Airstream Shuffle / Where are the BATs?

Well, here I sit in Asheville, NC at 3pm on Friday afternoon. Why you ask? Well, it all started last week. I’ve had the 67 Trade Wind on the AirstreamForums for sale now for a few weeks. Well, last weekend, it sold, to a guy named Keith in Austin, Texas. He owns a Juice bar called the Daily Juice. He has been looking for an Airstream to turn into a mobile Juice bar – kind of neat - a kind way to say gutting it (oh no) - so look for some 67 parts on Ebay! He is driving here to meet me here in Asheville, NC today. On Tuesday, I drove from NY to VA with the Caravel in tow. Why are we selling the Trade Wind? Well, we bought the Trade Wind because we had sold our 1985 34’ Limited to purchase the Sovereign of the Road. Once we sold it, and realizing there was no way to use the SOTR while we restored her, we knew we needed another trailer (yes, we had the Caravel, but it needed work too). So, we bought the Trade Wind back in July, 2005 for the sole purpose to use it the rest of the summer, early fall. And we did! Since the fall, the Trade Wind has been doubling as my lodging and road office for when I was in Virginia, staying at Aquia Pines Campground in Stafford, VA. While I was away, storage was $2 a day, and rent was about $30 a night. Much less than a hotel and it was my place! So, I made arrangements to tow the Trade Wind to Asheville, NC. I left Stafford, Va last night around 5pm, drove to Haw River, NC and stayed at a Flying J truck stop last night (my last night in the Trade Wind) and got up at 5am, drove for 3 hours, stopped in Hickory, NC to work until noon, and then drove another hour to here in Asheville, NC. Keith is driving from Austin, Texas and meeting me here. He should be here any minute. We used Earth Google to locate a place to meet (I snapped a JPeg and sent it to him with a marker saying, “Meet me here!” Well, Keith forgot about time zones, so he’ll be here now around 4pm, giving me enough time to make this post, using my TREO 600 and PDAnet as an anywhere you have cell coverage 57kb modem (sweet!). “Why Asheville, NC?” do you ask. Well, go to Rich Luhr’s web Tour of America web site, and page back a couple weeks and look at Airstream Life’s next project for the magazine – Vintage Lightning, a 1952 double axle (rare) Cruiser! It is located here in Bat Cave, NC at Richard T’s Moonshine Junction (where we got the SOTR from!) . I am picking up Vintage Lightning and towing it to GSM Vehicles in Plattsburgh, NY – and to see the SOTR once more! It will have all inside seams sealed and outside running / clearance lights installed – and I can’t wait. I am stopping by my house, to spend the night, see Zoe’ and the boys Saturday. I will depart at 5am on Sunday, stopping over the hill to pick up Dick Perkins (fellow WDCU WBCCI member and a 59 Globetrotter owner) who is going to ride up to Plattsburgh and back with me. We will drop off the Cruiser, and see the SOTR, and turn around to get back to central NY to relax for a little, then it is back to Stafford for work next week. So, travel up the I-81 with me tonight, and tomorrow. I’ve got about 12 hours to central NY tomorrow, and 5 more on Sunday! What an Shuffle / Airstream Adventure! Give me a shout while I'm on the road by sending me an email to: robbaker91@adelphia.net . Drive on!