three. Emma started having symptoms last night. Only Eleanor has so far escaped the viral wrath from Florida. After two long days in the car I thought Emma would appreciate a short day today, with lots of breaks to run around, but when she got the cold we changed the plan. There’s nothing like a virus to take the edge off a kid. She was happy to spend most of the time sitting in the car playing with her toys, and I was happy to have Brett as chauffeur for most of the day.
Goodland is a nice place to stop along I-70. We’ve been here before. The town is big enough to have good services, and small enough that there’s not much traffic. Since we have only 200 miles or so before Denver, we’re going to spend sometime here on Sunday to explore the various sights in town.
Tourist attraction: The giant Van Gogh reproduction in Goodland KS
Maintenance report: I think there is something wrong with the auto-leveling system on the Armada. It has a factory-installed airbag suspension in the rear, but it appears to have a slow leak. We’ll check that in Denver at a Nissan dealer.
Solar report: We’ve been running on battery since we left Jackson Center, with all three fans running all night and lots of light and water pump usage. We haven’t been frugal with our power at all because there has been abundant sunshine to recharge the batteries. This afternoon the batteries were at 81%, not bad. It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy … on solar power.
August 15, 2008 at 11:41 pm · Filed under Roadtrips
Last night was possibly the noisiest night we’ve spent in the Airstream. After a 400 mile drive (way over budget, but we’re trying to make up for leaving Jackson Center late), we pulled into a Wal-Mart that had long spaces especially for RVs and tractor-trailers. I’ve never seen that before at a Wal-Mart.
We figured it was logical to pull in between a couple of big rigs, in a sort of modern-day circling of the wagons, but that was a huge mistake. The rigs ran their diesel engines all night long, and they came and went noisily in the wee hours of the morning. We turned all three Fantastic Vents on, which masked the sound reasonably well, but I still woke up at 3 a.m. from something – probably the cold symptoms – and could not get back to sleep. I ended up responding to emails from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m., and then getting back to a fitful and uncomfortable sleep.
I hate having colds. My brain works at about 2/3 speed and the whole world seems to be a bit foggy. There’s also the usual symptoms that nobody wants to see or hear: the drippy nose, the froggy voice, the snurking sounds. I drove just two hours in the morning and then turned the keys over to Brett for the rest of the day. He did fine, owing to a couple of years of owning a 31-foot Sovereign himself. I’ve never allowed anyone to tow our trailer before, but Brett is pretty handy with vehicles and so there were only a few moments when I had to close my eyes in terror.
Given my repellent condition, it was not the best day to go visiting, but we were directly on a path past Bill Thomas Camper Sales, a leading Airstream dealer and supporting advertiser. Neither Brett nor I had been to see their new facility, so we stopped in and met with Glenn Thomas for an hour. Nice place, and of course they had lots of shiny new Airstreams for us to crawl around inside. I was interested to see that they have five full-hookup spots in their lot, very convenient for an overnight stopover from I-270 in Wentzville, just west of St Louis.
Since having our disc brake pads replaced in Jackson Center, the brakes have been so-so. That’s because they need a little use before they “wear in.” The new rotor also had a burning smell for the first few hundred miles, which is normal. About halfway through our drive today Brett suddenly noticed the brakes grabbing much more strongly, to the point that we had to turn down the voltage on the Prodigy brake controller. At first he thought that something was wrong, but it was just the pads wearing in.
Not long after, they settled down and the stops became very smooth and effortless. Now the brakes are at their very best, just like disc brakes are supposed to be. I’d forgotten how good they can be.
We have since crossed into Kansas. Facing a long dull ride on I-70 again, we took our friend Joe’s advice and detoured to try Route 56. This road follows the original Santa Fe trail, and historic markers are everywhere. A portion goes through the Flint Hills and the tall grass prairie. It will take us longer to cross Kansas this way, but we have some time to spare since we hustled across Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.
Our stop tonight is at the eastern end of Rt 56, on the shore of a small state fishing lake. There are about four primitive sites for camping here, and no rangers, no fees, no amenities. Nobody is here at all, unless you count the kayaker I spotted on the lake this evening. Finding a beautiful quiet spot like this is an experience you only get when you take the road less traveled. I’m already glad we chose to skip the seductive, straight and smooth I-70, for the sinuous and scenic Rt 56.
