A Little History

In late 2000, we made a deal for the purchase of a brand new 25 ft. Airstream Safari at a great price if we would pick it up in Kansas City before the end of February 2001.  We were living in Vermont at the time, so after attending a meeting in upstate New York, we hightailed it across the states of New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri and arrived with no time to spare.  The people at the dealership told us our sales person had not come into work in days (I still wonder what the story was), but there in the shop was our beautiful shiny Airstream - our Silver Twinkie. 

After the tour (I was desperately hoping that Max, at least, was listening, because I certainly couldn't), we bravely took off through rain and sleet on Interstate 70.  Max's beaming grin, however, quickly turned to puzzlement.  We had seen the photos of Wally Byam (Airstream's founding father) towing an Airstream with a bicycle.  Ours was pulling like a brick.  We pulled into a truck stop - that was a fun novelty - and discovered, verified by a phone call, that the dealer (who shall remain nameless) had forgotten to check the tire pressure.  The Airstream had been sitting on his lot for who knows how long!  But soon we were on our way, smiling foolishly again.  When we stopped at a rest area mid-afternoon and took a quick nap in our new bed, we were completely sold.

Through the years, we have traveled to many wonderful places and taken many cross country trips with the Airstream.  We have enjoyed Kentucky, Missouri, Minnesota, Wyoming, Colorado and, the place we eventually settled, Tucson.  Here we are the first summer in Hershey, PA, a memorable trip with our youngest son, then about 15.  (I'm not sure it is a fond memory for him - cozying up with Mom and Dad in 100 square feet of living space.)

We spent our 25th wedding anniversary in the Twinkie at the Grand Canyon, and our next anniversary at the North Rim.  We have enjoyed several trips to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) in Mexico where the RV park is right on the ocean's edge.  When the weather gets hot in Tucson and we can get away, we escape to the mountains.  Here we are in San Bernadino National Forest in California:






But, our Airstream is definitely a multi-purpose vehicle and has more uses than aluminum adventure.  We lived in it while building our first home in Tucson, and after we sold a later home in 2010 along with most of our furniture, we lived in it full time for a year (with the help of a storage shed).  Here is our patio and art studio in Western Way RV Park - a fun crowd!

But, there have been other uses also.  When Max became an auctioneer (a lifelong dream - and he has a great chant!), we used it as a base for a large equipment auction he held in Vermont.

And we used it as a sales office at Starr Ridge in Tucson before the model homes were open:

And in 2010, we stayed overnight in it to shorten our commute (and lessen the time we were imposing on friends) while engaged in a renovation project in an industrial park in Vermont.

It is truly a wonderful, versatile, cozy home.  When we purchased it, my sister asked me how many hotel nights we could pay for with that amount of money.  Obviously, it is so much more to us than an anonymous room, but I know that we long ago passed the point where we are receiving a huge return on our investment - both in delight and lucre.

It will be a vehicle for adventure for many years to come.  And the next adventure is - The Retro-vation.