how long have you owned your A/S?

[aluminauts]

This is our first trailer and we are totally enjoing our practice for future fulltiming.

[maxandgeorgia]

Bud, still curious about the extended time in the Beartooth. Do you stay at a campground up in the range or outside? How do you deal with the altitude? What kinds of activities do you do to fill the days? I assume you must be hikers to stay in this area. Max and I still remember the amazing sight of two 70+ year olds heading out with all the vigor of teens across the high ground and disappearing toward one of the lakes, hiking poles in hand. Meanwhile we panted and held one another up, hoping to continue breathing! Your summer plans sound exciting.

[wrepete]

Georgia, we typically go to Cody for a day or two after our cross-country trip, get some rest, groceries, check our email, etc. Then we use highway 296 over Dead Indian Pass to US212 east toward the Beartooth Pass Summit. There is a NPS campground at Beartooth Lake, and another at Island Lake. We have stayed at both, but prefer Island Lake because of the openness of the location/view. [There are also some campgrounds toward Cooke City, heading west, at lower altitudes.]

Our altitude at Geneseo is about 600ft., so it takes us a week or so to get use to 9700ft., and even then we're none to zippy. We used to be heavy duty hikers, but these days we go on what we call 'long walks,' and there are trails in all directions. [We have good topographical maps to plot our way ahead of time.] We seldom go further than an hour from our starting place, carry some light food, water, camera, and mosquito protection. [They don't seem to be able to carry you off if you weigh more than 100 lbs, and the blood of 70+ folks isn't as tasty]

We also go on combination drives/hikes in the general area. Cooke City, MT is the closest hard wired telephone system. . .and there is a spot about a 1/4 mile long near the top of Beartooth Pass where you can pick up a cell phone signal from Red Lodge, if you're lucky! Internet access is available at Cooke City, and the public library in Red Lodge and Cody. I seldom email anyone when we are tripping, and mostly go through and delete as much as I can over the next two months. Actually we prefer to be away from all electronic entertainment for that time period. . . Its part of our reconstitution for the coming year and the long winter ahead! We don't even take our TV anymore and don't miss it at all. I buy a newspaper every few days when its convenient.

We know of some great places to eat for a special day out, we go to Cody for the day when we need to do laundry/buy groceries/wash truck/visit walmart.They have great medical facilities at Red Lodge and Cody, if needed.

Best of all, we have made friends in all of these places, especially in the campgrounds. There are lots of social opportunities with very nice, ordinary, and wonderfully pleasant people of all ages and walks of life. We still huff and puff more than we used to, but we have a great time of it, and just learn to enjoy the view when its time to stop and catch our breath.

We're hoping to get away by mid-June, and spring will just be underway when we arrive up there!

[markparker22]

As noticed previously in these poll comments, most people who vote are newcomers, like me, who rely on airstreamforums.com for the vast amount of information available and the help provided when specific questions are asked. This is an immense wealth of information and I plan to continue this support when I am also "an oldtimer" here. PS: Has there ever been a poll on how many are full timers?

[sovereignrwe]

I too have found the knowledge invaluable! I have saved myself a lot of money and effort being able to learn from others through the forum! I can only hope that I am able to provide that same knowledge for others as they join the Airstream family.

[silver 67]

Another "satisfied customer" here. We have owned our 1967 Sovereign, double bed, rear bath for only a month and a half. Had not planned on purchasing our "retirement home" this soon but the A/S spoke to us from an alley behind a truck on blocks, an old motor boat and what was left of a demolition derby car. It had previously been "well loved" by a family with eight kids and three dogs, who used it as a kitchen and bathroom base on trips to a local lake. Even though things looked good in the beginning.....well.... you know how it is. Hope to get it out at least once before the snow flies. Thanks for all the great information we are gleaning from this forum.

Beth Ann

[rickyandcook]

purchased 6/05. Ricky

[Bambi_Bandit]

My 2005 19' Intl CCD, 10 Months before trading for the 2006 28' Safari LS, which we have had for 22 days thus far...

[redeagle313]

Picked up our 28' International on April 15th of this year. We will be keeping it for a long time, unless of course they come out with a 30' International with the same floor plan as the Safari 30' Bunk model.....

