Sierra Nevada Airstreams: Memories – Travelogues

Enjoyment of the whispering winds, the zephyrs, the airstreams of the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin areas of the United States in a recreational vehicle.

Don & Gail Williams WBCCI # 14207

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Note: These are articles Don wrote for the SNU newsletter about their travels during the summer of 2012

September 13, 2012

Don & Gail never made Alaska; as sixth alternate on the Aleyska Caravan (spelling is correct) they were not called to fill a vacancy so they have asked to be on the next Aleyska trip in 2014. Instead they spent a month traveling throughout the Canadian Rockies and then across the northern parts of the Canadian provinces to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Late August and September finds them visiting family in Ohio and North Carolina while their daughter keeps everything maintained at home. For the one real emergency, a possible water pipe leaking in the garage wall, a phone call to the neighbor for help diagnosed the problem as a plugged drain line from the drip pan in the furnace/air conditioning. Don returns with his America the Beautiful National Park Pass (senior) to help with visits and camping during retirement.

July 15, 2012 New Trailer Problem Punch List

While we love Airstreams we all know that they are made one at a time and often suffer from problems that have to be covered under warranty. Our new 28’ International Signature Series is no exception. We had a small punch list of what needed fixed on our first trip to Pahrump and Pyramid Lake but two serious things cropped up on our 2012 Really Retired Holiday; Gail ended up taking a cold shower (isn’t that usually suggested for the men) when the hot water heater didn’t work on commercial electric or shore power and then our black water tank wouldn’t drain in Sisters, Oregon! I’ll set the scene for the hot water problem; we pulled into the Diamond Lake RV Park near Crater Lake. Our neighbor and I often have a friendly competition so see who gets setup and relaxes with a beer first. Trailer leveled, unhooked, water hooked up, sewer hooked up and the electric hot water heater turned on while Walter was still unhooking; I won hands down.

The next morning Gail was up first so she started her shower. NO HOT WATER! Now I always wet down the shower itself until the water warms before I wet down myself and start lathering up but Gail didn’t. After she hollered I get up, check the switch, it’s on. Okay, I check the TV and the night light (plugged into the inverter it seems) and they are working. I turn on the propane for the hot water heater and ask her to wait but no, she says “I’m already soapy!” So I go out side to see if there are any LEDs on the hot water tank board that help troubleshoot the problem. There aren’t but I found a clue looking down the side of the trailer towards the 30 Amp connection; no power cord plugged in for the shore power!

Four days later in Sisters, Oregon I am up first and trying to make amends. The black and grey water tanks lights are amber/red so I figure I should dump the tanks, especially since the material (use your imagination) in the black water tank is real close to the valve in the head. Pull the black water valve and I walk away to fiddle with some other tasks. When I return I close the valve and drain the grey water tank. Before I can finish Gail gets up and yells out it’s still full! Now I am confused. I go in and check; yep it’s still full! I eventually get enough courage too open the valve without the dump hose attached and look up with a flashlight. There is nothing coming out and I can see the valve is open. First thoughts are I didn’t use and tank chemicals, the toilet paper wadded together and plugged the tank outlet or the plastic cookie cut out of the tank for the piping was left inside and lodged in the outlet. I have this vision of driving the 15 + miles to Bend, Oregon with a overly full tank to have an RV technician fix the problem. Neighbor Walter comes over to see why I am spending so much time dumping the tanks. We confer and I decide to first dump some chemicals in the head and try to drain the tanks again. No luck. Then we use a cap with a hose outlet to back flush the tank in hopes of clearing the blockage. We start and Gail says the water level in the pipe came up almost to the valve in the head! I am worried; I poke the debris with a sacrificed coat hanger to see if there is some space in the tank if I can get the material to go down. Some of the water in the pipe drains away but the material is still there! More time is spent, over an hour, trying to back flush and even use the flush connection in the tank. The only change is that the water is no longer rising in the pipe. At this point I use my engineering knowledge and remember reading that some people have had problems with a mountain of stuff (you know what I mean) that built up under the head that blocked the tank so I look for something long enough and stiff enough to stick down the head pipe and push sideways. Voilà, the mountain is moved and the head usable again! Given these two experiences it is obvious that Airstream’s new buyer training was faulty, it assumed that someone with 80,000 miles on Airstreams would know how to use all the systems! Do you think they offer a warranty for this type of owner failure?

P.S. Four days later at Ainsworth State Park I beat the neighbor and even had the electrical plugged in!

Respectfully; Don Williams #14207 SNU Trustee (unless stripped of my position due to owner mistakes)

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