Mama Gertie's Hidaway, Swannanoa, NC

Was lucky enough to spend my birthday with close friends at Mama Gertie's Hideaway Campground in Swannanoa, NC. The weather had been quite wet in the days leading up to our trip so was relieved when, the day before, the skies cleared and the sun came out.

On our way from Raleigh, we stopped at the CAT scales in Mebane. It had been awhile since we had checked on our weight distribution--actually before we got new axles--so I was anxious to confirm loading was correct. Rivet weighed in at 6400 lbs., 700 lbs below GVWR. Weight distribution was a bit uneven between TV front and rear axles and tongue weight was a bit heavy so we made some adjustments and ran through the scales again. All done in less than 20 minutes and on the road again.

Rivet gets new running gear!

Recently, we decided to replace the Airstream's wheels and hub caps with aluminum rims. Although the hub caps were in relatively good shape and provided a true vintage appearance, their removal was necessitated every time we re-torqued the lug nuts. And, if they weren't continually adjusted and installed perfectly, chances were high that we would lose one on the road. Sometimes we were able to backtrack and retrieve the hub cap...sometimes not. So, we contacted our friends at Capital City Customs who provide all the service on our Airstream. As luck would have it, they had a vintage set of aluminum wheels for our model year.

Since it was time to replace tires and have wheel bearing service performed, we bit the (silver) bullet and opted to have all this done at one time. We have had ongoing concerns about all the bad press and posts on ST tire quality and their lack of regulation. So, after spending many hours researching tires, we opted to go with the Michelin  LTX 235 75R-15. Although these are not ST tires, many Airstreamers have run these tires for years and had no problems after suffering multiple failures with various ST tires.

As often happens, one thing led to another. We became painfully aware that it was time to replace the original Henschen axles. Capital City recommends the Henschen/Axis axles produced by Colin Hyde. Since we had to wait 6 weeks for new axles, our old Marathons were mounted on our newly polished aluminum rims so we'd have use of the Airstream in the interim. Six weeks later, we returned the Airstream for an axle exchange. A day later, we had new axles, brakes, wheels and tires! Now we just need some time to take them on the road!

Holiday trip 2013: 2nd stop--Ortona Locks CG

After a week of holiday celebrations with family and friends we are off to the Ft. Myers area for more adventures. The first part of our trip takes us over the Sunshine Skyway.

First night, we stayed at the Pine Island KOA. Nothing remarkable here but close to friends and full hookup!
Next morning we departed Pine Island and headed for our final destination.
Ortona Locks is a small but scenic Corps of Engineers property that sits directly on the Caloosahatchie River. Nestled between LaBelle and Clewiston, it is an easy drive east from Ft. Myers.

 

We headed back to Raleigh on New Years Eve around 9AM, opting to do the entire trip in one day and arrived home by 10:30PM. 

Holiday Trip 2013: First stop--Ft. DeSoto Park

Our first trip to Ft. DeSoto Park in Tierra Verde, FL began today! This is an incredible Pinellas County park right on the Gulf of Mexico. Many sites overlook the water, some bordered by mangroves making them very private. We backed into site #143 and began a week of relaxation and holiday celebrations with our families and friends.

Tanglewood RV park

We recently visited Tanglewood RV Campground near Winston-Salem, NC to meet up with friends for a weekend of fun that included the Adam Foundation Festival event as well as wine-tasting at one of our favorite vineyards, RayLen in Mocksville. I would highly recommend Tanglewood as a great destination for a couple days or a couple weeks! It is very close to shopping, vineyards, walking trails, horseback riding, swimming and golfing. All sites are full hookup, including wifi and cable, although wifi is better on some sites than others.
We arrived to rain showers on Friday, but by Saturday morning the weather was clear and cool!
We were lucky enough to garner 8 sites all together in this beautiful setting.

Our Park Model arrives!

Much has happened, of course, since we first created this blog almost 3 years ago.

It was originally created to track our progress toward purchase of a park model to be placed on a permanent site that we lease in the North Carolina mountains.

After months of research and trips to various dealers and folks with units for sale, we had all but abandoned the possibility and resigned ourselves to parking our Airstream travel trailer on our site as a semi-permanent vacation getaway.

On one of our trips to the mountains, we stopped along I-40 to request a quote for a custom unit--a last ditch effort that we figured would permanently discourage us from pursuing a park model. As luck would have it, the sales model had been placed on sale. What we had previously discounted as "doesn't meet our needs" suddenly became very much worth the consideration. We became owners of a new park model, soon to be delivered to our site in the hills.

Two years later, we have added a golf cart, decking, washer & dryer, internet service, satellite TV and some great memories.

The Airstream? It hangs at home waiting it's turn.

In the beginning...

We are two guys from Raleigh that have decided to lease a permanent RV site in the NC mountains. When we first purchased the Airstream 11 years ago, we leased a permanent site in this same campground. But after a year, decided we wanted to do some traveling with it. We have pulled it all over the southeast and mid-Atlantic states...down to Florida, up into Pennsylvania and west to Ohio (the Airstream factory) and Indiana.

"Rivet"

So, we have returned to the mother ship. Our intent this time around is to ultimately purchase and place a park model on our site, leaving the RV at home so we can continue to travel and explore the country.