Picture of your Interstate

[Air99]

Originally Posted by TayaraTravel

What's on the telly? The Fishing Show, Live from Huntsville State Park.

Very nice!

[Teamaron]

Originally Posted by Mister B

Salt Fork State Campground, Ohio

Makes me jealous when mines sitting in the warehouse

[Top69dog]

[InterBlog]

I'm going to do something a bit different here, in the style of a "before" and "after" Interstate photo pair, partly because I am (as they say in the local dialect) at loose ends.

And WHY am I at loose ends? Because I'm stuck temporarily homeless in Nova Scotia with flights delayed at least 8 hours, if they get out today at all, which is questionable.

Like I needed this reminder of *exactly* why we decided to purchase our Interstate 2.5 years ago. This has happened so many times, with one memorable delay amounting to FOUR DAYS, that we just decided to say to hell with air travel, especially to Nova Scotia, which is fraught with seemingly un-resolvable logistical problems (some of which may involve the airport's navaids, which have reportedly not been up to the standards needed to support reliable commercial traffic).

But I had to come up here in advance of my future planned Interstate trip in order to get the ball rolling on our proposed property improvements, so that they are prepared and waiting for me by the time I arrive with our Interstate (LB_3 will fly up separately due to work schedules, hence my other recent thread on finding the best standalone GPS navigational aid, because I have to get up here solo).

We're basically trying to minimally configure an existing wilderness property as an Interstate boondocking location. So here's a fabulously primitive "before" picture, and a blog post with it. The flagging tape represents the plane of orientation where the rear end of our Interstate will eventually sit - if all goes according to plan, which is not at all clear at this point, especially if I end up dying of old age while waiting for a flight back to America. The "after" pic will hopefully emerge a few months from now.

STUMBLING TOWARD A NEW SUMMER COTTAGE PARADIGM

[mizan]

kids love it - I took it to many places already.

[InterBlog]

Welcome to Air Forums! My husband and I also fall into the "best decision ever" category of owners!

[txntravlr]

Last night at the Raton Pass RV resort

[Robert H]

Our 2015 Airstream Interstate Grand Tour EXT.

[TayaraTravel]

Eagles Nest Lake, NM

[SWH]

Stayed in hotel last night and parked way out at end of parking lot to come out this morning to this. Was he trying to be an @@@hole?

[RoadJager]

He was not TRYING to be an a**hole, he WAS being one. OR on the other side of the coin, he was overly concerned about damage to your grill and was protecting it for you.
Aghhh, People.

[Teamaron]

That's why we park like this

Oh and love the sunset
Shame I had to ask family to get out of way

[unifreck]

Robert H-----
Glad to see another Interstate in San Clemente. When you see one (T1N) that is cardinal and gold (USC) colors it's me or my loving wife. Stop and say hello.
AEW

[Air99]

Originally Posted by SWH

Stayed in hotel last night and parked way out at end of parking lot to come out this morning to this. Was he trying to be an @@@hole? Attachment 288153

Hmm...His was biggest and baddest (just look at the bulging tires and aftermarket grill) until yours showed up with kitchen sink and bathroom and better mpg. He's hurt!!!

[Lily&Me]

Vermont Covered Bridge...

[B.E.A.M]

first long trip with beamor took us from NJ to Fl here he sits in key Biscayne

[InterBlog]

This is not quite yet a picture of our Interstate. It's actually a picture of my father's car -- on the raw land that we are terraforming for our Interstate.

The private road and the pad just got completed within the past few days, and LB_3 and I are *gobsmacked*. I *never* would have recognized this as my own property, if someone had simply showed me pics of it - there was absolutely nothing but an impenetrable mass of trees there previously. This development is better quality than half the public roads in the area - seriously. It's better quality than many of the public roads in the two National Parks that are in the region.

The contractor is primarily a highway-builder when they are not taking private jobs on the side. I basically told them I needed a road that would support an 8,500-pound camper van, and a pad where I could boondock and also complete a three-point a turnabout given a 23.5-foot length and a 50 foot turning radius (supposing I were going in a circle, which I won't be, but it's a point of reference). The turning function was essential because the private road leading into this place is only about ten feet wide, and I have no hope of turning on it. Up until now, I've had to drive in, and back a quarter of a mile out again (very tedious). Plus I needed sufficient space for visitor parking, so that we can invite people over.

Anyway, this is what I got, based on those instructions. Wow. Now all I need to do is (gulp) drive all the way up there to see it in person.

[Hittenstiehl]

IB are we looking at the same spot in both pictures.

If so that's a lot of trees cleared.

And what is that ground surface.

What a great dream realized.

[LB_3]

The first pic is part of the new 400ft road leading up from the parking pad to the access road. The pad is covered in class A gravel but the road just has unscreened pit gravel from a glacial till located on the contractor's residence. It looks like we could fit a fleet of tour busses down on the pad.

We chose not to have the timber cleared from the property to save money but it looks like the contractor either removed the trash or it's hidden in a pile out of view of the photos.

Never having contracted this sort of work, I was envisioning a tunnel through the woods with mangled trees piled on either side. In fact we were so confident in the mess we were going to have that we were planning to go up there for a few weeks, chainsaw in hand, just clean some of it up.

Now it looks like we can start thinning the trees to create some sight lines down to the lake.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

IB are we looking at the same spot in both pictures.

If so that's a lot of trees cleared.

And what is that ground surface.

What a great dream realized.

Some people talk about "Airstream dreams" but my husband and I are mostly pragmatists and working stiffs, and the word "dream" never entered my vocabulary until the moment I saw those pictures.

I bought the land 24 years ago, back when water frontage was still financially attainable for the ordinary person (we all knew that prices had nowhere to go but up). At the time, I looked at it purely as an investment - a savings deposit in the Bank of Spruce. It was a "congrats on finishing your Master's degree" decision, but even with that, I had to wait 3 years after graduating to get enough of my existing debt under control that I felt confident in taking on EVEN MORE debt to buy the tract (I financed my university education in the old fashioned way - through massive student loans).

I then proceeded to do absolutely nothing to it for 24 years (except pay it off). Raising a child, building equity in a primary residence, the need to save for retirement, etc. all came first.

Anyway, it was worth the wait. Twenty-four years after first naming it, I'm finally going to be able to hang the sign that I commissioned for it (it has 361 feet of shoreline, basically encompassing an entire little cove, hence the name):