What do you read and play in your Airstream?

[wheel interested]

I have been arranging my interior storage in the Airstream and I like to carry some games and books. I thought it would be interesting to find out what some of you like to play for games or what good books you have read or plan to read when you are in the Airstream.

Of course I have Travels with Charley, and I have A Walk in the Woods, I like the Grisham mysteries. But if I can get a new book list from this thread I will be happy.

For games I carry cards and dice and a bound book of many game boards, pieces and instructions, and Upwords along with Hoyle's book of games. But the two we probably would actually play are backgammon and trionomoes. I like this question because I think I will be able to vicariously live through some of your company evenings, such as rummy, Tom Collins and Bavarian pretzels.

For outdoor play we carry those grippy velcro circles with the tennis like ball, a frisbe, and short handled rackets with a birdie for badmitton.

[azflycaster]

I take the latest copy of "Airstream Life" with us when we go out. It reads much better when under aluminum. We carry mostly dog stuff, an endless supply of dog balls from petsmart (6 packs) and a few frisbee type discs. We also have the retrieve toy for lakes. We bring a movie or two for viewing (laptop) in the evenings. We are not big on board or card games, maybe this would be a good time to teach my wife cribage.

[remcolent]

Most of the time reading the service manual , and playing with tools.

[Boondocker]

Depends, day to day I read tons of cheap paperbacks, mostly on a trade basis so the authors cover a lot of ground. On trips the pendulum swings to travel reference material, maybe history pertinent to the trip. One of the few ‘resident’ books on board is Annals of the Former World. Fantastic story telling and explanation of geology.

[GlenCoombe]

Carol, I go through a book a week. Joined the library to cut cost. Best book in a long time is "A Land Remembered" by Patrick Smith. A very good read.

You might also like "Light a Distant Fire" Lucia St. Clair Robson. http://luciastclairrobson.com/LightaDistantFire.htm not sure if it's in print but her writing is quite enjoyable. She's done a few others...

[Uberlanders]

We carry various copies of Airstream Life and whatever we are reading at the time. But most of the time, we don't read much in the trailer. We are usually hiking, biking, swimming, hanging out with others, playing with the dog, sitting around the campfire, touring other's trailers, that by the time we get in the trailer to read we fall straight to sleep.

[Goin camping]

Reading material:
Maps, manuels, Terry Pratchett and anything else.

Games:
Cards. Lots of cards.

[tin sista]

Its neat to see we all have so many similar interests besides Airstreams that is! I'm writing down these titles and getting ideas for games too!

We love reading and puzzles. I grew up on scrabble even though grandma always won ! She was a reporter--unfair advantage. Also, euchre and pinochle.

Right now I'm reading Sor Juana, or the Breath of Heaven by Paul Anderson. Its great!

I love the 30 second mysteries they are fun and combine our love of mysteries and games. There are some for old tv shows too that are cute. They have a great version for kids I've used in the classroom!
My favorite puzzles are those edited by Will Shortz, he does the puzzlemaster presents on weekend edition too. Sudoku and crosswords. Dave says he solves problems all week at work so he likes novels. Lately he's been reading classics.

[JimGolden]

My daughter (age 6) and I play Candy Land and Battleship in our Airstream. When she was five, we also went through her box of flash cards to learn the alphabet and numbers up to 25. Well the flashcards aren't much of a challenge anymore, and I always seem to lose at Candy Land. But I give her a pretty good run at Battleship

[wheel interested]

You sank my battleship...Hasbro? I remember the commericials! Candyland and Cootie for our little ones.

I forgot, lately we have been working jigsaw puzzles at home in the AS. I have to agree most of the time we are out like a light after wearing ourselves out, if all goes well.

I do like to read particularly when on the road, after dark and awaiting next light. Looks like I have new books and games to check out. Thank you!

[AZstreamin]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

maybe this would be a good time to teach my wife cribage.

Cribbage is a great game.... it's been years since I played my Grandpa taught me to play when I was a little fella...and we'd play for hours.. good memories. It's excellent for travel. We also like Outburst and Cranium... both are fun especially if you have two couples.

[ALANSD]

We play Tri-ominoes, Backgammon, good old checkers, Rummy-q ( tile game). TRi- bond is a newer game we also like. Good questions for most ages.

