Getting The Airstream Home

After a Thanksgiving trip to Maryland sans Airstream, we returned for a week in Massachusetts to do some child care and retrieve the trailer.

Not surprisingly, mice had taken up residence in the ‘Stream, leaving little piles of insulation and droppings here and there. I had set traps but they weren’t tripped – in fact one had the peanut butter licked off and mouse “calling cards” all around. The dog was very interested in a wall where undoubtedly the culprit(s) resided.

With sub-freezing temperatures, staying in the trailer was more of a challenge but the new propane heater did a nice job. The dog and I stayed comfortable, especially at the end with the heating unit, but we were going through propane pretty fast.

I did a little birding (see my new vtbirder blog) and celebrated Mary’s 70th birthday with Jen and family. Watching the weather, we left for home a day early since snow was forecast for our original travel day.

It was cold and windy hooking up and of course, the trailer had not moved in several months. I noted that the right turn signal on the trailer was not working but decided to press on — it was daytime and the weather was clear.

Monday mid-day is a good time to travel. It seems like the trucks are still loading and there is mainly local traffic. We made good time up through New Hampshire in spite of pretty stiff winds. The Airstream handles wind quite well.

I noted a warning signal on the trailer brake controller – “H05” – but had no idea what it meant. (The manual was back home.) It would flit back to .C. for connected and then back but everything was handling ok so we pressed on. It was too bitterly cold to troubleshoot along the highway.

As we descended the final hill into Montpelier, the brakes started acting a little strange – grabbing a bit. I cautiously wove my way the last eight miles, wondering what condition our driveway would be in. Our road was rutted (from early thaws) and the driveway had several inches of snow, but there’s no way to pause — you make the sharp turn and start climbing. Saying “hang on” to Mary and the dog, I gunned it up in 4 wheel drive and while it was a little exciting, we made it up and around the large rock and were home.

With snow on the way, I got the Airstream blocked and unhitched and settled in place until we leave in mid-January for Southwest.

I believe that I have some shorting issues again in the pigtail connector. It’s way to cold (0 degrees this AM) to work on it right now but I need to pick a day where the temperatures moderate a bit and check it out. We don’t need failures like we had last year.