New Year's Road Trip 2014

After many weeks working hard on a major home improvement project (adding on a living room and dining room) we needed a break. We decided to hitch up our vintage 1955 Airstream trailer, Moonshadow, and head south to join 40 other Airstreams for a New Year’s Eve rally at Picacho Peak, Arizona. On December 27th we gladly left dreary cold and snow behind.  The first day on the road we went as far as Burro Creek campground, a beautiful spot and popular birding location in Arizona. 

Picacho Peak: warm sun at last! Even though our home is now much larger with two new rooms, we were getting cabin fever and after a long spell of sub-zero temperatures, we were more than ready for a change. At Picacho Peak, just north of Tucson, it felt like a summer day in Parowan.

We thought we were here to celebrate the New Year, not Christmas!

I guess Santa needs to get away from cold weather too.

Five days and nights camped amongst other Airstreamers, we had afternoon happy hours for socializing and sharing good food and drink. Pictured here: New Belgium Brewery of Colorado’s “Accumulation” IPA with Airstream in the snow label, a winter seasonal brew.

Nightly bonfire and b.s. sessions.

Spike spent daylight hours painting rocks, arroyos and saguaros.

Picacho Peak Afternoon, small 9x12'' oil

Arroyo Bottom, small 8x10'' oil

The last day of 2013 we gathered for a White Elephant gift exchange. Gifts ranged from the bizarre to the awful with a few good things mixed in. That night we rang in the New Year around a blazing campfire with plenty of champagne.

Evening Announcement, 12x16'' oil

The evening glow on the surrounding mountains was pure eye-candy!

We began 2014 by moving further south to Saguaro National Park, just west of Tucson. We camped three nights at a county run campground and made day excursions for painting into the park and to San Xavier de Bac Mission and Tubac.

Sonoran Desert, 12x16'' oil

It was amazing to see how green the desert was this time of year.

San Xavier de Bac Mission, 11x14'' oil

Desert Wash, small 8x8'' oil

We headed home by way of  Marble Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs

where we planned to camp a night or two.

Crossing Navajo Bridge gave us a spectacular view of Marble Canyon and the Colorado River.

At Lee’s Ferry campground we grab the best campsite. For years we have lusted for this primo site which overlooks the river. Now, in the cold January weather, with the campground virtually empty, we have our pick of sites.

Marble Canyon Tributary, small 9x12'' oil.

One last chance to get in some painting time.

We stay two nights. Our last evening here, as the sun sets, warm light glows on the canyon wall above the cold river.

Airstream Restoration: Axles first, Spring of 2010



Canyon de Chelly  -  oil 16x20''



Sue and I had been thinking of getting our Airstream back on the road for some time.  The old 6 volt brakes that came with the trailer served us well for many years with a voltage resister on the break controller, but the time had come to replace them. The easiest way seemed to be to replace the entire axel with new, modern brakes.  The next question was, where do we find new axles for a 55 year old trailer? At this point we had no idea.



In May of 2010 I was in Canyon de Chelly, AZ on a painting trip, car camping in my mobile studio. I pulled into the campground near the canyon entrance to discover some 90 Airstreams taking up most of the park. It was a WBCCI (Wally Byan Caravan Club International) caravan touring the South West.

WBCCI Caravan in Canyon de Chelly, May 2010

Being a proud Airstream owner I just had to talk to someone in the group. A man named Jerry Hall from North Carolina was very helpful and gave me good information about what’s going on in Airstream circles these days. He informed me Airstream now uses Dexter Axles and directed me to a source. When I returned home I got on-line, joined the WBCCI and then VAC (Vintage Airstream Club). Through the VAC on-line forum I found someone with a trailer close to the same year as mine, Bill Kerfoot from California who owns a 1954 Airstream double-door Liner. Bill confirmed what I had concluded, that replacing the old axles with new axles and brakes was indeed the best way to go. 



Within two weeks we ordered new Dexter axles, they were delivered early in July. We began figuring out how to remove the old and install the new. To my surprise we discovered that at some point before I owned this trailer serious damage had been done to the center axle hanger that supports the equalizing arm on the curb side. I remember Roy telling me about damage to the right side of the trailer that required a trip to the Ohio Airstream factory for repair. I wish I had paid more attention now. The photo below left, shows how off-center it was. It must have broken loose and was welded back in a misaligned position, almost a half an inch off. I always had bad wear on the right rear tire and now I understood why.  





The center hangers that came with the new axles were shorter than those originally mounted to the trailer frame. I wanted to use the old hangers so the trailer would not ride any lower than it already was so my solution was to cut the misaligned hanger off at a point that would allow me to weld the new shorter hanger to it, thus maintaining the same height (photo above right).

With the center hangers measurement from the hitch, now the same on each side, 
I used a jig to ensure correct alignment of the front and rear hangers.

 

We loosened the belly skin in order to reach in
and shroud insulation from welding sparks.



With help from my oldest son Paul and a fellow Airstream owner Steve Masefield we got the new axels mounted and a brake controller installed in the tow van which is my mobile studio, (more about the mobile studio in another post.)

Steve Masefield (left) helping with the brake controler. 

Finally ready to roll.

By now it’s the beginning of August and we wanted to be in Salida, Colorado by the 8th to attend the Rocky Mountain Vintage Rally hosted by a club in Denver. We had Moonshadow roadworthy only hours before our departure deadline.

First 500 miles on new axles, arrived safely at rally site.

Patti Reed's 1953 Flying Cloud

  

Shari & Rod Davis' 1956 Safari / 2010 award winning restoration.

Herb Spies' 1963 Globe Trotter, WOW, what a polish job!

 

Our rally neighbors, Duane & Cheryl Ferguson with dog Buddy

& their 1976 Caravaner

We had a fabulous time, met some great people, learned a lot and even got a polishing demo by Rob Davis done on our own Moonshadow. Watch this video, it’s almost as though, after 55 years, we get a peek into the hidden soul of our trailer.

Our Airstream is still usable even though it needs a full restoration from the frame up. It is in original condition. As the guys on the VAP (Vintage Airstream Podcast) say, trailers like ours are survivors. Our plan is to do the outside cosmetic work and window restoration first while we enjoy a few more trips. We’ll then dive into it deep and serious towards the end of this year.

Rocky Mountain Vintage Rally 2010

That's us at 9:00 in the innermost circle.