[maxandgeorgia]

My book stash begins with my current trip journal--leather bound, delightful to write in along with a good pen. I began this habit back in 1986 on our first trip to northern Minnesota and love rereading over our travels on snowbound days in the winter. Along with it, I keep a collection of travel books, Falcon brand and others, for the regions we are traveling to-through, for history, campgrounds, national parks and so on. I'll probably have a garden or trip essay book for my reading while Max will have his spy-thriller selection, and we always hit the book stores wherever we find ourselves for something great that is regional-cookbook, local lore. One of my favorite trip reads has taken me through the Ivan Doig trilogy beginning with Dancing at the Rascal Fair, English Creek, and Ride with Me, Mariah Montana. These are set in the Two Medicine country of northern Montana along the Rocky Mountain Front Range. Sheep herders and cattle ranchers are among the strong characters struggling in a strong land. I continue to enjoy Doig's work. Always, I find some "beach reads" to enjoy too-light, easy to put down and pick up again. How do we read so much when we are always out doing something?? Currently set aside and waiting for our upcoming trip are The Big House (a century in the life of an American summer home, reminding me of a childhood trip to the east coast when we stayed in a huge, rambling summer house), Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult, and Fall on Your Knees, one of Oprah's Book Club selections. Games: the usual dominoes, cards, chess and checkers. TV is left behind and grandkids have to provide their own electronic game "junk"! No more room! ~G

[wheel interested]

Boy I am loving this expanding book list!! I am printing all the members' selections so I have a few on hand and more to look for. Great! Same with the games I am learning about.

Originally Posted by maxandgeorgia

grandkids have to provide their own electronic game "junk"! ~G

Goodness that reminds me of my grandchildren, we have put a bit of a ban here on the video games. I don't care to use it heavily as a babysitter. Much rather have them exercising their ingenuity and muscles. You know they're having a great time if they need a bath and bandaids.

[maxandgeorgia]

We exercise a similar ban-video games are usually for occasional play on the road trip when they are sick to death of the prairie or pine forest or for just before bed, before a read. These games are part of their world that we don't relate to at all, but we try to keep that short-range vision thumb jumbling to a minimum without totally cutting them off of their own brand of fun

[codybear]

I play UNO, with my grandson when he comes over in the Safari, while it's parked, and when we go camping at Lake Almanor. I read my nature reference books about the different trees, birds, insects that are in the area where we go camping.

[wheel interested]

My son has a peculiar choice in children's video games. I confess I had to leave the room (in my son's home) as my 2 six year old twin grandsons were visibly delighted to torch street people. What the heck was wrong with pacman and burgertime anyway?

I carry several cartoon movies just for ourselves but with a view to sharing with any of the younger set we might encounter. Entertaining as I try to be, sometimes I just plain fail.

Uno's a fun game. Looks like Emma Luhr from Tour of America is a master of it.

I picked up a nature trivia game. Maybe I will use that for my own "flash cards" and education! We got it from Glacier Park.

[Kintscher]

I know it's not quite what you ment, by I usually bring along my french horn and "play" it in the trailer.

[LuminumTraila]

I don't think I've found any time to read in the Bambi since we've had it. But we like to listen to books-on-CD in the car on a long trip and we never get tired of Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods. We have a copy of Newcomb's Wildflower Guide and Sibley's Guide to North American Birds on hand, and some reference books for finding good family hikes in New England. I always have a pack of sketchbooks, pencils, and mini-watercolor set handy on the rare occasion that I get quiet time.

The kids like card games in the trailer - crazy eights, rummy, etc. Other games we travel with include Cadoo, Apples-to-Apples, Scrabble, and we just got TransAmerica, which we like a lot. We're also learning Go, but we haven't taken it on the road yet.

[maxandgeorgia]

Kintscher, too cool! In my next life, I'm going to play the bass viol, mandolin, piano, and sing without squawking, I hope.

Carol, (". . .I picked up a nature trivia game. Maybe I will use that for my own "flash cards" and education! We got it from Glacier Park." ) I like this game to have along with us in the AS. I think I'll look for something similar if we get to some national parks or monuments this summer. Thanks for the idea! ~G