Oct 01 2017

The selling of our Airstream trailer

In our younger years, we enjoyed tent camping, so shortly into our retirement, 11 years ago, we rekindled the dream of camping and explored the RV options that would make it more pleasant and comfortable. After visiting dealers of pop up and white box, and finally Airstream trailers, we came to the conclusion that it would be Airstream or nothing! After doing almost a year of homework and exploring all of the information and opinions in AirForums and Airstream Life, we bought a 2007 Airstream Safari SE 23′ trailer and brought it home in January 2007, as detailed in “SilverGate’s Safari is Home at Last!”

For the next 10 years our family enjoyed the form and function of this iconic trailer* while camping in the beautiful desert, mountain, and beach parks in San Diego County and meeting and making new friends along the way.

As I entered the seventh decade of my life, my body began telling me that I should lighten the workload and yet still enjoy being a California day-tripper.* So we decided to find the right person to buy, enjoy and love this Airstream as we have. To this end, we first contacted friends and then placed our ad on AirForums’ Airstream Classifieds on September 13. The first responses were from dealers who wanted to buy it for resale. There were 18 other inquires and I asked each one to tell me something about themselves, interest in Airstream, RV experience, how they would use the trailer, and what they would use as a tow vehicle.

Two days after the ad was posted, we got a positive response that looked promising from a local, young family who came to see the trailer and decided after a few days of serious contemplation that this trailer would be a perfect match, and we agreed! The transaction was completed with a cashier’s check, bill of sale, and the Notice of Title Transfer and Release of Liability. I then reviewed with the buyer how everything worked and assisted in hitching up the trailer to his 2016 RAM 3500 truck. I then followed him in our truck, filled with camping items that we no longer needed, and assisted him in parking and unhitching the trailer.

Our Safari was beaming, looking happy, and right at home in its new homeport!

Also looking happy, the new owner said he and his family are absolutely thrilled with the trailer!

And we are happy and thrilled to pass this iconic Airstream trailer on to a younger generation that will give it love, good use, good care, and a good home!

*Encore YouTube videos: Paul McCartney – Two of Us and Transfer – Reflections of Home and Losing Composure

Jun 19 2015

Airstream into San Diego and beyond

San Diego region has year-round camping opportunities, excellent weather, and wonderful places to visit and, when coming here to do both, it’s good and more enjoyable to have a plan, a two-part plan. Over the past eight years, we’ve enjoyed taking our Airstream Safari to our favorite San Diego beach, mountain, and desert camping spots, and while there, we frequently meet people new to the area who are interested in learning more about places to visit in the San Diego metropolitan area and where to stay while visiting friends and places there.

The first part of this suggested plan is to see the many attractions in the metropolitan San Diego area first, while staying at a nearby, local campground. The second part is to move to your ideal camping location away from the city, where you can enjoy hiking, swimming or relaxing at a beachside, mountain, or desert campground, depending on the season. To get your best camping locations and sites, it’s best to make your reservations as early as possible. San Diego County’s Sweetwater Summit Regional Park is a good starting point because it is only 10 miles southeast of downtown San Diego and has 112 campsites and its Summit Campground has 63 new sites with full hookups.* San Diego County Parks have a new look and feel.* The main advantage of this campground is that it’s just 20-25 minutes away from many local attractions such as the beaches, Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Sea Port Village, and Old Town.

While in the metropolitan area, you could bring your own lunch and have a happy time in Old Town.*

(Above photo credit: Charlie Chul Jung)

Or visit San Diego’s beautiful and historic Balboa Park* and its many museums, such as theNAT and see its permanent exhibition, “Coast to Cactus”, featuring an Airstream trailer!* (Parking is available in the park or nearby areas, including the San Diego Zoo parking lot.)

Checkout the flamingos and what’s new at the San Diego Zoo, such as the Asian Leopards Habitat with Catwalks.*

Visit Cabrillo National Monument* with its Old Point Loma Lighthouse, hiking trails and tide pools.

Or take a 45-minute drive north to explore San Diego Zoo Safari Park* (formerly named San Diego Wild Animal Park).

After visiting the local San Diego attractions, you can then move to your preferred beach, mountain, or desert campground that you reserved ahead of time. During the summer, the coolest place to enjoy camping is one of our California State beach campgrounds, such as South Carlsbad State Beach. It is very popular and reservations for beachside camping often need to be made months in advance. Our favorite time to go is in May before the summer crowds.

Our favorite fall and spring campground is William Heise County Park in the mountains near Julian, California. We prefer the wooded, non-hookup sites in Area 2. Dogs on a leash are permitted on the scenic trails.

The desert is a great place to camp during the late fall, winter and early spring months. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park* is popular because of the resources of the nearby town of Borrego Springs.

Our favorite desert campground is Agua Caliente County Park because there is less traffic and it is not so crowded, especially during the weekdays. It has a therapeutic spa and pools, but dogs are not allowed on trails.

*This is a link to a YouTube video.

May 14 2015

Catfish by the sea, again

For the past eight years, we’ve rounded out our camping season by unhitching our Airstream Safari trailer on the bluffs of South Carlsbad State Beach. Reservations for the popular beach side campsites need to be made up to 6 months in advance. Our favorite site has windblown bushes (Melaleuca nesophila) that provide privacy, but California’s drought is now having an impact on them. A ranger told me that the park is now limiting watering to three times per week and will be replacing the turf with drought tolerant plants.

