On Mexico time...

Beth and I are in the middle of a wonderful vacation. We flew into the heartland of Central Mexico this past Sunday without any problems at all. This is very unusual for us, for some issue generally always occurs during our journey.

The place we went to first is called San Miguel de Allendie. It sits at about 6400- 6800 feet above sea level depending upon what part of the city you in.

We have spent a great deal of time walking the streets and seeing all the wonderful sights there are. San Miguel is very "Mexican" feeling to say the least. It has a huge ex-pat community and they are very visible dressed more for shopping on Rodeo Drive than Shopping at the Mercardo.

However the town has remained very traditional in many ways. All the streets are made of stone. No cast side walks, no asphalt, just hand laid stone with tons of "topes". Topes are the Mexican version of speed bumps. You hit a topes going too fast and you will leave your drive train behind. Many of the buildings look as it they have stood since the 16th century.

The streets are a very colorful place. I never know what we might encounter. It is Santa Semana(Holy Week) and the religious offerings are everywhere. The one thing I have not experienced is being offered drugs. On every trip to Mexico(this is our tenth as a couple) I am hounded. "Hey whiskers... pst, come here... I have what you want..." "Hey whiskers.... you want my Mota?Best Mota in all Mexico" I am so glad to not be hassled on this trip. This has actually been the most hassle free vacation in a long time.

Everywhere one looks, it is an excellent picture. However, an Indian Market or Tuesday Market is the place to see some real sights and to get some huge bargains. The Rodeo Drive people are all over this market trying to exploit that peso as much as they can. They haggle over everything. Not in the expected way, but as to be sure they save every peso they can. Hey why pay $.30 for that mango when you can pay $.10. It does not matter that the peasant farmer had to haul water in a bucket to keep the tree alive or that he had to carry that mango on a donkey to get to the market. Ugly, ugly Americans, I have apologized three times now on this trip for the way my people treat others. It is a shame, for this market is where the poor folks go to sustain themselves.

Everything can be purchased here. From pots and pans to...

to the sweetest strawberries I have ever tasted. What it must have taken to create this display.

Sometimes it is unimaginable to the variety of stuff and the choices. Beth is captivated by the temporary tattoo selection.

I am captivated by the variety of food you can get. These are papusas. They are like a fat tortilla stuffed with chorizo and cheese. Can you say "muy delisiosa?" How about "muy sabarosa?"

Shoes? You need shoes? New, old, slightly used.... they are here.

How about a Luciador mask. Just put one of these babies on and some tights and you are transformed into a semi pro wrestler.

Tools? yeah, we got them too. New, used, and antique.

Lots of tools... no like in lots. Metric or empirical?

But most of all San Miguel has churches. Not churches in strip malls or with metal siding on some lot in suburbia... They have Cathedrals. I am not an overly religious guy, but over the past few days I have lit a bunch of devotional candles at every church I entered. Many prayers have been said. I am not sure why, but I feel like they have been heard.

Today we say good bye to San Miguel and move on to Guanajuato. We have our bus tickets purchased and we leave at mid day. In 1952 Wally Byam and some caravaners went to Guanajuato. I hope to see some of the things they did also.

At last... CBR

Sorry for the delay in posting about the CBR. I am writing this from San Miguel in central Mexico. I have taken a small break from my vacation to post.

Well this has certainly become the theme of the weekend. Do more, see more, live more. In that order and any you choose, a great motto to say the least.

Anna got her self a few more water decals during CBR. The caravan here was probably a highlight of the weekend. I just could not wait to put the decals on.

The Rodger's farm is a great venue for a rally. I am not sure of the numbers, but there must have been close to fifty that showed up for the gathering.

Much time was spent sitting around and relaxing. Many stories were exchanged and a few new friendships were formed. It is kind of hard to not enjoy ones self meeting so many nice people.

Happy hour helps those that have trouble relaxing to slip into the mood. Good food and good drink have that effect on a person.

