Airstream von Soich

We went over to the Airstream to try and get it ready for a trip to Penn Wood Airstream Park, and later on this summer, to Assateague.
The idea was to measure the counter and cabinet and remove the faucet cartridge from the galley. The faucet cartridge had other ideas, though. After an hour of wrestling and wrenching the cartridge, I managed to free it. Well, at least part of it. The center section came out but the outer part stayed. Since Moen actually makes tools to remove the outer part of the cartridge, I guess I’m not the first this has happened to.
Also, we decided to remove the interlocking foam mats as flooring and replace it with self-adhesive vinyl flooring in the shape of wood planks. Putting the new flooring in will be easier if we also remove the kitchen cabinetry first.
The plan is to buy cabinetry from Lowes, either regular ones, or garage-style ones.
In other news, the battery was almost drained. 24 hours of charging fixed that.

I inspected the Airstream for the first time since the crazy winter set in.

Things appeared to be in not-too-bad of shape; The battery could use a charging, some mouse droppings (but not too many, and no signs of nests),  the tires were all in various stages of deflation, and no obvious major leaks in the ceiling.

The real test, of course, is to hook up the city water and see if I spring any leaks.

I’m excited to use the camper this summer, but at the same time a bit apprehensive about getting it ready, and the Suburban being still able to tow it is always a consideration.

Repair Checklist 2010

As we use the airstream, it becomes apparent what needs to be repaired, and how critical each thing is.

Major stuff

• Suspension. The cabinetry in the camper is getting shaken apart from the rough rides.
• Two rusted-out outriggers. This affects the stairs, and the other outrigger is behind the streetside wheel well.

Big stuff

• Water pump. This needs to get fixed in order to go boondocking. Whisper King, about $99.
• New inverter/charger. This will help with the battery charging. 9200 9245 Amp Progressive Dynamics Inteli-Power Converter $162.99
• Second battery and cables/wiring. If we can get an AGM battery, we can install this in the cabin, otherwise we'll have to get a battery box and store it on the trailer tongue.
• Fuse and breaker. Have this already (somewhere), just need some time to install it.

little stuff

• Kitchen faucet seal repair kit. This is apparently a Moen faucet, and on the forums they say that they have lifetime warranties. Either I can call Moen to see if I can get a new cartridge, or buy one from Lowes.
• LED lighting to replace or update the incandescent lights.
• Replace the wall plates, finally.

future stuff

• Solar charger kit. This will really help for boondocking, as it recharges the battery without a generator or plugging the inverter in.
• Flooring installed. 
• New cabinetry and countertop. The refrigerator side cabinetry is falling apart anyway. The galley side needs to be remade with the new countertop, and ideally the oven removed and a stovetop only installed.
• New bunk. We'll need this in another year or two. It may make sense to rebuild as a consolidated wall/bunk unit if the kitchen/bunk walls need to be removed.
• Furnace. This needs to be repaired, or replaced, according to the Airstream guys. although, I've never tried to run it, but DID see that there's a valve underneath the airstream that's currently in the OFF position, going to the furnace, so I wonder if the Airstream guys knew about that.
• New Refrigerator. The one we have now is a standard electric-only model that's just kinda poorly bolted into place. We really need a electric/propane model.

It seems that on our vacations we have a day where nothing is planned, and we don’t have motivation to do anything, or have some motivation to do nothing. Last year it was because Camden had gotten a virus, and this year it was because we didn’t have plans, it was 90° outside, and the Airstream had A/C.

We started early, with Avery getting up around 6, but with a feeding and a change, we were able to stretch out getting up until 8.

We watched some TV, ate breakfast and lunch, played Scrabble, and in the evening after dinner, we went to the communal campfire with the makings for s’mores. It was Avery’s first campfire; everyone was impressed how quiet and well-behaved she was. (She seemed to be mesmerized by the fire.) Camden and Kaley were excited to ride around on the golf cart, telling the seasonal residents that the campfire was on.

The evening ended, of course, by Camden getting hurt (on the swingset, in the dark, so go figure.)

Tomorrow is pack-up-and-go day. we hope to get out right after breakfast, but that will never happen. there’s a lot of tear-down, even with a camper. Things inside it have to be secured, the fridge emptied (it’s only electric), and the tanks dumped and flushed.

So, no pictures today. Nothing is not very photogenic.

Today was Camden’s birthday, which he started by falling out of his bunk at 6am. We had a breakfast of pancakes, which we thought came out even better here than they do at home, possibly because of the cast iron skillet, and then Cam got to open his presents.

As promised, we took him to Applebee’s for lunch, and he got his song and sundae.

On the way back, we were driving by a geocache that showed up next to a “road” that was two dirt tracks that led up into the  trees on the side of a hill. It turns out that the geocache is placed off to the side of a cemetery that had headstones (and some footstones, which we’ve never seen before) for graves dating back to 1802. In fact, there was one headstone for a man that lived to 101, and fought (at age 27) in the revolutionary war. Not WWI, not the Civil War, but the one in 1776. (sadly, all our children failed to provide that date when quizzed. Well, Avery was asleep in her carseat, so I guess she gets a pass.) Anyway, this was the most interesting aspect of the cache. In fact, several of the headstones had revolutionary war placards.

We came back, waded in the stream for a bit (where we found out our puppy can swim,) had a hamburger dinner, and had more birthday cake.

