Road Trips

[slowmover]

The usual conundrum with the aged after a lifetime of TV and well worn paths thru the same building. Did all of that with own parents and in laws.

All river roads sound like a good call. Have done lower Mississippi and parts of lower (Texas) Rio Grande.

The DeLorme State Atlas series recommended, too.

[Gene]

Between countertops and getting ready for the trip, I am somewhat overwhelmed, so instead of doing anything, I will do this. The DeLorme atlases are good, but there's so much detail, it would take us a week per state and we don't have the time. Those books, one for each state out west, are reprints of federal gov't topos. We have them for several states, but forget to use them.

Going to semi-sanitize the trailer water tank and pipes. Instead of putting in Cl bleach as is done every year in the spring, we'll put in 25% of that amount and let it sit without draining and flushing. Cl deteriorates quickly and once exposed to air or light has a life of less than a hour. It may make the water taste funny if we use the fresh water tank, but we use either bottled water for some things or boil the water out of the tap—the heat removes the Cl too. This is quicker and we have too much to do to go through the whole sanitization process. Last year we didn't resanitize in midsummer and didn't die.

We are starting to pack the trailer and will do the truck tomorrow to get those things out of the way. Tonight we gas up the truck, go to our favorite Thai restaurant and pick up the river road book that came after we went to the PO yesterday. I hope to read at least some of the book this weekend and plan out the trip as I usually do, but won't try to plan every day as I usually do because we are going to be slightly spontaneous.

Gene

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Gene

Between countertops and getting ready for the trip, I am somewhat overwhelmed, so instead of doing anything, I will do this. The DeLorme atlases are good, but there's so much detail, it would take us a week per state and we don't have the time. Those books, one for each state out west, are reprints of federal gov't topos. We have them for several states, but forget to use them.

Going to semi-sanitize the trailer water tank and pipes. Instead of putting in Cl bleach as is done every year in the spring, we'll put in 25% of that amount and let it sit without draining and flushing. Cl deteriorates quickly and once exposed to air or light has a life of less than a hour. It may make the water taste funny if we use the fresh water tank, but we use either bottled water for some things or boil the water out of the tap—the heat removes the Cl too. This is quicker and we have too much to do to go through the whole sanitization process. Last year we didn't resanitize in midsummer and didn't die.

We are starting to pack the trailer and will do the truck tomorrow to get those things out of the way. Tonight we gas up the truck, go to our favorite Thai restaurant and pick up the river road book that came after we went to the PO yesterday. I hope to read at least some of the book this weekend and plan out the trip as I usually do, but won't try to plan every day as I usually do because we are going to be slightly spontaneous.

Gene

If you don't consume the water, why spend the time and effort sanitizing it. Just don't run it in your mouth in the shower?

Our water at home is chlorinated, but I have never sanitized a trailers water tank. I do always drain it thoroughly after each trip.

Ken

[Gene]

Our home water is from a well and fortunately the area where the water comes from is undeveloped national forest. The water gets used when we are not in a campground with running water and we never can be sure just when that is. I do consume it via tea, but it is double filtered and boiled.

Having a wife who knows bacteria, viruses and chemistry, I am attuned to the dangers of nasty water and giardia. The chances of getting something nasty are very small, but if you do, you'll wish you had sanitized. Those dark, warm, damp tanks and water lines are just the kind of places bacteria love. It may be better to leave everything full so air can't get in to facilitate bacterial growth, but I'm not sure about that.

We drain everything after each trip, but there is always some water left and so I am more than careful. I really don't like water borne illness or food poisoning, having had it last year after we saw you. I don't recall drinking from your Airstream shower though. Perhaps one of your cats infected me? I still suspect that Thai restaurant.

I filled the tank and lines with Cl and water and will probably drain them later and flush. I hadn't wanted to do that, but remembered that Cl is not good for plastic (makes it brittle), so I'd rather flush the system once. Normally in the spring I flush it 3 times, but use more Cl. It takes forever to drain the system, so I learned to run the water pump and it drains much faster.

Have you taken any trips in your new RV?

Gene

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by Gene

Our home water is from a well and fortunately the area where the water comes from is undeveloped national forest. The water gets used when we are not in a campground with running water and we never can be sure just when that is. I do consume it via tea, but it is double filtered and boiled.

Having a wife who knows bacteria, viruses and chemistry, I am attuned to the dangers of nasty water and giardia. The chances of getting something nasty are very small, but if you do, you'll wish you had sanitized. Those dark, warm, damp tanks and water lines are just the kind of places bacteria love. It may be better to leave everything full so air can't get in to facilitate bacterial growth, but I'm not sure about that.

