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**Stefrobrts** · 05-20-2008, 03:22 PM

Simce we're all Airstream Millionaires here

I thought I'd share my dream. I dream of having my own little piece of property in the forest, next to a stream where I can go fishing, and with a view out across beautiful meadows to the mountains in the distance. Basically the kind of thing you only see in Sunset magazine. And this vacation property would need no more than a little level RV spot to make me happy. Then we'd pull the trailer out there on free weekends, and cook freshly caught fish over the campfire while watching herds of elk graze across the meadow at sunset, with the babbling sounds of the river just a few yards away. Ok, I said it was a dream, I might as well go all the way.

So I just wondered if anyone had their own private campsite, and how that worked out. Do you ever have time to use it? How did you find it? Stuff like that. Or do you just dream of one like I do

brownsmtnlab · 05-20-2008, 03:37 PM

Well it's all your perspective!! We live in a forested canyon (they call em hollers around here) on 46 acres....Full time. We do have a creek with tiny fish and crawdads and a full 30 amp service in the yard for our Airstreams...When we take our Airstream out its usually to a spot near a city for some CULTURE!!! We're looking forward to Cincinnati, ( Jackson Center), Chicago, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe and other non rural locations in the next couple of months. Our Soveriegn is used for a guest house and sewing room when not in tow. We would be much more likely to be called hillbillys, than millionaires.
Kevin

utee94 · 05-20-2008, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brownsmtnlab

We would be much more likely to be called hillbillys, than millionaires.
Kevin

I thought the appropriate and accepted term was "sons of the soil."

wheel interested · 05-20-2008, 03:46 PM

Promising thread! Great idea Stef. Love the first three posts, can't wait to read more.

Frank's Trailer Works · 05-20-2008, 03:53 PM

we make less than a 100k combined and have 20 years till retirement. However, we own 1/50th of 225 acres in West Virginia. It is a hippie think you might not understand.

jayray5 · 05-20-2008, 03:57 PM

we use the candominium for a guest house at our cottage on the west shore of Cayuga Lake, in the heart of the Finger Lakes, central NYS. Beautiful sunrises and so uncrowded. Last fourth of July at 3 pm I counted 6 boats on the lake.

NevadaGeo · 05-20-2008, 04:19 PM

I've got the land and a view for a great number of miles, but no water or trees. (Yet) I'll sell ya a rock for water and trees

juel · 05-20-2008, 04:29 PM

Bought land at Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma, when we got tired of reserving campsites every week-end we could get away. Plenty of trees (especially for Oklahoma), a little seasonal stream and a really big lake (826 miles of shoreline) just over the hill. We go every week-end Bob can make it home. I usually go by myself with the dogs when Bob's working too far away to make it home. We hope to build a small house and spend time there when, and if, we retire.

Jaxon · 05-20-2008, 04:56 PM

When we lived in north east Texas for a few years, we had 12 acres with a 1/2 acre pond and creek running through it, about 5 acres were costal grass with the rest heavily wooded. Lived in a 1,200 sq.ft. steel building (Morgan, as I recall). Inside, you couldn't tell the difference from a regular house - vaulted ceiling, beaded wood with 12" sheet-rocked walls, large windows. Half of the building had bathroom, kitchen and a large living-dining room. The other half was a 10X15 closet, 8X10 laundry room and the rest was a shop. Had a 10' overhang along the front of the building. The sides of the building had some real interesting steel art on it... and some big lizards...

We slept in the Airstream having put a concrete pad with full hookups (w/phone & cable).

The county taxed the building as a barn, so with ag exemptions for the costal grass & timber, we paid $180/year in taxes (they went up $20 our last year there)... We were going to build a house but got to really liking what we had and couldn't beat the taxes.

Currently, we're looking for at least an acre of land closer to town (Bastrop, Marble Falls, Wimberly & so on), to do the same sort of thing for when we retire to use as a base camp. Want to stay around Austin, but not in it as we are now. We would put a steel cover over the pad this time to protect the Airstream.

