Our second big outing

We picked up our new 25 foot Flying Cloud in April and one week later went off to Borego Springs.  I wasn't sure how challenged I would feel pulling a bigger airstream and through some narrow windy roads.  Our hostess was kind enough to research some alternate routes instead of the scary (to me) mountain pass.  She fortunately remembered her early trailering days and knew I might be skittish.

I found the best linen baskets to hold onto our dishes and tuck away up in the over sink storage.  They came from Home goods and the first store had one set so I traipsed off to the second store across town and found the same set, enough for all my nooks and crannies to contain our various bits that we travel with.

Here is view of the desert sky.  Days were definitely hotter then I would like but I can see a return trip sometime in February or early March.

Our new shiny airstream with a desert backdrop.

The desert was beautiful and hot, very hot.  A morning walk took us halfway to our destination when we both fortunately were wise enough to not tough it out and decided on turning back.  It was also the first time Maya ever got lost.  She has always been a 'need to be close to her people' dog and has never wandered.   We suspect that when Mark went back to the rig to retrieve something, she left looking for me and got disoriented.  This is so not like her but at 12 I guess we need to be more diligent about keeping track of her.   Her reflexes, sight, hearing and most likely sense of smell are all somewhat diminished.  Luckily someone spotted her and put her on a leash and walked the park until a neighbor of ours recognized her and we were reunited.  This could have been tragic if not for that kind soul, as coyotes are prevalent and the desert was very hot.

What I most loved about our stay was the desert sky and the wind.  I am a fan of wind, it always makes me feel so alive.  It was a warm but relentless wind, probably around 20 knots.  I had forgotten the beauty of the stars at night with that level of darkness.

We are currently in Santa Cruz and I'll tell you more about that trip in the next post.

It's here!

Yesterday we picked up  our new 25 foot Flying Cloud and we love it!  I fretted( because that's what I do), that the extra width was going to be hard to see around.  With a little airstream forum research, we bought the perfect extension mirror and installed them and now we see better, meaning further straight back then we did with the narrower 22 foot.

So I fretted for nothing, but I wasn't done, because next up I was pretty sure it just wasn't going to go down the long narrow driveway with a ten foot retaining wall on one side….but it did.  The bottom bit was challenging and took a lot of pulling forward, and inching backwards to get it positioned correctly, but we did it!  Well Mark did it, but I did the navigator thing with hands held wide and narrowing down as he got closer.  I 'm getting pretty good at that part of the job.

I had planned for champagne and a light easy dinner so we could enjoy the time in the new airstream.   While I set a nice table and fluffed and arranged toss pillows, Mark got out the drill to see if he could indeed lower the stabilizer with a socket and drill.  He can…..although I think it will annoy the neighbors and is not really of that much value, a few cranks and it can be done silently.  The 22ft hid the stabilizer crank shaft way underneath and it was a nuisance.  These are in plain sight, easy to reach, and I guess even easier with a drill!

Outgrown!

We loved our 22 ft Bambi.  It was our first foray into Airstream travel and it suited our long weekend outings just fine.  It also taught us to get comfortable with trailering, well taught me, Mark was born comfortable with that sort of thing.   He previously trailered a sailboat so was not as skeptical as I was.

Yep, I'm a sparkly girl so I had the loog crystallized.

One of our first outings to Sweet Water Regional park in Bonita California, a bit south of San Diego. This site, 129 was out on the point of the bluff so no one in front of us.  It was a beautiful spot.

I packed up my Leslie Codina ceramic totem and brought it with for a little campsite decor.

Here is the Bambi nestled in a redwood grove in Santa Cruz RV Redwood park in Santa Cruz.  We traveled here often and really enjoyed the setting.

So back to the learning curve, I did get behind the wheel and pull the trailer and for me smaller was better for learning, but for living, well…..things got tight a lot.  We had to call hallway passage in order to move from one end to the other so as not to be in each others way.   The dinette was both uncomfortable and too big.  We solved that by taking it out and replacing it with two swivel chairs.  Mark built a custom coffee table over the wheel well and we adapted to the new spaciousness.  But still with the 22 being both short and narrow, room for storage was pretty non-existent.

So, we upgraded.  First we did our due diligence to see if we were missing out on other styles.  We went to a huge RV show and had a look at Class C, B and A motorhomes as well as other brands of trailers.  In the end Airstream was really the only choice for me.  I am a modern girl.  I live in a 1940's art deco house with modern furniture and we keep things rather minimal in decor.  Airstream fits that bill so well.

Still I didn't want to be trailering something huge and we wanted to stay with our current ML350 Bluetec Diesel tow vehicle.  So the 25 ft airstream fit the bill nicely.

We will be taking delivery next week and then we find out if the new size really does fit down our rather narrow and steep driveway!  That should be exciting.  In the meantime I am availing myself of all the information that is prevalent from other airstream bloggers and keeping my Amazon account busy with new purchases.  It will be really fun to outfit this one.  I think it's going to be all about color!  Stay tuned for photos of the arrival and hopefully parking!