Road Trips 2011

[Gringo]

Thanks for the rundown on Ouray, Gene. You reminded me of a question I have, too. i was going to start another thread, but then thought why not just keep yours going for lots more clicks?

My question is what do you AirHeads do with your dogs when you want to go out for a meal at a restaurant? Do you leave it locked in the trailer? Take it but leave it in the car? Give it tranqs and disguise it as a mink stole or beaver tophat? Only eat at drive thrus?

We'll have a mouthy little Jack Russell Terrierist with us this summer, and I never travelled with a dog before. I've read it's illegal to leave them unattended in vehicles in some places. How do y'all handle that?

[Goal15]

We took the cocker to Port Aransas with us last week. We left her in the air conditioned trailer four times, twice when we went to scope out town and do a little shopping and the twice when we went to eat. Each time was no more than an hour and she was perfectly happy to enjoy the ac vs the sandy hot beach.

We ate sandwiches on the road while traveling so that wasnt an issue. We have a crate for her while we are driving and the only time we hear a peep out of her is when we slow down in a town and she thinks we have arrived somewhere.

Not sure what we would do if we stopped to do something prior to camping for the day. Probably look for a dog friendly patio restaurant or take turns sitting with her in the truck. Not sure about other places but here in Texas leaving a pet in car, even with windows cracked in the summer time is out of the question. We see lots of dogs in cars during other seasons of the year, so that might be an option but clearly not in the summer.

This might actually be a good separate thread which would probably generate lots of discussion.

[Gene]

Gringo, I think you will get more responses if you start a dog trip thread—this is a big subject and probably many Airstreamers have ideas. Personally, we don't have a dog (somehow we have a cat instead—how did I let that happen?), but when we did keeping the dog somewhere is a problem and can limit your adventures. In the southwest the sun is so hot that broiled dog can be a problem.

Splitrock, certainly many issues can come up, but here the big stopper is the inspection. A bad inspector can screw it up for everyone. Negotiating deals is something I did for decades; it doesn't worry me, in fact I like it. I am one of those persons who likes buying cars because of the negotiations—those negotiations are a different type though because with sales managers you want to get them ready to explode. It's part of their culture. With buyers or their agents you have to be honest, willing to listen, work on finding ways to agree and to focus on the positive. Not as much fun as buying a car, but it is both about numbers and pyschology.

Zig', I haven't towed on 550 and actually haven't been on it for quite a while. We go south via Lizard Head Pass driving past Telluride. It's an easier drive and also beautiful. Unless you want to go to Durango, it is best to go around and save some time from our viewpoint. 550 has 3 major passes (Red Mountain, Molas, Coal Bank) with many switch backs and lots of serious dropoffs, some with no guard rails. Nervous drivers make it even slower. If you are not used to mountain roads, it can be nerve challenging. It is paved. In the winter, towing there would be dumb. One alternative would be to park at one end and take day trips, or just go from Durango to Silverton (I don't know what is there for RV's) and take day trips north. There are many 4WD roads in the area to explore, though the pickups and SUV's used for towing may be a bit large for some of them. You can stay in Durango and take the old time railroad excursion up through there too, though I've never done it preferring to driving the 4WD roads. The largest vehicle I've driven on them was a 2000 4Runner, but everything is bigger now except the jeep trails.

Gene

[dmoore]

We pretty much always travel with our dog -- she's part of the reason that we have our Airstream. We don't have to worry about hotels/motels that don't accommodate pets. Or leaving her for extended stays in a kennel or with family/friends. Or passing up a short outing because it's too hot for her to stay in the car.

Our Georgia stays in the AS when we take day trips, etc. -- just like she would if we were at our permanent home. When appropriate, we leave the fans or AC running. She does great. When we are towing she rides in the vehicle with us, in her crate. She's a great traveller and the AS lifestyle is a great fit.

Debbie

[Goal15]

Debbie

what do you do in terms of when you are towing and want to stop to eat? Fast food or sandwiches like we have done?

thanks
Dana

[Splitrock]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Splitrock, certainly many issues can come up, but here the big stopper is the inspection. A bad inspector can screw it up for everyone. Negotiating deals is something I did for decades; it doesn't worry me, in fact I like it. I am one of those persons who likes buying cars because of the negotiations—those negotiations are a different type though because with sales managers you want to get them ready to explode. It's part of their culture. With buyers or their agents you have to be honest, willing to listen, work on finding ways to agree and to focus on the positive. Not as much fun as buying a car, but it is both about numbers and pyschology. Gene

Good point! I've had good success with having a pre-listing inspection, resolving all the issues raised in that inspection and having the inspection updated showing the repairs made. I lay a copy of the inspection right on the table in a binder with the one year paid for AHS insurance policy, alongside the property disclosures.

