Things for Zia

With the Trailer now safely parked in our back yard, yesterday and today we started to  acquire things we will need for our trips. Well, actually we started acquiring things 2 months ago, yesterday and today we just intensified the process.
Starting with yesterday on the Airstream website, we went to the store and bought:

Twin bed sheets

Key chain

Main door lock key blanks

Then it was off to Amazon, via store at  Long, Long Honeymoon.com to get:

Autel MaxiScan MS300 Diagnostic Scan Tool for OBDII vehicles

1/2" Drive Torque Wrench

Camco Pure Water Filter

Micro Fibre cleaning cloths

Belkin Surge Plus 3 outlet mini travel swivel charge surge protector w/ dual usb ports

Trailer aid Tandem tire changing ramp

Tri-lynx levelers

Today we made the trip to Chichester, NH (just east of Concord) and visited Camping World. A partial list of what we got there:

Foam mattress tops

Misc kitchen items, including refridge bars, containers, Produce Keepers, Wine Glasses, Dish Drainer, Salad Spin, Fridge Bin

Sewer Kit

Entertainment Organizer

City Water Hose

Surge Guard

Surge Guard Lock (anti-theft protection)

30Amp to 15 amp adapter

Aqua Kem Packets

2 Packs of RV Toilet Paper

MicroFibre Wash Mitt

Previously we had purchased:

Yamaha 2000 Watt Generator

Sheets

Dishes

Pots & Pans

Weber Q100 Grill

Rug

Towels

12V Air Pump

Work Gloves
National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass(Lifetime)
Good Sam GPS powered by Rand McNally

Previously we had purchased Books:
Travel Books:

• Four Corners(Moon Series)
• Grand Canyon(James Kaiser)
• Coastal Maine(Moon Series)
• Zion & Bryce(Moon Series)
• Acadia-The Complete Guide(James Kaiser)
• National Geographic Guide to the Interstates - Crossing America
• National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States
• Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory

Before leaving Colonial Airstream, took a trip to their parts department and came away with :
2 wheel chocks
1 bottle of Walbernize RV Superseal

Hopefully we are done for a while. It has been most expensive. And we haven't gone anywhere yet!

Picking up our new Airstream

Mark the day on the calendar - Friday March 21, 2014. Yesterday we traveled to Lakewood, NJ to pick up our new 25' Flying Cloud Airstream. What a day! It began at 3:00 AM and lead to a 3:50 AM departure from West Dummerston, Vt. Destination Lakewood, NJ and Colonial Airstream. Route finally settled on and took was:
 I91 in Brattleboro
I691 in Middletown, Ct
I84 Meriden, Ct
I684 in Brewster, NY
I287 in White Plains
Tappan Zee Bridge
Garden State Parkway

The entire trip was basically uneventful with the exception of the traffic at the toll booths in northern NJ. Don't know how people put up with that on a daily basis. Stopped about 5 miles from our GSP exit to fuel up and arrived at Dealership at just after 9:00 AM. Pretty good time I thought. Lauren was busy with a customer, so Patrick introduced us to Kevin, who was going to do the "delivery thing" with us. Before that began, he took my truck to their shop so that they could install a brake controller. For the next 2 hours we went over the interior and exterior of our new airstream. Last thing was actually hooking it up and having the Reese Hitch fine tuned. I know for a fact that we will not remember everything, especially how to operate and use 3 different remote control devices (for electronics - 2 flat screen tv's, sound/entertainment system, Blue Ray DVD player). Also, adjusting the Trailer Brake control. Going to take some reading and putzing around to understand how they all work. During the demonstration of the TV, Molly was especially fascinated with it. She was watching with interest, prompting a comment about a subscription to the Pet Channel. When we were done demo-ing, we were given a nice briefcase/bag with a whole bunch of reading material. That should keep me busy if this winter decides to persist anymore.

A neat story to relay. When we first arrived, naturally we had to go outside and see our new Airstream. There we found Lauren with another customer who was also taking delivery of his new Airstream - a 27' FC. When she got done with him, we introduced ourselves and started "talking Airstreams". Turns out he was from Boulder, CO and was on his way back. When I mentioned that we had spent some time in Durango he mentioned that his daughter had gone to school there at Fort Lewis College. We talked some about Wolf Creek Pass and he relayed experience of driving it in the winter time. We exchanged names and email addresses and promises to look each other up during our travels. His name was Mark Lacharite.

When we got ready to go, Mark was still there, having had them de-winterize his unit, since he was going to be living in it for the next 4+ days. We wished him a good, safe trip back home and both of us left about the same time.









