Hi, I'm Meredith...I'm Airstream Dreamer and here is why.

[meredith]

Hello Everyone,
I have lurked on here for years looking at the classifieds and drooling at some of your posts. I have also stalked dearlerships for about 10 years and the time is getting closer to buy!!!

A little back ground on the dream...
My father's parents traveled the world in trailers and planes. They saw every inch of Gods green earth and left us with stories of wonderful places. As a kid i spend many of night with them sleeping on bunks while they gathered at rallys playing cards with friends and eating green Jello! I want that!!! Well maybe not the green Jello! But I want friends and rallys and food!

My Mother's parents and family owned many a restaurant and loves to cook. When my parents split at a very young age I moved every year of my life. Hubby (Craig as he named and I will refer to him from now on...) also moved all over the world as a Navy brat. But back to my story...
I went to cooking school and became a chef... (note...this is part of my big dream!!!)
So Craig and I got married and have 5 boys (yes you read this right) The oldest is 27 and the youngest is 10. We have managed to stay in the same town for our boys because we felt it was good for our children due to our upbring. That has been the hardest thing that Craig and I have ever done. Every year we get ichty feet and want to move so bad that we drive our real estate person nuts. And to fill the void we travel too but by plane and road trip it from there.

So here's the dream!!!!! I WANT AN AIRSTREAM so I CAN COOK!!!!!

We want to travel the US and cook local food. I thought I wanted a new one but the older ones look like they might have more room in the kitchen. And if I go with an older one I can pay for it with cash right now and start traveling sooner rather then later.


So there's my life story in a nut shell and I promise to get one soon and post my pictures of a big silver baby soon. And I promise to pay my dues to the Oregon chapter of WBCCI and cook lots of good food for my fellow members at Rallys
Cheers
Meredith

[SmokelessJoe]

Welcome Meredith. When you aren't traveling or cooking you can be writing stories for us. You have a talent for that too.

Sergei

[Airslide]

Welcome to the airforums Meredith,

I want you to come to one of our rallys too! We love folks that can cook...

I hope you find the exact airstream you're looking for and ofcourse we want to see pictures when that big silver kitchen arrives.

Glad you have begun to post! keep it up..

Vinnie

[VIKING]

Welcome Meredith!
It's a good thing you found us. We know a bit about Airstreams and some of us can and will go on about them all day long. Ask and listen and you will learn.

Cheers,
Rich the Viking

[Skatiero]

Hello, Meredith! I am also an Airstream dreamer. We have been looking and drooling and looking and drooling. I felt kind of foolish joining this forum when we don't own an airstream yet.... we have been looking for so long for one we can afford which we can fix up to sleep us all, but they are few and far between. We have four boys and three girls. We are in Georgia. Let me invite you now to stop on in for some good Southern food when you finally get your airstream!

[KathrynCraig]

Skatiero - That's a lot of people to put in a camper. I have 4 siblings and we camped a lot when I was growing up. My parents slept in the camper with my youngest sister and the rest of us slept in a huge tent.

[meredith]

Skatiero,
Oh..I'm so happy to meet a someone just as crazy as me and someone from one of my favorite states! I feel foolish too joining this fourm but I feel that in order to learn more had to join and ask question so here I am.
We have been to Georga a couple of times and LOVE it. I love the peaches! We flew there two years ago and took a two week road trip. The other thing that amazed me was the red dirt. It was so cool but I bet it's hard to get out of clothes.
How old are your kids? Two of mine are grown up and moved out so the size of AS we are looking for is getting smaller from when we started looking. I think we are going to have our kids sleep outside too (unless it raininy or some scary place).
Thanks for the invite and stop by Oregon sometime too I'll fix some Salmon for you! and I also love your large family!!!
Meredith

[richinny]

meredith, you might find this thread helpful :-)
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f288...ids-17491.html

[DKB_SATX]

Meredith: It may be my imagination (just to make me feel better) but it seems that LOTS of us on the forum were members before we found an Airstream. I was a forum member for over 4 years before I got my Argosy... for most of that time it was a conscious decision to wait until it was practical to have one, but no one on the forums ever made me feel bad for being a "wannabe."

Good luck with your search!

[jspafford]

Meredith, best of luck in your search. We joined the Forums before owning, too. My wife is a super cook - learned her camping cooking skills over the campfire - and was very particular about the kitchen layout in our AS. She really preferred the kitchen layout of the current 20' Safaris - big ol' counter! But we also wanted the queen bed, so we compromised for the 25' Safari.

She works wonders out of the kitchen, and she's glad for the oven. I prefer to use the Dutch oven out by the campfire - keeps the interior of the trailer cooler, and is a good excuse to smoke a cigar while the coals ash up.

There are many discussions about microwaves on the forum - we don't have one and don't miss it, but others are glad for their microwave ovens.

I hope we pull in next to you some time in an Oregon forest.

John and Lynn

[Foiled Again]

Always consider gently used - 2 to 6 years old... or a few more if the owner is a real maintenance freak. Some people find they don't like RVing or don't have the time, or bought the wrong size/features/etc. and want to unload their RV before it turns into yard art.

Gently used is usually the best of both worlds. The big depreciation has happened, and the unit is still in good shape.

Now about PERFECT. It's a word that make me vaguely sick. You say your oldest is 25... if you keep stalling your youngest could reach 25 before you get that "perfect" Airstream. First, there is no "perfect" anything - anywhere. Find something "goodenuf" or "close enough for government work" and GO FOR IT. Visit any RV park with relatively stable visitors and you'll see 2 to 5 RV's for sale, all with variations of the same story. The people who bought them waited too long. Mom and dad FINALLY bought a big moho at age 73 and took off... and mom was diagnosed with cancer or pop had a major heart attack within months of buying, and the dream RV has to be sold at a huge loss.

go camping... go cooking... go traveling but GO!
Carpe Diem.... Seize the Day!


Happy Trails! Paula

[meredith]

Thank you all for your thoughts!
Paula I know what you mean about being "perfect" and that's why we are starting to look at the older models that I can do up for cheaper. For the past 15 or so years we have been just to busy raising kids and tent camping was all that worked. We don't have any debt and want to keep it that way. The thought was we would buy new so that were would only be maintance but in order to get into one now...(and seize the day) I have to buy used. So the "perfect" one is one that we can afford without going into debt and one that will last us years with little to "fix".
I like the older ones as in the a 70's but so many I find need to much work. I'm not liking the kitchen layout of the 80's but do like the 00's.
I think I have it down to 2003 or so with a front bunk about 25'. But I also know that anyone I get will hold it's value (as long as the kids don't dent it with water ballons as it sits in the back yard and the dog does not leave a ton of fir in when we camp) we could trade up in a few years!
Anyway....if anyone is ever in Oregon, please come by or invite me to see your AS in action. I want to see how everyone fits everything in. (our SUV looks like a rubics cube puzzle when we stuff it full to tent camp...I can't begin to image what it's like in an AS) Anyway...I'll bring dessert
Meredith