The week before a major Airstream event is often a busy time for me, and this week is an exceptional one even by that standard.   That’s because this time the event is one which I’m co-organizing, and that means a lot of last-minute details to be managed.   Add in my attempt to start rebuilding the entire interior of our 1968 Airstream Caravel, two guests staying in the Airstream with us (Brett and now Lori, who flew in last night), last-minute work on the Fall issue of the magazine, and then the complete & sudden failure of our refrigerator … well, you can see how things are a bit hectic.

The day Brett arrived by air, I picked him up in the morning and we immediately headed over to the hardware stores to get supplies for the Jam.   Then we dropped by Sterling Hardwood to pick up the Caravel project wood (11 sheets of plywood and lots of lengths of ash hardwood cut to various sizes), and by the time we were done unloading at 4 p.m., I noticed the bleeding refrigerator.

Yesterday was about the same.   At Colin Hyde’s shop we got the new Dometic refrigerator installed, which is a major relief and a substantial upgrade.   The new refrigerator has about 25% more useful space inside, and more importantly, it isn’t bleeding coolant.

While we were there, somebody noticed that the trailer’s right brake and turn signal wasn’t working.   We isolated this to the Nissan easily, using a light testing rig that Colin’s guys made up.   You can see it in the picture.   Digging around the Armada, we discovered there isn’t a specific fuse for the trailer lights but there are relays, which we couldn’t test.   So off it goes to the dealer on Tuesday.

We also discovered that there’s a Technical Service Bulletin which is possibly related to this issue, involving the need for a new Body Control Module (think, “computer”).   We’ll find out on Tuesday if the cause is simple or not, but either way it needs to be ready to tow to the Jam on Wednesday.

Then we hauled the Airstream back to Vermont, dumped the tanks and refilled the propane at a nearby campground, and got parked again by 7 p.m.   After dinner and early this morning, I squeezed in a little time to review layouts for the magazine and reply to email.   Late last night Brett went to the airport to pick up Lori and then we were four in the Airstream (with Emma sleeping in the house with my parents).

Today we took a break, mostly.   We had Colin and his son over for the Fourth of July, under spectacular clear skies and fine temperatures.   The humidity has broken at last, and the thunderstorms have relented.   We got the sort of weather that makes Vermonters forgive the state for the awful conditions they’ve experienced lately.   So a little boating, a lot of conversation, a grilled dinner, and a late sunset have given us a nice break from the pressure of being ready for next week.   We have a long way to go before we can rest easy, but I think we’ll be ready for the Jam by Wednesday.