December 2014 – Greg & Amelia's Airstream Adventures

Christmas Eve, Catalina State Park, Arizona

If you haven’t heard, we are back living in SD and loving it! Amelia is teaching kindergarten at her old school. Sara spends her days basking in the sunshine. And I’m mountain biking year round. For the time being, our Airstream travels will be limited to Amelia’s vacation days, which is a big chunk of time compared to other professions.

How many different places have you spent Christmas the last few decades? Unless my memory fails me, I’ve spent the last 40 in either San Diego or Mammoth Lakes. Once upon a time, before I was on the scene, Amelia went on a cruise for Christmas and to Ft. Lauderdale, but other than that it’s been San Diego or Mammoth Lakes for her also. This year we went mountain biking outside of Tucson with friends. It’s never too late to get out of the box you’ve built for yourself.

Another Airstream adventure, a whole new set of lessons learned. Everyone has heard me rave about our solar panel, well let me tell you it is a completely different story in the dead of winter when the sun never gets high in the sky and is not out for long. During the summer, by 10am we were always 100% charged. This trip it never happened. Of course, I’m sure it didn’t help that the morning lows were in the teens and the highs in the low 50’s. Quite a bit colder than we were expecting. One morning it was 36 degrees in the Airstream. It was so cold that when Amelia’s cousin, Forest, arrived we told him to not even think about pitching his tent. Instead he became our second guest ever, R being the first.

This might be hard to believe, but I was driving everyone crazy, especially Amelia, by giving a constant status check update. Inside temp, outside temp, and battery percentile. I was stressing over the battery and worried about pipes busting. It is kind of hard to crank the furnace when the battery is on the verge of dying. One evening we plugged the Airstream into the truck, and ran the truck for 5 hours, just to get the battery back up to 70%. I was surprised at how little gas we used and happy it was only $1.99 gallon! The next day we did it again for 4 hours. Basically we were fighting a losing battle.

The good news is the biking was super fun, the beers were cold, and all the home cooked food was excellent. We spent multiple days riding the 50-year trail, which was right at our campsite. We also drove to Fantasy Island and Tortolita Preserve. It’s always great to get together with friends!

Ok, this is random, but my group of friends have always had a go to nick name that we call each other and others. Bill has endured for decades, but before Bill, everyone was Ed. And way before Ed, everyone was Andy Gump (this predates Forest Gump). But the problem is I can't remember if Andy Gump was a real guy?

Ok, this is random. This pic is from our first pit stop in Imperial Valley. My group of friends have always had a go to nick name that we call each other and others. Bill has endured for decades, but before Bill, everyone was Ed. And way before Ed, everyone was Andy Gump (this predates Forest Gump). I think Andy Gump might’ve actually been a real guy, but I can’t remember?