We drain everything after each trip, but there is always some water left and so I am more than careful. I really don't like water borne illness or food poisoning, having had it last year after we saw you. I don't recall drinking from your Airstream shower though. Perhaps one of your cats infected me? I still suspect that Thai restaurant.

I filled the tank and lines with Cl and water and will probably drain them later and flush. I hadn't wanted to do that, but remembered that Cl is not good for plastic (makes it brittle), so I'd rather flush the system once. Normally in the spring I flush it 3 times, but use more Cl. It takes forever to drain the system, so I learned to run the water pump and it drains much faster.

Have you taken any trips in your new RV?

Gene

Keep in mind that you arrived in Canada on a ferry that went right through the very same water that the city of Victoria dumps its raw untreated sewage into. A bone of contention in this part of Washington, by the way. I hope you didn't stick your finger in the sea and then in your mouth. Further evidence could be entered to note that the 3 others who were with you survived Thai Charlie's unscathed.

Yes, we took the Moho to Grayland State Park just south of Westport WA for 4 days. It worked out great. When it was time to tour around, we just disconnected the services and toured about in the moho. It is only 24 feet long so parking was easy, even in Westport itself. We have dedicated the entire bed area over the cab to the cats. They each have their own tent up there and did great. Susan has named that area the "Cattic." It was also nice having all the facilities in one vehicle, so there was not need to move the cats back and forth. That process has drawn blood before.

Enjoy your trip. We are going to be near the Missippi in the second half of September visiting susan's family in Iowa.

Ken

[Gene]

Perhaps the offending bacteria was only on my plate, but I digress or not.

24' is a good length for a Class C. You get everything you need and a pretty good sized bathroom in the one our friends have. But the bed is kind of crammed in. Yours may be different. We discussed whether someday when traveling with a trailer got too hard for our aged bodies whether a smaller Class C would work for us. Not too enthused about hooking and unhooking to visit nearby stuff, but a toad seems like a bother too.

We now have a washed and waxed truck. While washing I discovered someone hit the left side of our front bumper messing it up. This is the kind of thing you don't notice until you stare at it while washing it. We haven't used the truck much lately, but parked it in the Lowe's lot yesterday facing the aisle, so someone could have backed into it. Otherwise it hasn't been anywhere it could be hit for a while. You couldn't hit the bumper hard enough to mash part of it without knowing it, so it is hit and run. An aftermarket bumper is only $228, so I may replace it sometime. I was going to change the antifreeze and put in a new serpentine belt, but haven't gotten to it. The new antifreeze stays home and the belt comes with. Truck is mostly loaded and countertops are on time.

We picked up the Road Trip USA book on the river road. It is an extract from the much larger book and it is very small. Seems like they just printed part of the big book in a smaller format. Convenient, but doesn't look much different than our older, heavy edition. Still convenient. I started planning (OCD time) and selecting which roads to take along the river, I found AAA maps show the river road as one road (different numbers and sides of the river at any one time), the aforesaid book has weak maps and the official river road map is so poor on detail it is hard to follow. The tried to cram road numbers, towns names and attractions all into one small area on the not too well done map. I tried to order the free map from the commission that publicizes the road, but their website was screwed up. I sent them an e-mail and they sent me the free map with an envelope and plea for a $5 "donation". This map shows roads on each side, but places to go seem to be selected by which local attractions joined the commission, not by what is cool. Hard to make sense of a lot of it. Not worth $5. There might be another river road book, but I've run out of time, so we will figure it out.

Everything seems calm right now, so we must have forgotten something. Most of our clothes have already been packed. Food is what comes on the last day or two and food is heavy.

Maybe I should plan more to keep myself confused.

Gene

[youngpeck]

Gene:

I may have missed a mention of yours referring to this, but have you Googled "Great River Road"? Having grown up in the Twin Cities, I recall the so-called "pilot's wheel" road signs that mark those sections of U.S. highways marking the designated sections of road.

You may have visited their web site, but here it is again:

http://experiencemississippiriver.co...ve-in-america/

I'm sure you are getting all sorts of suggestions. But . . . when you get up north, Minnesota way, you might want to stop by Fort Snelling, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, in the Twin Cities metro area. Established in 1821, and now (the original limestone fort) completely restored by the Minnesota Historical Society, it commanded the upper midwest fur trade. Then, try to stop by St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis, especially the west side, where the old milling district has been handsomely restored.

Have a great trip. Lots to see all along the river.