A killer potluck also helps set the mood, even if your table is the last to be called to go through the line. Plenty of good food left even as we went through.

Another highlight of the weekend was getting to know Dale "Pee Wee" Schwamborn. Dale we gracious enough to spend many hours talking with me about his travels and about the club as he knew it from the early days. I got the impression that he was very pleased to see his mother's vision of the club kept alive with the WDCU. Thank you Dale for the time you spent with us and myself in particular. Hopefully there will be a campfire the next time we get together. Dave, it was great seeing you too.

We did manage to make to the Museum of Natural History. The crowds were huge but we managed to see the fabulous gem and mineral collections. Rocks do come in some incredible forms. I was very fascinated to see the displays.

We managed to push our way forward to see the Hope Diamond. Nice rock, but not as interesting as I thought it might be.

Thank you again to all that attended the Rally. Hope to see all of you down the road real soon. In the mean time see more, do more, and live more.

A Few First Timers

This past Wednesday, Ava and I had a first. She and I met up with seven other Airstreams for a caravan to the Cherry Blossom Rally. We had played follow the leader coming home or going to an event, but it had only involved one other trailer or three of us trying to drive our rigs home as fast as we could push them. A true caravan was a first for us. We were not alone in this first timers experience, I think it was a first time for all eight trailers that gathered at Great Falls National Park in Great Falls Virginia. We had first timers to Washington, first timers with their Airstreams, and first timers to the Washington DC Unit.

Ava and I headed out very early for the park to avoid the heavy morning rush hour. By 9:30 eight trailers were there ready to see the all the major sites of Washington DC. Anna was the chase trailer so as to make sure we did not lose anyone on the trip. Rob had Sophia the Sovereign of the Road lead the way.

To see eight trailers rolling down the George Washington Parkway was a sight to behold. Amazingly many folks felt compelled to cut in between us, but quickly realized they were out of place.

Our first destination was the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington Virginia. There is a commanding view from the memorial of the city. Right next to the Marine Corps Memorial is Arlington National Cemetery.

When I was younger, my father would bring us here to visit his friends that never made it home from Vietnam. The head stones go on for ever it seems like. Sure have been a lot of our soldiers giving their lives for our country. Seeing it is something you cannot easily forget.

Our next destination was downtown. The route Rob took us on brought us past all the major sites the tour busses take all the tourist to.

We were not the normal tour busses though. We were vintage aluminum and the sight of us drew many cameras up and lower jaws open.

I was in in awe myself most of the trip. Sitting next to me was Dale Schwamborn, better know as Pee Wee. Dale was the advanced scout for Wally Byam's 1959 caravan from Capetown South Africa to Cairo Egypt. I felt like a very lucky man to have him riding with me. I learned a great deal talking with him and feel like I was touched by royalty. Dale, if you read this, thank you so much. I am so very grateful to have spent time with you.

The cherry trees were in full bloom as we drove around the tidal basin.

We went to Mount Vernon and had a little lunch. The museum put us all together in a back parking lot. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to see the house. Maybe some other time we will come back and see it.

We were in somewhat of a race against rain and daylight to get to the rally sight.

In my next post I will tell you all about the Cherry Blossom Rally, but first I will be going on a much needed vacation to Guanajuato Mexico with my wife. See you all soon.....

