Our First Trip - The Essex Junction Region 1 Rally

On Thursday May 29, 2014 we headed north to Essex Junction, Vt for the Region 1 Rally. This was our first trip with the trailer so we were filled with wonder, confusion, awe, and a whole bunch of questions.  The trip began at about 10:00 am and our first stop was a rest area on I 91 where we met our son Michael, who wanted to see the rig, and wish us a safe trip. Note: We are the proud parents of a Vt State Trooper.

After chitchatting for a bit, we continued on to Essex Junction, getting off at the RT 2 & 117 exit and continuing on River Rd until we came to Sand Hill Rd. And Memories. Our very first house some 43 years ago was on Sand Hill Rd, so we took a ride down memory lane and sure enough, we found it - looking nothing like what we remembered it. With that out of the way, it was on to the Rally. We got there right on time ( about 1:45 pm) and were directed to our "spot".  What an initial experience pulling in and camping with a bunch of air streamers- I believe the final count was somewhere around 55 units- a far cry from the 1200+ that were here for the National Rally in I believe 2003.  Here are some pics of what we were part of:

a view from afar

A View from our spot

Our Red Truck

Airstreams everywhere.......























The best part of the Rally were our neighbors - and soon to be - friends.

Lori(with Delilah and Wrin), Dick, and Durwood

Is that really Patrick Janes Airstream?

The Peirce's Trailer- parked right behind ours

And then there were the Happy Hours:

Even though we were new at it, we did manage to get the Happy Hours down pat. No hitches. And a great time was had by all. We really enjoyed our group. What a great bunch of people.

On Friday we took a trip to the Champlain Islands and visited with Joanne at Holiday Harbor Lodge - where I will be staying next week when I participate in the annual LCI Fathers Day Fishing Tournament with my brother in law Carl. The real reason we stopped was to show off Mary. Every time I go there, Joanne is always asking why I didn't bring Mary. Well, this time I did. She was impressed.

Their New Sign

New Updates to rooms 1-6

After we left there, we took a trip to Isle LaMotte and did a tour of the island. I've been up there a bunch but have never ventured on to the Isle. It was an interesting trip. Next up was a trip to Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge and Louie's Landing on the Missisquoi River, where we took Molly for a walk. Interesting thing that Mary pointed out - there was a car with New Mexico plates and a guy, who appeared to be Native American fishing at the boat launch area. Small world we live in.

On our return trip we stopped at Hero's Welcome in North Hero for some lunch and some shopping. I hope I get to see the place again next week- it's the place that you come to to weigh fish for the LCI Tournament. If I see it, then it means I or Carl caught something worth weighing. That is a good thing.

View of Lake Champlain from Hero's Welcome

When we got back to the Essex Fairgrounds, the word was to be watching out for a storm, which was blowing in. And blow in did it ever. Fortunately most were smart enough to take down awnings....most were. Some were not, and struggled. But when it was all over, we had a photo opportunity:

Rainbow over our Rally

Sunday came too fast for us. Overall it was a great experience, even the sleeping in new beds part. Even the part of Molly and her new home, bed, food dish, water dish, new dogs, dog acquaintances, etc.  Oh, and we finally got to meet the Waltz's from St Albans. Back to the experience, we learned a bunch about our Airstream, which will be helpful down the road. The only negative about the 4 days was a problem we had with the refrigerator. It would not cool sufficiently to protect food. I've since made an appointment with Nomad Airstream in Plattsburgh to have a look at it.  So, next week Mary, Molly and I will be on our next trip together. Hopefully they can get it repaired OK, so that we can enjoy our next big trip - Acadia National Park in the last week of this month. We averaged just over 11.5 mpg for the trip.

Interesting site when we got back home- our azalea and rhododendron shrubs in full bloom:

Late April Update

Lots have been happening. First off, we joined WBCCI - White Mountains Chapter of Region 1 and then signed up for Region 1 outing to be held May 29, 30, 31, and June 1 at Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in Essex Junction, Vt. We decided to give WBCCI a shot and this outing will be a good way to find out if we like it or not. Going to be the "shakedown" cruise for Zia. Hopefully we'll learn a lot and come back in one piece. Mostly concerned with how Molly travels. Molly is our Boston Terrier.

On Wednesday, April 23, 2014 we made another trip to Camping World in Chichester, NH. Among the things we bought for Zia this time were:
Tire Covers(UV protection)
Pet Fence Wire
Quesadilla Basket
Rug Grippers
30A 25' Extension Cord
Adapter 12V Dual
Butane Lighters
Aluminum Side Table
12' Hose - Propane
Plastic Storage Boxes
Battery Meter
Hose washers
Hose Y connector

Other things purchased this month include:

•  a CB Radio for the truck. Bought a Cobra + Antenna from Amazon.
• we resolved Mary's on-the-road sewing/quilting dilemma  with the purchase of a new light weight sewing machine. She bought a new Janome Magnolia 7360 at New England Fabrics in Keene. Let the sewing begin!

Hopefully not too much else we need to get for our "new home".  Among the items left to get:

• laptop computer for 'on the road'
• wireless networking solution

Regarding the wireless networking solution, currently looking at the Pepwave OTG Router. More to follow on this.

Lastly, I began project of polishing our Airstream. Project is an understatement. With the recommendation of the WBCCI White Mountains Region president, we purchased a product called Glare and 2 days ago began the process of polishing our airstream. It is a very time consuming process, all done by hand, however first indications are good. Will keep plugging away. Done correctly, it puts a finish on a very protective finish that is supposedly good for 5 years.

So much for April.................

Early April Update

Well, we keep buying and UPS keeps showing up. Eventually we'll be done and on the road. Things are really starting to shape up. It is starting to look like our future home away from home.

Hall Closet

Galley Area Mat

Wall Decorations

The Quilt Master

A View to the Bedroom Area in Rear

A View to the Front from Bedroom

We are learning as we go along. The photo above of the bedroom area - after we got done with memory foam, sheet covers, etc, found making bed a problem as mattress overhangs by over 3" - nothing to hold sheets to.  I recalled a post on Airforums where someone else experienced the same thing and solved by adding another cut to shape piece of plywood under mattress. So, last saturday it was off to Perkins Lumber to pickup 2 4x8 sheets of 1/4" plywood. In the meantime, Mary had created a template to use to cut the rounded form to match trailer shape.  When all done, it worked like a charm and for a fact, I believe it made beds more comfortable.

The storage bins in the hall closet- saw that in another post/video related to Airstreams. Looked like a good idea, so we took some measurements and started looking. Found 1 unit at WalMart and others at Amazon. I definitely believe they will be of some use as we try to organize things and space.

Our Airstream & Mary's Fetish's

If you have ever seen our house, you know that my thing is fishing and  Mary's thing is Turtles, so without saying, both are becoming a part of our trailer. The turtles in this pic are actually from a fishing bait company. I just took the opportunity to re-direct their purpose to being a wall decoration.

Saturday April 12, we are off to Montpelier and a luncheon at Sarducci's with White Mountains NH unit of WBCCI. Hopefully we'll learn a lot about the group. At the very least, we'll get to meet Jay and Cathie Waltz and thank them  in person for all the help they have been to us.

Lastly, one of our purchases was Zia's "name tag", proudly posted just outside from door.

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.