[Gene]

Thanks for the tips. I think I have looked at the website and the map on the website was too small to use. I'll look again. I am aware of the road symbols used. Some variations of that symbol seem to be used for side trips (in my more negative moments I think of a "side trip" as a road that is a dead end—sorry for that bummer).

There seem to be two concepts of the river road—the original one is one road that is on either side of the river depending on attractions and the best road. But the commission seems to be promoting two roads on each side, although there are places where there is no other road, especially in northern Minn. We'll figure it out—something over 50,000 miles and I still haven't had my worst fear realized—backing miles down a narrow road with numerous blind curves in the dark while a river next to the road is rising because of torrential rains—and then there is the troll with new questions and the low gas gauge.

I don't think we have enough time to do even half or a third of the road(s) justice. Even though I am prone to overplanning, we will try to be spontaneous. I'll plan on it. Just write on each day's lists, "be spontaneous!"

Gene

[Prairie Wind]

Originally Posted by Gene

We finally made a decision and will stick to it. We are going to drive part of the river road. We will drive east, probably on I-80 to the Mississippi, go north on the west side, thus being on the river side. When we get to Lake Itaska in northern Minn., we drive south on the east side. Maybe we'll make it to St. Louis, take I-70 back and maybe go further south on US 50 after a while so we can stop at my in-laws and check on them.

We only have 3 weeks, so we'll drive to the river fast and then slow down. I figured it means about 150 miles per day along the Mississippi. That's really slow for us.

Just a heads up about the River Road. We came back that way traveling home from Wisconsin to Kansas about two weeks ago. I can't speak to the west side, but the east side from LaCrosse on south was the roughest paved road I've ever been on. We bailed out as soon as we could find a bridge west and took off into Northern Iowa. Best of luck.... I hope your route is Much smoother than ours...

Hang in there on the parents in law... It's a part of life that's super hard. We just bought our Avion to heal up from exactly the same thing. 🌌


The journey is the destination!

1978 Avion 7.9 m

5.9 Cummings Dodge Ram

[Gene]

Prairie,

Congratulations on your new toy and joining the Forum. Thanks for the road tip and I hope they will repave it right now. Did you buy a restored Avion or are you restoring it yourself? I don't think I've ever seen the inside of one, but the exteriors look really nice and I recall reading how they were right up there at the top end of the aluminum trailers.

So far as parents and in-laws are concerned, I keep telling myself I might be a worse at aging than they are. What kind of nutcase would remodel a big house in his 70's? Travel cross country? One of the problems with aging is that people tend to isolate themselves and they decide they can't do much. The inactivity lowers their quality of life, but doesn't necessarily shorten their lives much, if at all. Trying to get a 90 year old woman to do even mild exercise is one of the most futile things I have done. Both my mother-in-law and mother came from times when women did not exercise.

Cloudy, may rain, and lots of haze (and red or pink sunsets) from the California fires. The bad air reminds me of last year when we were in the northwest and there were fires in the US and Canada. After a hot and mostly dry July, August has been less hot, but the August monsoon has not happened. When they predict days of thunderstorms and possibility of flash floods, we get a few minutes of rain. I'd like to leave knowing the trees are wet and the grasses are soaked. Be nice if rain washed the trailer since it has been 4 or more years since it has been washed and waxed. They really don't look that different dirty (I tell myself).

Kind of a slow day today getting ready, but the next few will be intense. Figuring out which roads to take takes a lot of time—AAA maps, "official" map and river road book sometimes disagree on route numbers making it a challenge. Some states don't fit into the map size very well and the detail means using a magnifying glass to read it (no, it is not my eyes, they are the only part of me that is in pretty good shape). Some years ago AAA switched map companies (used to be Rand McNally) and the quality of the maps has suffered—you may get wrong mileages and route numbers. The paper quality seems lower too. We haven't had to use AAA for anything but maps, tour books and camping books for decades, but it is still cheaper to join at the lowest level to get them rather than buy similar maps and books from another vendor. I think in 30 years we have had one tow more than 25 years ago. If while traveling we had a problem, AAA would not tow our trailer, so we end up paying Good Sam for that kind of insurance—costs more than AAA, no maps (plenty of junk mail), but they have a good reputation if you are stuck and need help anywhere. Remember when maps were free at gas stations? Or you could send a letter to an oil companies requesting maps and they would send them for free.

Gene

[Prairie Wind]

Gene,

She's not restored, but in really decent shape for her age. We've decided to travel with her as is and restore/upgrade as we go. Sometimes ya just gotta get a new view....


The journey is the destination!