Seasonal Start-up Snafu Syndrome

I am sure Seasonal Start-up Snafu Syndrome or S.S.S.S. followed by "hit", is very common across the world. After a long winter you want to get ready for the camping season. You go out and begin cleaning up the things that you said "that will be all right, I will have it for next season" and repairing the things broken during last years season. You know the items, the screens your kid pushed out, the cabinet latch that was not lining up right, the loose piece of molding. All minor details, but none the less, things that need your attention. Yesterday was just that day for me. I have have been very busy with work, getting clients trailers here safely, and finishing projects up and I have not gotten Anna ready for the Cherry Blossom Rally that is just a few days away. My first task was to clean up and out.
I opened the pantry to get a flash light out and it was stuck to the shelf. Turns out the Seven Up minis I left in there last fall had frozen hard enough to split wide open and leak from the second shelf all the way down to the bottom shelf. The liquid must have thawed slowly for I had thickened Seven-Up on every shelf and also down one of the walls. All six cans, still in their plastic holders sat there empty. Now if it was November, I probably would have just shut the door and said that is what spring is for, but I had to clean it up. Six buckets of hot water and soap, it was cleaned up. Note to self: Self, do not leave anything including mouse proof cans in the trailer over the winter. It might be below freezing for weeks on end and the items might split. A can of Trader Joe's Turkey Chilli split too but nothing leaked out. Now that is a waste of mighty fine chilli. The rest of the clean up was fairly straight forward after this.

I have been holding off on putting water to her. The weather here is very unpredictable in March. One day it is spring the next it is winter again. I did not want to put water to her and have a cold snap come through. I checked three local weather forecasters and they all say the temperatures will be well above freezing so yesterday was the day. I hooked the hose to the city water inlet and went to the house to turn it on. I turned it on just a little, as to not over whelm things, and walked back to the trailer. Water was pouring out of the belly pan right at the belt line. It was actually beautiful the way it was a solid curtain from bumper to wheel well. I opened everything up and began looking.
In my search the first thing I notice was that the drain line coming from the kitchen sink is not into one of the fittings. Turns out I did not glue it when I put it all together. Nothing like saving a task a whole year. But this was not the source of my leak. My leak was coming from a supply line. I followed the lines from the inlet through the manifold (total waste of money, materials, and time). No wet spots yet. I keep going on down the line into the closet and no wet spots here. I pull the drawers on the vanity and see no wet spots. I am getting to the end of the line now. I open the hamper door (now like the manifold, this is a joke to me. Who in their right mind is going to put their dirty clothes in that little hole and then later try and get them out) and there it was. The union between the copper of the toilet and the PEX line.

A broken Sea Tech fitting. Now as I said a year ago, these things are junk. Luckily I had one left over and was able to swap it out fairly easily. I had opened all the valves just incase water remained in the lines, but forgot to open the toilet fill valve.
So many things to learn, so many years to learn them....

Icing on the cake

My very cool brother in law Chris gave Anna a gift. He thinks she is hot and when he saw this flashlight at a yard sale he snapped it up and gave it to her. Well he gave it to me, but he stated that he thought it belonged with Anna. It is called an Ash Flash.

Very nice 6 volt flashlight. It uses a big box type battery and looks so very cool.

The tail end has a red lens that flashes and can lift straight up so that if you break down you can put it behind the trailer to warn other motorists. The lens is cracked, but something will turn up to replace it. I love this thing, Thank you Chris.




Over the weekend a small pile of polishing supplies came out. I have changed tactics slightly this time around. I am using the Airstream Polishing kit from Jestco. I was turned on to this system by Uwe at Area 63. It is the big wide cotton wheel and grey then red rouge bars. I am not going to say it is easy. It is just a matter if plugging in the Ipod, putting on your game face, and going at it. An Adult beverage or four helps greatly too as long as you wait till after 12 noon.

I am just looking at it little by little. I started on the curb side which is the worst side of the trailer. I started on the door with in a door and worked out from there. This side had extremely thick oxide on it last year when I did the first cut.

The P.O's P.O. told me proudly that twenty five years ago he and his wife polished the trailer using mineral oil and steel wool. They used finer and finer grits and though it turned out spectacular. He also said he did not manage to do the street side or the ends. I now totally understand why the entire area they did looks like a tangerine skin. There is no amount of compounding or polishing that will fix that error. This is just something I will have to live with.

