I’ll start by saying we did not get the trailer out nearly as much as we wanted to this year. Things like the kitchen remodel ate up a few precious weekends. It just seemed like a lot of this and that kept us from venturing out much. But we got it out three times.

First of all though, we got a

New Tow Vehicle

Replacing the old Flex was a tough decision, but it had cost us a lot of money in suspension problems, and it was making new noises that just told us its time was up. Choosing a new vehicle is so hard! We narrowed it down to one of the big three row SUVs. The Airstream weighs about 2800 fully loaded, so 5000# towing capacity should be plenty. We ended up zeroing in on the Toyota Highlander, the Nissan Pathfinder, and the Kia/Hyundai Telluride/Palisade. Telluride won out for driving comfort and ride, but the cost of a new one with a tow package was $$$$$ so I went looking for used, and found a lightly used, couple years old model of it’s deluxe cousin, the Palisade, and snapped that up for a much more reasonable price.

There is a weird thing among 3 row SUVs with 5000lb towing capacities – they come with inadequate hitches and wiring installed. Like, they promise they can tow an RV, but come equipped to mount a bike rack. Mine came with the correct hitch, but only 4 pin wiring. So I got the 7 pin wiring kit online and installed it myself, and installed a Prodigy Brake Controller. Happily, both were pre-wired, so plug and play, and we were ready to play!

The hitch setup is the same as previous: Towing on the ball with friction sway control. No weight distribution is necessary. The rear suspension is self-levelling and pumps itself up after a few blocks on the road.

Rainbow Falls State Park, WA

For my first trip out, I went solo to join a group of lady campers at Rainbow Falls State Park, kind of in the middle/west of the state.

If you like woods, this was a really pretty park!

Like many of our state parks, it was built by the CCC in 1935. We had fun hanging around the campfire telling travel stories, geocaching, and just relaxing.

Successful first trip!

VAC Rally at Champoeg

Our second trip out was to the annual Vintage Airstream Club rally, which is always awesome, but this one was a tiny bit less awesome due to the nearly 100 degree days and our lack of air conditioning. Still, it was great to catch up with everyone, and meet some new folks.

Awnings out, windows open is usually the key to staying cool, but it was just too hot. Instead of melting at the trailer we went out and explored the area, and had a great lunch at a little historic town not far from the park. It might have actually been IN the park. Then we noticed the Drive In in Newburg and decided to go see a movie. We saw Dispicable Me 4 and ET, and didn’t get back to the trailer until 2am! That was pretty fun!

The next day it was HOT again and we bailed out early.

Ashland, OR

We met up with some other Airstream friends in Ashland to go see some plays at the Shakespeare Festival and just enjoy wandering around town.

We stayed at Emmigrant lake again. Our favorite park, though the Lake is not really anywhere near the park anymore due to drought that has been going on for years in the area.

There’s a little bit of lake out there.

Deer were wandering right through the campground.

The weather was nice during the day, and hanging out in the shade by the trailer was very relaxing.

We saw Much Ado About Nothing, one of our favorites, in the Elizabethan Theater. It was amazing, as always. We also saw a musical called Lizard Boy that absolutely blew me away. I would see that again anytime if I get a chance.

We went for a walk on the dry lakebed to look for a town that was flooded when they made the reservoir back in the 60s. We didn’t find anything but the old paved highway and stumps of telephone poles. It was a cool walk though.

Home Improvements

Scott and Sherry came over and helped us make a small modification to the trailer’s home.

When we installed the trailer’s cover, I told the guys to install it parallel to the fence. Not until we used it a while did I realize that because the yard is pie-shaped, that angle required swinging the butt of the trailer towards the fence, so the back end of the car ended up way to close to the Heat Pump. Dave couldn’t even get out of the car without climbing over the console and exiting on the passenger side most of the time. So I finally convinced everyone to help me scoot the cover over to be parallel with the house. And it works! Now we can just back the trailer straight in, and Dave can get out of the car like a normal person. We only put up with it for ten years that way!

So that’s the year in Airstream news! As always, I hope we get to use it more next year.