What we would do different is make the whole building living quarters with movable walls for bedrooms (2) so we could open it up when it's just us, frosted glass-block walls for the bathrooms (1 & 3/4) and partial walls to delineate living/dining/kitchen. I've got some ideas on some wood/fabric pieces to suspend the ceiling somewhat just over the kitchen space to give it a feel of it's own. We want a real open feel with minimal maintenance (and want to downsize alot!). Instead of the wood ceilings throughout, we'll probably open it up more (black foam with lots of indirect lighting & exposed HVAC ducting). Oh, and with the space being open as it is, when you crank up some good tunes, wow!

Main thing is maintenance free as possible...

It's 98 degrees outside right now and it's only May... I do not want to be doing yard work or house maintenance anymore!

DEITZ645 · 05-20-2008, 05:20 PM

Our leased property at the Penn Wood Airstream Park is pretty darn close to the description in the fist post. We have a stream right next to the trailer with native trout, and its babble is the best sleep aid ever. There is a field on the other side of the stream where we have seen white tail deer, bear, wild turkey, and bobcat. This is where we can be found almost every weekend from May through October. These pictures are of our '06. The '87 is there now and will remain there all seaon. I haven't been able to get any pictures of the '87 in her new home, because every weekend we have gone up, it has rained

. This Memorial Day weekend is supposed to be nice all weekend so maybe I will get a chance to wash and wax her

.

**Stefrobrts** · 05-20-2008, 06:46 PM

Wow, it sounds like some of you folks really are living the dream! That gives me hope, I'll keep my eyes open for that perfect property...

overlander63 · 05-20-2008, 06:56 PM

We live in our own little spot we rent, near a fast-flowing traffic stream, and next to a series of man-made lakes the county built to hold treated wastewater...
It's all in the terminology.

DEITZ645 · 05-20-2008, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Wow, it sounds like some of you folks really are living the dream! That gives me hope, I'll keep my eyes open for that perfect property...

Stefrobrts,
I think the full timers are living the dream

Us working stiffs only get to live the dream part time. A few weekends here and there and maybe a few weeks on the road if we are really lucky.

If I could, I would pitch it all, sell all my "worldly" posessions, and hit the road tomorrow...if we could only afford the healthcare

. We are in our mid forties and talk about full timing all the time, but alas I work for another man's riches and am a slave to that bi-weekly paycheck and not adventurous enough to go on the lamb. Mabe one day...

ALANSD · 05-20-2008, 07:01 PM

Terry!!

we are looking at some lake property near here next week. Hopefully it will be good. Very woodsy and a great lake.

juel · 05-20-2008, 07:03 PM

Bob's really into retro 50's. Here's the type of house he wants to build at the lake. This is the last remaining 1950's shelter at Eufaula State Park. The lake was opened in the mid 50's and these were the shelters at the campgrounds. They have been replaced by log cabins now, but Bob's using this one as his model for the house he's building. Ours will not be concrete, but the form should be almost identical. SEE BELOW!

DEITZ645 · 05-20-2008, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

It's all in the terminology.

Overlander,
And how you look at it

.

juel · 05-20-2008, 07:05 PM

Oops, forgot to add these.

overlander63 · 05-20-2008, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEITZ645

Overlander,
And how you look at it

.

Very true. Most people would say we rent an RV site next to an Interstate, beside a sewage treatment plant...

Goin camping · 05-20-2008, 07:23 PM

We have 5 acres and a shack in Yucca Valley, Ca. It's the high desert.

airstine · 05-20-2008, 07:41 PM

Our Airstream sits on Harstine Island, in Puget Sound (Washington), looking over the water. Sandy beach, fir trees, kayaking, fishing, clam- and oyster-digging, Mt. Rainier (glacier-covered peak) on the horizon. Sunrises and moonrises out the dinette windows.

All utilities are in place (from a house that previously sat on the property). Our PO kindly towed the trailer to its current parking spot (we could never tow a 28' Safari with our Honda). We considered building, but this allowed us to get onto the property much faster (and for less money). It is truly paradise. Now, if only we didn't have to go to work!

airstine