Tales from Towed Haul

April 21, 2014.  After breakfast yesterday, we had a brief set-back.  Brad detected a slow leak in one of the Airstream tires — he checks all the tires every morning because a flat would create a major problem.  “We” were changing the tire when a nice man from a nearby campsite came by to offer help.  We had a delightful conversation with Cliff, a retired pilot who served in Viet Nam.  He and his wife live in Alaska in the summer and in Wisconsin in the winter and spend a lot of time traversing the country in their RV.  He gave us some good advice for our next trip.  We ceded him our campsite, which was better than the one they were in.  We also left our water filter hooked to the spigot — enjoy it with our compliments, Cliff!  Happy trails!

We had a great day of travel yesterday — beautiful weather and only 150 miles of actual moving around.  For the first time in several days we began to notice a change in altitude — a long gradual rise on I-40 from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque.  Then we saw the foothills of the Rockies in the distance!  We turned north on I-25 towards Santa Fe where the scenery was amazing.  We actually stopped on the side of the expressway twice in 25 miles to take pictures of the vistas.  I really do want to take up painting.  I will need gallons of blue, purple, white, green and yellow to paint this memory.

We camped last night in the Cochiti Recreation Area within the boundaries of the Pueblo de Cochiti Indian Reservation (yes, they use the word “Indian”  — I am not being callous).  It is a separate nation — not part of the US.  They have their own tribal rules and if you are caught in a violation you go before a tribal council — not a county magistrate (like I am so used to being dragged before).   Fortunately, they allow dogs, but NO alcoholic beverages — even unopened in your own camper.  They did not do an inspection, so we still have a wee dram in our priest hole.

Our campsite here is stunning — according to the park ranger, it is the most coveted spot of all and is booked solid for the next four months (Site 051 on Buffalo Grove —  book early if you are coming this way!).  It looks out on a Cochiti Lake, in a high desert environment.  The dominant vegetation is  scrubland, but it has a beauty that is unique.    Low dark green bushes grow in random clumps but seem almost intentionally placed, like polka dots on dotted swiss.    When we arrived at about 2 pm, the sun was blasting but the temperature was only 80 with a strong wind.  It rained for about two seconds — the drops evaporated as soon as they hit the ground.  I made Brad play a game of Canasta with me — we disguised our G&Ts in Turvis tumblers and sat inside with visions of impending doom in the backs of our minds the whole time.  But no-one came to  smell our breath, so we are good to go.  Jenny — you won’t believe this, but the game was neck and neck until the last hand in which I got 4 red threes, 2 red canastas, and 1 black canasta!  I am red hot!

This morning we woke up at 5:30 (we’re still getting used to the time change to MST).  We watched the sun rise over the desert lake and had an early breakfast.  Taking advantage of the strong internet connection here, Brad loaded up some pictures for me to add to the blog.  Go back and check prior blogs for added pictures if you are so inclined.

We are off now to Durango to visit our good friends Barbara and Jack.  Doris is beside herself to see them again!

Our site at Cochiti Lake

Cactus at Cochiti

Cochiti Lake

We woke up at six this morning feeling refreshed and ready for a fun day not dominated by driving.  Perhaps it was the stunning Easter sunrise over the banks of the desert lake that made us both bound out of bed, bundle up in sweat suits and hit the path with our cameras.  Doris is so excited!  She is out hunting for eggs among the cacti, poor thing.  We’ll cook some for breakfast — scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits with butter and cane syrup and coffee.  On a “normal work day” we have been having oatmeal and greek yogurt for breakfast.  Today is special!  It’s Easter!

You might be saying to yourself – enough with the blue skies and Braves scores — give us some practical details about Airstreaming.  Ok — I’ll address that probing question in the ever-popular Q&A format:

Q.  What in the world does one bring to wear on a five-week trip in an Airstream without a washer/dryer?

A.   I brought 35 outfits (nonwrinkable as sister Jenny would say) consisting of 35 pairs of black pants, 35 black tops and 35 sweaters of varying colors and thicknesses, and some cute shoes.  Just kidding.  I really have six pairs of “real” pants (I never wear jeans), about five casual and very comfortable travel dresses, a million black tops, 35 pairs of under undergarments and some cute shoes (walking type).  Also a sweat shirt and pants, a down full length coat good to minus 35 F, a light short down jacket good to 75 F,  and two night gowns.

