Jan 06 2010

Lake Cahuilla County Recreation Area

We are still wandering the Sonoran Desert, rather slowly and without much mileage, which is a good way to go. There are many subtle pleasures of the desert, and a primary one is taking the luxury of ignoring time and society while picking up a lot of dust on your boots. So we’ve hiked and explored, cooked dinner over an open fire, watched moonrise, and many other completely inconsequential things that encourage a relaxing of the spirit. That’s a good vacation.

However, with the holidays behind us, the world is once again getting to work and so I am being swept up in the tide of obligations once again, ready or not. Business will take us further down the road before we return to home base.

Dan and Marlene, our friends at Mali Mish, blogged about a nice park near the Palm Springs area. We’ve avoided that area in the past because of the prevalence of overpriced, snobbish (“Class A Motorhomes only”), and age-limited commercial campgrounds. But it turns out that in nearby La Quinta there is a fine county park up by the foothills, called Lake Cahuilla County Recreation Area.

I can second Dan and Marlene’s assertion that Lake Cahuilla is a fine place to stay while you’re in that area. The “lake” is actually rather small, calm, and artificial (it’s a reservoir). Swimming is not allowed. But the scene is very pleasant and the campground is friendly. Sunsets, as we discovered, can be spectacular. (Water and electric sites seem to be unaffected by the larger California state budget crisis. Still $22.)

In the previous blog I mentioned that it was time to do something about our repeated tire problems. The solution I chose, based on recommendations of people who have a lot of experience with Airstream tires, was to switch to Michelin LTX M/S tires, specifically the LT235-75/R15. We took a look at all five tires (including the spare) and the tally was two bad tires (broken internal belts), one questionable tire, and two good ones (the Carlisles we installed last September). None of them, by the way, had been patched.

The Michelins are considerably beefier than the Load Range D “Special Trailer” tires they replaced, with deeper tread and much more durable construction. They are Load Range C, but don’t get alarmed by that. The load rating for each tire is 1,985 pounds at 50 psi, which equals 7,940 pounds of total weight-carrying capacity. We never run that heavy and we use tire pressure monitors to ensure that we stay at optimum pressure.

The downside, of course, is that this is a monstrously expensive experiment. The bottom line was about $700 with installation, balancing, new high-pressure stems, California environmental fees, and tax. If the tires last two years without premature failure, I’ll be money ahead compared to the amount I spend on replacement ST tires, not to mention the hassle. I’m told the Michelins will wear longer in addition to being more resistance to belt failures.

A lot of people have tried going to a 16″ Michelin XPS Rib tire, and I considered it as well. But the Michelin LTX allowed me to avoid changing the wheel rims, which cut the cost of switching considerably. They also fit better in the Airstream wheel well. Whether this change will solve the problem of the constantly-failing ST tires remains to be seen. I’ll report as we go. [UPDATE April 2015: I’ve had these tires for over five years and over 40,000 miles. Not one problem.]

While we had the wheels off, we had the opportunity for a brake check, too. The Kodiak disc ceramic brake pads were, as always, wearing more on the outer pad than the inner, and it was time for replacement. It has been a year since the last wheel bearing re-pack as well, so I decided to plunge in and get it all done at once. It has been an expensive service stop, but adding up everything we did in 2009 and this early 2010 session, we are still within annual budget we set for service and maintenance when we were full-timing ($2,000 per year).

Jan 01 2010

Desert vacation

It is 2010 and good things lie ahead.

Christmas was a quiet success in our household. Since we are thousands of miles from our extended family, we used Internet technology on Christmas morning to videoconference with my parents and brother while we opened gifts. I thought it would seem strange to have the family on a laptop screen, perched atop a box in the living room but it was surprisingly like having them there with us. This may become a Christmas tradition in homes across America, replacing the horror of holiday air travel for many.

Just two days after Christmas, we took off to California for some desert camping. Almost every trip I take is a working trip, but once in a while I like to try to avoid work and just do the stuff that normal people do in a campground, and the hope was that this quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Day would allow that.

On the way we stopped in Yuma to visit with Barb & Joe of MobileInternetSatellite. A couple of years ago I bought a used Hughes satellite Internet system from my friends Brian and Leigh, who had recently completed two years of full-timing. The price was right and I thought I might use it for an extended trip into Mexico. But that was before the Mexican Drug War ramped up. We found other things to do and the satellite dish gathered dust in our storage closet. With the smaller Mercedes as tow vehicle, carting around the satellite dish became less practical and I decided to try to sell it through Barb & Joe.

