Eureka Albuquerque rally trip April 2013!

Naturally we didn't get much sleep the night before we started our trip. That is one thing I'm not going to miss after retirement. We drove through Dallas, and I missed the 75 cutoff somehow. That detour took 30 to 40 minutes longer, because of all the idiots out there who missed the 75 cutoff, and created the traffic jam we were in. I am glad we don't drive in that every day. After about 5 hours on the road, we decided to stay at robber's cave state park in Oklahoma. Hwy 63 is not really a highway; more of a trail. After bouncing down that trail about 10 miles, I noticed the freezer door had come open, so Shelly picked up the spilled food, and closed the freezer. A few minutes later the door was open again, so Shelly picked up the spilled food again and this time put masking tape on to keep the door shut. I guess we should have known to use duct tape, because it came open again. This time, I got to pick up the spilled food, and taped the freezer shut. We made it to camp, and chose the same campsite we were in last year; #31.($20 water/elect) We hiked down to Carlton lake and over to the bird watching area. We sat around a campfire until dark thirty.
Thursday April 25
Up with the sun, gone with the wind! Drove to the cave and hiked on the rocks again before hitting the road. Made it to Eureka springs about four. ($29 / night full hookups) Set up and visited with everyone. Beautiful afternoon, about 75* and sunny.
Friday April 26
Woke last night to the sound of thunder; how far off I sat and wondered. Then the rain hit about 4 am and I knew. I got to take our lights down in the rain. Later, Shelly and I drove around Eureka, and bought some aluminum pans in a thrift store. Very scenic area all around. It rained just about all day, which kept us from hiking anywhere. The high temp was about 45* and windy. I helped grill the hotdogs, and Shelly baked brownies and made seven layer dip, of which all got eaten. No surprise there. There are a lot of Airstreams here.
Saturday April 27
It is cloudy and cool this morning, but it promises to be a lot warmer today. Open house is at 1 today. Open house went well with one exception. Jeff, the firefighter from Siloam springs, stepped out of a trailer and broke his ankle. The ambulance took care of him. He will be in surgery in the morning. On a better note, the pot luck supper was typically great, so we gorged ourselves again. As far as the promise of warmer weather, they lied again. It was cloudy and cool all day.
Sunday April 28
Drank coffee and visited with the guys. Packed up and said goodbyes. Our low tire light came on near Clifty, Ark. Found a station to fill the tire, but being Sunday, there were no tire stores open to fix it. Will hope it holds up till tomorrow. Drove to Jerry and Don McDowell's home just outside of Siloam Springs. They have a 1949 Airstream wide body. It is the third of about 16 made with a wide body. Now when I say Airstream, it is just the shell, and he started working on the frame. Total restoration needed, but he only wants $1600, which is pretty good, given the rarity of it. We decided we have enough projects for the time being, so we visited a while, then drove to Natural falls state park for the night. ($20 water/elect) Shelly and I hiked down to the falls, which were impressive. It was a beautiful sunny day, especially after the rainy weekend. We planned our route to Albuquerque, and decided to go across northern Oklahoma on 412. It'll probably be the only time we'll ever need to drive up here, so here we go. Watched the movie Derailed.
Monday, April 29
Woke up early to a sunny morning, with the birds chirping. I figured out how to type without the clicking noise that drives Shelly crazy, so she's happier. And if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. We started to leave about 10 am, but I had left the key in the truck,with the battery on. Yup, dead battery. I thought about taking the battery off the camper to use it for a jump, but thought that battery is already hooked up through the wiring, so we went for a hike to the falls again. When we got back, the truck started right up. I told Shelly I learned something today. She said, what, not to leave the key in the truck. Yeah, that too. Stopped west of Tulsa and got the tire fixed for $10 at Cecil's Tire, but I didn't have to take the tire off like Walmart wanted me to. Ate at Arby's for lunch- supper, and made it to Boiling springs state park. ( $22 full hookup with
a dollar off good SAMs discount) It got up to 94* and windy. What a difference two days make. Heater to air conditioner. We hiked to the springs and back, about two miles. The park host wanted to see our Airstream, so Shelly gave them a grand tour.
Tuesday, April 30
Beautiful sunny morning about 65*. I walked, jogged (wogged?) down to the springs again. The wind got plumb nasty today, about 30 to 40 mph, and most of the time it was a crosswind. Stopped at rv ranch in Amarillo. Washed laundry. Met Anne and Paul Sullivan from Denver in a brand new Airstream, and visited with them. The high today is 95* in Amarillo, and they're calling for snow tomorrow. Absolutely crazy weather.
Wednesday, May 1
There are wind warnings again today. We're they ever right. I think the gusts were over 50 mph, and the dust created a nightmare. The first hour of driving was a max of 60 mph, but the further west we went, the winds got behind us, and actually helped. We averaged over 13 mpg. Got to Albuquerque and set up at the Enchanted trail rv park. Shelly and I went to Walmart to grocery shop. We bought a Keureg coffee maker, and have high hopes for tomorrow's coffee. We visited with several Airstreamers in the park. The forecast is for higher winds tonight and tomorrow morning, but the rest of the weekend is supposed to be nice.
Thursday May 2
Extreme winds again last night, but down to about 15 mph this morning. There is a coating of dust on everything in the Airstream. We went to the petroglyphs national monument and took a two and a half mile hike. Even more amazing than the petroglyphs was the fact that people actually survived here. Indian graffiti. Went to the meeting at 4 and signed up. We met Anne Sullivan's friend, Lynda Polk, as well as Jay Graham and family from Gatesville. Lynda's husband, Jim is an Airstream appraiser, and also helped teach the frame off demonstration. They didn't have their Airstream here, but I want to see it. They had the interior redone at the Airstream factory, with the aluminum walls. There are a lot of really nice vintage Airstreams here. The main speaker was Sheridan Prince. He put together an amazing video of his restoration of his Caravel, which is amazing also. The classes start early tomorrow, so early bed tonight.
Friday, May 3
Wow, what a day! Non stop learning and non stop Airstream. Shelly went to the Zolatone class and learned everything about that. I went to the shell-off class, where they took the shell off of a 1956 Airstream flying cloud. By the end of the day, we had a new floor down, but not quite ready to reinstall the shell. There was a swap meet at the end of the day, and I bought 3 sets of window catches for our 1973. Tim Allen gave us a stainless steel shower pan for our 1957 Overlander, and a wall lamp. His daughter is nicknamed cleco from last years rally. Uwe advised against cutting the Trade Wind, and Jim Polk did too. Now I need to rethink that project.
Saturday, May 4
Another full day of learning. Shelly took two classes on curtains and upholstery. I watched the frame off again, and went to the plumbing class, and metal and riveting class. We were at the catered meal, when Shelly told me I needed to put the awning away, because the wind was getting up. When I got back to the Airstream, the wind had broken a pin holding the brace on , and the awning was against the camper. I was able to replace the pin with a nail.
The meal was pretty good, but the auction was fun. We sat across from the Flynn's, who ended up winning the cyclo polisher, which was pretty much the grand prize.
Sunday, May 5
Woke up early, and got ready to leave. I took a solar and battery class at 9, while Shelly got the camper ready to leave. We left the camp about 11 am. Drove all the way to Clyde Texas in about 10 hours, and decided it was time to quit. We'll drive the last three hours tomorrow