Here we are just about ready to leave for Vermont:

The trip back, other than a section of I84 going in to Waterbury, Ct, was uneventful. The Waterbury thing had to do with being stop and go for miles for what must have been an accident at exit 22 near where Rt 8 intersects. We were in this mess for almost 1 1/2 hours. Very frustrating. Not to mention messing up my fuel mile calculation. Back to something brighter: the trailer towed beautifully. The truck handled it nicely. I was pleased with all aspects of towing the Airstream. A preliminary guess is that we got between 12-14 MPG, a number that I will confirm just as soon as I can refill the tank and recalculate.

Well, we made it back to West Dummerston at about 7:00 PM. Quite a long day, but still, we were both overjoyed to have made it back ok and finally have OUR Trailer in OUR yard. Even if it was still winter.

 The Reese Hitch setup.

A view from the rear with our new Vermont License plate. ANR206 is the one that will identify us, should you see us on the road. Next project is to create a place where we can park the new Airstream. This will involve creating a pad to park the trailer - one that I can back into easily. But first, we need winter to GO AWAY!

Mary's Mini Quilt Project

After a lot of hard work, the project is now done. This mini quilt was adapted from a Mary Hershcleb design "On the Road".  The original pattern featured a "woody" station wagon pulling a yellow travel trailer. I first saw it on Pinterest and Rick found it mentioned on Airstream forums. But, we needed a mini quilt that fit our circumstances.

And now a little story about the process:

I found the pattern on line offered by Quiltbug.com, a neat site that has quilting patterns, fabric and offers some helpful free information about thread, needles and a french braid table topper pattern.

Having done paper or foundation piecing before, I was able to alter the pattern pieces to transform the station wagon into a red pickup and change the trailer into a silver bullet. I did have some difficulty getting the pickup wheels to line up properly,

but in the end, I prevailed. Persistence pays off! The body of the picture is machine quilted. I added a wavy inner border and chose not to bind the quilt as I ran out of matching fabric.

Getting There

Well, it is now March 6 and yesterday we finally made arrangements to pick up Zia(our new Airstream) on March 21, 2014. Colonial Airstream has been storing it on site since we made the purchase back on Jan 23. They had agreed to store it through March for us.

A lot has been going on believe it or not since we signed the papers and paid the money. Somehow, through Air Forums, I met Jay & Cathy Waltz from St Albans. They had also just purchased a new AirStream. They bought an Eddie Bower from Nomad Airstream in Plattsburg and when they saw that we had also just purchased, sent me an email and advised me of something I would never have picked up on- Sales Tax on Travel Trailers in Vermont is limited to $1850. Colonial Airstream had already collected over $3600 for this tax to pay the state of Vermont. When I sent them confirming documentation from the State of Vermont website, they sent me a refund check in the amount of $1847 plus one for the State of Vermont for $1850. As Cathy had said, the local DMV office people probably would not be aware of this and I would need to contact the Commissioners office and have them advise local office of this rule. She was right - they were not aware of it, but I did contact the Commissioners office and when I went back to register trailer, they were on board with the $1850 amount. I can't thank Jay & Cathy enough for bringing this relatively unknown rule to my attention. Saved us over $1800. And oh, BTW, if you see an airstream on the road with plates ANR206 - that's us.

 It has been a long winter and a long wait. We've managed to keep busy by buying things for the new trailer. Things like an outdoor grill, bed covers, binoculars(for birding), Walkie Talkies, Pots and Pans, plates. Can't forget the Invertor/Generator. Just purchased a Yamaha EF2000iS.

Mary has been extremely busy "creating" a really neat Airstream/Tow Vehicle quilt block. It looks just like our setup. She has been living on her iPad looking for things for the trailer. I have been following a number of travel Blogs- seeing how other people handle living on the road. I had all the tires on our 2011 Ford F150 XLT replaced with new Michelins. Also ordered new towing/mirror extensions for the truck. We've also been busy planning on how we are going to spend time in the new trailer, having made reservations at Acadia National Park for 4 days in late June, four days at Cayuga Lake State Park in the Finger Lakes Region of NY in August, and reservations at Butterfield Resort in Benson, AZ for the month of November, Cochise Terrace RV Resort for Dec - Jan and Desert Trails RV park outside of Tuscon for Feb - Mar. Looking at how we will spend the month of April and for right now are  leaning on a trip to South Rim of Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Mesa Verde, ending up in Santa Fe area for a week or so, before heading home. Somehow trying to coordinate the weather. Last thing we want to do is come home in a snowstorm(s).

Back to getting the trailer. Now we just need the weather to cooperate - we don't need any more snowstorms and we especially don't need a bad mud season. If everything goes well we'll have it home and park it in the back yard until we can get a dozer up here to clear a pad in an area that I have chosen to store/park the unit. The trip down is about a 4 - 4 1/2 hour drive and we have scheduled delivery appointment for 9:00 AM so an early start is in the works. And a long day. Hopefully everything goes ok.