Our Travels

Julian, California

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 20:58:05 -0800

Julian is a small western type town on the road between Anza Borrego and San Diego. You can’t avoid it if you’re trying to find Interstate 5 to go home to Ventura and its the only direct route. But it is twisty and turny which means in a big Airstream trailer you take your time getting there.

Julian was sort of a mining town back in the 1800’s but they didn’t find too much of whatever it was they were looking for. So what did they find? Apples. Bake them, press them, carmelize them and they will come. And they do. Lots of them. Julian is apparently the apple mecca for SoCal.

We are hooked. We don’t make special trips to Julian but we do drop some money there on our annual pass through there from Anza Borrego. Pies (two please), cider and apple butter. We also manage to eat breakfast or lunch there and its dog friendly which is nice for Oreo Jr. He’s people friendly and enjoys meeting all the folks as he walks along with us.

Navigating in this small town with a large Airstream is tricky. There’s only one main road and few side streets. The free parking fills up quickly so we’ve figured out that we need to get there before 9:00 am if we are going to stop and shop. This trip we got there very early and found a nice spot on Washington Street, over by the old jailhouse.

Anza Borrego 2009

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Well, it is sort of becoming a tradition. Spending New Year’s Eve with a bunch of Airstream types from around SoCal and Arizona in the beautiful Anza Borrego State Park. It’s located east of Julian, west of the Salton Sea, south of I-10 and north of the Mexican border. This is our second year we have attended and talked it up to some friends of ours who had never been. They came on out too so we had a nice Airstream compound going on.

We don’t go to Anza Borrego in the summer; not sure who ever has or who would. It is, however, a spectacular place to visit in December because the nights are cool and the days are warm. It is also a great place to look at stars and hear coyotes at night.

Borrego is the Spanish word for sheep. Anza is the surname of the explorer who discovered this region many years ago so they sort of put the names together. The Spanish explorer is gone but the sheep aren’t; they live in the rugged canyons and mountains that border the region. I have tried to catch a glimpse of them but have never been able to. This year I brought my telescope with me and set it up during the day, trying to see if I could see any. I could not. The literature says they blend in with the rugged mountain landscape very well and if you were able to see them, you would most likely see their white rumps running away, the only part that isn’t camo.

We did get some good hiking in. Palm Canyon is a wonderful 3 mile or so round trip hike that goes up a rugged canyon that leads to an oasis; literally. Palms trees surround the oasis, its cool and refreshing and worth it. We also explored The Wind Caves (again). William and his buddies attended the Junior Ranger program and got to learn about conservation, creatures that live in the desert and received a Junior Ranger badge for their participation.

This desert retreat is just what we needed to wind down 2009 and get ready for an exciting 2010.

Here’s a picture of the moon disappearing behind the mountain on the morning of January 1, 2010. Make sure you go to My Albums page to see more pictures.

Tucson in December

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

After spending Christmas at home, we hooked up the Airstream and drove from Ventura to Tucson, Arizona. We have done that trip many times before so if you want to do it in one day, its manageable. The most direct way to get there from Ventura is to get on I-10 east and stay on it all day (OK, for you SoCal types, you take the 118e to the 210e to the 15s to the 10e). We tow the trailer in California about 60 (legal limit is 55) and in AZ we notch it up to just below 65. We never go faster than that because of fuel economy (the sweet spot is 62 mph which yields 14 mpg) and to avoid anything catastrophic which could happen towing a 5 ton trailer in a 4 ton truck at high speed.

I-10 is heavily traveled, well maintained and there’s plenty of places to stop along the way for dog walking, eating, fuel stops, etc. It’s a familiar and easy road.

We went because my father turned 80 and all the siblings and in laws were coming to my sister’s house in Tucson to celebrate. Dad and mom have been together since their freshman year in college and got married early (20 and 19 respectively). They will celebrate 60 years together in September 2010 (looks like another Airstream trip coming up)!

