Walt's Corner

Saturday was the big day! Picked up our new Airstream Rangeline. Airstream likes to put you up in a nearby RV park for your first night. How else are you going to get a proper shakedown? We did that with our Lance, but we forked over that money. AND I didn’t have the dealer at my beck and call that first night either.

With Airstream, it is truly a first-class experience from the time you step foot in their dealership until, well, seems to be an open-ended ticket for now. Andrew, the President of Airstream of El Paso, has made sure we understand that the experience does not end at the transfer of ownership. Shout-out to Andrew and John for all the assistance and answering questions. It was quite the learning experience and we are grateful for their knowledge and courtesy. Oh, and the two pups that come to greet you when you enter! Most adorable.

I am not one to camp out in an RV park for fun. Because, well, it just ain’t fun for me. I want a cool-weather camping experience, preferably next to a trail of some sort. But for this shakedown we had to compromise and set up camp in a city RV Park. In 105 degree temperatures.

With the El Paso sun beating down on your Airstream, that little 13,500 BTU AC just doesn’t cut it, especially when you have to open that sliding door up, essentially letting out all the cool air you’ve saved up inside. Turning on the coach and running that AC alongside cools it right back down pretty quick, though.

The capable (270AH) lithium battery it comes with can be monitored via the Victron app and its smartshunt. The only gripe I have is that the solar controller is not anywhere near accessible. It’s placed inside the cabinetry where you have other remove screws to take off an access panel in order to get a view of it. Makes me wonder how easy it would be to relocate it. If that’s my only gripe, I’m doing pretty good.

We were able to thoroughly put it to the test. On shore power. Off shore power. The 12 volt fridge is amazing and quite spacious for its size. City water and fresh water tank draws. Carol even tested the shower. By accident. She thought she was turning not the faucet over the fold-out bathroom sink but instead turned on the shower. I am impressed with the Timberline 2.0 Hydronic furnace used to heat up the coach and provide the instant-on hot water. Curious to see how much power that pulls at Big Bend Ranch State Park this New Years.

We are looking forward to fully testing it out over the Labor Day weekend. Until then, it rests, snuggled comfortably with a covered (5 sided) parking spot.

We’ve had some pretty harsh rains here lately, so when I saw a puddle on my front porch I thought nothing of it.

Even the next day. I came home and noticed the porch was still a bit damp with a small puddle. OK. No worries. It must have rained a little during the day.

Day three. There’s that pesky puddle. Pretty sure there was no rain. That shit should have dried by now. Closer inspection showed that it was coming from the seam of the garage on the sidewalk.

My first thought was THE ROOF! The roof is on fire! No. Wait. That’s something else. The roof might be leaking and the water is making its way down the inside of the wall separating the garage from front porch. Some bad news, indeed. The wall felt… normal. Wasn’t gushy or damp. I went inside the garage to have a look. That’s when I noticed the drip. Coming from one of the connections at the water shutoff inside the garage.

That’s some pretty good news! I don’t have to work on my roof! Simple pex and shark bite connectors. Say… I wonder if I wiggle the pex tube a little if it would settle into place and stop dripping? BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA! Now the water is spraying out. I’ve made a huge mistake. Note to self: never wiggle a dripping water line.

I run out to the water box at the edge of the driveway, pull the top off, reach in with a pair of pliers and turn the water off to the house. The spraying stops. A quick check of the time – 9:04PM – tells me that Lowes is closed. Fuck. Guess this is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

For fear of loosening up the other connectors tied to the same area as a result of me yanking the old connector off, I figured I’d replace the entire set up in that box.

Problem solved. But not before going a night and morning without running water. I can’t tell you how many times I reached for the faucet to rinse something out. Carol went to the store that night to get 6 gallons of water to hold us over. It was almost like camping. Well, tent camping. Not like our RV camping. Where we have actual running water.

Putting the exciting news up front (I do hate clickbait), we accidentally bought our Retirement RV a little sooner than expected. An Airstream Rangeline! Which also means we’ll be selling the Lance (sad face).