Brad brought what he happened to be wearing when we left home plus an electric toothbrush and a Walmart credit card.

All this fits nicely in the two 8 inch bedside hanging closets and the folding bins in the hall closet. Plus we plan to wash clothes when we visit our friends in Durango tomorrow.

Q.  Who does your hair?

A.  I do!  I had it cut unmercifully short right before we left and got some hair goo.  Basically I am going with the Lori Cohen look, for those of you who know her.  It’s great! As long as I stay out of all Brad’s camera shots.

Q.  What did you not bring that you wish you had?

A.  So far, nothing.  We were in a Walmat super store on Friday in the town where we got the new wifi machine.  I walked up and down the aisles impulse shopping, which is one of my favorite pass-times.  I didn’t buy anything but fresh produce, marshmellows and ground beef.   Now that’s a testament to smart packing!  We did have 227 days to ponder it, however.

Q.  What about, um, you know, toiletries?

A.  I assume you mean facilites.  Don’t be childish.  We happen to have a great arrangement — a small room (very small) contains a yacht-like you-know-what (i.e., with a foot pedal), a very small lavatory with brushed nickel Moen faucets, and four really “commodius” storage cabinets.  Brad says the mirror, which covers two of the over-head storage bins, is the best one we’ve had in 22 years of marriage.  He can see to shave, and I will say he looks better than ever so it must be true.  The shower is accross the hall (two feet away).  It has a wonderful adjustable shower head that has an on-off buttom on the hand-held part so you can take “military” showers to conserve water when you are “boondocking” (more on that in future posts — it’s not as bad as it sounds).  My favorite feature is that the Airstream has two adjustable walls that, when both closed, convert the bathroom components into one generously proportioned area that includes the shower, the toilet room, the hall closet and the hallway in between.  That keeps it warm, private and roomy, but does cut down on the traffic flow to the bedroom (i.e., you can’t get there for a while).

Q.  Don’t you have something better to do than blog?

A.  Good point.  Breakfast is served.  I’ll continue this factinating topic in a later post.  Happy Easter!

Easter sunrise at Santa Rosa Lake

Doris hunts Easter eggs

Easter moning

A hike in the desert

Trail marker in the desert

One happy dog

The evil cactus

Takes the guess work out of shopping!

April 19, 2014.  Today we covered three states on I-40 — the remaining 100 miles of Oklahoma, all 200 miles of the Texas panhandle and 100 miles of New Mexico to Santa Rosa.  I have very little to say about the driving portion of the trip, other than that the truck performed admirably, the scenery was consistent, and nothing bad happened.  Oscar,  the weather was fine until we arrived in Santa Rosa (when it began to rain) and the road conditions were quite nice — one straight smooth line through endless cattle ranches and more windmill farms. We covered 400 miles in about 6 hours, stopping several times.

When we got close to Santa Rosa, we jumped off I-40 and drove for a while on historic Route 66, which is much touted here as a tourist attraction.  There are museums devoted it.  It was not particularly interesting to me — it looked like what you would expect: a two lane road peppered with motels, gas stations, casinos, bill boards, car washes and the like.  It had the feel of Las Vegas in the 1960s (as I recall).