Each year we enjoy listening to the continuous sound of the surf* and watching the shore birds soar by on the updraft of the sea breeze along the bluffs.

Nearby is The Flower Fields* 50-acre garden on the Carlsbad Ranch, featuring Giant Tecolote Ranuculus blooms* 10 weeks each spring sustained by reclaimed water from the City of Carlsbad and a drip irrigation system.

On this trip I did a photo shoot of a crow dive-bombing a squirrel hole in an attempt to capture young squirrels (See the dramatic photos and story in my post, “A crow and squirrel interlude,” History Safari Expresso). I was also lucky to have the camera ready when a Great blue heron landed on our campsite fence.

We decorated our outdoor camp kitchen with papel picado for celebrating Cinco de Mayo.* Larry deep fried catfish.

The last time we ate catfish by the sea, we enjoyed beautiful, glowing sunsets. This time the sun silhouetted San Clemente Island.

The ocean is a wonderful place to contemplate the mysteries and celebrations of life, as seen in my post, “Ocean gleanings,” History Safari Expresso.

*This is a link to a YouTube video.

Jun 14 2014

Ocean knight currents, part four

I cautiously passed the windmill facing the ocean, which I had originally and mistakenly perceived to be a giant with waving arms,* and sallied forth to find the museum housing musical instruments that are close to my heart, such as the lute.

While venturing eastward, I came upon a lovely field of flowers (The Flower Fields® at Carlsbad Ranch)* with a beautiful damsel (Dulcinea?)* in the middle beckoning visitors to enjoy the splendor of ten million Ranunculus flowers.

Assured that the lady was safe behind a white picket fence, I continued on in search of stringed instruments and came upon a magnificent castle* on top of a hill with a commanding view of the countryside and the Pacific Ocean. This is the home of the Museum of Making Music,* which displays hundreds of vintage instruments and presents special exhibitions twice a year along with concerts, workshops, and educational programs. (I last made a pilgrimage here in 2008 to view a special exhibit of ukuleles.) I was delighted that my quest was at an end as I experienced their current, special exhibit, “The Banjo: A New Day for an Old Instrument.”

The banjo’s roots are thought to go back to West Africa, where hide-covered gourd folk lutes, such as the akonting, were plucked.* The concept was transported to Colonial America by Africans via the Atlantic slave trade.

An early version of the banjo was played in degrading minstrel shows of the 1800s. My favorite black banjo/guitar/singer of the folk song era of the 1960s was Elizabeth Cotten,* best known for her timeless song, “Freight Train.”*

Back at camp, Larry prepared lunch featuring pupusas, a traditional Salvadoran dish, fried masa pies filled with ham and cheese.

A couple strolled into the sunset as I reflected on our successful quests, the rebirth of the San Diego Opera, and why music is so important.*

It’s nice to remember the sun’s gonna shine again.*

*This is a link to a YouTube video.

Jun 05 2014

Ocean knight currents, part three

Coming back up the bluff’s 50-foot high stairway, this knight paused to get his wind and got a bird’s eye view as the crow flies* of pelicans gliding by, sustained by onshore air currents. Occasionally, Red-shouldered hawks also soared by as they looked for prey, such as the abundant California ground squirrels, and were harassed by spirited crows defending their territory.*

Crows are now considered to be among the world’s most intelligent animals, as demonstrated by Dr. Alex Taylor in the BBC documentary, “Inside the Animal Mind.”*

On page 87 in the Spanish novel, Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman, HarperCollins Publishers, 2005, Don Quixote said this about the crow:

According to an ancient and widespread tradition throughout the kingdom of Great Britain, this king [King Arthur] did not die but, through the art of enchantment, was turned into a crow and in time will return to rule and recover his kingdom and scepter…

(I continue to enjoy the benefits of reading out loud a chapter at a time at bedtime of this very readable and enjoyable translation of this great work!)

California brown pelicans also seem right at home in this kingdom by the sea.

The brown pelican, once shot at for millinery plumes, first received legal protection when Theodore Roosevelt* created sixteen federal bird refuges, starting with Pelican Island, Florida, in 1903. The species is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, and was placed on the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1970 due to the effects of DDT on its eggs. Agricultural use of DDT in the U.S. was banned in 1972 and by 2009, brown pelicans made a comeback and were removed from the Endangered Species List. They are now commonly seen flying along California’s coast* and diving into the ocean to capture food.*

But a recent brown pelican population survey led by UC Davis professor emeritus and wildlife biologist Dan Anderson found a drastic decline in nesting pairs, which may be due to changes in ocean temperature and shifts in the pelicans’ food supply.

San Diego Audubon Society says, “Celebrate birds because they fly…” (Click on their beautiful video stream at the bottom of their website.)

Watching this pelican ballet in the sky was mesmerizing, but by noon, it was time to take my usual midday shower in the campground’s facilities. (We are very frugal with the use of water and electricity in the trailer. By the fifth day of non-hookup camping, our 30-gallon freshwater tank is typically half full, which means we typically use 3 gallons/day!) After showers, I always look forward to eating a sandwich made by Larry and then catching up on notes and reading.

While eating my lunch, a squirrel tried to claw its way into a bag of potato chips!

This drama played out while an old black crow* majestically swept by, perhaps on a quest for food, or the Holy Grail.*

*This is a link to a YouTube video.