What that does is help to prevent the needed repairs being deducted twice. It's a buyer comfort thing, it speeds up offers, and the insurance tells the buyer the seller has confidence in the property. The buydown is a good marketing tool for the aggressive agent and can be used in all forms of advertising.

Good luck with both the selling and the travel!

[dmoore]

Dana,
If we're going in someplace and it's too hot to leave her in the truck, we put her in the AS and turn on the fantastic fans. Most times we try to find a nice place to pull over and we have lunch (or whatever) in the trailer and we all get a nice break.

Debbie

[polarlyse]

Gene, We visited Lake City a couple summers back. I have a Dodge 3500 with the megacab, short bed. A pretty long wheelbase truck and we made it with little problem over the passes from Lake City to Anamas Forks and back. One was Engineer Pass. No problem with the long truck and it sure is a spectacular ride. Would love to do it again. Pack a lunch and make sure your tank is full and go for it. Except for the Cat dozer we saw up there grading the road at the top we were the biggest out there that day. I just wonder how they got that CAT up there. Maybe it lives there and they use it when they need it.

[Gene]

Roger, we've been over Engineer and Cinnamon Passes a couple of times and they are fairly easy 4WD roads. There are actually two Engineer Passes near each other (a relatively useless fact, but some pass roads have several routes). The ghost town of Animas Forks is being fixed I believe—two many people were weakening the buildings along with rain, snow and such. The buildings I recall there were company housing for the big shots—usually the sup't, assayer, engineer, electrician and maybe a few others. The minors usually were housed in dorms.

There are a couple of roads there from the west—Ouray and Silverton perhaps and I think they may be an easier drive, but we've never gone that way. You can rent jeeps in Lake City and at the KOA in Ouray for adventuring. There are several 4WD drive roads from 550 to Telluride and Rico. The two to Telluride are Black Bear and Imogene (long "I" as in Eye-mo-gene) are not for the faint of heart. Always meant to drive them, but never got around to it.

I don't know whether it is still in print, but the Colorado Pass Book is very informative and gives a lot of good information. 4WD roads range from not very difficult to awful or just plain frightening. There's nothing like miles of shelf road off camber with gazillion foot drops and no space to get past someone coming the other way. Maybe you'll go around a rock and there will be a blockage or snow or someone coming—backing up is less fun. There are more people on them all the time and some have no idea what they are doing. I think we used up our 4WD road exploring credits some time ago and are content to take it easy. However, when we go to Canyons of the Ancients NM I suppose we will explore because we like to get away from the tourists.

Splitrock, I will PM you to discuss this some more as I think you have some interesting ideas and it appears some things are done differently than here. When I moved from upstate NY to Colorado, it took a while to get used to different customs, but new ideas are always valuable and I appreciate your suggestions.

Gene

[DryHeat56]

Gene,

Just curious, but of all the trips you have been on, do you have an absolute favorite one or part of the country that you have been to?

Best of luck on selling your property. Are you still thinking of moving down to the Santa Fe area eventually?

I always enjoy vicariously following you on your travels. It is becoming more difficult for my wife and I to get away as we transition into taking care of my in-laws business interests here in Tucson. At some point, maybe I can start a Road Trips thread also.

Tim

[Gene]

Tim,

We seem to go to one or more coasts every year, often the Pacific because it is closer (in '06 we had a 3-coast year—Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic). My wife has lived in Colorado about 95% of her life and is a child of the high desert, so she craves big water. I like the ocean too.

Alaska and northern Canada are special to us and we've been there 3 times. We went to Newfoundland in '04 and want to go back—pretty amazing place too. I like being closer to wilderness and remote places and we avoid big cities most of the time. But traveling is usually good anywhere but the long drives to get somewhere far away aren't so good sometimes. We like being together without the distractions of life at home and that is part of the special nature of travels.

Still thinking of Santa Fe, but real estate market is bad.

I hope you can get on the road again, but I understand how family matters can change how you do things.

Gene

[Gene]

The updated solar and electrical installations are complete. Two (200 w.) solar panels, new wiring, new controller, new Lifeline series 27 batteries, and a new converter. A more complete rundown can be seen in posts 160-187 here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f448...ml#post1010087

I also finished fixing the belly pan where 3 rivets wore through the paper thin sheet metal. I had though they left 2 rivets out but they had worked through some foil covered insulation and when I tried to put screws in, the rivets locked on to the screws and I could get the screws to set. Finally I pulled the screws out—they were stuck in the foil—and each screw had a rivet head caught on it. Unscrewed the heads and the screws went right in.

Hopefully we get on the road Tuesday and go to Cortez to see Canyons of the Ancients NM. Working on the electrical issues plus some other repairs have consumed the past week and I need a rest cure.