I’ve been concerned a lot lately about tire problems on tow vehicles. Our friend Rich Luhr has had a myriad of tire issues; we had our own problems with our first Airstream that resulted in a $900.00 repair bill on the road plus another $1000 to fix the wrinkled aluminum on the Airstream caused by the damage. So, I decided to invest in a wireless tire monitoring system by Doran.

I had been checking for a couple of years on tire pressure monitors and Doran seems to be the best although not the cheapest. The product is pretty easy to order and the customer service is outstanding. We ordered the RV360, specific to trailer towing and the product arrived in a nice storage box with a windshield mount monitor and 4 valve stems. Installation was a snap with a step by step tutorial.

The secret is in the valve stems; they have a radio frequency transmitter which beams information up to the monitor in the truck giving the driver real time information as to the tire pressure. If a tire loses 12.5% pressure, an alarm goes off (presumably a slow leak). If a tire loses 25% pressure, a bigger alarm goes off (presumably a tire failure).

On our trip it worked fine although is would register “LOST SIGNAL” from time to time with its annoying alarm sound. I found out that can be solved by moving the antenna further back so it gets better coverage. A coax cable came with the kit if we decide to do this in the future. It would require fishing the coax back from inside the cab of the truck, along the truck beams with zip ties and mounting the antenna somewhere underneath the truck in back. If I indeed decide to do this I will probably let a professional do it. We like to use Muntz in Ventura. They’ve installed several things for me over the years and fixed our buggy Airstream AV Upgrade package we paid $2,500 for which never worked correctly from the beginning.

Anyway, back to the trip. We made it to Tucson in 14 hours which is about right pulling a trailer. We parked the Airstream in my sister’s front driveway and the next day, my dad showed up in his SOB (Some Other Brand) Roadtrek and parked right next to us.

We had a wonderful time with dad and family. We all saw each other this past summer in Arkansas when my niece got married (didn’t blog about it ‘cause we took Southwest Airlines). We’ll get together in May 2010 when one of my nephews gets married to his fiancee, Courtney. That will be in Idaho and I am considering talking the Airstream up there for that.

Tucson in December is a fantastic time to visit. I lived in Tucson as a kid from 1973-1981 when my dad transfered there for work so I am dialed in to the best times of the year to go. The days are cool and clear but the evenings do get chilly. It actually snows in Tucson from time to time. Not sure what the cycle is but in the 8 years I lived there it snowed 3 times. Who knew?

From the birthday party, we will travel to Anza Borrego State Park to meet our friends from Santa Clarita, the Luhrs from Tucson + some other Airstream folks for a New Year’s camping event. This is the second year in a row and worked out great for us coming from the east. You can read about it on the blog.

Christmas and Airstreams

Sat, 5 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

We belong to our local Airstream Club. It’s a group of great people with diverse backgrounds that all come together once a month or so to go camping in Airstreams. The schedule is pretty predictable; a few meals together, a few on our own, a group activity, etc. Most of the time is spent sitting around the common area and catching up and talking about, you guessed it, Airstreams.

This December we had an Airstream camp at the Ventura Ranch KOA (previously blogged about October 23rd). There were a dozen or so of us at the Birch campground. This is also the month where we have a nice luncheon together to thank the outgoing officers for their service and induct the new ones.

I’m going to blog a little about some of the members. Although there are many in the group I’m going to only blog about the ones who were camping in their Airstreams this weekend.

Carol is brand new to our group. She’s from Tehachapi and this was her very first trip. She has a 16’ Bambi and tows it with a Toyota 4Runner. We enjoyed helping her get things setup and giving her tips (haven’t we all been there)?

Von and Yvonne have an older Excella that they pull with their 3/4 ton Denali. They’re Airstream veterans and have had several rigs over the many years in the club.

Bernie and Doris live in Ventura and have an Airstream motorhome diesel. A real beauty. It even has a washer and dryer inside! They tow their Jeep behind it.
He is one of our past presidents.

