Some musings from Mr UK Toad, a complete novice to towing but learning quickly
Getting near the end of the season
Posted 10-03-2011 at 09:46 PM by MrUKToad
Us folks up north are coming to the end of our camping season; the campsites are closing and the local City council says we have to get our Airstream off our driveway at the end of the month. We are sad.
For our first season, though, we've had a good time, registering a little over 9,000 Km (5,600 miles) and some 43 nights, which isn't too shabby for family tied to school holidays.
We started as complete greenhorns, never having towed anything before, let alone an Airstream, and now we're still greenhorns, but with a bit of experience thrown in. We've had a few, er, talking points and the dent in the rear end cap looks most fetching (Patina, as our friendly sales guy at the dealership called it).
We've towed with a "controversial" vehicle, albeit one set up by towing wizard Andy Thompson, and genuinely have had no issues whatsoever with our set up. We have averaged around 12 mpg, although none of our trips has been too arduous even if the weather has. Hills yes, but not mountains; well, not really. To illustrate the weather thing, we've done nine weekend trips this year and of those only one was rain free. For our big trip we spent 18 days travelling to Florida and New Orleans in the height of summer and had rain on 14 of those days; I guess we're just lucky like that!
We've learned the fine art of backing up, of going down hills without setting the trailer brakes on fire and that we bought a few things prior to getting the trailer that perhaps we don't really need. We found out that our Airstream has a huge amount of storage space and that despite much advice to the contrary, we really don't need those checklists anymore; I've only tried to drive off with the chocks between the wheels once and that was early on!
I've been a bit disappointed (I will admit) that we've not been taken to task over our choice of tow vehicle, even in places that might not have heard about Andy Thompson. Most comments are just polite enquiries as to how much our trailer weighs rather than direct challenges; and I was all set for a big fight, too. I'm only kidding, of course, and I've been very proud to show people our hitch and towing set up, usually (although not always) to murmurs of appreciation.
We will have one more weekend away before hibernation and then start crossing off the days until May 2012 when we can start all over again.
As a measure of our enjoyment this year, you may be pleased to hear that Mrs T and I quite often go our and sit in our Airstream whilst it's on the drive, just for the sheer pleasure of it. I think we have terminal Aluminitus.
For our first season, though, we've had a good time, registering a little over 9,000 Km (5,600 miles) and some 43 nights, which isn't too shabby for family tied to school holidays.
We started as complete greenhorns, never having towed anything before, let alone an Airstream, and now we're still greenhorns, but with a bit of experience thrown in. We've had a few, er, talking points and the dent in the rear end cap looks most fetching (Patina, as our friendly sales guy at the dealership called it).
We've towed with a "controversial" vehicle, albeit one set up by towing wizard Andy Thompson, and genuinely have had no issues whatsoever with our set up. We have averaged around 12 mpg, although none of our trips has been too arduous even if the weather has. Hills yes, but not mountains; well, not really. To illustrate the weather thing, we've done nine weekend trips this year and of those only one was rain free. For our big trip we spent 18 days travelling to Florida and New Orleans in the height of summer and had rain on 14 of those days; I guess we're just lucky like that!
We've learned the fine art of backing up, of going down hills without setting the trailer brakes on fire and that we bought a few things prior to getting the trailer that perhaps we don't really need. We found out that our Airstream has a huge amount of storage space and that despite much advice to the contrary, we really don't need those checklists anymore; I've only tried to drive off with the chocks between the wheels once and that was early on!
I've been a bit disappointed (I will admit) that we've not been taken to task over our choice of tow vehicle, even in places that might not have heard about Andy Thompson. Most comments are just polite enquiries as to how much our trailer weighs rather than direct challenges; and I was all set for a big fight, too. I'm only kidding, of course, and I've been very proud to show people our hitch and towing set up, usually (although not always) to murmurs of appreciation.
We will have one more weekend away before hibernation and then start crossing off the days until May 2012 when we can start all over again.
As a measure of our enjoyment this year, you may be pleased to hear that Mrs T and I quite often go our and sit in our Airstream whilst it's on the drive, just for the sheer pleasure of it. I think we have terminal Aluminitus.
Total Comments 1
Comments
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HAHA, cute story MrUKToad. We can totally relate having gotten our AS this summer from Andy and have a non-typical tow vehicle for our 25ftSafariSS. We also have it in our driveway and so far (knock on wood) no complaints because we love to just go sit in HeirsDream (or being as we travel with 2 sometimes 3 labradors, DogHairstream) See ya down the road, I hope.
Jojo and Rick
HeirsDreamJJ
WBCCI 3587Posted 11-27-2011 at 03:57 PM by HeirsDreamJJ 
