'New' 2006 Interstate (Mid-bath)

[Lily&Me]

Looks like the perfect fall trip.

Maggie

[Lotus54]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Looks like the perfect fall trip.

Maggie

Yes, it was really fun. I would have liked to take another week or more to do it- but even though more freeway than I like, better than not going at all!


BTW, I would get about 21mph at 75mph. Even though the speed limit was 80mph, I didn’t really like driving it that fast, and preferred the back roads that were 70MPH there and less.

Worst mileage was climbing to 10,000 on a narrow little steep road (more on that later) in first gear most of the way. Got 20mph on that part. (26mpg later on the secondary roads doing 60mph)



Mark

[Lotus54]

Day 5
We left Lusk area and headed west. The plan was go go into Utah, then take 93 south, staying at the Cathedral gorge again.
But it is a long way across and we got a bit of a late start (showers, tank dumping, tank filling, talking to the owner).
It was pretty windy part of the time and it was getting late and we just stopped at a Walmart in Evanston, WY.
It was darn cold that night (but we slept nice and warm). Sleet and 24ºf in the morning! Quite icy around and I wasn’t looking forward to driving the freeway. But they had salted it well and there was no issue in the freeway. I took it pretty easy though, even though many were bombing along.
It cleared up around Salt Lake City, we continued along and stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats rest area.
Past that we took 93a, then 93 down to Cathedral Gorge. Very little traffic and I enjoyed that route.

[Lotus54]

So day 6 we stayed at Cathedral Gorge.
Did some poking around and walking- weather was nice and nice place.

The AI was covered in salt from the road. I went to car wash as soon as I could to get it off.

[Lotus54]

After Cathedral Gorge, we headed south toward Vegas- to visit a friend in Henderson.
We just stayed in the parking lot of her apartment, then headed out in the morning (managed to find a self-service car wash and scrubbed the AI well to remove salt).
We proceeded to take 190 into and through Death Valley (hitting Badwater and a couple of side roads). Even this time of year it was pretty hot (for me).
After that we headed north to Lone Pine. then took a side road into the mountains, nice fairly narrow twisty road. A FS campground at 8000 feet was the place for the night.

In the morning kept on going up to 10,000ft and the Bristlecone Pine area. A local FS employee said the dirt road that continues on toward the methuselah grove was not very good and likely required high clearance (she mentioned spar tyres also). I dont’ know if it was really that bad, but I didn’t feel like finding out. All that stuff hanging under the AI is just begging to get snagged on something.
So we walked a few miles around the area where the visitor Centre is located - it was quite nice.

Since we were camping close, almost nobody was around. More people when we left, but still didn’t meet many as we headed down.

[Lotus54]

Some pics from the Bristlecone Pine area.

[Lotus54]

After getting back down to Lone Pine (fuel mileage going up to 10k and back, much of it in 1st gear was only 20mph)- we headed north.
Had lunch at Mono Lake area, then took 89 across a couple of passed to South Lake Tahoe area.
Pretty much all the campgrounds were closed and I didn’t see anyplace that looked like we could just park it.
Kept going to a State Park up around the lake that was about half closed.

In the morning we headed toward Lassen NP. Neither of us had ever been there.
Took a walk out to ‘Bumpass’s Hell’ (crew was working on replacing the boardwalk), then continued on across to the NP campground on the other side that was mostly closed also. Almost nobody there.

[Lotus54]

In the morning, we left Lassen, then went north (299 and 139) - with a bypass to Lava Beds NM. We had not been there either (although at one time I thought I was going to be going there for work).
We did a few lava tubes- I’m not particularly interested in ones you have to crawl though, so just did some easy ones. I’ve been through lava tubes before, but of course they are all a little different. The ‘lit and self guided’ one was well done I thought, giving some interesting info. The rest required lights and perhaps a bit more ducking and keeping track of where you were.


leaving LABE we went up to Klamath Falls (I needed to dump the tanks and ended up using a KOA, which was expensive but at least I could do it).
Then on up to Bend where we parked in a friends drivway.

[Lotus54]

Last day we left Bend, headed over the road by Mt Hood- in the snow.
Well...it was snowing, at least it wasn’t sticking much yet.

Got on I5 (I never like it) up to where 101 takes off and up the Canal. Once off the Interstate the traffic was minimal and a nice drive.
Oh yeah, it was pouring rain- I’m sure effectively washing any salt residue off that I didn’t get at the car wash.

Nice to get home.
(But already a number of day Trips with the AI, mostly off-road motorcycle rides).

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by Lotus54

Last day we left Bend, headed over the road by Mt Hood- in the snow.
Well...it was snowing, at least it wasn’t sticking much yet.

