Weekend 1 with Eva the Airstream.

Here it is, the new, improved blog :) This is where we will be sharing the details of our airstream adventures.  My wife and I are Brits that have been living out on the west coast for about 6 years or so.  We realized our dream a few weeks ago of owning an Airstream! Specifically a 2015 25ft rear bedroom Flying Cloud!

Since picking up our 2015 25ft rear bed airstream we have been working diligently to outfit her with all she needed for a successful maiden voyage.  There were the RV essentials such as a water hoses and sewer pipes, travel necessities like a hitch and chocks, then the items needed for successful living, bedding, kitchen amenities, technology and settling the puppy!

Mrs.M took care of stocking the pantry and fridge while I took care of installing a Pepwave SOTG wireless access point, our trusty Apple TV, replacing the horrible subwoofer - not to mention the first aid kits, tool requirements, and all things to make sure we could stay on the road.

We had a reasonable level of confidence that we had no idea what we were getting into, so we packed wine and whisky to deal with those moments!

The first trip was to be a local jaunt, we already know much of our time will be spent in the Mt. Hood wilderness, when the snow line allows we will aim to be parked at Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort and when the roads are snowy, we would park up at Mt. Hood Village RV resort.  So it is here we started.

Our chosen departure date was the Saturday afternoon after celebrating my birthday.  It took much of the day to shake the hangover and when Mrs.M got back from work it was all hands on deck to finish our prep.  We finally got out of the door about 6:45pm, in the dark, in the rain.

Great.

Day one of towing in anger was in the worst conditions I could imagine.  Thankfully the $100 invested in oversized trucker mirrors made their investment immediately worthwhile!  We also found out on the 45mile trip the moisture sensors on Eva's vents do indeed work!

We arrived at our destination and made it to our site, with help of headlamps and flashlights and good communications, the first ever attempt at reversing the whole rig resulted in a little “back and forth” followed be a unified scream  some time later of “GOOD ENOUGH!”

The set up of Eva proved a little mysterious to me, but while Mrs.M and Luka stretched their legs I set about the mess of cables... I managed to got water, electric and propane flowing to all the right places.  It did not take long for us to hunker down inside with a glitchy apple TV (IT WORKED ON THE DRIVEWAY!) some home made chili and a sleepy Husky.

The thermostat did its best to ruin the first night by thinking it was 32F inside and insisting we needed all the heating in the world – a little manual over-ride fixed that, only for the fan on the back of the refrigerator to decide that running 24/7 was appropriate. Hmmm, it was late and wet, that was a problem for tomorrow.

Our first night in Eva was delightful.  Luka took the couch, Mrs.M and I snuggled into bed and fell asleep with the sound of rain sprinkling on Eva’s roof.

All was good.

We spent our first morning examining our site, it was beautiful!  But we were wonky on it… and the site was not level… After much discussion, I ignored my wife and re-parked Eva.

Much better!  Level front to back, not so wonky side-to-side and I could extended the main awning out! I decided the leveling blocks would be a lesson for another day.

With that task completed it was time to deal with something far more important… Coffee!  While Mrs.M again took the hound for a little waddle I replumbed Eva, got the coffee pot on and by the time they got back we were able to sit in our chairs, under the awning that sheltered us from the rain dripping through the Doug firs and enjoy our first morning with our Airstream.

We spent the rest of day exploring our old stomping grounds. Breakfast at the High Mountain Cafe in Government camp, Timberline Lodge delivered the goods, the air was cool, the sun poked through the clouds and we got to walk around some of the lifts we know so well from the snow season, not long to go before that begins! 

After a couple of hours enjoying the views and praying for snow, the weather came in on us, so we drove back down the mountain to Trillium lake.  Possibly the best view of Mt. Hood can be had from here, standing on the dam, looking across the fishermen infested lake you could really take in the majesty of the mountain, a fresh dusting of snow provided a sweet preview to the incoming winter season.

The traditional stop at Charlie’s Mountain View in Government Camp had us feeling very grateful, our spot at the end of the bar was free, Mrs.M got the “Big glass” for her wine – a sign of being a local she tells me!  I got to enjoy a couple of pints of Worthy IPA – a fantastic brew!

We whiled away the rest of the day with a nice walk around the campsite, signing up for a park membership, getting cleaned up and settled down for the night.  We had purchased a cable to allow us to hook up to the cable TV provision, with this we got to watch the SF Giants.  But enough about that 10^th inning home run…

By now I had coaxed the thermostat into working, through the use of blue language no less!  I also decided the refrigerator fan was surplus to requirements and pulled the connector off the thermistor to disable it. The peace and quiet was instant.

We crashed out soon after the game ended and slept well, know that the morning would bring the fun escapades of packing up and heading home.

The morning was a straightforward affair, coffee, dog walking, packing up Eva and hitching up Elize (our tow vehicle).  It all went smoothly and we were home in good time.

We learnt so much from the weekend:

• ·      Our chosen venue is a winner, we have picked out a couple of “preferred” pitches for Eva.
• ·      Towing in the rain is less then desirable, but this is the PacNW!
• ·      AT&T is NOT going to work for us so Verizon will get our business.
• ·      The first upgrade to Eva will be a new thermistor and fan set up.
• ·      We need to learn how to use leveling blocks!
• ·      Walkie-talkies, when buried deep in a backpack, are pointless.

With these lessons learnt we are preparing for our second weekend away.  We are traveling about 50 miles into Washington State to stay a scenic spot in the Colombia Gorge, we are filled with confidence and optimism, the weekend cannot come soon enough!