The grey bar works very quickly at the surface and moves a lot of aluminum around. This is one pass and about three minutes of time. Not bad, if you ask me. The red bar is like turning on a light bulb. The cotton wheel does create very fine vertical scratches. A little Nuvite "C" on the cyclo with an orange foam pad and the marks are gone. Very clear, very clean shine, with no scratch or swirl marks..

This was the result of about six hours total. I have done the door the outer door and the refrigerator door.

Who loves ya Anna?

All the women in my life know I love them, even the inanimate ones. The eyebrow over the door has been bothering me for a while now. It was very beat up. The front edge had a few tears and looked more like a line drawing of the ocean surface than a smooth graceful curve like it should be. Yesterday, I took it upon myself to change that.

I drilled out all the rivets and took the old one off. I then used the cast iron table of my saw and dead blow hammer to revert it back to a flat sheet. The flattened eyebrow was then traced onto some new 2024 T0 That I bought from my one and only Aluminum supplier, http://www.airpartsinc.com/. Hope you all caught that "T0" for that is an important part of this project. "T0" denotes the hardness. If "T3" is used, it will be too hard and as you bend the flanges the possibility of breaking is huge.

I just marked it all out and started bending the front edge first. It is straight, but a very small lip. It just takes a little time to work the hand brake back and forth until it is going 90 degrees to the surface. I bent it 1/8" which is slightly larger than the original, but still looks good. The hand brake only has so much grip. Next I did the 3/8 flange on the curved edge. Lots of little bends are required here. This edge should not be rushed. Slowly the eyebrow will begin to curve all on it's own. Only a small amount of forming over my knee was needed to take it the rest of the way. Patience is the key. If you rush, it will crease over.

I only used two original holes. They were the two lowest down. I made certain to miss all the rest in my layout. Drilled, clecoed, and ready for vulkem and rivets.

Nice huh? I am very pleased with how it came out.

I am a convert

Being an old girl, Anna has some obsolete parts. Her black tank valve was the original Thetford and it would not fully hold in the tanks contents. I had taken the valve apart last winter and rebuilt all the interior trying to revive the valve, but all last year it was dripping and a blueboy had to be hooked on. Fixing this problem has been on the agenda, and due to some help from a good friend, it has taken place.

The first step was removing the old valve. I thought there was going to be issues with the last screw holding it in, but it decided to come out. The hole in the floor was not big enough either, so out came the Dremel with a straight bit and I free hand cut some of the plywood back. That is why the line to the right looks so wavy. Hey, you look into the eye of the tank and try and cut a straight line free hand with a Dremel.

Now here is where the help of a friend comes into play. Steve Klohn( ByamCaravanner on the Airforums and the nicest republican I know, he really is a super person. Hell, he is a super dude) made this plate for me. It is 1/2" aluminum and was machined to fit the screw pattern in the Thetford plate which is fiber glassed into the bottom of the tank. The other set of holes are machined for the new Valterra valve bolt pattern.

Only 1/8" separated the bolt pattern, so the whole valve needed to be rotated a few degrees to miss the bolts going into the tank. But there it is. All installed and ready to hold back the tank contents.

And there it is again, mouth closed...

And again even more enclosed. I might fashion a round door, but it is really not necessary in my eyes. Just to nip this before it becomes a comment... If you actually think you can stop, hamper, delay, alter, impede, or change the desires of rodents and reptiles from coming in... well, if you believe that, you had better hit the crack pipe again. If they want in, they are in no matter how well you close off the belly pan. The best course of action is to first not give then reason to enter. This means keeping the trailer clean. Keeping all food put away. This means emptying the trash can frequently. This means keeping the scene clean. The second line of attack is to feed the critters. Nothing says yum like a nice pile of Decon.

The belly skin had a bad rip in it from snagging the handle in a fence post. I made this simple beauty ring to dress it off. I think it actually looks intentional instead of a patch job.

The handle will still need some work. Valterra is not a sponsor. I will not advertise for them for free. The name will be getting ground off soon, but it was getting late and my wife was making me a margarita so I called it a day.