Mark and Glenda are from Santa Maria. They get a perfect attendance record because they come to all of rallies without fail (that’s funny; they’re both teachers).
They started out with a 16’ Bambi but within a year or two, graduated to a beautiful new 25’ Ocean Breeze. They tow it with a late model F150 Supercrew.

Gary and Christa are from Simi Valley and have a late model Safari SE with a front bedroom. Their rig is loaded. They too get perfect attendance marks. They tow theirs with a Chevy Avalanche. Gary had taken it back to Jackson Center last year for some work and just so he could see the birthplace of his rig. If you would like to see how Airstream trailers are made, click here.

Cal and Peggy are from Ventura and have a late model Classic that they had built custom at the Airstream factory. They tow theirs with a Ford F350 diesel. We all like to gather ‘round Cal and Peggy because they are diehard WBCCI Caravan participants and travel all over the USA with the Airstream caravans.

Ed and Paula are from Venice and are new to our unit. They have a recently refurbished 1950’s Airstream. It’s is a real showstopper. You can look at it here.

Jim and Jeanne live in Santa Paula and have a 23’ Safari. They tow it with a Ford F250. Since their house is so close to the campsite, they co-hosted the rally.

This year, we had an Airstream Christmas decorating contest. Everyone got into it which is nice to see. The judging was Sunday morning so folks had time to get their individual rigs decorated nicely. The Open House phase of the contest allowed each individual (one vote per person) to tour each Airstream to judge the Christmas decorations. The competition was tight but in the end, Mark and Glenda won Best Decorated Inside with their groovy Christmas and flamingo motif. Flamingo’s everywhere and some were even wearing Santa hats. We won Best Decorated Outside with our LED ropelites, blinking pink Christmas tree and a blow up Santa. We also had colored lights around all the awnings.

First prize for each was a box of See’s Candy. Yummy.

It was a great way to close out 2009.

Gary and Christa’s Safari Front Bedroom decked out for Christmas is above.

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Ventura KOA

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Every October we camp with a group of friends at Far West Resorts. We actually camp there quite a lot with or without our October entourage because its where we store our trailer. That makes it convenient when we decide we want a last minute getaway if just for one night. Trailer’s there, easy to arrive, get it out of storage, and within minutes, we’re camping.

When Halloween season rolls around, we plan for an all weekend event with our friends there. We fill the Alder campground with RV’s and kids play in the common grassy area in the middle. We bring lots of games, crafts, pumpkin carving activities, hikes and the like. On Saturday night, the kids dress up in their Halloween costumes and go door to door of each trailer to trick or treat.

This year, we got word that the day of the event, everyone had cancelled because someone in each family had the flu. We were feeling fine so we went anyway. We called the family of one of William’s buddies to see if he could go (which he could) and off we went.

Once we got there, we noticed the sign had changed. This place has always been known as Far West Resorts but has been sold to KOA and is now called Ventura KOA. (actually Ventura Ranch KOA). We had heard that was supposed to happen last year but negotiations fell through. Looks like they worked this time. Not sure what KOA has in store for the site, I just hope they don’t put a pool in because that would probably mean bye bye storage. More on that later.

We arrived at the Alder site and, since the rest of our group had cancelled, were the only ones in the Alder site. William and his friend immediately took off and started playing and watching the peacocks and rabbits that roam freely in this beautiful campground.

The next morning after breakfast, we decided to go for a hike. William, his friend and I walked up the road to the start of the creek, walked down the embankment and down into the water. It’s only about ankle deep (for an adult) and there are lots of little pools where small fish live. William has done this before and came prepared with his mask and snorkel. He would crouch down, put his head in the water and observe the small fish and tadpoles that were in the pools.

We did this activity for awhile and then hiked back to the trailer where Ari had prepared lunch for us. After a quick bite, we put the trailer back in storage and headed home.

We’ll be back here in December for our year end Airstream Club rally.