On August 26, 2019 Sean and I picked up our first camper, an Airstream Globetrotter. Two days later we left Las Vegas on a cross-country trip to help Uncle Mike move from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. Along the way we stopped at roadside attractions including The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota…Earlier this year we again made the cross-country trip, during the pandemic, to take care of Uncle Mike during his final months. Over the course of that stay I rebuild the concrete pool skirt for my mother-in-law.
Fast forward to today. It’s been a year and a day since we left on our first camping adventure. We’ve driven coast to coast twice and visited thirty-six states. We have driven twenty-three thousand miles towing our Airstream. We have made lots of upgrades including:
- Replaced Street-side Stabilizer (it was broken when we picked up the coach)
- Upgraded Front Jack (the base model broke in Rhode Island)
- Upgraded to a 600 Amp Hour battery bank from 96 Amp Hours
- Added 500 Watts of Solar Power to keep the batteries charged
- Added Custom Nameplates designed by @CandiceMakes
- Installed dual SIM internet connectivity hardware & shipboard computer
- Replaced DVD Player with two AppleTV devices
- Upgraded the Water Pump and installed a pressure tank
- Upgraded the entire charging and inverting system from 1000 watts to 3000 watts
- Replaced all exterior compartments with stainless steel versions.
- Repaired various things including trim pieces, shower door, toilet valves and seals, main table, guest bed…
I am sure there are things we have done that I am forgetting. I’ve been in every compartment/hatch/hidey-hole in the coach.
In all this time and all these miles we haven’t actually gone camping yet. We’ve used our Airstream as a hotel on wheels between destinations. Thus far all our trips have been either family emergency related or work related. Sure we’ve done camping things along the way, but we’ve not actually been camping for the sake of camping.
We rectify that later this month, if the pandemic allows…