Unfortunately, satellite dishes are being replaced by cellular aircards, which for most people provide faster, cheaper, and highly portable Internet. The only folks who need satellite are those who spend lots of time parked beyond the reach of cellular networks and commercial wifi hotspots. So selling a dish is pretty tough these days, even one that comes complete with all the accessories.

Now that we are out in the desert, we are experiencing the sort of quiet and vigorous life we have come to like. There are hikes up palm canyons by day, and the soft sounds of birds each morning (Gambel’s Quail and hummingbirds in particular). In the evening there is the smell of tamarisk wood fires. (Since tamarisk is an unwanted invasive species, cutting it down is often encouraged.)

It’s a little cool once the sun slips behind the mountains at about 4 p.m., but shortly after sunset we have the compensation of a startlingly large and brilliant full moon rising. People in the campground are wrapping up in warm clothes and spending the night outside regardless of the temperature, which as been bottoming out in the 40s.With clear skies most of the time, nights have been bright enough that we don’t need a flashlight to walk around. When there were clouds on Wednesday, they just added to the drama of the surrounding mountains.

Little desert-related surprises come to those who watch, like the tarantula that wandered by our campsite yesterday. (Eleanor got some video of that.) So we are making no plans and letting each day come. Most importantly, I’m not getting any business phone calls and virtually no emails of importance, so the computer is off except for an hour in the morning.

I have been getting more of the “how does that car tow that big Airstream” comments this week than usual. Everyone seems to be shocked when they see the Mercedes parked in front of the Airstream. I’ll answer questions for anyone who is really interested, but most people just boggle at the sight and then wander off. I don’t think they really care to learn the details; they’d rather just enjoy the novelty of it.

The one big frustration of the week has been, once again, a tire failure on the Airstream. One of the older tires (date code August 2008) is showing a worn spot, approximately round and rather uneven, that suggests yet another internal steel belt has broken. It will need replacement shortly.

Well, that’s the final straw. I have not been able to wear out a set of tires since 2006, because they keep failing internally. We replaced two in September for the same reason, and many others over the past few years. We’ve been using the factory-recommended Goodyear Marathons (designated “ST” for Special Trailer use, load range D) as well as similar tires by Carlisle, Trailer King, and TowMax. We have had, frankly, a completely unacceptable experience, with multiple failures over the past three years. It’s 2010 and time to try something different.

I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly. We have eliminated as many possible causes of tire failure as possible. We tow at 65 MH or less, we’ve weighed the trailer, we balance the tires and also use Centramatic wheel balancers. We use a tire pressure monitoring system to ensure proper inflation at all times. We’ve aligned the axles of the trailer annually, most recently in September. I inspect the tires at every fuel stop. Still, the treads keep suffering rapid tire wear in localized spots.

I’m going to toss all the tires and try a different tire design (not an ST) very soon. Right now I’m gathering consensus from some respected experts, and comparing various alternatives. Some people swear by Load Range E tires, others use LT (Light Truck) tires, and some say that bias-ply designs are the answer. Some think a particular brand makes the difference. What I find interesting is that so many people have trouble with ST tires that are supposedly designed for trailer use, and yet have more luck with tires that aren’t specifically designed for trailers. As one experienced Airstream dealer said to me this week, “ST just means it’s a tire that isn’t good enough for passenger use!”

I’ll report further on the tires we choose, and our experience with them, a bit later. With a little effort and a little luck, I won’t be talking about tires much in 2010 … I hope.

Dec 23 2009

Vintage Airstreams and Modernism

Hey, west coast vintage Airstream owners: there’s a Modernism show happening in February 2010 in Palm Springs, and they want YOU to show up!

Modernism Week is an annual event in Palm Springs, CA, filled with exhibits, presentations, and house tours. The Ace Hotel is planning to show vintage Airstreams along a promenade that winds through the hotel property, and sell tickets to tour the trailers at $10 per person. If you’ve got a restored vintage Airstream up to 26 feet in length, they want to hear from you.

Other than open houses at rallies, it’s not that often that vintage Airstream owners get to show off their trailers. Classic car shows are a dime a dozen, but classic trailer shows are a lot more scarce.

Of course, coming to events like this can be expensive for the owner. Fuel alone for me to tow our 1968 Caravel to Palm Springs would run about $200 round-trip. The hotel is offering to share 1/3 of the receipts from tours with the trailer owners to help defray the cost. No telling how many participants there will be on the tours, but they do plan to offer four tours on Saturday, February 20, at 10:00, 11:00, 1:00, and 2:00. I wouldn’t count on this to cover my fuel, but it’s better than nothing — which is what you usually get for displaying your Airstream.