August 14, 2008 at 9:53 pm · Filed under Tips & Ideas
We’re on the road from Jackson Center OH heading west. Our last meetings wrapped up at 11:30 this morning. We packed up, topped off the propane, dumped the tanks, filled the fresh water and took on 14 gallons of regular unleaded.
In this phase of our travel, fuel is by far the largest expense. Over the next few days we’ll cover about 1200 miles to Denver, which will cost about $450 in fuel at current prices. Anticipating this, I switched credit cards a month ago to cut the cost.
Many gas station chains have credit cards that give you a discount of 3% to 5% on fuel, but they only work at their gas stations. Since we travel nationwide, that’s not very useful to us. In Tucson the predominant gas chain is Circle K, in Ohio we see a lot of Speedways, out west we see BP and Sinclair and ARCO, in some places we see Texaco and Shell, or the big boys: Exxon and Mobil. It’s impractical to carry a card for each individual chain, so I found a card that gives me a discount at all of them.
The card I chose is the American Express “SimplyCash Business Card.” I think they have a similar one for consumers called BlueCash. I use it to pay for all our fuel, and I get 5% (not five cents, but percent) rebated to me on the next credit card statement. So the gas at Marathon that was posted at $3.75 per gallon really costs us $3.56. No matter where we go, we’re getting the cheapest gas in town.
Five percent isn’t a huge amount, but it feels good to save anything on gas these days. We typically save $2-3 per fillup. Hey, every bit counts.
Brett gives Emma her first chess game in the Airstream service center
Rob Baker (of The Vintage Airstream Podcast) and family pulled into Airstream’s Terra Port as we were readying to depart. Rob has a very nicely restored 30-foot 1958 Airstream Sovereign Of The Road. I got a quick peek inside before we had to go. Beautiful Zolatone paint inside, Marmoleum floor, and birch cabinetry. Since they’ve never been to Jackson Center before, we gave them the quick rundown on things to do in town (and a few places to avoid). It would have been fun to stay another day with Rob, Zoe, and the kids, but the road was calling.
Tonight we are doing our usual cheapskate thing on long drive days: the scenic Wal-Mart Supercenter off I-70 in Illinois. I’m amazed we made it this far given how late we left, and also considering that I now have a cold. I don’t want to name names, but a certain visitor to our trailer from Florida whose initials are BG seemed to have brought it with him. He lost his voice entirely yesterday and spent the day whispering through all our meetings, and today I am sharing the joy with a sore throat, headache, and congestion. Still, with some Tylenol and Sudafed we made it over 300 miles. Tomorrow we have another long-ish day planned, and then we’ll slow down for a while to explore some of Kansas.
August 13, 2008 at 11:39 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
You’ll never guess what today is. But if you do, for bonus credit you can guess how old I am. There are subtle clues contained in this blog entry.
Eleanor made a very fine cake in the trailer, which we enjoyed last night ( a day early). Making a cake in the Airstream’s tiny oven is a significant feat in itself. First of all, it’s a small space, and RV ovens are not known for their BTU power or temperature accuracy. Also, you have to be sure the oven is perfectly level, in order to have an even cake. That may not coincide exactly with leveling the rest of the trailer. Eleanor is a master at this now and so her cake came out fine. We shared slices with some of the managers at Airstream today, which made us fairly popular.
Things in the trailer have been busy each day as we work around each other in the small space. Outside the trailer things have been even busier, with meetings and such things going on all over the factory campus. We’re going to have to extend our visit into mid-day Thursday.
One of the projects took up half the day today. Brett and I were allowed into the archive room, where an absolute treasure trove of Airstream photography, films, and documents are stored. Some of this stuff hasn’t seen the light of day since it was originally produced decades ago. I was specifically looking for archive photos of the NASA astronaut transporter (the “Astro Van”) and the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) used to isolate astronauts returning from Gemini and Apollo missions. We found plenty of those, and then dug into a lot of other great history.
