We've been traveling over 20,000 miles with the Airstream, and Daniel's been driving the
entire time. I've been a little apprehensive about getting behind the wheel with 10,000
pounds in tow. Okay.
It was bound to happen eventually.
Keep your fingers crossed. There's no guarantee this is going to go well.
I'm doing the dishes a little bit more like Girl Scout style today because the campgrounds
we were at this week didn't have a sewer hookup. And Daniel was concerned that because we've
used 60% of our fresh tank, if I used any more, and we go down this really big hill
to get to the dump station, that there might be a flood.
We've got a little bit of a wait for the dump station here at the campground, but it's right
next to Laguna Seca. And this is literally the best spot ever to wait for a dump station.
They're racing on the track as we're waiting.
Clearly, I was too distracted by the cars to appropriately pull the camper closer to
the dump, because now it doesn't reach. Now I need the extension hose. I can't believe
I did that.
This is exactly why you should always have your own high-quality gear. They've got a
hose here at the station, but the end looks like this, so you're not able to screw it
on. All right. Now that we've dumped the tanks, it's time to head to our next destination.
We were officially headed to the Airstream rally in Lebanon, Tennessee. And as we're
in Monterey, California, we have over 2,500 miles to journey in less than four weeks.
There's going to be a ton of long towing days, and splitting it up between the two of us
may simply be a necessity.
We've been driving on Interstate 680 for a while now, here in California. And as you
can see, it's pretty bumpy.
I think that this highway needs at least one rest area per like three hours. I haven't
seen any. Gas stations, it's kind of hard to tell, unlike some of the other highways
that we've driven on where the big trucker gas stations are. Yeah. Just don't even know
what to say about that. You'll see a gas symbol with a D, obviously for diesel, but then it
just looks like it just drops you in the middle of a neighborhood, which isn't very comforting.
So, luckily we have a huge tank and don't need gas. But I mean, it wouldn't be bad to
just stop and stretch.
And it's definitely lunchtime, and since we haven't found a rest stop, we haven't eaten.
And I'm not Snickers-level hangry yet, but it could be a problem in the relatively near
future.
We just arrived at our Harvest Host location, and this is something you typically don't
see at Harvest Host: full hookups. I'm talking sewer, water, and 50-amp hookup. That's pretty
cool.
And it gets even better than that. Check out this view. Now that we are all settled in,
we get to do the best part about staying at a Harvest Host is sample the goods from the
local business, AKA wine time. Now that is a serious wine door. Come on in. I've got
a wine basket. Cheers to travel days.
There's art up on the walls here. One in particular is currently my spirit guide, especially after
an almost five-hour drive with no rest stops, no lunch, no anything. This one image encapsulates
how I feel at this very moment.
The door is so heavy. There's an ongoing job with campers that when you stay at a Harvest
Host, you end up spending more than you actually would at a campground. For us, our standard
go-to is we're trying to spend about $60 a night on a campground as a max. And tonight
here, at this Harvest Host, they had really, really darn good wine. So, we spent about
100 bucks. $40 more than we would have normally, but we got two bottles of wine to go, and
it is California, after all. So, kind of hard to complain.
With wine secured, we're just going to chill and hang out for the rest of the night, maybe
watch some Netflix, since we have full hookups, and relax. Because we have another long travel
day ahead of us tomorrow. And true story, if you bought two bottles of wine, you got
one tasting for free, so it's just supporting a local business.
After getting some work done this morning, knocking out a workout, getting some lunch
in, we are ready to move to our next spot. Last night was officially our last night in
California, and you know what that means.
California officially secured. This is our 18th state in the Airstream, and over the
next couple weeks, as we are making these long hauls, we are actually going to hit one,
two, three, four more before we get to Tennessee. Woo woo!
We made it to our pit stop in Nevada, and we did the world's quickest unhook because
we thought that it was going to rain, and now the weather seems kind of perfect for
set up. So now it's Chinese fire drill time, because when Daniel has to drive all day like
this, I'm required to drive when we're not hooked up. So, we found a local pizza joint,
and we're going to go grab dinner. Because making dinner on travel days, it just never
happens no matter what the best intentions are.
