Meet your sister, Mae

“Okay, goodnight. Get some rest. I’ll be in to check on you in fifteen minutes.”

The nurses at the hospital meant well and, of course, were just doing their job: caring for not only a newborn baby but a mother recovering from abdominal surgery. And that meant frequent checks of everyone’s vital signs, administering tests and issuing painkillers around the clock, a bit frustrating when you’ve just settled a newborn into the clear plastic bassinet provided by the hospital only to have a nurse just starting her shift at midnight burst into your room and rouse her by inserting a cold stethoscope underneath your artfully wrapped swaddle.

But this experience was still easier than our first time on the labor and delivery ward. As first-time parents, we’d been monitored minute by minute, forced to fill out forms documenting our baby’s every ingestion and digestion, and scolded for a brief period during which a knitted beanie was not pulled down snuggly on her head for warmth. When we inquired as to why this time they’d let us crank the AC in the room and run a floor fan 24/7 in an effort to combat the stifling claustrophobia of still hospital air and had been told the paperwork was optional, they were satisfied by confirming that we had another child at home and that it was still, in fact, alive.

The first night, it pretty much all came back to us. We’d been commenting to friends about how little we felt like we remembered about caring for a newborn, but in truth, a little skin-to-skin contact and constant access to a mother’s breast was about all there was to it in the first hours. After a middle-of-the-night post-feeding diaper change, I wrapped Mae back up in stiff hospital blankets pilling from thousands of washes over the years, cradled her head in one hand while supporting her body in the other and found myself bouncing at the knees to the beat of Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier,” a tempo I’d figured out had been just the thing to put our first daughter, Wynne, to sleep. Sure enough Mae’s tiny eyes rolled back in her head and eventually closed, and I flashed back to hundreds of times before as I leaned her into the bassinet, contorting and wincing while gently extricating my hands from beneath her. 

The next morning, I dug through some old pictures of Wynne in her first hours and put them side by side with Mae’s. On one level, these two newborns wrapped in the same hospital blankets and topped with the same hospital beanies, looked almost identical. But knowing Wynne as we do, the characteristic smile in her eyes and her observant nature, we could see “her” immediately in one of the pictures. When looking at Mae, it was hard to know what to see because we don’t quite know her yet.

 

I left the hospital that afternoon to spend some time with Wynne. On the 15 minute ride home, I couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow I was traveling two and a half years through time. I’d left an 8 lb baby, only 12 hours old, and by the time I got home, she was walking and talking and making it clear in no uncertain terms that she would prefer cold hotdogs over a quesadilla for lunch and that afterwards she would like to play with some bubbles. What a huge difference 30 months makes at this age.

We’d been talking to Wynne about being a big sister for a long time, and she seemed to understand that there was a “baby in momma’s belly.” She even took to asking anyone with a less-than-taut six pack if they too “got a baby in there?” She’d been asking to read to the baby and hug the baby and kiss the baby goodnight. While other friend’s toddlers were fighting over Play Doh and blocks, she’d be waiting patiently for a chance to hold one of their baby brothers or sisters. This little girl was ready for the job of big sister.

But still, we had our concerns about their first interactions. The fact was, her mom and dad had been gone for four nights now, and despite the welcome consolation prize of uninterrupted time with her Grammie visiting from the east coast, Wynne was feeling a little fragile. We’d read somewhere about having the toddler receive a present from his or her new baby sibling, a peace offering straight from the womb. Mae had, in fact, been thoughtful enough to buy Wynne an incredibly soft teddy bear with a strong likeness to the “honey bear” she’d yet to realized had a name very similar to her own. And Wynne had scoured the Internet for a smaller version of her special orange and white “Kitty Kitty” for her new sister Mae. (Okay, we assisted both of them a little with their gifts.)

We timed our arrival home from the hospital to correspond with the end of Wynne’s nap which, of course, she refused to take on this particular day. We walked in the sliding glass door, fending off Gorilla’s sharp claws as she jumped up, only slightly less excited by the new smelling animal strapped into the car seat than she was about seeing us again after four days, and made our way to the living room with Wynne repeatedly asking “That my baby? That my baby?”

As we pulled Mae out of the car seat and settled her into Ann’s lap for a reassuring snack, the scene was about as perfect as we could have imagined. Here Wynne, meet your sister, Mae.