1978 Avion 7.9 m

5.9 Cummings Dodge Ram

[Gene]

Good to hear it moves Prairie, and that you can work on it yourselves (I presume) at your leisure.

Thinking of the new names I see on the Forum lately, it reminds me I have been here for 9 years and many people who I knew years ago have disappeared. Are they alive? Did they move on from the Forum or Airstream? Did they get bored with all this? One absented himself worried about all the enemies he made, but is still lurking. Some have been in trouble with the authorities (I always get along well with rebels; one quit today) and either got removed or removed themselves. If someone stops posting, we rarely hear what happened and that is a void. If I croak, will my wife post the last post? Maybe I should tell her to, but I suspect there will be other things for her to do.

And there are the people I don't hear about anymore. My best friend from high school hasn't replied to my last e-mail a month or more ago. We found each other 7 or 8 years ago and would send an update every year or so. Another old friend of 35 years did not reply to my last e-mail months ago. There were grass fires south of where she lives and many houses were destroyed, but she lives on the other side of town. She is a poor correspondent, but will reply (usually) to a question about floods and fire (she lives a few feet above a river). It is disconcerting when people just disappear. Maybe I will some day, but not before the river road.

I am aware the real name is the Great River Road (GRR on signs), but river road is easier to type.

Gene

[rmkrum]

I hear you, Gene.

The worst is when you call to check on a dear friend and one of their relatives that you don't know answers. Then questions why you are calling, and when satisfied, lets you know your best friend suddenly died.

It's a very tough side effect of living a long time...you start losing good people from time to time, without warning.

I don't have a good solution, other than regular contact with friends and family. Good thing cell phones don't charge extra for long distance, huh?


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[Gene]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

It's a very tough side effect of living a long time...you start losing good people from time to time, without warning.

I lost my first friend at 30 and that was hard. She had cancer and I ended up driving from upstate NY to Kansas in 2 days through an ice storm and a blizzard to get to the funeral. And that was after not much sleep on New Years Day and leaving at midnight Jan 1. That drive featured the worst pizza I ever had (Columbia, Mo.) and the car being attacked by pterodactyls near St. Louis. Perhaps I hadn't had enough sleep, but those pterodactyls kept slamming into the windshield and I only drove another hundred or two miles before stopping. The next day the ice storm started, then the blizzard. I also had a really bad piece of blueberry pie in Salina, Kan. The funeral wasn't any fun either. Then I had to race back to take law school exams.

I'd rather go to funerals than be the featured player, but it does get harder to see the deaths accelerate. But at least I hear about most friends, when people on the Forum disappear, they really disappear.

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

"We're all traveling the same road, some just further on..."

Travel safe...

Bflo Bob

[Gene]

Heavy rain, flash flood watches, blah, blah, today. I was going to hitch up the truck today, but we just waxed it, so I'll wait for tomorrow to take it out of the garage. Funny how rain gets a vehicle dirty even when stationary. Try to pack as much as possible into the trailer before rain comes and I'd better check tire pressure soon as I just heard thunder in the distance.

It feels like we are pretty much on schedule, but that never seems to be true. Waiting for a shoe to drop….

We'll probably be able to go out and listen to the blues jam in town this evening. I got most of the planning of the route done last night, but bleary eyes and boredom got to me. I'll try to finish my OCD exercise later.

Gene

[Gene]

This morning we got up early and it seemed there were a thousand things to do. Running back and forth to the trailer and truck getting the 25 tons of stuff stuffed. It was crazy time trying to get going and finally at 10 am, we were on our way.

In 20 minutes we were topping up the gas tank and it suddenly occurred to me I might not have brought the Verizon Jetpack. We need it to get internet on the road and at CG's with bad wifi. I looked, Barb looked, I looked again, no Jetpack. I drove across the road to a shopping center and unhitched, figuring it would be faster to drive back up the winding steep road to home and then back without the trailer. I raced home and the Jetpack was where I had left it, got it, put some more gas in the tank from some I had at home, and raced downhill.

This frustrating experience turned out to be a good thing. While hitching, one of us on each side, Barb saw a crack in the steel hitch head just behind the washers. It is an Equalizer, has served us well, but this is the second metal fatigue failure this summer. When I looked at my side, it also had a small crack. One crack was about 1/32" deep and the other much less. It appears most of the stress on the hitch is at the bottom below the crack and that was fine. Judging that this was not all that serious right then, we started towards I-70 and then drove east.

At Parachute (about 50 miles away), I pulled into a rest stop to examine the cracks. They were no different, but I went inside and asked about welders. After being directed to a garage which did not weld, I was sent to the NAPA next door and they knew where there was a welder. We backtracked 9 miles and found him. He spot welded it and it has held up fine. When drilling for natural gas was big around there, he told me he had 24 welders working for him. Now he works out of his truck and a little shed and appears to be just getting by.

