2025 Roundup – Airstreaming

On December 7, 2025December 7, 2025 By stefrobrtsIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This year we did not get the trailer out as much as we wanted to. It’s nice having it safe at home between trips, at least. It hasn’t really needed any work lately, so it just waits patiently for it’s next adventure.

First trip of the year didn’t happen until June! With an Oregon Unit Rally at Riffe Lake, hosted by our friends Janet and Gail, who we have camped with many times. They both have vintage Airstreams as well.

Riffe Lake Group Camp was really nice. It was a big area. They stuck all the vintage on one end, and since I arrived last, I got the furthest out spot. Ok, a little further out than usual!

Are they trying to tell me my black tank smells? Lol, just kidding, I didn’t mind at all. It was nice and quiet over there.

The rest of the party. This was a really nice group camp with a big covered area with tables and even sinks with running water, which was great for mealtime cleanup.

One thing that was new was I got a CPAP this year, and I had to figure out how that was going to work in my trailer.

Luckily there was a convenient plug under the bed that I could run the cord down to, and I had power at every campground I went to this year. If I start boondocking again though, which is how we have mostly used the trailer in the past, I may have to figure out how to power it all night. After my first night I realized the hose was long enough to set the machine on the dinette seat, which let me hide everything behind pillows during the day.

I didn’t take a lot of pics at this rally, but it was a really fun one, and I hear they are doing it again next year.

Our Second Rally was the annual VAC Rally in July at Barton Park in Boring, Oregon. The organizers always do a great job of finding neat spots for us to gather our old trailers, and this was no exception.

The only problem was it was hot, and I don’t have AC, but opening the windows and putting on the awnings actually goes a long way to making it more bearable. I also brought an electric fan, and one of those neck fans. Because it was so hot, we couldn’t bring Navi, so Dave just dropped me and the trailer off at camp, helped with initial setup, and headed home to stay with Navi (camp was only 45 minutes from home). I got pretty hot setting up the trailer, and our friends Val and Mark were camping right across the road from us, so I walked over to say hi, and they saw how hot I was and were immediately were telling me to sit down and gave me some cool water. I didn’t feel bad, but I guess I was pretty red. That’s why it’s nice to have folks looking out for you!

My spot was near the restrooms, which wasn’t bad, except for the spotlights at night:

That sure made it easy to find my way home!

I had lots of friends to visit with at this rally. It was really fun, and in between visiting, I chilled out at my trailer and read a book and relaxed. It’s just so nice to have downtime with nothing to do sometimes, and since Dave had the car, I wasn’t going to rush off exploring too far.

And in the evening of course there was music!

And flags fluttering overhead in the breeze – I definitely want to add some flags for rallys!

Third trip of the year was to Ashland, Oregon to see plays at the Shakespeare Festival. We were back at Emmigrant Lake County Park, where we have stayed many many times before. It’s a very nice park, with a view, and clean, modern facilities.

Tim and Michele went with us and stayed in a hotel in town, but we got together for almost all the plays, and had dinners together, and went cruising around town, checked out a cool art museum on the SOU campus, and hit an estate sale we happened to drive by. What we failed to do was remember to take a single picture of ourselves all together!

We saw a bunch of really good plays. Last year there were a couple plays we did not enjoy so much, and one we left at intermission, so this year was absolutely delightful in comparison.

We had some iffy weather coming and going with strong winds, but the Palisade towed like a champ. I have had some doubts that I picked the right tow vehicle, but on this trip it was solid as a rock and had lots of power, even pulling up big hills. So I am feeling pretty good about that now. They seem to make a nice pair.

2025 Roundup – Art and Music!

On December 6, 2025 By stefrobrtsIn art, guitar, musicLeave a comment

I had a really fun year exploring art. I loved art as a kid, but it is not something I could really pursue with my chaotic upbringing. So it has been really nice to have room to get back to it. With my art/music room setup, I finally have space to spread out and do things, and then shut the door to keep the pets out of there.

At the end of last year I started a daily art journal, and I have kept it up pretty much all year with only a missed day here and there. Sometimes I make little pictures in it, sometimes I make full page spreads. I haven’t had the guts to try a full two-page spread yet, but maybe I will before it’s filled up.

