Off to Arizona with the Airstream!

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We decided to take off after Christmas to visit my 84 year old mother in Arizona.  This is a good time for me since I get a few holidays during this stretch so I don’t have to take as much vacation time.  We decided to take the Airstream and make a vacation out of the back half.

We knew the first day was going to be a long haul as we wanted to get some distance under our belts.  I also wanted to avoid unhitching the truck and I wanted to be cheap!  I had a few places lined up on the way and it all depended on how early we got out and, hence, how much sunlight was left.

The total distance to my mom’s house is 578 miles and we have done that in one day in a car but not the trailer.  I wasn’t about to start now.  That makes halfway at 289 miles.  The first candidate was 288 miles and was the ‘Dharma Tower‘.  I have seen this on Aluminarium’s blog a couple times and it looked interesting.  Two negatives about this.  Roxie was not too sure about staying there and we also had a LOT of daylight left when we passed.

Another option was 330 miles, actually the turn off was closer than the 3rd option but it was farther off road.  This was Hole in the Wall campground in the Mojave National Preserve.  It was a bit too far off the road for me and we still had sunlight!   Onward!

Option 3 was a truck stop just off the freeway at 318 miles (exit 107).  This was my least favorite option and would only be exercised if I was exhausted.  I wasn’t.

The ultimate destination was 374 miles from home.  Exit 9 in Arizona where highway 95 heads south the Lake Havasu.  There are two truck stops here, a Pilot and a Love’s.  Roxie had some trepidation about a truck stop also but we were game.  We chose the Love’s as it was a bit better lit.  Here we are:

Love's Truck Stop 01

 

All by ourselves.  No one around.  I had a great nights sleep.  We had our white noise machine going and we would hear trucks coming in all night and their idling was very soothing also.

We woke up sandwiched by big rigs.  This was fine with me as it was like being wrapped in a big metal blanket.  The blocked noise, headlights and wind.

Love's Truck Stop 03 Love's Truck Stop 02

 

I almost neglected to talk about the truck.  This was the first real test of it with the trailer.  We did the Tehachapi’s on this route.  It was pretty impressive.  I tried to stay at 60 when towing.  It maintained 60 easily up the hill and was able to give me more when I needed it.  Very nice.  On the flat ground I have been getting right around 13mpg.

We made it to my mother’s that day and stayed a  55+ RV park in her area.  They allowed us in as I told them I am a very old 53 year old…

The Airstream and Ikea

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As an Airstream owner, what is it about an Ikea store that draws me in?

It must have to do with aluminum.  Obviously I have a penchant for it since we have an Airstream but Ikea seems to like it also.  There are many aluminum/silver metal items throughout the store.  Everytime I see such an item in Ikea I think how I can use that in the trailer.  Sometimes things will work but oftentimes they will not.

Here are some of the hits.

One thing that we like in our 31′ Classic floorplan is that there is a huge wardrobe on one side of the trailer.  It has a hanging rod all the way across the top and a flat bottom to it (with various Airstream systems underneath).  This makes it easy to hang clothes and lay things on the bottom but not much in between.  We have been thinking of ways to be able put some stores there, like a pantry.  Here is a shot of the wardrobe doors:

wardrobe

 

 

Ikea makes a mini-pantry for putting on top of their countertops.  We got one and thought we would give it a try.  So behind the left wardrobe door is this:

cabinet2

 

 

Oooohhh!   Look!  Aluminum look!  What you are seeing there is the rollup door.  Here it is with the door open:

cabinet1

 

 

This way you can see the adjustable shelves, and a bit of insight to us.  Toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, blender, laundry soap and a toaster.  We are very pleased with it.  I still have to anchor it to the wall.

 

In our old 25′ trailer we came up with a way to hang our towels for drying.  We used a compression shower curtain rod, put it up high in the hall way between the cabinets in two different locations.  This gave a very convenient location for the towels.  Alas our ‘new’ Airstream was not conducive to a similar setup.  I knew we would need a hook or three.

Ikea came to the rescue:

bjarnum

 

 

A typical Ikea product, unpronounceable.  But they are silver and shiny!!  I really like how they fold up and down.  Here they are on the wall:

hooks

 

 

Airstream prides themselves on using ‘every available inch’ in an efficient manner.  I can see where that is very true in the most part but they will, as my wife puts it, ‘stub their toe’ sometimes.  One big stub was the toilet paper holder:

tp1

 

 

They mounted it inside the cabinet door but then you cannot have anything on that shelf.  Annoying, and you have to open the door to get to it.  Not convenient.   Once again Ikea comes to the rescue:

tpnew1

 

 

This is a bit more pronounceable at least but it is SILVER!  I decided, with spousal approval, to mount it in a different location:

tpnew2

 

 

All in all pleased with this location.  Easy to get to, don’t have to open a cabinet, not ON the counter, out of the way.  Might hurt the aesthetic a bit by being visible but it is OK with us.

 

Those are the 3 hits for us at this point.  It is good that the closest Ikea is at least 3 hours away or we might have a LOT more.  I will keep you posted as there is more.