[GlenCoombe]

Wow! Even thought the last post to this thread was in July I'm blown away by the pole results. 30% of us are Newbies!!! Go figure.
Perhaps the newness of the aluminitus wear off over time?
Maybe it's time to repole?

[SafeHarbor]

Hi, Glen,

It doesn't wear off. I bought my Argosy in 1992... and my Excella this year. Now I'm thinking about getting a triple axle model... but oddly, not a even really wanting a motorhome...

Lamar

[Argy 78]

Nice to hear that we are not alone as "first timers". After many years of camping in tents, a '74 Open Road van conversion, we recently acquired our first travel trailer, a 27' 1978 Argosy.
I had been looking for four years at A/S, Argosy, and Avions to put on our property in northern Michigan. I found this one on the internet and decided to take a look at it. Most of the others I had looked at needed way too many renovations, but this one was in really good condition and purchased it on the spot. The Argosy, even though it was not the top of the line A/S, its lines are classic and the quality is still first cabin.
We now have the bug and plan to make renovations so we can once again boondock and travel the wonderful roads of America.
Thanks Wally for your foresight and intuition.
JC Squiers
Argy 78

[Silverhobby]

I have owned the 1964 Bambi II since 1982. I do not get bored with the trailer. I keep finding new ways to reinvent it, thanks to this FORUM. I moved backwards, in camping. Having first bought a travel trailer, then adding a tent (still have it), later, a motorhome, but always keeping the silver beauty that first caught my eye as a "piece of Americana."

[nodpete]

I've had my 76, 24' Argosy for 31 years. Haven't pulled it for the last 4 years because I lost my tow vehicle and haven't replaced it as we've been everywhere in the USA and Canada with it & have been taking vacations in Europe lately, but that will probably change with the $ vs. Euro these days. Has anybody owned their A/S longer?

[rickyandcook]

we have had our A/S three years in june.

[Benny]

Hey guys, I am sure by now the occasion where poor winterizing was a one time event. However I discovered from a friend at TCPC the best method,In my opinion is by using a 2 inch PVC Pipe approximately 2 feet long with one end capped with solvent glue and the other adapted to take a threaded cap. that will allow to pour winterizing fluid into on the opposite end of the threaded cap install by drilling a 3'16th hole and glue male water fitting and the other end a female water fitting . as you fill the 2" pipe-- connect compresser to pump through the pumping adapter installed . This will force winterizing fluit throughout the plumbing system by just opening individual facuets until fluid escapes. Works for mefemail water connectrion

Originally Posted by femuse

We bought our #1 Tradewind 25' 1971 in 1992. 2 or 3 years later, we blew the plumbing (bad winterizing)
Tried to fix it, in a rush, living in center city Philadelphia, the trailer about 25 miles away in storage in New Jersey. No time, always missing some tools,....
Mike drove by an RV dealer, rows upon rows of beautiful brand new white trailers. Sure, they were ready to make a deal if we wanted to buy this "eyesore".

So, we bought our #2: Land Yatch International 29' 1974 around 1994. Now we had to store 2 AS.
We moved to VA, end of 1996, bringing both trailer with us.
A few months ago, we got smart, and realized that the tail sag we had noticed was not normal (not the rear bath fault of course, I know balancing problem )
Having not made up our mind yet/find time,..., about building a house, we have been living in #2 since 1996: 8 months at home, 4 months on the road, each year.
So, we decided it was time to upgrade anyway (difficult to do repairs when living in it).

We just brought home our #3: Excella 32' 1990.
We talked about selling #1 , using #2 as a guest room now. I have the feeling that we are going to stay a 3 Airstreams family for the time being.

If only we had stayed in Philadelphia.... It's getting to be crowed in here.

[InsideOut]

When I originally voted 5 years ago it was 1-2 years.

You do the math ~

Shari

[soldiermedic]

I think this poll should recycle every year

[LJH]

I've owned ours for four years. It's been in the family for sixteen.

[ROBERT CROSS]

We've owned AN Airstream since 1988

First, 1963 Safari 22', sold in 2004

25' Classic adopted in Spring 04.