The Airstream experiment is a success!   Bobby bravely and skillfully navigated his 30-foot Airstream trailer into the carport directly adjacent to ours with only inches of space to maneuver.

We had previously determined with a tape measure that the second trailer had to sit in a very specific spot in order to accomplish these goals:

• access to storage compartments & utility connections
• being able to open the entry door without smashing the wall
• leaving room for us to open our entry door

I am still amazed that our carport managed to fit two Airstreams (even though theirs must stick out to allow access to the entry door).     They look pretty cool sitting there, too.   One of the neighbors gave us a big “thumbs-up” when he saw the second Airstream pulling in.   We told him we decided we needed a spare trailer, and this was the delivery.

Just to give you an idea of the tolerances we had to work with:   our entry door now opens with 1/8″ clearance from the side of their trailer.   On the other side of their trailer, the space is too tight even to fit in a speedwrench for tightening the stabilizers, so I lent Bobby my cordless drill for that task.

Now that they are tucked in, plugged in, and hooked up to water, I think our guests will be staying for a while.   The girls have latched on to each other as we knew they would, and we’re all having a great time talking about the full-time life, destinations, houses, and homeschooling.   It’s really nice to have friends here who truly understand and share our travel lifestyle.

On the house front, I took on the task of removing a scabby old shower enclosure this weekend.   This revealed forty years of old caulk, rust stains, soap scum, and miscellaneous unidentifiable gunk.   It was almost as bad as renovating our 1977 Argosy trailer, which formerly housed rats.   When Bobby and Danine arrived, we had finally removed most of the remnants and I was re-caulking the tub.   Unfortunately, I discovered a permanent drip in the tub faucet that may be leaking water inside the wall.   It seems likely we will need to remove part of the wall and the shower tiles to repair it. One more thing for the “punch list.”

I really like having another Airstream next to ours.   We may not be able to go anywhere in the Airstream at the moment but we’ve got our own little campground going right here.   This is shaping up to be a great week.

By the way, the pictures today are taken with the new zoom lens.   You’ll notice some vignetting on the top photo; This is because I added a polarizer and forgot that the rim of the filter will show when the lens is at full wide angle (18 mm).   My previous polarizer was a low-profile type and hence less susceptible to this.

But overall I’m happy with the images because they demonstrate the range and versatility of the lens.   The long shot showing the mountains in the back was taken at about 135mm, from across the street, which allowed me to flatten the depth and bring the mountains into the image.   A minute later, I was able to step in between the two trailers and get another wide-angle shot without swapping lenses. Once I get the hang of the lens I should be able to get some more creative images.