We are camping tonight in Santa Rosa Lake State Park which is high above the town itself — about 7 miles away.  When we arrived it was raining and looked rather bleak.  So we took a nap and waited for the weather to clear up.  After about an hour, the sun came out and we hiked along a desert trail that circled down to the lake.  It was quite pretty, in a very different sort of way.  It reminded me very much of the desert hikes I took in Tucson AZ a couple of years ago, except that today’s hike was not nearly as hot and dry (given the recent rain) and there are fewer varieties of cacti here.  We studiously avoided the type of cactus that literally throws its spines at you if you get within a few inches of it.  I saw those (and was attacked by one) in Tucson and the guide had to pull the spines out of my leather boot with pliers!  I was really afraid today that Doris would get too close to one, but she didn’t.   The water in Santa Rosa Lake was muddy due to recent torrential rains in the area — I understand that it is normally quite blue.  Brad took some good pictures that tell a better story than I can about what this ares looks like.  However, we are having trouble with internet connection, so I will have to wait until that improves to attach a few pictures to this post.  Check back later if you are interested in seeing them.

Tonight, we had cocktails while watching the Braves eek out a win over the Mets and then grilled dinner (we are in Mountain time now).   It is fun to have the Braves to keep us company every night.  That’s what’s so great about baseball.

Just an update from this morning.  I am so glad our wifi died!  Otherwise, we would have missed one beautiful drive in the Oklahoma countryside and left with the wrong impression of this lovely state.  As nice as the scenery is from the interstate (really), it can’t compare with a two-hour drive down small two lane roads through incredibly beautiful cattle ranches and windmill farms.   I was wrong about the consistently flat terrain.  Today took us over gently rolling hills with horizons so distant they seemed contrived.  The weather was perfect today — 71 degrees and sunny with an azure sky and white clouds that Constable would have had trouble improving on.  The fields were alternately bright spring green dotted with cattle and that delicious whitish gold of hay that fades into purple as it nears the horizon.  I particularly am moved by the sight of huge rolls of hay parked here and there in meticulous fields – it breaks my heart to think of all the sweat, hope, faith and risk that went into getting it to that stage and knowing that even now the bales sit vulnerable to weather, mold, spontaneous fire and market forces.  Farming is one tough occupation and it is clearly the main thing going on here.  We even saw a pasture of great horned buffalo.

On a happy note,  we noticed some of those tremendous white three-blade windmills in a field.  Brad of course knows exactly how they work and that the speed of the outer tips of the blades is 170 MPH, even though they look like they are spinning at a leisurely pace.  He said there is a turbine in the center of the blades that makes a tremendous amount of electricity.  We estimated that there were about 50 such windmills.  Then we rounded a bend and realized that they stretched as far as we could see for several miles!  We revised our estimate to several thousand.  Curious, I googled “windmill farms in Oklahoma” and was amazed to learn that a $3.5 billion, 800 mile, Plains and Eastern Clean Line transmission line, when completed in 2017, will have the capacity to deliver 7,000 megawatts of wind power.  Wind power accounted for almost 15% of the electricity generated in Oklahoma last year.  According to wikipedia, the western half of OK is in America’s wind tunnel, a corridor stretching from North Dakota to the Texas panhandle. OK has the potential of generating 1.5 million gigawatt hours of electricity per year, which is over one third of all the electricity generated in the US in 2011.  Of course, OK has always (since the early 20th century) been one of the largest oil producers  in the world.  OK will continue to produce more energy than it uses, but increasingly from wind rather than oil.

An interesting aside: Oklahoma  City is in the very center of the United States.  Pretty cool.

Pictures from this afternoon did not do justice to the real thing.  So here is Doris coming in for a drink at the end of a great day.

Doris calls it a day

April 18, 2014.  Mechanical emergency!  Last night as I was working on the blog, the new wifi machine completely died.  Without wifi we would have no access to the internet or email for the rest of the trip (except though my iPad which guzzles data like a teenager on spring break).  We may as well ditch the Airstream and fly home.  After a very helpful call  with Verizon, we were given the number of a Verizon dealer in a small town 50 miles from here and hope to get a replacement gizmo today.  In the meantime, I bought six million gallons of data for my iPad and we are surviving on that.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Smart us!  We built in an extra day in case of unexpected delays.  We will stay here for one more night, meaning that we will need to go 400 miles tomorrow for the next stop (Santa Rosa, New Mexico).  Brad says he loves driving and towing, so that is not a problem.  Our goal is to reach Durango, Colorado on Monday to spend three days with our great friends Jack and Barbara, who used to be our neighbors at the farm.

