The Nomadic Life

[bigbill]

I've been making reservations today for the summer. We have a week in Gardiner, Montana, in July with a back in spot next to the Yellowstone River. We stayed in Yellowstone last summer at the Fishing Bridge RV park but it is booked for the summer. We enjoy the northern end of the park including Slough Creek and Lamar Valley. Gardiner has more to offer during the stay for the same cost, plus we don't have to navigate through Hayden Valley and all the people who insist on blocking traffic because there's a bison twenty feet from the road. We will drive through Cody to the Chief Joseph Highway and Bear Tooth to reach the NE entrance and cut across the north end to reach Gardiner. They got hammered last year with the floods, we will help by spending our vacation dollars there.

In two weeks we're heading to Benson, AZ which is on I-10 south of Tucson. Benson has several nice RV parks and is close to good road riding and the AZ Trail for mountain biking.

The trailer is at a repair place getting the slides adjusted, new kitchen faucet, and new 30A cord.

[bigbill]

More yelling at clouds, but not really. Because I purchased an extended warranty with the three year old used trailer, the new power cord and kitchen faucet was $100 (deductible). Otherwise it would have been $500+. I don't expect to get my money's worth out of the warranty, but it's nice to know they're easy to work with.

[Too Tall]

More yelling at clouds, but not really. Because I purchased an extended warranty with the three year old used trailer, the new power cord and kitchen faucet was $100 (deductible). Otherwise it would have been $500+. I don't expect to get my money's worth out of the warranty, but it's nice to know they're easy to work with.

Yesh, it's like we are on our own. Fortune smiles on a fellah who can fix things.

[ides1056]

Had the Eurovan serviced: new a/c compressor, battery, etc. Nice to find a reliable mechanic: Whole Auto in Petaluma. Now I won’t worry about getting where I am going. Heading South in the morning to my Aunt’s in Lompoc.

[donevwil]

Had the Eurovan serviced: new a/c compressor, battery, etc. Nice to find a reliable mechanic: Whole Auto in Petaluma. Now I won’t worry about getting where I am going. Heading South in the morning to my Aunt’s in Lompoc.

Good find, great shop. Also 2 blocks from my house. Best of luck on your trip.

[bigbill]

We're in the Butterfield RV park in Benson, AZ, for the long weekend. The Walmart is lovely, and we can walk to Safeway. Windy AF yesterday on the drive down; the sway control kept turning off the cruise control so I'd slow down. I was doing 60 in a 75 in the right lane and got less than ten mpg instead of my typical 13. The weather for the drive home looks better Monday. I'll probably have to buy new tires for the travel trailer soon; they're looking pretty smooth, definitely before we head north in May.

[bigbill]

More from the voice crying out in the wilderness. The travel trailer got new tires, the old ones were OEM and less than 4/32". I replaced them with the same model Goodyears. Puck lights; they blink when they get old, and I had a bunch go all at once, which makes sense. I ordered a four pack from Amazon and installed them today. The new ones have an on/off button like the old ones, but the new ones can also be dimmed. Lights over the kitchen area need to be bright, but the one over the end of the bed, not so much. It was straight forward; the lights are hard wired so I used crimp connectors to install the new ones. I couldn't find any replacements with a two screw base plate, only three, so I had to drill some holes. We're heading to Scottsdale this weekend for a horse thing near Tonto Verde. Saturday morning, I'm headed to Green Valley to meet up with Don Lamson for some new shoes.

[Too Tall]

Dang. Say howdy to Don. Holy cow that was a while ago....I recall he was in Rifle when I visited.

[bigbill]

Saw this photo in a Harvest Host advertisement. Something seems off.

[AngryScientist]

Saw this photo in a Harvest Host advertisement. Something seems off.

It says "20% off", looks about right to me.

[bigbill]

It says "20% off", looks about right to me.

I've got a torpedo level with a magnetic base that I use to get fore-aft level. It survived an all day trip on the chassis once when I forgot to put it away. That's a good magnet. To me, the photo looks like they raised it on the jack to take it off the hitch without using wheel chocks and it slid off the jack blocks. Not that I've ever done that....

[bigbill]

Dang. Say howdy to Don. Holy cow that was a while ago....I recall he was in Rifle when I visited.