The hotel has reserved a room for each vintage trailer, so participants won’t be actually camping. You can stay in the hotel instead, at no cost. From the website, the Ace Hotel looks like an interesting and fun sort of place.

Participating owners are asked to bring a “fact sheet” to hand out to people on the tour, and are encouraged to make a poster board display with information about the trailer and its restoration. Also, if you’ve got a vintage trailer to sell, you can make it known during the event, which would probably yield some offers.

If you are interested in participating, email Christy Eugenis for an application. You’ll need to give some info about your trailer and include interior and exterior pictures. Deadline is January 15, 2010.

Dec 19 2009

The Caravel goes to Q

Quartzsite has historically been a major RV’er mecca in the winter. It still is, but not so much this year. The slowdown of the economy seems to have dinged this portion of the RV community more than others. Quartzsite is traditionally visited for months by vast numbers of budget-conscious desert boondockers, who pay as little as $180 for six month in the BLM’s Long Term Visitor Area. They pass the days browsing the flea markets and “shows” (essentially flea markets with themes), and contemplating the desert, I suppose. Whatever they do, this year they’re coming here in considerably smaller numbers to do it.

Super Terry met me here to camp together for the weekend, and replace my broken front window. That’s his 1974 Sovereign parked with my 1968 Caravel. We’re in a private boondocking lot for $7 per night. There are a lot of these types of places in Quartzsite.

Super Terry’s first night was a little rough, since he got caught in a serious traffic jam on I-10 near the AZ/CA border. After two hours parked on the Interstate, and then some back-road wandering, he finally arrived far too late for anything but dinner. We tried Trader Joe’s “Thai for Two” and it was pretty decent for bachelor chow.

In bright morning sunshine of Quartzsite, we got to the task at hand. Super Terry removed the broken glass and ruined frame of the front window, and went through the particular procedure required to rebuild a 1968 Airstream window. He also very carefully removed one of the two curved side windows and replaced the original glass with a new piece that I bought from Airstream. The new glass is considerably tougher than the original Corning stuff. I decided to pre-emptively replace that glass just because I’ve experienced a side window failure in the past, and it’s a real pain to deal with on the road.

Each window needed to sit for two hours while the caulk set up in the hinge, so we took a break for lunch and were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Mike B. Mike is one of several Airstreamers we know who are camped in one of the LTVAs for a few months. We would have camped with them, but the LVTA isn’t set up for short visits (hence the name: LONG TERM Visitor Area). The minimum permit is for two weeks, which costs $40. Later in the day we dropped in on the Airstream encampment and saw a few other folks we know from rallies and the Internet.

Sadly, the tape I used to hold the temporary Lexan window in place did not come off entirely. I was warned about this by Colin Hyde. After a few days in the sun, the adhesive won’t come off the aluminum. I’ll have to get busy with some Goo-Gone stuff when I get back to Tucson.

Life in the Caravel as a single person has been very comfortable. I could live in it for a while if I had to. The tricks to living in a small space like this are to be extraordinarily organized (a place for everything and everything in its place) and regularly cleaning up the detritus of each activity as it is completed. You can’t leave the breakfast dishes out while you try to work on the computer. The bed has to be made back into a sofa before you can gain access to some of the storage compartments.

With three of us, there’s an added trick: stay outside. There’s really no room for the three of us to function in this tiny space all at once. That’s actually not a disadvantage, since it encourages outdoor living. When we want to travel with a rolling apartment, we’ll take the 30-foot Safari. When we want to go “camping”, we’ll take the Caravel. I would like to add an awning rail and a vintage-style awning later, to expand our outdoor space. (I’m making a list of improvements and accessories for our first family trip.)

Although I know a few things to do around the Q, there isn’t enough here to hold me for long. On previous trips I’ve hiked the popular hikes, visited all the shows, climbed “Q Mountain,” saw the historic and geographic landmarks, etc. The really social action doesn’t kick in until January. Right now it’s a bit quiet. So on Sunday I’ll head back to Tucson with my list of improvements. With Christmas this week, I expect work to be very quiet, and combined with Tucson’s traditionally pleasant December weather it should be a good opportunity to get started on the Caravel projects.

Dec 18 2009

17 Feet o’ Fun

Wednesday was National Chocolate Covered Anything Day, which is a major holiday among women who recently discovered it, like the two who inhabit my house. This led to chocolate fondue Thursday, a day late but when you’re dealing with a serious topic like chocolate, some leeway is apparently allowed. And hey, if you’re doing fondue, might as well have cheese fondue for dinner,too! That balances things, nutritionally.

