Home Again, Home Again

Who knew nine days on the road could be so fun and so challenging, all at once? Suffice it to say, we had a crash course (bad word choice) in Airstream 101. But we are definitely better for it. Got our freshman jitters and some solid rookie mistakes out of the way. Next trip - we think less and play more.

Some general thoughts from the road:

* Hitch grease is sneaky and covert and will stain your new couch fabric. Best to travel with your own Martha Stewart type who knows "just how to get that stain out" - especially since he was the one to bring in said grease.

* Dogs who don't normally shed much will suddenly shed like it is their job when stressed by a new truck and a new trailer. French fries and jerky treats and the chance to smell bears and deer and chase jackrabbits will help them settle down nicely.

* Lots of older folks go RVing. No kidding!? But just because they are older, does not mean they are old. We are going to make ourselves some RV calling cards to give to folks we meet along the way. Especially when we run across couples like the pair we met in Taos: in their early 70s,  recently got married, backpacked across Europe for 3 months, lived in an Airstream for a year and have fantastic attitudes, insights and open minds. We'll be visiting them in Denton whenever we get a chance.

* If you are female and you travel with a male - everyone automatically assumes he is your husband. (Note to self: make a travel shirt that says "We both like boys" for us to wear on the road.)    :-)

* Seemingly large fast food parking lots in small towns are not the best places to turn around. That visually large loop you wanted to use for the trailer could just narrow down in back and turn out to be part of the drive thru. (That was really fun, let me tell you - not so much for the poor woman in the small car in said drive thru)

* Those damned motorcycle speed gangs that have been hijacking Dallas freeways find it fun to fly past your Airstream going 110+ mph weaving in and out of traffic.

* Driving within a 20 minute vicinity of Dallas was the most dangerous. Once you get out of town, people are polite and know why you should get out of the way of trailers being towed. They even wave at you in the country still. Makes my small town self happy.

* A big shiny trailer is the talk of the RV park. Everybody comes up and wants to find out what you have and what it does.

* Texas is HOT. New Mexico is not. I hate HOT. So coming home on Friday, late afternoon, sucked. But we did think ahead and stayed at an RV Park near Denton to avoid Friday rush hour traffic and to get ourselves sorted out before we took the trailer back to service some of the stuff that didn't work quite right.

* Water heaters are a great thing. Until they don't work. An ice cold shower in the mountains is no bueno.

* Red River NM looks the same as it did when we went there as kids. Cute and quaint and goofy and touristy - with great camping outside of town - and the go karts are still there.

* Taos Valley RV Park is a great place to spend 4 consecutive nights. Unless you don't get full hookups and you have a fastidious dishwasher person with you. Then, you spend 3 nights in one spot - and have to move to full hookups on the last night so you can dump all that dishwater. (I will now have to find the balance between wasting water and wasting paper. The recycler in me will have to sort that out.)

* RV Park maps don't make sense - even if you have a Bachelors Degree in Communication and English.

* Buy your food BEFORE you get to the campground - or travel with it in a cooler. RV fridges don't stay super cool while you roll, and you will be too tired to go back out after you unhitch and sort it all out. If you have low blood sugar - this is a bad recipe for disaster. You will find yourselves yelling at each other in a Santa Fe RV Park, as if you were a married couple. You will, of course, make it better by having wine and pop tarts and almonds for dinner. And you will laugh about it later. A lot.

* When you stumble across an Airstream Rally of Texans on your first voyage in your Airstream, take full advantage of it. When offered info and wisdom - take it. When offered free dinner or breakfast or hot coffee - take it. When offered time to come to your trailer to show you how stuff works - take it. When offered printouts of what else you need for your rig - take it. When offered an easier way to hook up your sway bar - take it. We learned more and were treated more kindly by a group of strangers than you could imagine. It was like having 30 parents/grandparents who wanted you to succeed. Would have been a MUCH different trip without our lucking into them early on. Filling out my membership papers to their Austin based group as soon as I finish this blog.

I'm sure more details of the trip will come soon - but this is what fell out of my head just now.