[A/S] A trip and some Airstreams

["jimmartin93" <jimmartin93@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

    Hi to all my aluminum twinke friends, Some of you know me and that 
I have a 1973 23' Safari that I live in at the Experimental Aircraft 
Association grounds while working and volunteering there over the summer 
months. For the 4 years that I, (WE) have owned our Airstream I've just 
pulled it the 86 miles from home here near Madison, WI up to Oshkosh and
back each year. No big deal, mostly 4 lane freeway, not too exciting but
it really works out fine for my home away from home. In November I changed
that and connected up, drove to Southwestern Virginia to tend some property
I have there. It worked great after I modified the septic system to accept 
the spongy collar and slinky. There is electricity, but no water as the 
spring went dry; hauling water 6 gallons at a time may soon give way to a 
well and pump....Any way it went well and what some of you may be interested
in is what I saw on the way home. Detouring by Evansville Indiana to visit 
relatives I saw an Airstream motorhome on the lot of American RV just south
of I 64 on US 41. As I was leaving I stopped in and inquired. What I found 
is passed along to you and anyone interested, as several have shown that 
interest on this list, further inquiry can be made to them as I don't know 
too much about the motorhomes. Here's what I did find; it's a 1981 Airstream 
Motorhome, an Excella emblem was on it. Length is 28', with a 454 Chevy 
engine that shows 84,000 miles. It has an Onan generator installed, I noticed 
those castering -no drag the rear end- wheels mounted near the receiver. It 
must have been hit by a tree or a grapefruit sized piece of hail as there is
about an 18 inch to 2 foot square mashed in place on the right rear compound
curved corner; someone good with an english wheel could knock that out rather 
quickly. Inside: all the tambour doors seemed to work, all the led lights 
seemed to light up on the annunciator panel, of course what they indicated 
may be out of whack. Carpet needs replacing. The cabinet above the fridge has 
a sliding door that comes off the track, to the dismay of the salesman, and 
there is a homegrown extra shelf in that cabinet. I didn't start the engine 
or drive it. The tires looked fairly new but I didn't check the DOT dates. It's 
shown as $9995 but the salesman, Lloyd Carter, said something about no Airstream
Dealers in the area and they wanted to get rid of it and would come down in $. 
If interested he can be contacted at 800-365-9220. 
A few miles up the road in Illinois, cruising around the area where my Mom grew 
up, I saw an old Airstream sitting in a resale shop that occupies an old gas 
station. Of course I stopped and looked it over thinking one of you might be 
interested. It's a 1955 Airstream s/n 06187 or was it 006187, no matter, I 
inquired and the "salesman" got the key which turned out to be a flatblade 
screwdriver, opened the door and said I should take a look. The poor old thing 
is about 1/2 full of "inventory" so a good look was hampered but I did notice 
that the rear interior panel was missing, if they had such back then, there 
were twin beds in the back. There was what appeared to be a cabinet just to 
the left of the door and what looked like a plain "apartment" fridge was just 
to the right of the entrance door with what appeared to be kitchen cabinets 
curbside up to the front. In the left front there is what appears to be a door 
to a toilet, maybe it's the closet and the toilet is left of the entrance door??? 
Across from the entrance door is what looks like a booth and table style for supper, 
that could later be turned into bed(s). The front windows were sort of a crank out 
affair that swung forward. Roadside there were 3 windows which were connected to 
each other. There were 2 20# steel propane tanks that were pretty rusty. What 
appeared to me to be old Reese equalizer brackets were pretty rusty. The chain 
horn is to the back and there is an R recessed  into the casting. no equalizer 
bars were apparent. The upper skin in back anyway was covered with black pock 
marks, it obviously hadn't been washed or cared for in years. There are wheels 
and tires on it but who knows what shape they are in. It appears to be about 22 
to 25 or so feet in length, sorry I failed to get the tape out. The "salesman" 
informed me as I was leaving that someone offered them $500 and the "boss" said 
he's firm at $900. It's located at Hidalgo, IL on IL Hwy 130, where the phone 
number is 618 793-2643 if anyone is interested enough to contact them. I thought 
of resurrecting it and pulling it behind my 56' Chevy, but too many other projects 
are in the fire now. There is no relationship between me and these 2 Airstreams; I 
throw them out just to let you know of their existence. Contact me at 
jimmartin93@netzero.net if you're interested and I'll try to come up with more 
details.
The remainder of the trip home was punctuated by a deer trying to beat me across 
the Interstate about 10 miles south of Rockford, IL. Tie's don't count in that game, 
and we both lost to the tune of a $785 estimate, my first in 46 years of driving, 
no damage to the Airstream. I look at the trailer differently now that I've used 
it on a cross country trip, and understand all of your love of travel with our 
aluminum wonders. Wally had a great idea. Pardon for the rambling on, I don't write 
often but usually go long when I do., Safe traveling to you.
Jim Martin
1973 23' Safari