I’ve really enjoyed using the journal to try new techniques and new mediums – watercolor, acrylic inks, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, gel pens. I’ve really felt good about the regular practice, and it’s a nice time to settle down before bed and draw something.

I did a few pieces outside of the journal as well, mostly following tutorials on YouTube. I really enjoy learning new things.

So the painting was going pretty well, I’m really happy with my progress. I also started doing some polymer clay figures. I started out with YouTube tutorials and moved on from there.

As I got to feeling more confident, things started escalating

And this latest guy is a bobblehead with a spring for a neck. He just sits on my desk, bobbing his head along while I type! I wanted his feet to bobble too, but the springs are a little stiff.

Lastly, since the Art Room is also a Music Room, there has been some nice progress in that area as well. Where I previously had to dig everything out and setup to practice, now I have a space that is ready to use all the time – I can walk in anytime, grab an instrument, and play. I’ve been doing online guitar lessons and really improved my rhythm guitar skills.

Earlier this year I went with my friend Michele to the used guitar shop downtown to look at guitars, and instead we found this beautiful Breedlove Concert Uke made of Oregon Myrtlewood. Michele tried it first and it sounded great, but she wasn’t looking for a new uke. I found myself saying ‘if you don’t buy it I will’, and I did! It has been a lovely addition to my collection. I love just grabbing it during the workday and knocking out a little tune. I even took it camping and played it during quiet time at camp. It’s perfect, and it sounds oh so sweet.

And finally, at the end of the year I went back to the used guitar shop to check out some electrics I was curious about. I bought a Telecaster at the end of last year, and it’s fine. I think maybe I don’t know enough yet to really appreciate it, since I’m still learning. Well, I tried out a bunch of guitars, but the first one I tried kept calling back to me, and I ended up bringing it home. It’s a beautiful Korean-made Les Paul from the early 2000’s, in a lovely blue. It just fit me, it felt right in my hands. I also bought a 12″ old amp from the 70s that had a lovely rich sound, so much better than my modern 10″ Fender practice amp which seemed tinny in comparison. The new amp makes both the Tele and the Les Paul sound amazing.

I joke about finding the guitar that has the music in it, but in reality I think I’m just going to have to keep practicing to get the music out. That’s just life. Anything good you want to do – painting or clay or music – you have to put in the work to get there. I have had a fantastic year getting there!

Airstream Trips for 2024

On December 30, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn airstream, TheRanchoLeave a comment

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.

Kitchen Upgrade

On December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn TheRancho, WoodworkingLeave a comment

When we bought our house ten or so years ago, everything in it worked, and there was really no reason to go messing around with stuff that was perfectly functional. Over the years we have replaced the stove, and the fridge, and the dishwasher. The one thing that remained was the cheap, ugly, brown countertop.

Two other complaints: The kitchen is very small, there is not much counterspace to work with. And it is covered in appliances. Also, I hate the stainless steel sink. It always looks dirty with water spots from our hard water.

I had a plan. I had been gathering parts out in the garage. Tile for a backsplash. A single basin white iron sink. And a bright blue laminate I thought would brighten the place up. This summer was finally time to do it.

The first part of the project was adding a new set of cupboards on the wall across from the sink. We moved the china hutch that was there, and measured out how much room we had to work with. I planned to build the cabinets, but once I added up the price of doing that, we decided to go with two pre-built cabinets from a big box store. They won’t match the vintage cabinets in style, but you can’t beat the price, and having them ready to work on TODAY.

I taught Dave how to stain as let him at it.

We laid out the laminate and trimmed off a piece for the cabinet countertop.

I cut plywood for the countertops, attached framing under them to support the edges and where they touched the bases, or where the sink went, and laid down the laminate. I did a tiny bit of laminate for the table in the Airstream, but this was much bigger project, and it included edge trimming. Boy did I learn a lot!

The countertop for the kitchen cabinets is going to go all the way to the sliding glass door, giving us extra space. The smaller single basin sink will give us back some counterspace too.

Our friend Scott came over and helped us move the electric socket from behind where the new cabinets were going, and raise it up above the level of the cabinets, so it would be accessible. Then we moved the new cabinet in and fastened it down.

