Detour

Retirement is great, but I am ready for a vacation from retirement already. We have been getting ready for a retirement party in October, as well as working on the 1959 Airstream. I am not sure how I had enough time for work. As if these projects weren't enough, I found another wrecked Airstream on eBay. We will need everything for the inside of the 1957 Airstream Overlander, so it made sense to bid on it. Well, as luck would have it, we won the bid. I am not sure whether the luck I am referring to is good, or bad. So we packed up the bags last Saturday and the camping gear and started for St. Louis again. It is only 12 hours away, and what else did we have to do anyway. We stopped at McGee creek state park in Oklahoma and pitched a tent. Shelly reminded me several times how crazy it is to camp in a tent when we have 4 Airstreams sitting in our yard. 

 Yup, tent camping!

 That is the reflection of our truck from a 63 Airstream we saw on the road!

 We drove most of the day on Sunday and tent camped in Babler State park just outside of St. Louis. We were not able to pick up the wrecked Airstream until Monday morning. The weather was great for camping both nights, and luckily there were no bugs either. We had a campfire both nights, and watched the stars. We met Dimitry ( Eugene's brother - in - law ) at Copart in St. Louis about 8 in the morning. The Airstream is a 2006 Safari se and is 25 feet long. The trailer was rolled onto it's left side, and the door side was in good shape. The Airstream pulled great even if it was leaning to the right. We drove most of Monday and camped in Village creek state park in Arkansas. We had to clean the trailer up quite a bit, but we got to see what worked, and what didn't. Most of the lights worked, and the plumbing worked, with only one drain leak under the sink. The trailer did not have a shore line, so we did not have electricity, only 12 volt lights. The Mosquitos were bad, and several got into the camper, which kept me awake for several hours trying to swat at them in the dark. We decided to drive all the way home on Tuesday, and left early so we got home around 5 in the afternoon.

 

It looks good from the front right side!

Now, to plan for Houston on Thursday.

Shelly got the 73 Airstream ready to leave for Houston, while I cleaned the barn. We drove down to Lone star lakes rv resort on Thursday, and got there about 4. After setting up, we drove to Ashlee's and Tyler's house. We visited with them until about 9, and decide we were all tired. In the middle of the night, Shelly noticed the floor was wet, and the air conditioner was dripping. She put a pan under the drip until morning. The next morning, I found that a bug had built a nest in the drain line. But that didn't stop the drip. I guess the humidity in Houston was too much for the drain line. So, I got to take the inside cover off and clean the coils and drip pan. That worked! We spent the day at Tyler's and visited. Mom and dad also came down and visited. Ashlee made taco soup for all of us, which was delicious! By the end of the day playing with Parker and Dallas, I was worn out. 

The air conditioner drain was working until the middle of the night, when it decided to stop up again. And drip everywhere. Including the edge of the bed. Ugh. After relevelling the trailer, we got the drip to stop, but everything was wet inside. We drove to Bush international airport and picked up Damon and Erica. Tyler made breakfast for all of us, and we visited until the party. The turnout for the party was good, and we got to visit and take pictures and video. After saying goodbye we packed up the camper and headed home. Erica and Damon went with us and helped us unpack at home. We got to spend some time planning our Arkansas trip in two weeks. It should be a lot less hectic.