We’re going to repel down a couple of 80-foot canyons, then have breakfast and head into town.

Brad, Keno champion

OK, say what you will, but Oklahoma definitely has the feel of the Deep West (more on that below).

We moved in and out of the rest of Arkansas without incident (except that I got hungry about an hour after we “broke camp” as they say — sounds uncouth, but the metaphor is apt).  We stopped at a glorious truck stop somewhere near the border, where they had cheap diesel, plenty of the much-coveted DEF (diesel exhaust fuel, which is just ureaic acid according to Brad), healthy snacks such as reconstituted tomatoes and squash extruded into chips, and a HUGE buffet of fried food designed to stop the hearts of truck drivers.  I selected the latter.  After purchasing “smooth leather gloves” for Brad, for a reason I have yet to discern, I ordered lunch for us (he was still out draining our 401(k) funds into the diesel pump).  The entrees came with chips or fries.   I selected the latter.  We got two each, but each one was the size of my forearm!  This is sure some kind of farm country to produce potatoes like that!

Oscar requests a report on weather and road conditions.  I kid you not, OK could spend some public funds on road repairs!  The poor Airstream bounced continually for 4 hours today and I resolved to wear a sports bra tomorrow.  When we stopped at a rest stop before hitting (literally) Oklahoma City, I went to the look in on the Airstream – a Southern girl’s dream to carry along one’s own powder room — and NOTHING was as I had left it!  I had to move the sofa cushions to get in and the bed covers had bounced off, but the wine was still chilling in the refrigerator, so all was well.  No permanent damage.

Oklahoma is probably a lot like the Texas panhandle, but I am just guessing.  The trees are short and gnarly.  They are way behind us in Spring; their redbuds are in full bloom and the trees are just beginning to show green.  The dirt is red and completely flat (except for the canyons).  There are millions of cattle.  We passed through about seven Native American Nations (I lost count) and passed by several casinos; one of the main attractions, apparently.

We pulled into Red Rock Canyon Campground at about 5 pm.  Hummm.  Yes, our campsite is “by the river” as requested, but the river here is NOTHING like the Mississippi.  In fact, Doris jumped right over it, first thing.  (See picture below).  But, as advertised, there are lots of red rock canyons for repelling — some 80 feet high.  We may do that in the morning, but tonight we are busy washing red dirt off Doris and wondering what’s for dinner.  No restaurants beckoned us on the way into town.  In fact, we were afraid to look left or right.  Friends of ours who live near here (i.e., out West) warned us that the Native American police are VERY strict and that speeding tickets are a primary revenue source.  We drove 20 miles an hour for the last few miles.  The park ranger has just driven by our campsite for the sixth time in an hour.  I swear we are not speeding or doing anything more heinous than committing typos.  (Speaking of which, I do know that Jackson Hole is in WYO and not MT — I was over-relaxed when I wrote than on Day One.)

Oscar, the weather tonight is coolish (53) and it is spitting rain.  But we are cozy inside fixing dinner and watching the Braves – Phillies game.  To cheer things up I changed the table cloth to the one I got in Tupelo — bright orange and white flowers with a dark green medallion — and threw a yellow French picnic blanket over the sofa to protect it from Doris, who is dog non-grata in her current state.  Brad showed me to my surprise and delight, that we have an outdoor shower with hot and cold water, which is great for dog baths.

I bought five dice at the truck stop and plan to make up some rules for a game tonight.  I’ll tell Brad it is Keno or Majong –he’ll never know.

Doris’s river

repelling opportunity

red rock canyons

wow

redbuds at Red Rock Canyond

April 16, 2014.  After an early start today and a visit to the Elvis museum in Tupelo, we drove a long way — through Memphis and Little Rock and ending in Russellville AK another beautiful federal park — Old Post Road.  This time, our camp site is on the banks of the Arkansas River — very different from the Tombigbee, but still beautiful.  The water is very low in this river, with long sandy banks on our side and tall rock cliffs on the other.  As we crossed the Mississippi River in Memphis today, we noticed a distinct change in the topography and general feel.  Everything on the East of the Mississippi looked pretty much like Georgia, with rolling hills and trees putting out glorious first leaves, with that indescribable color mix of yellow-green and mustard punctuated with white dogwood and purple redbud.  Over on this side, the land we saw in Arkansas is endlessly flat with vast fields of bright yellow rape, bright green grass and hedgerows separating cultivated fields.  We were struck by the number of trucks hauling the nation’s goods across the endless straight highways of this heartland.