For our tiny kitchen, this is a HUGE amount of extra counter space, and much needed storage.

Tearing up the kitchen needed to go fast. This project couldn’t be one of those that drags out for weeks.

That is not mold on the back wall, it is old glue from the backsplash.

Scott & Sherry were on hand to help us move the new countertops in, then back out for a little modification after the first fitting, then back in place…

Scott helped with the plumbing on the new sink, and before the day was out, we had a functioning kitchen again.

The next weekend, we started on the tile backsplash. I had bought a bunch of seafoam green vintage tile. with some white to intersperse with them. But when we started lining them up, it turned out the white tile I bought was a tiny bit bigger than the standard 4.25″ tiles. I also had thought I could do 4 tiles high, but not without cutting tiles. I laid them out in an anti-pattern mixed with about a dozen sample tiles I had picked up that were mixed colors just for a little pop of something extra.

We headed off to the big box store and got some nice gloss white tires that were the correct size, and some half height white tiles with a bullnose edge for a top trim. And of course we grabbed all the pre-mixed mortar and grout and spacers and all that. We’ve never tiled before, but having watched some YouTube videos, we were ready to dive in.

After a weekend of work:

And I am indeed happy with my new kitchen! It is lighter and brighter, there is more room to work. The little appliances all live in the new cupboard now. Oh, and the final touch, a custom backsplash behind the oven: an aluminum print of the view from our vacation condo in Hawaii. Now I can dream of the islands while I cook dinner.

My next project will be to refinish the old cabinet doors, because they have 50 years of wear and tear, but that will wait until this summer when the garage is warm again.

Models – Offroad Miata

On December 30, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn ModelsLeave a comment

Ok, back to the Offroad Miata I mentioned back on the Camaro post.

So I’ve built the suspension of the Jeep Wrangler, and the interior/body of the Miata, and they actually look like they are going to fit together ok. No engine, but I cut out a headlight cover for a little ‘winky’ action. Now, what to do about my lady driver?

Well, I was watching a diorama builder on Youtube, and they mentioned making custom characters on HeroForge. So I headed over there, and after a bit of tinkering:

Fantastic! I paid for the 3D file, and sent it to a friend with a printer, and I got back:

(Squeals with delight) LOOK AT HER!!!

I used a heat gun to soften her up enough to bend her legs and make her fit into the car better, and adjusted her arms a little bit. I had made a mistake when I created her, not having looked at the model for a while: I put her arms in a left hand drive position, forgetting the Miata model was Japanese and so it is Right Hand Drive. Well, good enough.

I gave everything a good coat of dirt overspray

I was most proud of the dirty windsheild. The pop-up headlight became an air intake. I added one of the Jeep rollbars for safety!

It’s everything I dreamed of!

Finding my driver was the biggest challenge, the car came together mostly no problem. And it’s just as cute/cool as I’d hoped!

Models – Warbird

On December 30, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn ModelsLeave a comment

After successfully completing the Camaro project, Dave wanted to build something too, so he picked up this WWII Bomber, with the intention of slapping it together the way he used to build models as a kid. However, there were a number of small fiddly bits, and he kind of lost interest. Since it was sitting right there next to my desk, I decided to slap it together.

That was just a fun quick build, not going for accuracy or anything, I know the colors/decals are not accurate. Wheels up, bomb bay doors open, we hung it up over the pinball machine in flight. Now I want to build a little Mustang escort for it.

Model car building – Scott’s Camaro

On December 30, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn cars, Models2 Comments

This year I took back up an old hobby. Back when I was a little kid I built a few models, probably because my big brother built models. When I was in college I wanted to learn more about cars so I started building models again, and I have a nice little collection of cars that I built:

But I stopped back around when I got my classic Mustang in 1:1 scale in the mid-90s. I switched to working on full size cars.

Now that I have a hobby room again, and a bit of room to work, I thought it would be fun to get back to building some of the cars I will never own. I started with a thing I have been seeing around in real life lately, offroad Miata! I bought a Jeep Wrangler kit, and a Miata kit and went at it.

My biggest setback was that I wanted a driver, specifically a lady driver, but most model accessories are made for men, so the women available look like they slipped out of a porno. I wanted a driver who looked like a real person. So that model kit got set aside for a bit while I figured out what to do about that.

