Summertime is traveltime

After some seventeen years of travel trailers, all in Airstreams from 35 year old ones to a brand spanking new one we have decided to switch means of travel. We still like the idea of taking our "home" with us especially after the nightmare we endured last summer staying in hotels between home and Colorado. We experienced everything from a long night stretch of No Vacancies, to dog hair in the bed, to a room with no available electric outlet that had extension cords strung everywhere. Even the window air conditioner was powered through an extension cord in the latter case, but it's surprising what you'll put up with after driving all day and half the night just to get a few hours of restless sleep. At the end of that trip we reminded ourselves one of the first reasons we got into "camping". That was a result of making annual trips from Florida to Colorado with long stretches of Texas roads. We had noticed that a lot of travelers in Texas had some type of camper and after crossing the state once to visit Arlene's family in Colorado we figured out the reason why. I guess the Federal government mandates some rest area facilities on the Interstate highways but on Texas state highways there are many parking areas but very few with any conveniences save the obligatory trash recepticle and the occasional picnic table. No water and the lack of even an outhouse privvie caused us much concern on that first trip. So we joined the throngs of others who travel like the turtle taking our home along with us. That introduction to "campers" as most people refer to them led us to join the Airstream Club or WBCCI by it's formal name and in turn led to caravanning with groups both large and small, to rally events for entertainment, games, food, sight seeing and socializing with a great group of people. We even sold our home and lived in our travel trailer for about nine years. We have decided that we miss the ability to stop on our travels pretty much at will and to set our own schedule unbothered by the distance between towns, availability of motel rooms, and even restaurants.

So we have set out on a new path. As we get older the tasks associated with hitching up the trailer as well as unhitching added to the hookups to set up camp was becomming more work than I wanted. So we have joined those who drive their homes. After a couple of months of searching aided by two friends, we found ourselves at Camping World in Chattanooga and eventually face to face with a Gulfstream BT Cruiser, not new but with very low miles and in real good shape. We haven't named it yet, and maybe we won't, so far we haven't felt compelled to make it a named part of the family, but we hope to get to use it frequently.