A season of Giving Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Blog readers out there. This is a time with family and it is nice to be home. I wanted to give a big Thank you out to my wife Zoe for putting up with my Airstream obsession). There are many reasons to be thankful this time of year and I wanted to list a few. I feel lucky that I have such a wonderful wife, our three wonderful sons, our parents, all of our friends and family, our home, our Sovereign of the Road, the VAP, our Airstream family (the Perkins, the Rowbottums, VanDammes, Tim and Debra (we still haven't even met), Colin and Suzanne, Frank, Beth and Ava, the Waddells, Pete Daniels, the Inmans, Virginia, Wayne and Linda, Gaile and Rob, Garnett, Star and Peter, Marc and Becky, Harley and John, Margaret and Stewart, the Rogers, the Warners, and all the rest of the WDCU of the WBCCI), the Internet, all of my USMC Reserve friends, my good job, our dog, and the fact I am home. I hope everyone out there takes a moment to reflect on life and just take a minute to sit back and relax - Now - get back to polishing!!! Happy Holiday's all!

And then there were two!

At the beginning of the summer, I was back up to 5 Airstreams / Argosy's... but as of noon today, we are down to just two trailers - our 58 SOTR and our 65 Caravel. Today, our good friends scooped up our Argosy 24. It's a nice little trailer that will be back on the road again, destined for Florida I believe. Here they are hooking up and leaving the driveway. SYDTR Dick and Ethyl! Go Agronsky Go! Maybe Floyd will be down to give you a hand on this BEAUTY soon!

Heaters

Now that it's cold out..I'm looking into what we'll use for heat. Right now I have an electric heater plugged in and it's staying warm that way while I am out there working.... but this Fireplace is what we want.

It is a Dickinson P9000 propane fired furnace. Or, should I get the P12000 as it's a little bigger. The P9000 says 30-32 foot boat and the P12000 states 32-40 foot boat. I think I have more living space than a boat so maybe I need the bigger unit. Does anyone out there use one of these? How do they heat? I know they have a fan that gets its power source from 12V and that is not a problem (you can run it with fan off for boondocking times). The plan is that this will go on the wall, just to the left when you enter the trailer and vent through the roof. As an augment, we also have a NorthStar 3000 Catalytic heater we plan to use in the bathroom area for those cool bathroom mornings. Just not sure where I'll mount it yet. Who's mounted one of these in their bathroom? I'll be out there working later today.

In the lights

Here's a few more pictures of our trailer on the trip home from the Installation Rally. Then the side of the trailer in the sun that shows our name and town on the front side. The pictures in the dark were in Oxford, NY. Then, I have two old stoves and ovens (one is a dixie and one is a Florence) that I have for sale. I had these for a choice to put into the SOTR, but we've gone with the Magic Chef. SYDTR!

Argosy Find... Poor thing

This is in the fields not too far from my place.. working on getting it for parts.

Next tow vehicle

We just picked this up - a 1987 GMC Crew Cab 3+3 Diesel with a bad motor. We'll be restoring this this winter putting a good 350 V8 in it, and doing some body work. I've located a nice fiberglass rear cap for it on Ebay for $5 - yes, $5. Finally, a truck with an 8 foot bed. Both of our Suburbans are for sale now.... stay tuned.

Tucked away 1 foot at a time.

Well, the old girl is tucked away today for winter. One good thing about not having water installed is no need for winterizing. Sine my barn is 32 x 64, she fit fine. I just backed one foot at a time, stopping to ensure I was free and clear from hitting anything. The old 52 Farmall did a fine job of pushing her into place. Yup - I like the old stuff.

Pictures from Installation Trip

Here are a couple pictures of our trip home from Installation... I've finally found the cable to the camera so I can down load all of our pictures. We stopped at a farm stand just above Gettysburg and then at the I81 Rest area near milemarker 78 going north through PA. It was a 12 hour pull day - with the three kids. Enjoy! It was a great trip! Next year, our WDCU Installation Rally is here in my home town.

Source

Here is my source for my hardware. I've been crazily busy.... sorry for taking so long. It is Vandykes Restoration @ http://www.vandykes.com/ and they are great to work with. Take care.

