Airstream,
RV Camping
& Travel Tips

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.

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.”

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.

I had the honor of shooting the breeze with Janine during Episode 82 about my proud association with the Airstream cult—er, I mean, community—and how, this year, Airstreaming and eclipse chasing will collide in Oregon during the Great American Eclipse in August.

The longer I live in Bend, the more surprised I am to discover that Central Oregon is a hotbed of RV notables—including, now, the Nest Caravan. President and designer Robert Johans let me peek behind his fence and inside one of his innovative trailers, rolled out just eight months ago.

Are you returning home from Alumapalooza westbound on I-80? After 13 hours on the road you’ll need a break. Take the half hour detour to Hastings, Nebraska, home of Kool-Aid.

Deep within the bowels of the Hastings Museum, past the antique cars and taxidermied coyotes, remains every possible relic from the Kool-Aid years, circa 1927 to the present. You’ll learn about nerdy young Edwin Perkins, who began his snack drink empire in his mother’s Nebraska kitchen.

The Manzanar War Relocation Center, where we briefly stopped during our southwest road trip. At the base of a starkly beautiful range of hills stand two of the grim barracks, out of the former hundreds, reconstructed for historical reflection.

According to the RV professionals present at an Oregon Unit Airstream rally, 300,000 accidents occur annually due to backing up. It was subtly implied that a woman was likely behind the wheel each time.

Simmer down, trailer chicks: stereotypes don’t grow in a vacuum, and that’s why a Women’s Towing Session is on the program again at Alumafandango. I have the honor of presenting as well; at “Tow It Alone”, we’ll share concerns, adventures, and tips for women who seek to set aside their fears and experience the thrills and benefits of learning to Airstream solo.

The “Airstreaming” Etsy shop is featured on BellaOnline—a website for women that covers over 400 topics, including RV travel.

If your coach is in hock at the Airstream factory for repair (as described in the prior post), you’re aware that there’s nothing—I mean, nothing—to do in the village of Jackson Center, population 1450 (unless you’re there during Alumapalooza week).

Panic not. You’re near an area known as “The Greater Grand Lake St. Marys Region of Auglaize and Mercer Counties”. And a pretty neat space museum, only twenty miles from Airstream, Inc.