Airstream,
RV Camping
& Travel Tips

Not goodbye…just “see you down the road.”

Safe travels from the ‘Streaming blog!

I’ve kept the corner of my eye on the Airstream Interstate since the Tommy Bahama “Relax” model was announced. I jonesed for its beach-house decor and party vibe. Like a straying spouse, I tried to shoo the thoughts away, knowing I couldn’t keep both a travel trailer AND a touring coach. Wasn’t my first and only love the DWR?

If you’re interested in owning this rare Airstream trailer—the 2008 16ft limited edition “Design Within Reach” decor model—you have an advantage as a ‘Streaming reader: just scroll backward and you can see everywhere she’s been towed, turning heads along the way.

Alumapalooza has grown into a sprawling event that reaches from the new Airstream factory under construction at one end of Jackson Center, Ohio, to the other side of town near WBCCI headquarters. I’m glad I was Airstreaming with my URB-E foldable electric scooter at Alumapalooza 10.

Kathy Deggendorfer was raised to appreciate design and details.

Growing up in Portland, Oregon as a daughter of the owners of Columbia Sportswear, she “spent a lifetime of looking at stitch length and bar tacks,” she said. “I like to see pattern. The first time I saw an Airstream I thought, wow, those rivets look just like the top stitching on the side of a pair of jeans.”

This 200-site facility is a real slice of LA life. Catering to film & tv workers and wannabes, the campground is located next to a large sound stage on busy Balboa Boulevard in Van Nuys and packed with long-ish term residents who are doing business in the industry, trying to break into the industry, failed from the industry, or retired from the industry.

Our Zip Dee awning—the one all Airstreams have been fitted with since the Earth’s crust was cooling—was trouble from the start. For reasons that were later revealed, our first attempt to operate it went badly, and subsequent attempts got progressively worse.

Everything changed at Alumapalooza.

Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the video containing the official, definitive answer you’ve been seeking: “How to Deploy Your Airstream Awning”.

If you’re not in a hurry to get to Point B, avoid the mega freeways. That’s the best way to spy a sign that reads “Welcome to [Podunk]: Home of [Vague Celebrity]”.

Many “home of” towns have legitimate claims to fame, like Winterset, Iowa and Millville, Indiana. Other towns are so sweet to champion their minor native sons.

I had never heard the word “ordnance” before. “It’s bullets and bombs and weapons,” explained Ralph, a former (is one ever former?) Marine. “Anything you shoot or that blows up.”

Well, then, if you like blowing things up you’ll positively salivate at the Ordnance Museum in the all things military town of Hawthorne, Nevada.

Love the allure of Airstreams but don’t have one yourself? Well, what’s the matter with you. Get one. Join us. Resistance is futile. Want to spend the night in one first? No problem. That’s a thing.

There are several “Airstream hotel” options out West.