IT’S… A…

IT’S… A… Our doctor was purposely drawing it out, knowing that we had opted not to learn the gender of our second child until “it” was born. In fact, we’d been referring to “it” for the past nine months and tended to get some odd looks from people when we did. But the reality was that, unlike with our first child where we had ourselves convinced we needed every last thing off a lengthy registry list the instant she was born, the second time around, we knew we’d be fine with one pack of newborn diapers, a velcro swaddle, two long sleeved white onesies and maybe a pacifier. If it was a girl, we had two-plus years of cute clothes we’d acquired from friends and second hand stores for our first daughter. If it was a boy, we’d put the word out to friends with boys and make a couple shopping trips in the first weeks. And in the meantime, he could rock a pink John Deere onesie.

That being said, we pretty much had it in our heads that “it” was going to be a boy. Ann said it “felt like a boy,” unsolicited opinions from passers-by were in accord that she was “carrying low,” and friends all agreed that the lack of nausea during early pregnancy pretty much confirmed it. We were even confident enough to politely refuse our gardener’s offer to have his sister dangle a gold ring by a strand of Ann’s hair over her belly to verify that it would spin counter-clockwise. Yes, that’s how convinced we were.

Still, we’d put some thought into names from both genders, our process revolving primarily around staying through the credits of our weekly date night movie to read the names and pitch the interesting ones to each other. 

“Pete?” 
“Lucas?”
“Charlize?”
“Pierce?”
“Best Boy?”

And by Ann’s due date, we’d settled on two favorites for each gender, though we both openly admitted that we really only liked the top one for each and were just keeping a backup because it seemed like something people did. You know, just in case he didn’t look like a “Pierce.”

But the day had already not gone quite as we planned it. Despite being told by Ann’s doctor after an appointment the afternoon of her due date that he didn’t see any signs of labor coming on and would be very surprised if it happened within the next couple days, by 2:00 am that night, the app she’d hastily downloaded onto her iPhone confirmed that her contractions were 4 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each, the universal metric for “time to go to the hospital.”

After over 12 hours of labor with contractions of increasing strength and frequency, only the last 2 of which were softened by the blissful effectiveness of the epidural - administered by our specifically requested nurse anesthetist, Misty, who had been there for the first birth - the doctor had announced that he expected a few more hours of the same with the baby coming soon after. Of course, we’d received the same prediction at about the same stage the last time, and the similarities just kept right on coming.

Next exam. No change. Let’s wait and see. Next exam. No change. Tweak the drugs to strengthen the contractions. Next exam. A little change. Brief hope. Next exam. No change. Contort mother into positions made only more awkward by the lack of feeling in her legs. Next exam. No change. Utter the words “failure to progress.” Introduce the possibility we’re heading towards a C-section. Again.

And just like last time, we placed a late night call to my brother, a family practice physician who has delivered thousands of babies and provides just the right mix of straight facts, holistic considerations and experience-based opinion, and we all agreed that it was time to throw in the towel. Ignoring the fact that one floor down was an operating room prepped and ready, staffed with a team of skilled doctors and nurses who performed this procedure with regularity, that could all but guarantee a healthy mother and baby within the next 30 minutes after almost 24 hours of constant labor did not seem prudent.

… GIRL! And that was the last surprise of the night. A girl. Not what we’d convinced ourselves to expect but immediately familiar. We were suddenly once again in the same hospital with many of the same nurses holding a tiny swaddled baby topped with a fuzzy pink hat that had been knitted by the hospital ladies auxiliary, just as we’d been two and half years earlier. Of course, the familiarity didn’t diminish any of the excitement, and once we were finally back in our room on the maternity ward, we cycled between staring at each other in disbelief and at this perfect little 8 lb 10 oz bundle, Mae Carolyn Zimmerman.

The purge

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the past couple months on CraigsList and eBay. Okay, maybe that doesn’t seem like a shocker given that we’ve bought pretty much everything we own off one or the other site, but here’s the surprising part - this time, I’ve been selling things. Ironically, the longer my list gets for the renovation of our 25’ Airstream and the more excited I get about spending some longer periods of time in it, the less excited I am about the piles of stuff we have gathering dust in the garage and under the beds at our house. And it’s not just crap either; It’s clothes, nice furnishings, camping gear, music equipment and even – gasp! – motorcycles. But it’s starting to feel like a weight that’s just keeping us home when we’d really like to be on the road.

When considering how to configure the limited space in the trailer, we’re faced with hard decisions about what we’re really going to use and what would just take up space. At home, we have the space to have options: 15 button down shirts, 10 pairs of shoes, 5 guitars, 4 different sets of drinking glasses, 10 wooden spoons and outfits and gear for just about any activity we’ve ever tried. But in reality, we only grab the same 6 shirts each week, wear one of the same 3 pairs of shoes, play the same guitar, always drink from the same single glass, use our favorite wooden spoon (plus that other one with the burn mark on it if the first one is dirty) and we’ve settled into the few activities we actually do on a regular basis and know the couple pieces of gear we need to do them. So what if we just got rid of the extra stuff? The other 9 shirts, the other 7 pairs of shoes, 3 guitars etc. Would we even notice them gone?