In the evenings, we all play games together as a family. Tonight it was Uno Attack, but we play other games as well.

The ironic thing is that as much fun as we have playing these games when we’re camping, we never think to play these games at home. It must be because the kids hole up in their rooms, and we have a TiVo… Hmm.

After another night on a mattress that seems much more uncomfortable this year than it did last, we woke up, had breakfast, and got a kind-of late start to go to visit Brookville, PA, and some features of Cook State Forest.

For those who don’t know, I’m told that I spent a couple of years of my life there, when I was 1-2 years old. As I was researching what there was to do around this park, I saw that Brookville was not too far from here, and it was coincidentally on the way to the forest, so we decided to try and find my old house, based on the sketchy information my sister gave me. (To her credit, she was only 9, and it was 39 years ago. Oh, whoops, did I just give out her age?)

I called her on the cell phone (since we were not in the campground’s “dead zone”) as we took the exit toward the town, to get any final clues. “Wood street,” she said, “I’m pretty sure it was Wood street.” Pause. “or maybe Oak. But no, I’m almost positive I’m remembering Wood street.”

So, I drove through the town, describing features of Main street to her, and she was telling me that it wasn’t off of Main, that I had to go up on the hill to the “left” of town.

I stopped at a convenience store after I got out of downtown (at which point I’m sure we’ve gone too far) and asked the clerk if she knew where Wood Street was. She didn’t know, and neither did the next customer in line, when she asked him. She directed me to a map of Brookville that they have posted in the back of the store.

Sure enough, there was NO Wood street, but there WAS an Oak street, and it was up on the hill to the “left of town” and it didn’t connect directly to Main, so I set the GPS to “go here”, and turned around.

Some twisty minutes later, we’re on Oak, and I’m on the phone again. “It had a garage on the left,” she said, “and it had a second story balcony.” Talking to a resident who happened to be out doing lawnwork, we verified that a neighbor my sister recalled did indeed live on this street.

A few more houses, and we saw this:

As far as I can tell, this is it.

With that matter resolved, we stopped for a quick lunch at a BBQ hut that some other campers recommended, then headed up toward Cook Forest.

An interesting thing about Cook Forest is that it’s an old growth forest, meaning that it’s never been clear cut for timber. Because of this, there are almost no ground plants under the trees. (Kudos to Kaley who was the first to answer this correctly. Yes, we quiz our kids on vacation. Doesn’t everyone?)

We took the dirt road to the fire tower and lookout point, which were both picturesque:

Tomorrow is Camden’s birthday, and he’s insisting we go back to Applebee’s, since yesterday, the waiters sang to Alec and gave him ice cream.

Finally! Tuesday morning we managed to get out the door, and head off to Penn Wood Airstream Park, leaving around 11:30 or so.

I had decided to head up route 66 (no, not THAT one), because it seemed like that would be the most straightforward way to get here, since 66 goes right past the entrance to the park. I found all the resources I needed to get a google maps route into our Magellan eXplorist 500 GPS.

We managed to get here, but there isn’t a checkbox in google maps that says “minimize hills”, so there were times that we were in first gear, going about ten miles per hour. We’re going back a different way…

We arrived at PWAP around 2 pm, and were greeted by the nicest camp hosts you’d ever want to meet. Unhitching went off without… well, you know.
I had some problems opening the gray and black water tank valves, but with some WD-40, that was fixed (somewhat).

After the unhitching, we left Alec at the camper to do some important setup tasks (hooking up the XBOX360) while the rest of us went to the Wal-Mart to get the groceries that we didn’t think would survive the trip. On leaving the store, we were greeted to a downpour that lasted until just after we had it all unloaded.

Cam and Kaley made some friends with (the only other) family with children, and spent the remainder of the day riding bikes and fishing in the pond.

The next day was pretty uneventful. We had a birthday cake for Alec, the gray water tank backed up into the tub again (briefly; I didn’t have the valve open enough…), and the kids played in the stream and playground.

Ironically, despite being two hours north on Pittsburgh, there are people here from Latrobe, more people from Latrobe that live in Greensburg now, and people from North Huntingdon.

Tomorrow, I guess.

Yesterday, I installed the refrigerator and microwave in the airstream, and did some tidying up in preparation to taking the camper this morning to get it inspected.

I seemed to remember how to hitch it up OK, and didn’t have much trouble getting the trailer out of the parking spot at my in-laws (aside from picking up some branches in the stuff that sticks out of the roof), and slightly bending the FM antenna.

The inspection went OK as well, with the major problem being that the garage ran out of lightbulbs trying to replace all the running lights, and the left turn signal not working. (Turned out that it was a loose connection in the harness that runs from the car to the trailer.)

I brought the Airstream back to our house, and parked it in a VERY narrow alley. Nobody’s complained yet that I parked it there, blocking the alley, but really, they can go around the block…)

I’m having to pause in our preparations (hence the time available to write this post) because between my wife and I, one of us has to be on baby duty, and right now she needs to go to the bank and grocery store.

Our current plan is to leave as soon as possible, drive the two hours to the campground, and hope the office is still open when we get there. The weatherpeople say that there’s a cold front moving in, and it will bring cooler temperatures, right behind lots of wind and thunderstorms. Not exactly the kind of weather I want to be driving in… Oh well.

More updates as we get a chance.