That's so true.
But before we go to dinner, it's time to fill up the truck. And Daniel couldn't be happier
about this, because we're now in Nevada, which means we won't be paying almost $5 a gallon
for diesel anymore.
It's my happy dance because I'm paying $1 less a gallon. Okay. So, here's the deal.
We found a local pizza shop, and we're super excited about it, because it looks amazing.
But for the life of us, we can not figure out how to pronounce this town.
Winnemucca?
Daniel has-
Winnemucca?
Daniel has had wine on the brain since California. So-
Wine... Yeah.
It has [inaudible 00:08:37]. Nothing is winning. Either way, this town is adorable.
It is. All right. Turns out the name is Winnemucca. And you know what? This is my fault. It's
an Indian name, and they can be difficult. I come from Orlando, and we have a place called
Econlockhatchee. And growing up, that name got butchered a lot, too.
Now that he's gotten that out of his system, it's time for dinner. I'm starting to feel
like we live off pizza lately, but the crust on this is pretty freaking fantastic.
One of the things I do before a long drive, especially one like tomorrow, is I scope out
the routes, and I basically look for any points of failure. And by failure, I mean am I going
to wind up down some side road going straight up a mountain?
All right. We got leftovers on purpose so that we would have travel food tomorrow, and
that was yum. Back to the Airstream.
Home sweet home. But, it's time for bed because Daniel and I are having a very serious conversation
about maybe letting me drive the Airstream at least a couple of hours tomorrow. So, not
only do I need extra rest, Daniel's poor nerves probably need a solid hundred-million more
hours of sleep. So, we're just going to relax, get to bed early before we hit the road to
Park City, Utah.
Travel day number three, and Daniel is going to at least let me run around in the park
with the Airstream and see if I feel confident enough to take her any further. But in order
to do that, he said I have to actually be able to align the truck with the hitch. So,
we're going to give that a try first. I'm pretty excited.
Wish us luck. About six feet. You're too far to the passenger side. You'll have to pull
forward and come back towards the driver's side a little bit. And go back just a little
bit more. Keep coming. Good, right there.
I so got this. I so got this.
Okay. Now you have to turn on the truck lights, and then all the lights for the trailer will
come on. Perfect.
It's going to be great. Now that he's moved, I'm just going to take it wide, because I'm
very big.
Right.
So, does the Airstream come out further than my truck does, like this wise?
Yes. Definitely.
Okay. I thought so, just from seeing those.
Yeah.
Okay. So, no cars are coming.
Yeah.
So, I'm just going to take it-
Wide.
... wide.
Yep. Now your obstacle would be the fence, which you're fine. Yeah. Cool. And you're
going to make this first left here. Go slow through all the turns, especially when you
have obstacles like this.
Anytime I'm turning to-
Either side.
... this side or this side-
Yep.
... I have to worry about the trailer hitting whatever the obstacles are on the side that
I'm turning.
That's right.
It's really, really weird not having a rear-view mirror and having a camera instead of that.
But, other than that, so far Daniel's a good teacher.
All right. Well, we're getting on the highway. This is happening.
I feel good about it. I don't know how Daniel's feeling.
I feel... I feel about it. I feel about it. That's what I feel. I feel something.
How are you feeling? We're about an hour into the trip. You've been driving an hour on the
highway now.
I'm feeling very, very proud of myself. So, what is it like towing the Airstream for the
first time? Liberating, empowering. It's basically terrifyingly awesome. It felt so good knowing
that if anything ever happened to Daniel and he couldn't drive, that I could do it. Like
most things in life, the hardest part is getting started. And my only real regret is that I
waited this long to do it. Ha ha, I did it! Does it feel good to be back in the driver's
seat?
Maybe a little bit. Although you did an amazing job. So, you ready to move to Utah? Well then,
I have some good news, because we're moving to Utah in less than six minutes. Our new
address will be at the Mountain Valley RV Resort for five nights. If you want to see
our Park City adventure, make sure you subscribe. Because we are going to have an amazing time
here, and you don't want to miss it.