Picking out our Lance was about a year-long process. Innumerable visits to many RV dealerships. Walking around them. Walking in them. Picturing us camping in them. Getting kicked out by security because “you can’t sleep here overnight.” Bitch, please. I lie down on that bed before I buy it!

Taking our time to pick that Lance out was almost as fun as buying it. What we (I) really wanted was an Airstream but back then there was no way we were going to afford that. We could barely afford the Lance, but at least it was the next best thing in my opinion. So the Airstream dream slipped into the back recesses of my mind and sprouted roots that dug deep and held.

The retirement RV was going to be all metal construction. No more applying sealant to the seams as a cyclic maintenance routine. No more wondering if this would be the time the slide decides to not work. Is it going to start leaking around the slide? How long is this frame and plywood sheet house going to last?

It was a major compromise from the both of us. Carol wanted a motor coach. Something she could comfortably drive. I wanted an Airstream – the classic bullet shaped aluminum riveted trailers. The Rangeline is our compromise. All steel construction. No slides.

We initially went to the Airstream dealer to just have a look at the touring coaches. See what they looked like inside. Would we think we’d be able to downsize that much? Dude made us an offer we couldn’t refuse and we bought it on the spot.

This will certainly be a huge learning curve as we transition from camping in what essentially was a mobile home (trailer) with walk-around queen size bed, full kitchen with oven, stove, full-size fridge and freezer, table that seats six, walk in bathroom with shower and full vanity over the sink to store all my assorted sundries, separate closets and wardrobes, and food pantry.

Transitioning to what’s basically a cargo van. But Airstream does find a way to maximize what little space it does have. Definitely a 2-person only RV with a full-size bed that folds up and out of the way for maximizing cargo space when traveling. Could have opted for a pop-up top. Nope! Just another place to worry about leaking later.

Due to its much smaller footprint, we will be able to fit into a ton of more spaces than what we have been accustomed to. It is hard to explain the anxiety one gets when rolling into a camping area, knowing that out of the 30 different spots available, your rig will only fit into 5 of them, and let’s hope there is at least one of those 5 available. This van will fit just about anywhere.

All of the usual places we repeat camp? I can think of all the spots that are available to us now. City of Rocks. Aguirre Springs. Oliver Lee Memorial. Bryce Canyon. Zion. Joshua Tree. Fort Davis.

Sad to see the Lance go, but we will be selling it. The Airstream dealer graciously offered to sell it on consignment, with no fees.

This is going to be a wonderful next chapter in our lives!

I had purchased a couple of these lights when I installed a new cabinet in my bathroom. Small. Easy to mount with magnetic plates that mount under your cabinet via two-sided tape or small screws. I opted for the tape. It has held up well for the last several months. The light just snaps into place and easily removes when needed for charging. This model is 8 inches long and super thin. Easily fits into the shallow side pocket of my toiletry bag when I’m packing for the trip or packing to leave. It is so thin that mounted where it is, unless I’m looking for it, I won’t see it and will forget to take it home with me after our trip.

The light has 3 brightness levels to choose from and can be set to turn off after a few seconds of no motion or constantly on.

The light charges using the included USB-C cable, but any will do. Chances are you arleady have plenty of USB-C cables laying around. In my house the single charge lasts longer than 2 weeks but will be dead by 3.

You can check it out on Amazon.

I had never heard of this one before but it sounds absolutely amazing! No fool, not the name, the actual recipe. I came across this from one of my tech-friends on Mastodon. You can read about it here and even see a cool YouTube video.

Being the ordained minister that I am, always doing the Lord’s work, I’ll give it to you here so that you don’t have to deep dive into another website full of pop-ups and ads.

First layer is coffee liquor. 2nd layer is Irish Cream. Top layer is whiskey. Serve in a tall 2oz shot glass. I love coffee. I love Irish cream. I love whiskey. What’s not to love about this shooter?