We were glad to unfurl this afternoon at our lovely Site B32 on Old Post Road.  We put out the awning and folding chairs and had Scotch and G&Ts with crackers and cheese, overlooking the river in the warm slanting sun and tuned in the Braves game.  We had penne pasta with fresh pesto (from my retirement party) for dinner.  What a great experience.

The Arkansas from our door

Old Post Road Campground

crossing the Mississippi

cocktails on the lawn

April 15, 2014.  We got a late start today — luxuriating over breakfast and pondering last night’s sobering event.  After a relatively short and very pleasant drive through the rest of Alabama and into Mississippi, we arrived midafternoon at the prettiest camp site I have ever seen — Site 011 at Whitten Park Campground, just 18 miles east of Tupelo MS.  We have discovered in our three trial camping runs that we strongly favor state and federal parks over commercial campgrounds.  Perhaps it is just our age — little need for organized activities, play grounds, spas, cement ponds and the like.  Give us a healthy copse of trees and a lake or river and we are cool.

Here, it paid to reserve a space early.  We managed to score the BEST spot in the whole beautiful park.  The dining room of our trailer loomed out over the Tombigbee River, with a Southern exposure, which provided perfect afternoon filtered light, a breathtaking sunset and a sunrise with the moon setting over the river as the sky bloomed into a blue and gold miracle.  This is why we camp.

But that is not all!  Late in the afternoon, we drove into Tupelo to check out the Elvis hoopla.   Tupelo is a great little town.  Doris was welcomed into a charming antiques store (His Hers Antiques), where I bought more vintage linens for the Airstream (one of my weaknesses).  We had dinner at a bar/restaurant (Fairpark Grill) that was just perfect for the occasion.  We shared crab cakes and fish tacos — both very good.  In the morning, we went back to visit Elvis’  birthplace and the museum.  I learned a lot about E and his inspirations that I never knew.  His father borrowed $180 to build a two-room shotgun house with no electricity or running water.  A few years later they lost the house because he was unable to repay the loan.  The one-room church Elvis attended as a child has been relocated to the museum property and there is a great reenactment of a typical service with lots of gospel singing.  Well worth visiting, but Doris gave it a thumbs down as she had to wait in the truck.  Bought a couple of CDs and DVDs.  Headed to Memphis!

View from bedroom window

Our spot on the Tombigbee

a walk in the woods

April 14, 2014.  The purpose of this particular trip is to celebrate my recent retirement from 34 years of law practice at Alston & Bird, Brad’s retirement from 22 years of active management of the horse board/training operations at our farm in Atlanta (Applewood Farm), and Doris’ 91st dog-birthday.  We are meeting friends from Jackson Hole WYO and Atlanta (plus one “child”) in Zion and Bryce Canyon for a week of Airstream Adventure!  Our WYO friends (Richard and Polly) have their own Airstream and started this particular madness with tales of their travelling toaster.  Our Atlanta friends (Vickie & Rufus, Bill & Mara) are far more sane and have opted to fly to Vegas and rent a 28 foot, fully-provisioned, top-of-the-line, brand new International Airstream from Airstreams 2-Go.  The “child” companion is a gorgeous 20-something with a tent, about whom more will be revealed in later posts.

Brad has lots of rules about the Airstream (which we have named Towed Haul, with thinly veiled reference to the racine mansion in The Wind in the Willows).  Most of his rules relate to electronics and physics.  My only rule is that nothing (except me) is allowed in the machine unless is it light-weight, useful AND cute.  Failure to meet all three is a non-starter.

