Bob, Lee, and Dusty's Random Trips

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by DMT

X2 on glad to see you back. Have enjoyed your posts over the years- thanks. Use to enjoy Gene's as well but he has been seduced by the dark side and now enjoys a trailer with two doors.

Hi, DMT it makes me happy that people are glad to see/read my posts. Gene is my friend and we had Gene and Barb at our house for dinner a few times while they were in Salem. Gene's SOB is roomy with it's slide out and they are enjoying the change.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, My barbeque igniter conversion was a failure; Not enough spark for three burners. With a bad knob and cut wires, my original igniter no longer works. I found a good deal on E-bay and ordered a kit that includes the igniter, knob, and wires.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Bob,

I'm embarrassed.....we returned awhile back.

Gene got his SOB and may be lurking.

Bob

[bolerama]

It was great to see your posts. It's been a while, and it was nice to see you are still at it, even without Dusty.

Lisa

[79nTOW]

So glad to see you back!! Was a little concerned ...always enjoyed your trips and commentary. Don't stay gone so long.

Predeta

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Bob,

I'm embarrassed.....we returned awhile back.

Gene got his SOB and may be lurking.

Bob

Hi, Thank You Robert; No need to be embarrassed.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by bolerama

It was great to see your posts. It's been a while, and it was nice to see you are still at it, even without Dusty.

Lisa

Hi, Lisa; Thank You. It's definitely different without Dusty. [dog number 5] We basically haven't been pet-less since 1981. Now that we live in an area that actually has winter, I think we are done for the year. I'll be winterizing soon.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by 79nTOW

So glad to see you back!! Was a little concerned ...always enjoyed your trips and commentary. Don't stay gone so long.

Predeta

Hi, 79nTOW; Thank You. Happy to be back. I'll try to continue where I left off.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, I for got that we had one more failure; Our DVD player decided to only play in Black and White. I guess it's time for a new one. Maybe Blue Ray????

Hi, today I decided to bring my DVD player into my office and try it on my 32" Samsung. Well it worked perfect. I must have had a senior moment and couldn't get the three RCA wires connected properly. I reinstalled it in my trailer to my 22" Samsung and watched "Cars". Now that it works, I'm going to order a new/used remote on Ebay. I killed this one by leaving the batteries in it. Now I take the batteries out after every trip. I only use Duracells, but they still leak.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, My barbeque igniter conversion was a failure; Not enough spark for three burners. With a bad knob and cut wires, my original igniter no longer works. I found a good deal on E-bay and ordered a kit that includes the igniter, knob, and wires.

Hi, today I received and installed my new stove top igniter kit. The real problem with the original igniter was the Mickey Mouse knob to shaft design. The knob and shaft has been redesigned and should work much better.

[xrvr]

Rip dusty. Glad to have you back bob, you were missed.

[Smartstream]

Hi Bob and Lee,

Glad to see you are back at it and doing well.

We have reservations at Silver Falls next July, maybe we can get together while we are in your area.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

Hi Bob and Lee,

Glad to see you are back at it and doing well.

We have reservations at Silver Falls next July, maybe we can get together while we are in your area.

Hi, Dan. Silver Falls is quite close to our house. We would love to get together with you.

[DoublTrouble]

Welcome back Robert! Missed ya

[tallytwo1994]

Hi Bob,

I hadn't been checking this email lately so when I did I was excited to see you two were on a random trip. Wish I had known so I could have stretched it out but I sat down and read the whole thing. Kinda scared me when the abs system clicked on. �� I don't even like to think about riding on iced and snowy roads. Thanks for the rest of the journey.

Carol

[Gene]

And a great dinner it was, twice! Lee is a great cook and Bob and Lee were great hosts when we visited Salem. We will have to come back and eat some more, though I don't think anyone could find their house without detailed guidance. We stayed at a nearby campground and Bob picked us up twice because the many roads to his subdivision were beyond our weak minds' abilities. I forgot (twice) to bring a camera to take photos, another reason to return.

Bob certainly likes houses with narrow and challenging places to back his trailer into. I guess people could say the same of our present house, but we do have a few feet more width to back into.

Our trip a couple of month ago was upset by my father-in-law being in the hospital (he's fine now) and we didn't know what to do since information we got by phone was unclear. We continued on our schedule for a few more days, but then rushed back to Colorado. It was good to see Oregon again, though in late August and early Sept. the smoke made a lot hard to see. We didn't drive through the burned forest, but when we went to Crater Lake, the bowl was filled with smoke and we couldn't see much of anything. Driving to Crater Lake from Bend we also noted the lack of gas stations on a busy highway. We ended up driving way off the highway to a high priced resort area station because we were nervous.