Photos:

One morning while lewster and I were delaying going outside to work, we saw a deer with a newly born fawn following her. My camera's telephoto doesn't work well, but maybe you can see the spots on the fawn. The other "spots" on the 2nd photo are not snow, but dandelions. It may have only been hours old as the fawn was shaky on its feet. The 3rd photo is Lew working on the wheel bearings. We also installed new self adjusting brakes and now we have them on both axles.

Gene

[thecatsandi]

I just knew we would find a "dirty" lawyer somewhere.

[OB Bambi]

Gene: What's the white spigot between the wheels?

Randy

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by OB Bambi

Gene: What's the white spigot between the wheels?

Randy

Hi, Randy. That's the fresh water drain valve. Mine is on the curb side.

[Lily&Me]

The fawn is sweet!


Maggie

[Gene]

Randy, to the left of the fresh water tank drain (a very difficult valve to open and close) are two spigots to drain the water lines. There's another one below the water heat to drain that water line. On other models, such as Bob's, they may be in other places.

Maggie, we originally saw the mother behind some trees and then saw a small head in the grass. Typically the mothers hide the fawns in tall grass when they go foraging for grasses and our plants to eat. A problem happens when a fawn is hidden in the hay fields and ranchers come along cutting the hay. The fawn is afraid to move and you can imagine what happens. We don't have hay and when I cut the grass I can see what is ahead. Eventually she got the fawn to follow her as she moved to another area. The fawn was trying to nurse as her mother was walking but my camera didn't get good photos of that. We have lots of deer in the spring and fall, but in the summer most have moved to higher elevations and in the winter they move to lower ones. We have what looks like a young brother and sister that have been hanging around here. Some females don't join a herd and stick around. Eventually the brother will go it alone when he is a little older. Sometimes we see two herds of females in the same area and one group will chase the others away. Sometimes we see elk too, but someone put up an elk fence (too high to jump over—6' to 8' high) at the top of the ridge behind our house and the elk have changed their migration patterns. There is very little surface water near our land, so bears and mountain lions are uncommon on our property, but are seen a few miles away. Seeing wildlife is one of the things we enjoy here.

Today we have to flush the water system, hitch up the trailer and pack it. By evening we will be exhausted and tomorrow we go to Cortez, but one of Barb's cousins is in a coma in Arizona and our plans may change quickly. Such is life and death, but we can't stop our lives waiting for the inevitable; we just take more clothes and food and be ready to drive to Arizona or wherever the funeral will be.

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

That wheel better not be resting bare-naked on the trailer.

Glad to hear you are getting ready for another adventure.

Family matters will pretty much keep us in NYS this Season, but we will be up North a few times.

Good Luck and have some Stream-Fun!!!

[Gene]

Bob, it was resting on the trailer, but our tires are rubber rather than wood as some of the older models have, so no damage occurred. We were gentle.

Family gets older as we do and funerals and sickness are more frequent. Others need help. We, fortunately, are in better condition than most, so we get to go to the funerals instead of being the subject of one. Cousin lived hard and died last night (he was 55), but no services scheduled until next month, so we are clear to go on our mini-trip. Barb has a 102 year old grandmother and many uncles and aunts in their 80's, so we always live with the knowledge that any phone call may be sad news. When we went to Alaska last year, the family agreed not to tell us if anyone died because it would be very difficult for Barb to fly back in time for any services while I stayed with the trailer in Alaska. We appreciated that special kindness and we weren't sure if that was what we really wanted, but we try to live and travel instead of constantly fearing the phone. There are no good answers to these things, but we try to make the best decisions.

Gene

[ROBERT CROSS]

Gene,

We were up to Poland NY earlier this Spring, our first and only trip with the trailer so far this season. We love it up there…it's country and we kind'e hide the AS next to the house and pretend, all we need is a Lake and a fire-pit and we'd feel dock'n for sure!!
Sandra's mom is doing better and we will probably be going back a couple times a month. She's 95 now and except for the moderate stage of dementia she's doing pretty good. Sandy deals with it pretty well, but I sure miss the constant chatter and all the stories. It seems so long ago, her brother passed awhile back and he could spin some yarns. We in this World seem so FAR removed from it all. His first job after in the Adirondacks was as a teamster on a stagecoach, hard to believe how quickly time passes. A simpler time for sure.

We love it up there It's country… and we kind'a hide the AS next to the house, all we need is a lake and a fire-pit and we'd feel 'Dock'n for sure.

My Mom passed Christmas Eve 2007, Dad's been gone since 1972, Brothers in CA, so THIS Family is my family.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f161/onalee-38708.html


Stream Safe…

Bob