One find was a whole file folder containing prints of Cornelius Vanderbilt posing in front of his Airstream at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago. This photo shows Cornelius with Dorsey Conners, a Chicago TV personality and daughter of a famous organized crime boss. I like the photo for the character, but also for the style of the times. It was probably a big deal for Cornelius Vanderbilt to come to the Ambassador in his Airstream, and even a bigger deal for the local celebrities and business heavies to get to pose with him. Cornelius had definite ideas about what “Airstreaming” meant in the 1950s, and he did a lot of it, from devastated post-war Europe to the parking lot of a Chicago hotel.
While we are here, we embarked on a project to lighten the trailer and clear up some clutter that we picked up in Vermont. We boxed a lot of books, magazines, fabric, and miscellany (like my old laser printer) to ship to Tucson via UPS. All told, we shipped 98 lbs of stuff in three boxes. It’s nice to see the unneeded weight depart, but even nicer to have the space back. Some of those items had nowhere to be in the trailer, and were starting to take over floor space.
Emma has been relocated from her bedroom at the back of the trailer to the dinette, which she finds novel. Brett has her bed while he’s visiting. That means every night we have three bedrooms set up. Walking down the hallway I feel like I am in a Pullman coach, with every berth filled with somebody reading a book before bedtime. Rather than feeling crowded, it feels exciting. It will probably be even more exciting when we get moving along I-70 tomorrow afternoon, heading to our next stops in Missouri and Kansas.
August 12, 2008 at 8:38 am · Filed under Tips & Ideas
Our trailer service is done. The bottom line was $1500, with ceramic brake pads all around, one replaced rotor, axle alignment, a new bumper, straightening and repainting of the rear scrapers, and a few small parts.
Today at the Airstream factory Brett and I will be running around trying to meet with various people on the staff, and conducting a few interviews for future articles in Airstream Life. One interview was done yesterday afternoon, with John Huttle. He’s the head of Airstreams “B-van” division, which includes the new Interstate 3500 touring coach being produced in a separate building across the street from the main assembly building. We took a tour of the assembly process (not part of the public tour, sorry) and were quite impressed by the complete redesign of this new little motorhome.
I need to do several follow-up interviews today and over the next few weeks to get together a good story about this completely re-designed product. That article should appear in the Winter 2008 issue of Airstream Life.
Since the bulk of the day will be filled with business tasks, I am going to take the opportunity to share with you a few good links which have been passed on to me by blog readers recently.
Andy writes: “For one brief, er, it would have been a shining moment if it was the daytime, an almost Airstream is the trailer that appears in the trailer (couldn’t resist that one) for the Disney movie ‘Bolt.’ The shape of the trailer (travel-trailer, that is) is definitely Airstream, but the side details look a bit different, like there’s a recessed waistband or something. The travel trailer appears about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the movie trailer.”
Al wrote in a comment yesterday that there was a recall on valve stems going on. I haven’t yet verified if our stems are in the recall, but here’s the link for more information about that.
Brad writes in from Oregon to tip me off to a good article about the rising ukulele phenomenon. (Registration may be required to view this article.) When the New York Times covers it, you know you’ve made the big time, right? Hey, even Warren Buffet plays the uke. He thought it would get him girls. (Hey Warren, it didn’t work for me either.)
Some fellow full-timers, Jim and Debbie, have been keeping a blog of their travels for some time. Since the travels of Bobby & Danine (”A Year About”) have come to an end, their blog will be replaced on the Airstream Community page of this website with Jim & Debbie’s “Dreamstreamr Odyssey.” But I still advise anyone planning to take an extended tour in their travel trailer to read the archives of A Year About. It’s fun to read about their adventure and very informative as well.
Deb and Jim have been particularly helpful in advising us on methods and concerns related to obtaining good nationwide health insurance for full-timers. Deb has written up a short article on that subject, which contains useful information for anyone trying to figure out individual health insurance while traveling.
That ought to keep you busy while I’m running around Jackson Center all day. More later. Let me know if there’s a photo you want me to try to take while I’m here.
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