Problem solved for now. Equalizer has a lifetime warranty, so I took pictures of the cracks and will be contacting them. Some miles down the road I asked myself whether I had plugged in the 7 pin connector to the truck. It was in the way for welding. I usually put it behind the jack post to keep it out of the dirt. I tried the lights; the courtesy lights didn't go on. I moved the lever on the brakes and nothing happened. It was time to stop and hope it was lodged behind the jack post. It was not. Half of it is on I-70 between West Parachute and the Wolcott exit in very small pieces. No one signaled to me that it was dragging on the road.

Hoping that there wasn't a cop behind me wondering why I never stepped on the brakes or used turn signals, we drove on while I tried to think what town would have an RV shop with a 7 pin male plug. Then I'd have to figure out what the color code was. I could probably have found it on the internet, but I was pretty sure Airstream's color code is not like others. We stopped to eat some lunch and I found a trailer and tire shop a few miles down the road and called them. They said they could fix it. So we then found the next town, Avon, has 2 exits and I didn't know which was the right one. We tried the first one and couldn't find the shop. We turned around and went to the 2nd exit and there was nothing there. I called again and they asked me if I had an Airstream. We had passed it at the 1st exit. Backtracking a mile we found it.

It took an hour to replace it. Normally I would buy the plug and do it myself, but by then I has screwed up too many things on this strange and difficult day and thought better of it. Vlad, a nice guy with an accent I had a hard time with, got confused by the different color codes. The owner was standing over him and telling him the best way to test each wire, but Vlad kept ignoring the boss. The boss was right, but I tried to stay out of it. Eventually everything worked (Vlad finally tried the boss's method and it worked). They charged me for a half hour, but prices in towns near ski areas are very high.

Meanwhile, Barb started looking for a CG around Denver (we had hoped to get at least a hundred miles further than Denver), but everything was full. Finally she found a KOA, a very expensive KOA, near Central City. This former mining town is now one of Colorado's 3 casino towns. The KOA is pretty new, the wifi is good and we are very, very tired. They put us in site 13. What did that mean?

We ordered a pizza and they delivered to our trailer. As Barb said, this pizza only tasted good because of such a hard day. While loading the fridge this morning, I broke a dozen eggs in a plastic container, we emptied out the liquid and yolks into a plastic bag and will have a giant omelette in the morning.

When we got here, one drawer in the bedroom was on the floor upside-down. Since it only had clothes in it, nothing too bad. This drawer falls out once a year. One of the door shelves in the fridge was falling out since the part molded to the inside of the door that holds it had broken off. I moved the shelf down one position, not as good for maximum storage. Haven't found the broken piece and hope to so I can glue it back.

We started wondering if the full moon was back very early. We have survived and are only a 100 or so miles behind. Long ago, when I was first in Colorado, I worked at a mine near here for a few years. I was purchasing agent, electrician, lawyer and eventually mine superintendent. Making me superintendent proved they didn't know what they were doing. It was quite an experience as investors' money was wasted and the accountants in Houston who ran the show sure got a lot of the money; I did pretty well too. Never produced any gold or silver as long as I was there. We are camped about a mile or two from where I worked. Central and nearby Black Hawk are completely different since casinos moved in more than 25 years ago. We'll go through the two towns tomorrow and see how different they are. It has been a long time since we've been here.

Tomorrow we should at least get half way through Nebraska. Lincoln may be a stretch (500+ miles), Omaha a fantasy. It is at least a half hour to Golden and a fast highway, but the rest will be fast and boring. It has got to be a better day.

Sleep will be coming soon…zzzzzzz.

Gene

[rmkrum]

Sometimes you seize the day, other times the day seizes you😀😀

I think it was the day's turn. Better tomorrow...at least you are out camping in your AS.


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[ROBERT CROSS]

Our packing rule...."honey did you?".....is not a valid question.

If you think of it, you do it. If no one thinks of it, you have no one to blame.

Did the 7pin thing on delivery day.....zip tie or velcro strap ever since.

Stream safe...

Bob

[Gene]

Vlad, the stubborn mechanic, gave me a bungie cord to tie to the cable. Never would have thought of it myself.

Rained hard for hours last night, or at least until we passed out. Another day, hopefully better. It has to be because it is hard to duplicate yesterday. Looking forward to that dozen egg omelette. No early start today either as we recover and the pursue the Omaha fantasy.

Gene