Big Sky Country & Our New Home!

Well, I wrapped up my last blog as we were heading north out of Florida, or at least I thought we were.  We started having problems with the slides on our RV before we got very far.  At first the large slide wouldn’t close and we cannot drive down the highway with a 2 foot slide sticking out of the motorhome.  So we stopped and had someone look at it and then it just started working again on its own.  So we just headed towards Texas to one of our favorite campgrounds from last year, Canyon Lake, to meet some friends that we met on the road last year.  Had a fun couple weeks catching up and got to visit a cool gorge with real dinosaur tracks!

Gorge near Canyon Lake (upper left), dinosaur prints (upper right), Lori and I exploring a pioneer village in nearby Fredericksburg (bottom left) and just one of the many beautiful sunsets over Canyon Lake.

But, while at Canyon Lake we started having problems with a different slide.  OK, we said we get the message, maybe it is time to think about a making a change and explore the options for a new home on wheels.  This life is supposed to be minimal stress and between the engine problems last year (over 4 months in the shop) and the slide problems this year, we asked ourselves what could we get that would minimize these problems. Well, basically something without an engine or slides.

We did it, we bought an Airstream!  This was a major undertaking as we not only had to shop and purchase our new home but we also had to trade in our car and buy a diesel  truck to tow it and then find someone to buy our Motorhome.  Fortunately, the small dealer in Florida that we purchased the Newmar from originally wanted it and he flew someone to Texas to pick it up. But before that could happen, we had to pack up everything we owned and move it all in one day into our new home right there in the Airstream dealer parking lot.

All boxed up and ready to move (left), watching old home drive away (second left), and our new home

We did have some adjusting to do. Backing up into a campsite with a 33′ trailer is a lot different than backing up a motorhome.  Ray and I had our routines down pretty well with the motorhome.  I would give him hand signals and he could pretty much back right into any spot big enough to hold our 37′ RV.  Well, things are different now.  The first camp we got to I got out and started giving him the same hand signals and the darn thing goes the opposite way!  What?!  I had no idea how to help him at that point.

Somehow we did get it into the first spot but in a couple of days had to drive to our next destination, Davis Mountain State Park south of highway 10 in western Texas.  We had reserved a spot online without having any idea what the site was like.  Well…it was way more than we were ready for.  A tight loop at the end of a road with a tree in the middle.

Well, after about what seemed forever, actually about 15 minutes of us trying to go forward and back and not making any progress at all, we noticed a crowd of about 20 campers not far away standing and watching us, which made the situation even more uncomfortable. That was uil a couple of them (one of which also was towing an Airstream) ventured over and asked if they could help.  Ray got out of the truck and said sure, here you go, park it!  They laughed and told him to get back in and they would help us out.  After about a half hour of their group instructions and inching forward and backwards, we finally got it in.  They admitted our site was one of the toughest ones for a trailer our size to maneuver into in the campground!  Well that’s learning the hard way.

They were a really nice group of campers from the Houston area.  They call themselves the “Sometimers” (in reference to their part time, not full time rv life).  They even had colored bucket lights by each sight with their names.  They invited us over for dinner after we finished setting up camp and we spent the night sharing camping stories. Funny how difficult times can lead to some great memories. (Thank you, “Sometimers”, hope to meet up again along the road!)

Our new friends, the “Sometimers”, our tight campsite (bottom left), one of our new friends (second left bottom), the campground from the nearby scenic drive (second bottom right), and a nighttime tour of the nearby observatory (bottom right).

So now off we go up towards New Mexico to get to our Grand Canyon reservations by the end of April.  I can’t help but remember what my elderly boss from my very first job used to say.  When I would tell him “see you tomorrow”, he would reply “Lord willin’ and the crik don’t rise”.  I get it now!