We don’t normally eat like this. Yesterday’s dinner was the sort of dietary faux pas that will turn us into manatees if we keep it up. So now we are waddling around the house in a post-cheese & chocolate trance and wondering exactly what sort of conspiracy comes up with ideas like “National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.” I suspect Fairy Godmother involvement: “Get me something deep fried and smothered in chocolate.”

I have been spending the past three days rushing around, trying to simultaneously prep the Caravel for travel while completing major work on the Spring 2010 issue of Airstream Life. The magazine is now 90% in the hands of the Art Department, which means that unlike the past two weeks, if I drop out of sight for 24 hours the world will not come to an end. Lately I have felt like one of those guys spinning plates on tall poles — it all looks great as long as you’re there to keep the plates spinning, but step away for a second …

I would not be rushing to prep the Caravel except that I have an opportunity to go to Quartzsite this weekend and visit some friends who are boondocking out in one of the BLM’s desert Long Term Visitor Areas. It’s the last such chance I’ll have for at least six weeks, and I really want to do it. So I ran down the list of the most urgent things to make the trailer fully functional: plug it in for charging, fill the water tank, lubricate the stubborn locks, test all the systems, vacuum out the sawdust inside and the broken glass outside, etc. Of course that also included loading up with food, utensils, dishes, clothes, tools, and all the other accessories of fine trailer living.

In the process I discovered a few more things for the “bug list.” The fresh tank water drain leaked at the shutoff valve. Over the years somebody replaced the water drain line but kept the original 40-year-old shutoff valve. I don’t quite get the logic of that. 40-year-old valves leak, and a complete replacement costs just a few dollars. Eleanor and I rebuilt that little bit of plumbing this morning, with new water line, brass fittings, hose clamps, and a little Rescue Tape for extra insurance. (Silicone tape is a new thing to me, but it’s turning out to be extremely useful, so now it’s a permanent item in my traveling toolbox.)

While testing the water heater I discovered an old paper wasp nest attached to the exhaust vent. This was easily removed, and provided a nice bonus: a little homeschool lesson for Emma about insect homes and honeycomb construction. But I also found that the bathroom faucet seems to be clogged or defective (no water comes out), and a switch to the Fantastic Vent seems intermittent. Plus I need a new 12v reading light, clips for the Magic Chef stove grates, some replacement clips for the 1968-style windows, etc. I’ve already placed a hefty order at Vintage Trailer Supply this week and I can see another order needed in January for the vintage stoneguard and a few other pricey goodies. Having an Airstream and a “Sparestream” means double your pleasure, double your cost.

I got a new Reese drawbar for the Caravel, eliminating the need for the heavy equalizing hitch head I was using. It also raises the ball two inches, so now the Caravel rides level.

I’m afraid to test the air conditioner — it is too expensive to have to deal with if (after five years of sitting) it no longer works. Frankly, if it needs expensive repair I might be inclined to remove it altogether and put in a skylight instead. Our Caravel was a “base” model when it was ordered, having none of the factory options then available, and certainly not air conditioning. Over the years it has gained modern accessories like a TV antenna, air conditioner, patio light, and spare tire, but given the way we intend to use it, we would never miss the TV antenna or AC, and they ruin the vintage lines of the roof.

Now with some of our stuff back in it, the trailer is starting to feel like “ours” again. During its five year absence it was like an old memory. But our house was filled with children yesterday afternoon, so I took the laptop into the Caravel and made it my office, and bonded with the trailer. I like the feel of the new dinette table. The edges have soft radiuses, easy on the forearms when I type. The Marmoleum top is neither cold nor warm, and yields slightly, making it nicer to the touch than hard Formica. The trailer has good light and the foam of the new cushions is just perfect.

I love old magazine ads, and the brochure (pictured above) for the 1968 Caravel is a treasured addition to my collection. I particularly like the fact that Airstream claimed the Caravel had “luxurious accommodations for six.” Six what? Elves? Trust me, with three people inside and both beds set up, it’s plenty tight in there, with no room to stand. Sleeping six would require two people in each “double” bed, plus one in each of two optional bunks. We’d be like snakes in a woodpile. Heaven help you if someone needed to go to the bathroom. That probably explains why I’ve never seen a Caravel with the optional bunk beds.

Today I will head over to “Q” and field-test everything for two days and nights. I have yet to use the shower, or dump the holding tanks, or just be in the trailer in an actual camping situation. You don’t really know how things work in a camper until you really go camping. That’s when you discover where things need to be stored, where a hook is needed, where your hat goes, how long the battery lasts, etc. As always, I’ll blog daily while I’m traveling, with thoughts about the roadtrip, Quartzsite, and life in 17 feet.