Meanwhile, my friend Scott had found a kit of his Camaro, and I wanted to build that for him. The sticking point in that kit was that it was only available in a T-Top. So I was like ‘how hard can it be to glue in the T-Tops and blend them into the body?’

Just when I thought it was solid, after weeks of applying filler, sanding, drying, priming, sanding, the T-Top came loose from the body! More superglue, and keep at it!

I was finally happy with the roofline!

I found someone on Ebay selling gauge decals specifically for this Camaro

They’re so tiny!!!

I love how when you build a kit you have a box of parts, and it slowly gets assembled into sub-assemblies, and then those go together, until you are down to just a few parts, and it’s a countdown to it all becoming ONE!

But first there are all these little details. And DECALS!

At some point it starts getting a little nerve wracking as everything you want to do has the possibility of messing something else up, and you’ve come so far!

Plug wires. Gotta have plug wires.

Finally, it was all together. I was really happy with it!

So that was a blast, and Scott loved it!

Airstream Upgrades

On December 29, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn airstream1 Comment

The interior refit last year was such a success, this year I decided to show the trailer a little love on the exterior. I had bought new marker lights from Vintage trailer Supply, and new name placards for both ends, and it was well past time to fix the cracked refrigerator vent, so let’s do it!

The original side marker lights were looking pretty sad.

Just look at that color difference!

Plus the new lights are LED

There was a bit of a mess left behind on each one, which I had to chip off. I used aluminum parbond and vulkem to seal each light I installed.

Very pretty!

I moved on to the worn old name plates. They had been repainted by the PO before we bought it, but his handiwork has worn off over the last 20 years. I had Dave help me drill out the rivets.

The holes on the new plates did not line up perfectly with the original ones, but were close. I sealed the rivets and unused holes with vulkem and used olympic style rivets.

A friend came over with their rivet shaver and shaved down the new rivets so they look original.

The old refrigerator vent was a very thin plastic. It was cracked and torn.

Looking down the refrigerator vent, I’m glad the wasps have never gotten a serious nest going there!

The new vent cover got a coat of metallic silver to match the rest of the trailer.

And again sealed it with Vulkem and olympic style rivets, and our friend shaved those down at the same time as he did the name plates. There we go, ready for another 20+ years.

I also got a new spare tire cover, and replaced the old spare. I scraped off the old ‘Wally’ sticker above the numbers and added a new old one. It just wouldn’t be right not to have a ‘Wally’ on the trailer somewhere.

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

On December 29, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn birds, photography, wildlifeLeave a comment

I spent a bit of time at Ridgefield this year enjoying capturing photos of the birds. I have not been doing much photography, and I thought birding might be something I would enjoy. I do enjoy it, I enjoy watching birds and photographing them, but the need for ever longer lenses is a real handicap in pursuing it as a hobby. What I can get with my 200mm lens has been nice. In the winter the Refuge is very much a target-rich environment, particularly if you like Blue Herons:

Swans are seasonal visitors.

The deer here are some endangered Columbia River variety

Also: little brown jobs

Egrets, I think?

Coyotes

And, if you are lucky enough to see them, raptors:

And the most rare and exciting sight, owls!

He brought his own lunch!

Birthday trip to Skamania Lodge

On December 18, 2024 By stefrobrtsIn vacationLeave a comment

Dave always comes up with something fun to do on my birthday, even though it’s in early spring and that can mean unpredictable weather. He knocked it out of the park again this year with a trip to Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA.

The view from our room was beautiful. One of my goals for this past year was to get better at drawing and painting so I could paint our trips.

The next day we went out for breakfast right across the Bridge of the Gods. The restaurant is right at the Oregon side of the bridge and has an incredible view.

Oregon Trail on the right, going up the hill, near Bingham, OR.

On the way home we stopped at Bonneville Dam. When we were kids we all went there on school trips, and the viewing for the fish ladder was always popular. I think the carpets haven’t changed since the 70s!

We only saw this one fish going by, then getting swept back, then going by again…over and over

We had a good time. It shows you don’t have to go far from home to have a nice time and discover new places.

Steff Does Stuff!

Author: stefrobrts