The Hagarstream is on the road

[Airslide]

Bday cake? did we nearly miss a birthday? Happy birthday Mikey..

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by Airslide

Bday cake? did we nearly miss a birthday? Happy birthday Mikey..

Alright you caught me. I'm a few days behind on posting our trip progress and we rolled into Flagstaff and ran into this old timer who claimed it was his birthday so naturally we had to find a cake. Irene picked up a nice black forest cake into which we inserted two melted together candles. As soon as Mike blew out the candles we did our best to devour the cake.

I'll try to catch up but it may take a day or two as we have to drive to Phoenix tomorrow morning to met and old friend for breakfast..

Be patient, Dan

[Mike Leary]

Happy trails, Dan and Irene & Hagar. ::::makes note for next year to not eat so much great cake and consume copious amounts of wine at the same time::::

[Airslide]

Sounds like a mini rally!

Wish I could hang with you but im a trailer guy...

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by Airslide

Sounds like a mini rally!

Wish I could hang with you but im a trailer guy...

Always welcome, Vin, you could have helped us finish the cake and wine!

[Airslide]

Thanks Mike...

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by AirRowan

How far south are you headed smartstream aka Dan? We may be able to find a place for you for a night or two.

You must have snuck this in while I was typing a post and I just now noticed it. I wasn't ignoring you I just didn't see your post.

Anyway thanks for the offer. We really did want to head further south but us from the northwest don't do well in the heat. We have been watching the weather to see if it will cool down some but that doesn't seem to be happening so we are staying a little farther north.

Thanks again, Dan

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Dan; I think it's time for you to return home. Otherwise there won't be any place to go on your next trip where you haven't already been to.

Come on Bob, you have been doing this longer than we have. We got a late start Airstreaming so we have a lot of catching up to do.

Cheers, Dan

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by Airslide

Sounds like a mini rally!

Wish I could hang with you but im a trailer guy...

We know you camp in a trailer but we also know how excited you get when you have wrench in your hand crawling around under one of these old mohos.

Cheers, Dan

[Smartstream]

Well I've been falling behind again and I have no excuse other than as I get older it takes me longer to recuperate from partying and late nights swapping stories with family and old friends.

When we arrived at Branson we had a loose fitting on the dash air and lost the freon charge. The compressor sounded a little rough so I decided to put the first one I bought back on. Sunday after most of the people left I crawled under the coach and swapped the compressors. All was going well until I realized I was short one o-ring. Fortunately it was easy to get to so I buttoned up everything and figured I pick one up the next day on the way out of town. We had left over potluck from last night and another evening around the campfire with the group that didn't have to go to work on Monday.

Monday we drove through the tourist part of Branson and saw the attractions like these.



They are alright to look at but we didn't feel the need to stop.

I did find a parts house and restocked my o-ring supply and installed the missing one and put a charge in the system and happily it's working fine again.

We found a camp site at Cherokee Landing State Park overlooking the lake.



The weather predicted rain that day but we never saw a drop. Once we were in the park however we were treated to several hours of thunder and lightning. It was far enough in the distance that we could barely hear the thunder but we had a great light show. A little bit of rain but mostly just a great light show.

[Smartstream]

Tuesday morning we hit the road and hit significant cross winds. I mean it was blowing 30 to 40 mph. The Airstream did fine but it was work keeping it on the straight and narrow.

We drove through Oklahoma City and keep on going. The wind was blowing so hard it made it tough to try to do much of anything so we just drove.

[Smartstream]

I lost my wifi connection in the middle of the last post and by the time I got connected and tried to edit the post the 30 min. had run out so this is the finish of the last post.

This is Oklahoma and one of the few signs of building construction actually going on.


We continued on and found a campsite at Foss Lake.


It was a pretty nice place but with the wind there wasn't much you could do outside. Naturally I couldn't find a wifi connection so I hit the sack early.

The next morning the wind wasn't too bad but it soon picked up so we just kept driving. Texas was lots of open spaces.



We pushed on to New Mexico who had the first overhead welcome sign we have seen on the trip.


We made it to Albuquerque for dinner at a place called Rudy's. It was recommended by a friend and was a little different. It is barbeque and you order your meat and side by the pound. Bread is included but a bun is $.25 if you want one. Your plate is a piece of waxed freezer paper.


Even though unconventional the food was pretty good.

