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.

ABORTED AIRSTREAM TRIP

by Randy Grossmann

October 2012

I have had seven years of Airstream travel with nothing of significance ever happening. Well, my luck ran out this year.

It all started this summer with some crunched steps on the Airstream while traveling to the Obsidian Dome rally. We had no indication that this occurred. I believe that perhaps something from another dimension (there are many other possible dimensions) materialized, crunched the steps, and then de-materialized. In reality, how the steps got crunched will forever remain a mystery. But it would get worse, much worse, on our trip this fall.

We left Carson City on October 22, 2012 for a three week journey to San Antonio, Texas with a stop both ways in El Paso to visit relatives in both cities. After spending the first night in Pahrump we proceeded toward the Petrified Forest where we intended to spend the second night. While approaching Las Vegas we decided to make a slight deviation for an unscheduled stop for lunch at the Big M Casino (the real name is iMagine) a few miles south of the Strip. In our opinion and the opinion of others we have talked with in Las Vegas, it is absolutely and positively the best buffet imaginable. In addition, since we were running late we decided that we would stay overnight on the Big M property. I had contacted the Casino before we left home regarding overnight RV parking on their property with the idea that we would stay there on the way back. I was told that there would be no problem staying overnight in their RV parking area and that many rigs do just that. We had a terrible time first finding the RV parking, then had extensive dealings with security personnel who were nevertheless quite helpful in getting us into the RV parking area, and then finding that we could park our rig there overnight but could not stay in it. If we could not stay in our rig overnight we could not stay to eat because it was getting too late. So we left without eating. I have encountered this type of situation many times with all types of establishments. I phone for information, am given the information, and find that the information is wrong when I get there. Since it seems as though hardly anyone knows what they are talking about these days I have now implemented a new policy. After I phone and get some information, I phone again sometime later and ask the same question(s) to see if I get the same answer. If I get a different answer I phone a third time to see which answer is correct and hope that I don’t get yet a third different answer.

Upon leaving I then proceeded to outsmart myself (not too hard to do) by taking the infamous shortcut. To save a few miles I took a Las Vegas city street instead of getting immediately back onto the freeway. We got into a massive traffic jam due to construction on that street and went nowhere for an extended period of time. Eventually we got back onto the freeway.

Later that day we were heading east on Interstate 40 between Flagstaff and Kingman, Arizona when suddenly and without warning a huge tire tread loomed up from nowhere in front of me. Unlike what previously crunched my steps I saw this coming. Swerving to avoid it would have probably been disastrous so I had no choice than to run straight over it. I heard a sickening thud, thud. Fortunately, there was an exit immediately ahead that I took to inspect for damage. Damage there was. One of my two dump hose carriers was completely ripped off the underbelly and missing. The other carrier’s hose was being drug alongside the trailer. I don’t know why I didn’t lose it. The trailer electrical connector was pulled from the truck receptacle and dragging on the ground. The truck electrical receptacle cover was somewhat broken but luckily still functional. Turned out that we were at Seligman, Arizona on a stretch of old Route 66 road and there was a nice RV park nearby where we decided to stay the night.

After spending some time that morning at the nearby Route 66 historical town of Seligman we continued on our way with plans to spend the night at the Petrified Forest. It was not to be. We got as far as Holbrook, Arizona within striking distance of the Petrified Forest when we made a most unfortunate decision to purchase diesel fuel in Holbrook. We filled up, left the service station, and headed a couple of blocks down the road to see some Route 66 tepees. When leaving the station I heard a little of what I thought was the hitch scraping on the pavement–something that occasionally happens and means nothing. When we parked at the tepees a car drove up and the driver said that we left part of our rig back at the service station. I got out of the truck and observed an extremely sickening sight. All of the black ABS dump pipes were missing. I then noted a trail which we left down the street and into the lot in which we stopped. I no sooner thanked this man for the information than another car drove up and two ladies handed me my entire intact pipe assembly which was broken off at both the grey and black tanks. I thanked the ladies, they drove off, and I proceeded to lament the situation. Being as sharp as I am it took me a couple of hours to assess this as a fatal blow. A grey tank that would not hold anything was bad, but the really bad thing was that we had no usable toilet since the bottom of the black tank was ripped apart. Weighing on my decision to abort the trip was the belief that the way this trip was going south, way south (even though we were traveling east), if we continued the trip an even worse thing was likely to happen. I realized that it is well known that things happen in three’s and that the crunched steps, hitting the tire tread, and now this amounted to three things. However, I didn’t know whether the three things had to happen on this trip alone. I didn’t want to take the chance.

We hightailed it back to the RV park in Seligman where we spent that night. This was the first time we have ever used the bathroom facilities in an RV park. Luckily they were very nice. The next day we decided to drive all the way home that day (~630 miles). Then another potential problem arose. The truck was having a little trouble starting. This really concerned me because of the way things were going, the fact that the truck has always immediately started, and the engine icon lit up indicating a trouble code. So I made the decision to not shut off the engine until we got home. It was a 13 hour drive, but we made it home that night.

What I don’t understand is how I could have pulled the Airstream for seven years, including an extensive trip to the east coast, without any significant mishap and then suddenly have all of this happen. Maybe I’m losing it all of a sudden. Or maybe there are forces in this world that we know nothing of. On the other hand, I have always been concerned about how Airstream designed this plumbing and am surprised that I have not ripped it off before this because of its vulnerable location. I’ll be adding this to my long list of reasons for having such a low opinion of Airstreams.

The Airstream is now winterized and I'll pretty much have to wait until the spring to begin work on the repairs. We’ll probably be out of commission into the summer (I work slow). The black tank is toast and I’ll have to replace it. I want to re-engineer / redesign / modify / enhance the dump piping to minimize the possibility of this happening again. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would be most happy to hear them.

Finally, I feel the need to make a commentary about RV travel. I am getting less and less enthused about it for two reasons. First, the interstates are a mess and often cannot be avoided. The driving is miserable on them because of all the big rigs. I don’t think it much of an exaggeration, if its an exaggeration at all, that the big trucks outnumber all of the others by ten to one. In addition, we found Highway 40 to be littered with junk, mostly in the form of tire treads. Re-treaded tires should be outlawed. Second, road travel consists of endless hours of driving and not getting anywhere. Its just too slow. We used to travel by airplane wherever we would go. I now realize how fast even a slow airplane is. Maybe its time to resurrect the airplane. I’m re-thinking my strategic approach to traveling.

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