She is ours, but as of yet has no name . . .

[Dot Dave]

We did it! We bought a Flying Cloud 20!

I want to thank everyone for your insightful comments to my previous post. We looked at the larger models and loved the 25. The 25 is a beautiful unit with a great floorplan. That said, the 20 fits what we wanted to spend at this time and still be able to really enjoy the experience. The 25 may be in our future though.

We go this weekend to finalize the paperwork. We won't get to enjoy her for a few weeks though (work obligations and friends' upcoming wedding). Our dealer (whom we love) has arranged a free weekend at a nearby campground for the last weekend of the month for our shake-down trip. Since we don't yet have a tow vehicle, our dealer has offered to tow it to the CG after we finish our pre-delivery inspection. Can't wait to get in and really make it ours!!

This may be our only trip this season, but I plan to visit her (45 mins away) often at the storage site. Maybe pack lunch and spend the day admiring that great shine.

Again, many thanks for your comments and to everyone who has posted in all the forums that I have been trolling as I looked for info. This is such a welcoming and informative group.

Now we have to start looking at tow vehicles, come up with a fitting name for such a fetching beauty . . . oh . . . and plan all those trips we want to take next season.

Best,

David + Dave

[andreasduess]

How awesome. Enjoy your new trailer. The first night after picking up our trailer my wife and I sat by the fire and just couldn't stop grinning.

[KenSanLan]

Don't forget the best part of that new Airstream - a membership in WBCCI! Fun, friends, travelling companions, experts in AS living, maintenance and repair - and your first big trip could be next year's International Rally at Gillette, WY. We hope to see you down the road, with beautiful big red numbers.

[m.hony]

You gotta get a name for it.

Ours is the "Loaded Baked Potato".

[BIGED52]

What is the Klingon name for Aluminum Trailer? After all they built Airstreams first ya know! Ed

[m.hony]

I just emailed a Trekkie who speaks fluent Klingon and asked him...

[Protagonist]

Don't sweat it. If you have to force a name, it doesn't fit. Wait for one that comes naturally.

I had my Airstream Interstate for a year and a half before I settled on "Kaiser."

Only hard-and-fast rules on names are: Make sure it's something you can say in front of young children, and try to avoid puns that have to be explained before anyone gets the joke.

Oh, and if you're married, don't name it after an ex-girlfriend. Or a present girlfriend, either!

[SteveSueMac]

Always fun to create names for other people's trailers :-)

Alumidaves?
Goliath?
Daves'Dream?

[m.hony]

We thought Hony's Haven, but it doesn't reference shiny/silver in any way-

[robineb]

Congrats! We picked up our AS last July, driving from Chicago to Portland, Ore. to get it. Our "shake down" trip was sort of a trial by fire. We'd read all the (very good) advice about camping near home, taking baby steps, etc, but in our case there wasn't a choice. So we drove 20 miles from the dealer down a narrow winding road to our first campground. Backed into our spot successfully, stayed 2 nights, then headed for the Oregon coast--across mountains, more winding roads, and finally backing into a very awkward narrow site (it took us quite a few tries and brought no little amount of amusement to some helpful nearby campers). Then we drove across more mountains, down an interstate, and up to Lassen National Park. By then a horrible screeching sound was coming from the hitch. Another helpful neighbor gave us some lubricant. We left Lassen on our way to Lake Tahoe and I had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Maybe 20 or 30 miles down the mountain we stopped at a rest area and, sure enough, we'd neglected to attach one of the sway bars (me and my husband: "I thought you'd checked that!" No! I thought you did!"). The pins, miraculously, were still on top of the propane tank cover. So we made some dumb mistakes (more than I can list here). But good fortune smiled on us, and the AS and tow vehicle were very forgiving. I had never towed anything before except a little red wagon when I was about three. My husband towed a small pop-up about 30 years ago. We're not that smart, not very skilled, but we made it--and loved every minute. We had to leave the airstream out on the west coast, and will pick it up tomorrow for our second "shake down" to the SF bay area and the back to Chicago. Good luck to you and trust your first trip will be as wonderful as ours. Oh, by the way, we named our AS "the Bean"--we're from Chicago, and a giant silver sculpture in Millennium Park in the city, known officially as Cloud Gate, is nicked named The Bean by everyone else. It looks a lot like an Airstream.

[Dot Dave]

Thanks, everyone! Love the name ideas! AlumiDaves is great! Have to put that one our list. Loaded Baked Potato, Bean, and Kaiser are just awesome.

Robineb, the only statue we have near us is a giant bronze pear -- our 'hood was orchard land in the 17th and early 18th century, so it honors the heritage of the area. Only problem is it really looks like a giant pile of s&%^! I don't think I want to go that route. Oh, and it's a Clapp pear, which sounds a bit too much like an STD. LOL

I'm sure something will come to us once we spend some time with her.

And thanks for all the other info. Robineb, your story is amazing. I shared it with Dave, who insisted that we'll be taking baby steps. We, too, have never towed anything, so that alone will be a big adventure. I'm not even sure I pulled a red wagon -- I recall sitting in one at the top of the driveway and having someone push me down into the street!

By the way, one of the reasons that I love this forum is reading about everyone's adventures along the road. I'm sure we'll have plenty of adventures to share.

We'll also be joining the WBCCI. I've been looking at the site and plan to join the New England Unit.

Wishing everyone a great day.

David