We’ve paired our lives down before, first when preparing to be gone for an undetermined amount of time on the Pan American Highway in an SUV with a roof top tent and a kitchen built into the tailgate. We’d reveled in the simplicity of life on the road and commented at how “light” we felt having thinned our possessions and commitments down to only those that we needed on a daily basis. But in reality, we still had a house in San Francisco with a downstairs room filled with stuff. Stuff we felt we might need when we came home.

And when we came home, not only did we collect all that stuff, we came home with an image of a different kind of life from the one we’d lived in the city. We’d be self-sufficient. Live off the land. Connect to our environment and food. But that takes stuff to do: Mowers and weed whackers and electric fencing and energizers and tools. And reaping the bounty takes even more: canning pots and shelves full of jars and tops and dehydrators and chest freezers. All the things I wrote about recently in “The Simple Life: On the Farm or On the Road? Plus an Overlander Gathering” after returning from 5 weeks touring the Southwest in the Airstream. And we accumulated it all as we dove into the country life for a few years. You can read all about it in the Farmlet blog posts.

And then there’s the house. It’s got all these rooms. And shelves. Those shelves need things on them don’t they? And there’s always a project…

But as we look towards the arrival of our second child in July, and try to conceive of how another being – and possibly a fussy one at that – is going to fit into what already seems like the tightly packed schedule of our lives, it forces us – just like packing in the limited space of the trailer – to consider which things are really important to us. There’s only so much time and we want to be able to spend it well with our kids. It makes perfect sense that all those projects around the house and farm take time, but here’s the weird jump; Somehow, just having stuff seems to take time. It takes time to shop for and organize and maintain and upgrade and, I don’t know how, but it just takes time. And the supreme irony is that getting rid of stuff to lighten your load takes the most time of all.

A few months ago, we started the process of going through the house room by room and getting rid of anything that was a duplicate, out of date/style, or just had no meaning to us. We loaded the car with boxes and boxes of clothes, knick-knacks from shelves, candles deep in drawers and extra kitchen gadgets to go to Goodwill. What’d we get rid of? I really couldn’t tell you. Have not given it a second thought. Now we’re going through the rooms again and, guess what? Yep, more boxes and boxes for drop-off No, not new stuff we’d acquired, just the next level. Do we miss any of it? Not a thing and the slowly decreasing clutter feels great.

Last weekend, we stumbled on a great technique for thinning out your closets. It turns out, the septic system on the Farmlet wasn’t leaching well so, on a few moments notice, we decided to grab our laundry and head to my mom’s house about 45 minutes away. We did a couple loads of laundry and by the end of the day, we still hadn’t heard from the septic service guy, so we spent the night. That was a Friday and there was no chance of getting him out Saturday or Sunday, so we stayed two more nights. Ya know what? It just so happened that our week’s laundry contained all our favorite things to wear. Of course it does, it’s the stuff we actually get dirty. The best plan would be to empty contents of the closet into boxes for the Goodwill while the washer is running.

And then there’s the garage. The garage is where old hobbies go to die. Or at least to gather dust. It’s the stuff you allow yourself to forget that you own or held onto all these years.

For me, fly fishing is a lot like surfing. I’ve been to some of the best places to do it with great equipment and patient teachers, but I just can’t decide that I like it. Actually, the only difference is that while I’d like to catch a wave sometime, I don’t really have a desire to catch a fish. Fly fishing equipment listed on eBay.

And camping stuff. Now we love camping. All kinds of camping, and therein lies the problem. Backpacking gear, car camping gear, stuff from when we used to have a Westfalia camper, stuff from the Pan American Highway trip, stuff from motorcycling trips, and tarps and chairs and ropes and stakes and lanterns and disco balls from the days when we’d host thirty friends for four days at a music festival. Well, ya know what? We’re glamping now. For the foreseeable future, we’ve got an Airstream (two actually, any leads on selling the 19’?) and plan to use it as much as possible. Okay, fine, I’ll keep a paired down set of backpacking gear and some car camping stuff incase we want to show our kids how “the others” camp, but the rest goes. Water bladders and 12V coolers and other misc listed on Craigslist. Okay, fine, we’ll keep one of the smaller disco balls.