I occasionally answer a question on a Forum thread and sometimes keep my Road Trip threat current. Our Nash has worked well for us. Only about 20 sq. feet more, but seems like a lot and we don't run into each other all the time in the kitchen. One simple slide for a sofa makes a world of difference and the sofa and dinette cushions are better than we had before. We are adapting to a little shorter bed, but with decent access to each side, Barb is much happier. The shower, though not great, is roomier than the Airstream and there is room for a shower chair to take the strain off my back. There's much more outside storage and I may actually get the locks rekeyed because they all have the universal RV key ($9 a lock and I have a lot of locks is slowing me down). The negatives are less counter space partially helped by a drop down shelf I installed. I may install a second one over the winter. The interior lights are very bright LEDs, so I ordered a few dimmable ones for over the head of the bed and and the entrance light so we have a 12 v. night light. We are putting translucent oven paper in a couple of others to filtered out sone of the brightness. The trailer, sold as an off road model, is higher than most trailers and that would be hard to change without unwelding some steel and lowered the trailer about 3-4". That and its squareness make it less easy to tow, but I did some adjustment to a new hitch and got rid of most of the sway. Gas mileage is 10% or more worse. Not as easy to go many hundreds of miles per day getting to a destination. We splurged on a Dish antenna and it is good to get our favorite channels on the road.

Airstreams do hold value. We got 71% of what we paid for it after almost 10 years and 62,000 miles. I think we made a lot of improvements and kept it up well, but it was showing some wear and tear. Our new trailer cost substantially less than what we got for the Airstream. The new one was a 2016 model and after a year and half on the lot, they were glad to give us a good deal. And we have two doors! The only use for them is for more ventilation and if there is a fire, a betted way to exit the bedroom than trying to squirm out of the escape winder and landing on our heads. The Airstream was usually good to us once we got the shoddy workmanship and cheap materials problems solved, but like Bob's stove issue, we were having more appliance problems, and I felt we saved a lot on not having to replace a fridge or A/C. The forge was fixed twice and I put in a new water pump last winter, so major repairs were starting to come. And now we have ducted air and reversible Fantastic Fans.

Just an ordinary looking Big White Box with trendy swooping decals and some geese on it. No coolness and no one wants to look at it. In a campground, we have to look harder to find it when we return at night. But much better insulation and thermal pane windows help with comfort and there's less condensation.

Gene

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, our new house in Salem, Oregon is kind of hard to get to. When we first bought it, I used Georgette and Caroline [my GPS's] to help me find my own house. I still occasionally get lost in Oregon. I'm a city boy and we are located in a corner of the city surrounded by country roads and farms. We are more than willing to lead, or bring, friends and family to our house. Gene and Barb are welcome anytime they feel like coming to Oregon. Maybe some day New York Bob will pay us a visit. It was great to see Bob while were in New York a few years back. We also have some Airstream friends who will be attending an Airstream Rally at our State Fair Grounds in Salem. [if you are part of this group, please let us know] The Fair Grounds is only a few miles from our house. My trailer, for now, is winterized; Something that I never had to do in California.

[Gene]

Winterizing is pretty easy by now, though I was slowed by some differences as I did a different trailer. Just got a roof cover as the EDPM (or is it EPDM?) roof is not as reliable as the Airstream roof. Took 3 hours for 3 of us to put it on and it was billowing a lot when the wind came Sunday (46 mph at the peak; we've had over 70 here). Arco did not provide enough straps for a travel trailer (seemed to be designed for Class A or C) and I contacted them and they are sending me two more for free.

Don't know when we next go to the northwest. Maybe in 2019 on a trip to Vancouver Is. As for visiting Buffalo Bob, just don't know when we'll get east.

Can't change the type of trailer once you get a different brand. I'll have to fix that somehow someday.

Gene

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, let me start with some history. In the early 80's we had a 1959 Ford. We joined a local antique car club. At the time Joe was the club's president, and a good one at that. Joe had a nice 1958 Ford that was his first car and it was bought brand new by Joe's parents. Joe and his wife traveled this country hitting nearly all of the states. They fell in love and settled in Colorado. They bought an RV camp ground. We paid them a visit in a 90 Thunderbird SC. They insisted that we stay there and put us up in their house. They would not let us pay either. We had a great time there, and while we were there, there was another couple staying in the camp ground who were also car club members.

Well years went by and we bought an Airstream. We always wanted to go back to Colorado and stay in their RV park. Due to seasons, and this camp ground only being open for five months of the year, It just never worked out. This year I told Lee that I want to go to Arizona to visit with relatives and try to make it to Joe's RV park. Joe mentioned that he wanted to sell this RV park, but it increased in value so much that virtually no-one could afford to buy it.

So last night I did some searching on line. I found out that there are some new owners of the RV park this year. I did some more searching and found out that Joe sold this place in 2012. Further searching, I found out that Joe passed away two years ago at the young age of 67. This was a shock to Lee and I. We never were able to camp in their RV park, but glad that we were able to make it by car and have a great time with great friends. We are sad, but we must move on with our lives while we are still healthy enough to go Airstreaming.

[Gene]

Bob,

I'm sorry you couldn't make it back to camp at your friend's place. Life has so many opportunities that we cannot fulfill them all. I'm wondering where that CG is. Hope you are getting on the road.

Gene