I will. We get off I-70 to head north at Rifle. The fairgrounds in Rifle have power and water hookups. Last summer, on the way home, we stopped there a few days before Labor Day weekend to spend the night and let the horses run around the arena. I didn't fill the water tank since we were trying to empty it out. The next morning I used a dump station at a rest stop next to I-70 to empty the tanks for the trip home. Shortly past Grand Junction, it all went to hell, but I got to do some riding.

[Too Tall]

I will. We get off I-70 to head north at Rifle. The fairgrounds in Rifle have power and water hookups. Last summer, on the way home, we stopped there a few days before Labor Day weekend to spend the night and let the horses run around the arena. I didn't fill the water tank since we were trying to empty it out. The next morning I used a dump station at a rest stop next to I-70 to empty the tanks for the trip home. Shortly past Grand Junction, it all went to hell, but I got to do some riding.

Hmmm sorry about that. Glad you got past it.

The poor Airstream, it deserves better managers ;)

LOL I bought a ratty plastic 2' carpenters level from a used store. I level fore/aft by placing the level on the threshold. Side to side is by eye and I rate myself as "good enough" if the reefer door does not wildly swing open.

Big man, the International Airstream Rally is in my old haunt Rock Springs, Wy if you want to get more pictures of what can go wrong with other people's trailers wah wah.

[bigbill]

Hmmm sorry about that. Glad you got past it.

The poor Airstream, it deserves better managers ;)

LOL I bought a ratty plastic 2' carpenters level from a used store. I level fore/aft by placing the level on the threshold. Side to side is by eye and I rate myself as "good enough" if the reefer door does not wildly swing open.

Big man, the International Airstream Rally is in my old haunt Rock Springs, Wy if you want to get more pictures of what can go wrong with other people's trailers wah wah.

Two summers ago, I saw an Airstream trailer stuck in Yellowstone. The driver cut the right hand turn and put the trailer wheels in a ditch. As a guy who has done RV camping in Yellowstone, After entering the park, I take the most direct route to the RV park. With so much traffic, exploring with a trailer on the ball is a bad idea. This summer we're staying in Gardiner, MT, for a week and driving into Yellowstone each day. The north end has all the stuff we want anyway.

[Saab2000]

Two years ago at RAGBRAI there was a small group doing the event with what was clearly a new Airstream. Because I’m in love with Airstreams I waddled over to chat. On the driver’s side front part of the trailer was a big dent. Like several feet across and relatively deep, at least inches deep. I made a small comment and was told, “yeah, we’re not talking about that”. It wasn’t the biggest Airstream but was mid-20’. Dual axle. Very nice trailer and yeah, it has to suck to damage something that nice and that new.

[Too Tall]

Two years ago at RAGBRAI there was a small group doing the event with what was clearly a new Airstream. Because I’m in love with Airstreams I waddled over to chat. On the driver’s side front part of the trailer was a big dent. Like several feet across and relatively deep, at least inches deep. I made a small comment and was told, “yeah, we’re not talking about that”. It wasn’t the biggest Airstream but was mid-20’. Dual axle. Very nice trailer and yeah, it has to suck to damage something that nice and that new.

You have no idea. To fix that they drill out all panel rivets AND remove the interior in order to install replacement panels. Even a small fix is a Ferrari downpayment.

I'm quite cautious about where and how I move about ;)

[bigbill]

To be honest, I haven't seen many Airstreams out west. There were fewer than a handful at Yellowstone last summer. I'm sure they're a small player in the RV world compared to Jayco and others. I looked for a used one last year before getting the Jayco, and the best I found was a 23 foot model for $65K that needed some TLC.

Airstream owners tend to have the proper vehicle, unlike the guy we saw a few months ago pulling a big Jayco with a half ton chevy. That setup made my brain itch.

I have a question, if an RV park has hardwired wifi, will I need a router?

[Clyde]

Spent a couple of nights at Croft St Park a little over an hour from our house. It was used as a WW11 training camp, converted. 30 miles or so of mtb trails, no hotrod motor lake, beautiful creekside swings, and decent weather. Definitely a re-visit will be planned.
IMG_1973(1) by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_1987(1) by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr
IMG_1979(1) by Clyde the Pointer, on Flickr

[Too Tall]

NICE spot Tim.

[ides1056]

That is a find.