We found a campsite nearby for the night.

[Smartstream]

We checked into the campsite after dark so we didn't notice much but Thursday morning we were surprised to find a flowered Airstream and a nice display of vintage cars and trailers.

[Airslide]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

We know you camp in a trailer but we also know how excited you get when you have wrench in your hand crawling around under one of these old mohos.

Cheers, Dan

Yup no lie.. I am pretty happy with a wrench in my hand.. beats the stress of this day job.

Love the pictures of the old trailers.. were they being used or just on display?

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by Airslide

Yup no lie.. I am pretty happy with a wrench in my hand.. beats the stress of this day job.

Love the pictures of the old trailers.. were they being used or just on display?

There was no sign of life anywhere around them so I assume they were on display. They were all clean and in very nice shape. The flower Airstream looked the most likely to be used but again no signs of anybody around. Maybe you could rent them? The old Hudson with the tear drop was parked away from the others. Again I don't know why. I guess Irene could search through her box of receipts for a phone number if anybody is interested.

Cheers, Dan

[Mike Leary]

Where are you Dan? You missed the heavy rain, snow in the high country and winds here today.

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by Mike Leary

Where are you Dan? You missed the heavy rain, snow in the high country and winds here today.

When you posted this I was in Lee Vining at the east end of the Tioga Pass. It's at about 7500 ft. and was sunny and about 65 degrees. Got down to the low 20's at night but warmed up by the time I got up.
That heavy rain, snow and wind is why I don't go to Arizona for the winter.

Vinnie, Irene found the brochure and those trailers are rentals. The only problem is they don't let you drive the cars.

Cheers, Dan

[Smartstream]

When we left Albuquerque we headed west on I-40. More desert as we crossed into Arizona and Irene took a few pics.



Soon after entering Arizona we came across the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. A little different type of desert to look at.




One of the interesting things is the protection of the petrified wood in the park. When we entered they ask if we had any petrified wood in the coach. We said we had just bought a couples of pieces in the gift shop. He wanted to make sure they were packaged and with a receipt. He also made it clear we were not allowed to remove anything from the park. When we exited the park we were again ask if we picked anything up in the park. The interesting thing was the number of stores outside the park selling petrified wood. I have no clue where they get the stuff they sell.

After leaving the park we drove to Flagstaff and a birthday celebration for Mike Leary. Mike was so kind as to post a few pics a couple of pages back.

Cheers, Dan

[TinCrumpet]

Cheers, Dan[/QUOTE]

Hi
Ive been soooo busy..I'm run ragged
We'll catch up at the weekend over a Mug of Ale or 2

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by TinCrumpet

Cheers, Dan

Hi
Ive been soooo busy..I'm run ragged
We'll catch up at the weekend over a Mug of Ale or 2

[/QUOTE]

Lili you are always busy, but that's alright as long as you find a little time for us once in while.

Back to the desert. As we were getting ready to leave Irene snapped this pic, that's Mike on the left in case you didn't know.


I think the birthday boy was still hitting the birthday wine.

We left Flagstaff and headed to Phoenix to meet and old friend for a late breakfast. We screwed that up time wise as we had crossed another time zone we didn't realize. The only way we know the correct time is to check the cell phone.

Anyway we found some trees in and around Flagstaff.


As we headed south the trees got shorter.


And pretty soon this is what was left.


I don't mean to sound that bad but I'm just not a fan of the desert. I prefer trees and water.

After a nice visit we headed west on I-10. We camped for the night near Palm Desert which is the land of wind generators.


We spent some time with a cousin and did a quick inspection of our properties in the Los Angeles area and camped at a park near Disneyland. It was kind of different as we weren't really in a park. We backed across the sidewalk onto a cement pad and that was it. If you walked down the sidewalk you could wash the windshield for us. I felt rather "exposed?"

The thing I did notice was the number of transition ramps from one freeway to another that were very high and very long.


Some were several stories high and well over a mile long. I guess that's progress.

Next we headed to Ridgecrest for a visit with another cousin and then up Hwy 395 through the Owens valley. This is the area that Mr. Mulhulland bought all the water rights and sent the water to Los Angeles. Watch the old movie Chinatown for more about that.

The eastern Sierras are very striking from the valley.


This is Mono Lake near Lee Vining where we camped.


There is much controversy about Los Angeles draining the water from this lake.

Cheers, Dan