We were planning to leave on tax day –  make our first offer to the IRS and then get out of Dodge.  But our skillful accountant finished the return early and we decided to leave this afternoon to avoid rush hour traffic.

In my excitement to run one final errand before departure, I was driving Brad’s car down the long winding gravel driveway hoping to get away before Doris saw me leaving.  About half-way down the drive I spotted her racing after me.  I slowed way down, opened the car door and leaned out to yell “Stay!” and I completely fell out of the car!  I sat in the dirt and watched helplessly as the car continued down the road, jumped into the woods and ran smack into a small tree.  Doris caught up to me and licked me all over.  Brad was less enthusiastic, but still pretty forgiving — under the circumstances.

We pulled the Airstream out of the drive at noon in the rain, headed for a small hop to Anniston AL, which is about half way to our originally planned first stop in Tupelo MS.  Two or so hours later we arrived at a KOA campground right off the interstate highway.  This was what I assume to be a typical urban campground, which is completely serviceable but not what I would consider seriously for a “destination wedding.”  It is within walking distance of a mega camping store, so we went shopping for things we may not have thought of needing in the last 227 days.  We got some extra sewer hose (they might not have that in Utah if we get in a pinch) and an extra bamboo cutting board (same rationale).  We spent a surprisingly pleasant night in Towed Haul, but were awakened early (4ish) by an ambulance visiting the camper that is about 6 feet to our left.  We were concerned about how slowly and somberly it loaded a prone person into the back and drove quietly away.  Hummm.

Doris

We have been loosely planning this Airstream adventure since August 30, 2013 when we met up with Richard Spencer on a vacation in France and he told us about his and Polly’s “travelling toaster.”  Sitting in the drawing-room of a Normandy château the size of Montana, this notion of living small and eating tuna noodle casserole intrigued us.  Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Why rent when you can buy!  After extensive research on Airstream Classifieds.com and pouring over all the available floor plans and models on the Airstream website, we plunked down cash money for a mint condition 2007 Safari 75th Anniversary Special Edition 28 foot front bedroom model, for those of you who are into Airstreams and know what all that means.   I loved it for the floor plan and design features (separate shower, big pantry and all-purpose closet, queen size bed, panoramic windows, deep round kitchen sink and sage green & white Tattersall upholstery on the seat cushions). Brad loved it for all its “systems”, the rivited aluminum skin inside and out, and the fact that we bought it from a fellow engineer who took meticulous care of it and kept records of every conceivable detail.  During the 227 days leading up to our first serious voyage to the American West, Brad replaced all the systems (whether they needed it or not — because he loves tinkering with “his own personal space shuttle”)  and made all kinds of adjustments to make the interior more convenient and aesthetic.  Some of his clever doings:

1.  Installed satellite TV, including a 32 inch screen in the living room that swivels into a vertical position for traveling — secured by two jaunty bright red bungee cords — and ran the wires through the wall and under the refrigerator, so there are no visible cables hanging down.

2.  Added shelves in the hall closet which perfectly fit ten colorful cloth folding storage bins I got from Target.  These make great versatile packing containers for anything from lace underwear to single malt scotch.

3.  The left side of the hall closet now contains the control panels for the satellite TV and all other electronic systems.  He also included a narrow shelf in the hall closet with ten million electrical hookups for charging and storing all our electronic gizmos out of sight.

4.  Added moveable wooden dividers in the over counter storage binds (velcro attachments) which keep plates and dishes vertical and secure for travel.

5.  Added a headboard over the bedroom window so we can sit in bed and read without leaning on the screen.

6.  Bought a brand spanking new Ram Laramie 2500 truck with a Cummins diesel engine and a serious trailer hitch.  This thing would pull me out of the water on a slalom.  After a full lunch.

My contribution:

1.  I decorated the hell out of the trailer — mostly with bright-colored cushions, funky light fixtures and several changeable vintage table cloths and bed coverings — to stave off boredom on the road keep things interesting and light-hearted.  I also bought groceries.

Now we are ready to go!

dining room
still at the farm