Sorry

Sorry for the blog not having any posts lately.. I've been away on work... and so it's been slow and quiet. Our WDCU Installation Rally was our last trip and it was a blast. 500 miles each way to Newport News, Va and it was nothing but lots of fun and good times! It was great to see such good friends again. Our friend Alex Vandamme (Sig's brother from the Airstreaming in NY blog on our links) bought a 1957 22' Custom Airstream from a guy that has been restoring it for the past year or so. I am down here for work, so I told him I'd pick it up and take it to NY for him. So, last night, I called Frank of Annalumanum fame ( http://annalumanum.blogspot.com/ ) and asked if he'd like to go with me. It was a blast with only one issue (getting my 2" ball off and putting on a 2 5/16 ball (the 57 has a new tongue on it) but once completed with the help of a pipe and some heat, we were on the road. I'm back here in Quantico for another week. The trailer is nice... I love those 13 panels. It's full of parts. HMMMM, what parts do I need (licking my lips :) ) See you on I81 next weekend. Thanks for the help Frank!

Latches

Here are some pictures of the latches we are installing today, tonight and tomorrow morning before we head for Virginia and the Washington DC Unit WBCCI Installation Rally in Newport News, VA. It's gonna be a blast. The latches you see are the Chrome Bin pulls for my drawer pulls, the large holders to hold the bunks up in travel position, the cabinet door latches, and the one latch for keeping the doors under the galley closed. We have 6 of the door latches to install still, and the bunk catches, and we'll be set. Virginia here we come!

Letchworth is all they say it is!

The weekend trip was great!!! We started off around 3pm on Friday afternoon. About 20 miles in, we hit a spot in the country road where the farmer had just come out of the fields... All I can say is MUD! The Perkins were behind us with their 58 Globetrotter and all I can say is when we hit it, our trailers instantly turned brown. About an hour later, we had a good bath on the NY State Thruway that washed them pretty good. We arrived just before dark, and spent the weekend camping in good old fashioned relaxation. We hiked most of Saturday and then on the way home Sunday, just mossy'd along via Hammondsport, Watkins Glen, Ithaca (in between here we picked up another Caravanner for about 10 miles - a new Airstream (HELLO)), Cortland, DeRuyter, and then home (note to self - fill up with gas in Cortland - THANKS PERKINS). We did not run out of gas, but had to do some fanangling. Whew! No mud on the way home. We had lunch in Hammondsport on the water. A great weekend. The pictures are of the falls, the Campfire, Hammondsport, Caravanning near home with the Perkins, and the boys looking at the falls. Thanks to the VanDamme's and the Perkins for a great time! This weekend is the Newport News WDCU Installation Rally. There will be at least 25 trailers coming. We're hoping for good weather.

Portland, Oregon

Tonight, I depart Hawaii on my trip home. I will have a 40 minute lay over in Portland, Oregon. I'll get home late Friday night, and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe we'll hit Bowman Lake State Park Saturday night, about 10 miles from home. I've not seen any Airstreams on the Island yet - there has to be one or two, ya think?? Maybe I'll see some in Oregon flying in, or on my way home from Rochester. Take care.

Waikiki?

I think I spelled it right.. I am out here for the week for work... here's a shot from the hotel. I'm trying to find an Airstream out here... wish me luck. So, there won't be much on the SOTR this week. SYDTR!

From this weekend!

My two boys in front of the VanDamme trailer.

What it looks like

Here are a couple pictures of what the trailer looks like on the outside (like my 5 pole flag pole holders?) and a few of the inside. Those curves are all 1958 BABY! Enjoy.

Great Weekend! Again!

This weekend we attended an AirForums.com rally that I hosted. We had 6 Airstreams show and a Terry along with a camper in a VW Rabbit Diesel pickup. The weather was chilly and some rain, but we all had a great time. We had a great potluck dinner last night and a great fireside chat! Floyd can tell em better than anyone - he's got at least 40 years on me, and I love to receive his advice. Let's see, there was a 1958 Sovereign of the Road, a 1958 Globetrotter, a 1963 Trade Wind, a 1967 Globetrotter, a 1968 Sovereign, and a 1970 Sovereign. SOVEREIGN's win! It was close with the Globetrotters taking a close second. Next year, same time, same location. The challenge is that everyone there this year has to bring someone new with them next year. Virginia - you're the one we are bringing next year :) ! The SOTR performed great - especially those bunks - the kids loved them!! Now, plumbing and propane is next! We are getting there!