Greetings

[dlg1976]

Nice to be here! I'm about to take possession of a 2006, 19' Bambi International, and I couldn't be happier about it!

I live in NYC and have been busting around in my conversion van for the better part of the pat 2 years. I absolutely *love* living on the road, and buying Bambi is my way of upping that commitment. She will be my country house, and the van, my city house. Should work pretty well, I think!

I'm in the process of rigging up my van with the hopes that I can take it directly to Burning Man later this month. I posted on a BM thread to ask if there was still room at the camp, and I had another general question since I'm here:

I'm relatively new to towing. The one time I did was to bring a uhaul cross country with my old Jeep Cherokee Laredo. It was a 4.0L inline 6, and by the time I got to NYC, the transmission was not the same.

My van is a 4.6 V8, and it is listed as being well within range for a 19' International. But I was wondering if there are any specifics I should know to keep the wear and tear down, since the van will be my main living quarters for a while.

I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere, and I'll be doing some serious perusing of this forum a little later. But I thought I'd put it out in the meet 'n' greet page anyway, since I just wanted to get the ball rolling on this now.

Many thanks in advance to you all. I will look forward to meeting *many* of you here and along the way in the upcoming years. Very, very excited!!!

All best,
D

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

I think that you van will be able to do the job, but you will need to prepare it for towing.

You should should consider a transmission fluid cooler. You also need to research a weight distribution/sway control hitch system. You will also need a trailer brake controller installed in your van.

There are many threads here on the forums on these issues. Other member will also chime in with experiences and suggestions.

Congratulations on your new baby. have many great Airstream adventures and safe travels.

[richinny]

dig, welcome to airstreaming!

you have a lot of reading to do to prepare as mentioned above. the reading will answer most of your questions and give you many more, lol.

use the google search and you'll get a lot of posts for "first time towing".

and..... don't forget to feed both meters on the street ;-)

[kds]

Welcome and I am so very excited for you!!!!! As you can already see, this forum has a wealth of information. I am also a newbie and have posted a couple of times and had a great response. You are certainly on the best website for great info. We are now living in our AS full time while we rent out our house. It's on the market but real estate is slow right now so we were thrilled to at least get renters. Hope it stays rented cause we love the simple lifestyle of this trailer and we can take our home with us when we travel. How cool is that???? Anyway, safe travels and enjoy.

kds

[dlg1976]

Thanks to all for the tips! Feeling very welcome here. . .like this might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship .

Will look into upgrading my van on the way out to pick up Bambi, and I'll spend the next week perusing these pages to get the best info on what to do. The tranny cooler sounds like a must, since I love my van and put a ton of capital into fixing her up. Hoping to take her from Holland to Beijing next year, so avoiding breakdowns in Siberia is high on my list!

Hoping to move out of my own place full time and rent until the market comes back (not holding my breath), so Bambi and I ought to be getting pretty close.

So many more questions, but I'll flip through the previous posts before I add any new threads. Looks like every conceivable question has been asked and answered many times already. Should make for some fun reading.

All best to you all, fellow roadies! Catch you round the next bend. . .
D