SilverGate's Safari is Home at Last!

[SilverGate]

Agua Caliente County Park has a wonderful Moonlight Canyon trail where Bighorn sheep are sometimes spotted. In April 2016, the sheep came down, rested and grazed near and in the campground.

Desert bighorn sheep - Part 1

Desert bighorn sheep - Part 2

[SilverGate]

For the past 10 years, our camping season started in the late fall when we loved to retreat to the desert and savor the early morning sunrises, wildlife, good food, coffee, and chats with interesting people.

"Crowing about desert life"

"Carnival season in the desert"

[SilverGate]

We loved to do non-hookup camping in one of the wooded loops of William Heise County Park, especially in the fall when it is not too hot or cold. The dawn chorus of birds is spectacular and often turkeys graze for food nearby. A bonus is that dogs on leash are now allowed on the trails!

"Happiness in the cool mountains"

History Safari Express

[SilverGate]

At William Heise County Park near Julian, California, we were surrounded by fragrant Palmer Lilac bushes, pine and oak trees, and plentiful wildlife.

Mobile-friendly mountain happiness

[SilverGate]

Our favorite beach campground was South Carlsbad State Beach, where we enjoyed the continuous sounds of the surf and the sights of birds soaring by while our Safari enjoyed being recharged by the sun via our two solar panels.

"Catfish by the sea, again"

[SilverGate]

Our annual trip to the beach was typically followed by a thorough washing, waxing and treatment to prevent or control filiform corrosion.

"Wash, wax and treat II"

[SilverGate]

Before each trip, the propane tanks and pigtails were checked. These thermoplastic hoses become hard and stiff and often develop small leaks after a few years. Leaks can be detected by spraying soapy water and new pigtails can be obtained at your local RV store.

"Propane gas leak and summer reading"

[SilverGate]

Every few years, rooftop caulking needs to be replaced, especially here in the sunny Southwest!

"Resealing our Airstream plumbing vent"

[SilverGate]

The OEM white, thin plastic refrigerator drainage tubing becomes brittle and falls apart, some say as early as 3-years old, undoubtedly accelerated by being near heat. This tubing facilitates the removal of water from the refrigerator during defrosting.

I replaced ours with Shields Rubber Series 162 Polyester Reinforced Clear PVC Tubing, 1/2″ ID (inside diameter).

"RV refrigerator drain tube failure"

[SilverGate]

I have usually defrosted our refrigerator about every two months depending on outside temperature and humidity conditions. I like to start a trip with the cooling fins clear of most of the frost to make sure the refrigerator maintains safe temperatures for food (40° F or less).

I have used a fan to quicken the defrost time and a chopstick to loosen the ice for manual removal!

"Quick, easy and safe RV refrigerator defrosting"

[SilverCabin]

I learn something new every time I read your posts.

Randy

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

I learn something new every time I read your posts.

Randy

Thanks, Randy, for your comment. And I learned something new when I went back and reviewed my older posts here with links to my History Safari Express blog articles from 2008 to 2014 and found that the links don't work.

My recent posts starting with Post #539 on the previous page do have links that work to connect my article title (in quotes) to the actual story on my History Safari Express (http://historysafariexpress.airstreamlife.com/)

To see the articles linked in older (2008-2014) posts here, copy the title of the article (within the quotes) and go to my History Safari Express blog:

http://historysafariexpress.airstreamlife.com/

And enter the title in the box "Search this website..." and click on "enter/return" to find the article!

[SilverGate]

One of the many benefits of having a tire pressure monitoring system is that if a nail or screw works its way into a tire, the monitoring system can alert you to a slow leak that you can address before it leads to a total failure and potential catastrophic event.

We have relied on the PressurePro Tire Monitoring System since 2011.

"Tire pressure monitoring system II"

[SilverGate]

The odds are that eventually you will get a nail or screw in your tire as we did during an outing in December 2015. The day after arriving at our camping destination, our tire pressure monitoring system indicated that one tire had low pressure. This led to the discovery of a Torx hex washer-head self-tapping machine screw in one of the curbside tires.

Details on how I changed our tire appear in my article "A Marathon tire repair."

(Why Marathon tires have worked well for us is detailed in my AirForums' post #511 of this thread. Marathon tires are Special Trailer (ST) tires and have a maximum speed rating of 65 mph. We mostly traveled at the sweet spot of 62 mph and monitored them to make sure they were never under inflated, which could lead to heating up and failure.)

[SilverGate]

Last January our Safari became 10 years old and like clockwork, its OEM Universal Security Instruments SS-775 smoke and fire alarm installed by Airstream stopped working and required replacement.

More cities and states are now requiring that “new smoke alarms that are solely battery powered must have a non-replaceable, non-removable battery that is capable of powering the smoke alarm for at least 10 years.” Kidde lists the following states and cities with 10-year smoke alarm laws: Oregon, California, Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Phoenix, New York City, Madison WI, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Louisville. Although many of these laws, such as California’s smoke alarm requirements, apply to dwelling units intended for human occupancy and not to mobile homes or coaches, the laws impact RVers by limiting the selection of types of smoke alarms locally available when it is time to replace a 10-year old alarm (its life expectancy).

I found and installed an economical, ionization smoke alarm with good reviews: Kidde i9010 model (aka Code One 10-Year Lithium Battery Smoke Alarm at Home Depot for $17.97). One of its features is that it has a Hush Button that allows nuisance alarms to be quickly silenced, as required by California’s Updated Smoke Alarm Requirements. For example, if the alarm goes off when cooking and the hush button is pushed, you have about 8 minutes of silence, permitting time to open the door, windows, and turn on exhaust fans to clear the air!

"10-year sealed battery requirement for smoke alarms!"

[SilverGate]

Our the years, we took enough camping cargo for us to set up camp and enjoy cooking, lounging, sewing, and a variety of other activities over a 5-day period and so we greatly enjoyed the power and carrying capacity of Ford's F-250 Super Duty truck.

Our dogs traveled in crates strapped inside on the back seats. The cargo area typically held a large and heavy hitch box, air compressor, cooler, cooking stoves, propane tank, water & electrical equipment boxes, water hoses, and several patio mats.

"Diesel power"

[SilverGate]

After 10 years of camping with our Airstream Safari and reaching our 7th decade of traveling through life, we took stock and concluded it was time to pass this beautiful trailer on to the right person who would buy, use, enjoy and love this Airstream as we have. To this end, we first contacted friends and then placed our ad on AirForums’ Airstream Classifieds on September 13. The first responses were from dealers who wanted to buy it for resale. There were 18 other inquires and I asked each one to tell me something about themselves, interest in Airstream, RV experience, how they would use the trailer, and what they would use as a tow vehicle.

We featured the many amenities of this trailer on History Safari Express over the summer, beginning with:

"Our 2007 23' Airstream Safari 10th year Anniversary and Review"

[SilverGate]

"Our Airstream Safari systems review" July 2, 2017

[SilverGate]

"Safari's L-lounge and storage space!"

[SilverGate]

Two days after the ad was posted, we got a positive response that looked promising from a local, young family who came to see the trailer and decided after a few days of serious contemplation that this trailer would be a perfect match, and we agreed!

The transaction was completed with a cashier’s check and bill of sale. I then reviewed with the buyer how everything worked and assisted in hitching up the trailer to his 2016 RAM 3500 truck. I then followed him in our truck, filled with camping items that we no longer needed, and assisted him in parking and unhitching the trailer.

"The selling of our Airstream trailer"