Got on I5 (I never like it) up to where 101 takes off and up the Canal. Once off the Interstate the traffic was minimal and a nice drive.
Oh yeah, it was pouring rain- I’m sure effectively washing any salt residue off that I didn’t get at the car wash.

Nice to get home.
(But already a number of day Trips with the AI, mostly off-road motorcycle rides).

Great trip! We’ve been to most of those places. Lassen was pretty interesting. Were you in campgrounds most of the time? Wondering how your Exide did.

[Lotus54]

We stayed in campgrounds often, but often just ‘dispersed camping’ or even parking lot.
Plus most of the campgrounds we stayed in did not have power (only two did).

The Excide held up quite well- of course we drove quite a lot every day so could get fully charged.
We did charge call phones/iPads etc at night, along with draws from refer (propane, but still some draw) and constant things like the propane solinoid.

I used it dry camping for three days earlier this year and it held up well. the first one DID fail and would not hold a charge. They gave me a full refund and I bought another.

Mark

[Tincampers]

Nice, did you detail the mods required to lay it on its side? We currently have a gel call and want to get rid of that.

[Lotus54]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

Nice, did you detail the mods required to lay it on its side? We currently have a gel call and want to get rid of that.

I think I posted some pics earlier in this thread- but I’m not really sure.
I needed to cut the lip off the stock battery tray- I’ll look and see if I have pics or more details.
It wasn’t hard- but I have a plasma cutter so it made it a LOT easier.

I used some old inner tube to pad it and a strap to hold it in.

Mark

Edit:
Here is the post describing. If I pull it out again I’ll try to take some pics.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f240...-158429-5.html

[Lotus54]

I got the ‘RakAttatch’
http://rakattach.com
Mounted up on my AI

I figure this will be nice when camping and traveling with a bike. That way I can still open the rear doors and access the van that way and get the great views. The passenger door wont’ open all the way around- but will open 90º.
It only takes a matter of seconds to swing it out, and it quite secure when latched.
I was thinking it would be a nice setup for a certain someone that uses a hitch mounted cooler on the same AI setup.

Mark

[Lotus54]

I forgot to mention, you can connect any sort of rack to the swingarm system.
I use the motorcycle rack, but a luggage rack etc could be used also. It does push it out a few inches (I can measure if anyone is interested) and up a couple of inches.
This is the ‘Large’ one.

It says you cannot tow with it (but I don’t know that you would want to tow something with a rack already attached anyway).
It can also be used for bicycles and such, but this one is darn heavy duty and seems silly for a bike or two.
Mark

[weather command]

I feel awkward leaving this post. I am a new to RV ing and have zero mechanical ability and am sweating the small stuff right now. I would be forever grateful if I could ask those of you who have the same rig some silly if not dumb questions. Trust me, you may be surprised at some of the questions...I'm more of a show me type learner rather than reading a manual...Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer..Scott

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by weather command

I would be forever grateful if I could ask those of you who have the same rig some silly if not dumb questions.

The only dumb question is the one that never gets asked. So fire away. Even those of us who don't have the same rig are likely to have answers you can use.

Being new to RVing, you may not realize that for the Airstream Interstate, the only things unique to Interstates are the interior walls, floor, ceiling, and cabinets. Every piece of electrical equipment is found on many motorhomes and trailers, for many different floor plans and many different model years. Ditto for every piece of plumbing, and every mechanical moving part. You have a truly vast resource here on the AirForums for answering any question you may have— except for the questions you don't ask.

[Lotus54]

Yes- certainly feel free to ask away.
I know I certainly have asked a lot of things.
Like he said, every model is a little different on how things are laid out, capacaties etc. Since you have the rear-sleeper of the same year, there are several of us here that have the same one and should be able to answer most stuff you would like to know.

1. Make sure not to leave it plugged into ‘shore’ power a long time with the original ‘house’ battery charging system. The chargers are not expensive to replace with a better one- but certainly takes some mechanical and electrical savvy.

Mark
(I replied to your PM with my email also)

[unifreck]

I also have a "RakAttach" made in Utah , it is very well made and holds two ebikes very well. Mine swings to the drivers side (the only company to give you a choice) because I have a rear bath model Interstate and have taken the inboard spare tire and attached to the drivers side rear door giving me room behind passenger door for tools, etc. I also tow a Smart Car with the entire rig and can swing the bikes out for access to anything behind the doors without undoing anything but the locking mechanism on the RakAttach. Best ad on so far. AEW

[Lotus54]

I was sick of Tiny buttons
Pioneer AVH3300nex
Works great