But I honestly don’t see a scenario within the next, lessay, 10-15 years in which Ann and I load three weeks of camping gear onto our adventure bike and hit the old mining roads in Colorado. Buy a jeep and strap two kids in the back? Possibly. Barely squeeze a rumbling crew cab F250 we’ve just unhitched from our Airstream around the tight gravel hairpins? I’d say that’s almost a definite. But on a bike? I don’t see it. It took me a long time to actually accept this conclusion, but when I think ahead to the plans we have for different modes of more family friendly travel, I get pretty excited. 2009 F800GS motorcycle and hard cases listed on ADVRider.com classifieds (and no sooner did the 1974 XL250 in the first picture of this post happily emerge from the garage for some TLC to be made ready for Sunday morning coffee shop runs).

There’s also a closet full of music gear. Music has played a big part in my life, and I’ve been in and out of bands since middle school. If you lived in Marin County and turned 16 between 1984 and 1990, I probably played your party or was watching while some guy tried to cop a feel during “Every Breath You Take” at the school dance. And of course, no one can forget the “original Wesleyan funk monster” Thumpasaurus. So what if we won the Battle of the Bands with our cover of Madonna’s “Vogue” and got to open up for P-Funk at the Spring Fling? Big deal. That was ancient history. Stop living in the past. And while lately I’d been playing in Bluegrass bands that you would think would have less equipment, I somehow ended up with the PA system and all the gear we used to record our “award-eligible” debut self-titled album of which we decided to order 3,000 copies, figuring that we could always have more printed if we ran out. Unrelated question: Does anyone have any good ideas for what to do with 2,903 shrink-wrapped CD’s? Everything that hadn’t been touched in two years listed on CraigsList.

And instruments. At least with a high quality or vintage instrument you can claim that it’s an “investment,” not that I think Ann’s really ever believed that one. But over the years of being “really into it” I’d acquired a few instruments that were of much better quality than I was at playing them. There’s a tendency when you get into a rut musically to reason that a new instrument is the answer, a trap I’d fallen into more than I’d like to admit. But having taken a bit of a break from music lately I’ve noticed something; Looking around at all these nice instruments just collecting dust on their cases doesn’t actually make me want to play, to get better. It just makes me feel guilty. At the same time, when we’ve set the trailer up in a remote site and the sun is setting or just coming up and Wynne is asking me to play so she can do her little dance where she prances around in a circle, I don’t really care which instrument I have in my hands.

Plus there’s no one around to make fun of my socks n’ crocs fashion statement.

Of course, I have my favorites and those have been spared from the purge but, oh baby, some nice instruments have gone up on eBay and the forum classifieds in the last couple weeks.

Okay, so these may not exactly seem like “deep cuts” to some. And while we might not quite yet qualify for the 100 Thing Challenge (is there a “100 Thing plus motorcycles and guitars and tools and bikes and baby stuff Challenge?” – maybe we could do that…), it’s movement in the right direction, and maybe next month we’ll take another pass through the house room by room. But for now, we’re one step (and a few dollars in the PayPal account) closer to the goal of being able to spend our time with our toddler and the new baby on the way instead of on our stuff. And one step closer to feeling light enough to load the family into the new trailer and hit the road.

2005 Airstream International CCD 25’ Modifications

After about two years of travel in our 2012 Airstream Flying Cloud 19’, including more than 100 days camping in 2013, and many nights debating the various floorplans that have been available over the years, we decided that a 25’ model with the rear corner bed, a side dinette and a full L-shaped couch in the front would be an ideal setup for our small family (one toddler when we started looking, but now there’s a new addition!) and some extended travel we have in mind. We found the perfect 2005 CCD 25’ in Boise, ID and had it transported to us in Northern CA. While the floorplan put everything basically in the right place, we had a substantial list of modifications we wanted to do in order to get it ready for our style of camping and to make it our own. Check out our Pinterest board for some of the inspiration we found online.

Read along as we renovated this sporty blue and orange RV into into a warm, organic, silver tiny home where we hope to spend many cozy nights on the road as a family. You can also skip down to the before pictures, a list of mods (and links to related posts) and pics of the finished product.
Stories of the renovation:

The “before” pictures (click any picture to see it larger):


Our list of mods:

Systems	All things electric, water, propane, sewer.
Solar panels mounted on the roof	Three 135W panels (total 405W) from AM Solar run through their SunRunner Signature 25/6/PRO Core package. This system has been recommended by several Airstreamers including a well-documented install by Dave Burns (Wandering with Purpose). I installed the panels on the roof and ran the cables to the front of the trailer and then had an RV electrician do the wiring (see Inverter below). Some homemade tilt bars made from flat aluminum stock allow panels to be positioned at 45 degrees during winter months. We also have one 120W Zamp portable panel that can be extended into the sun when the trailer’s in the shade and is connected via a quick plug in the side of the battery box (for a total of 525W). A remote solar monitoring panel mounted on the end cap of the cabinet above the dinette reports amps in and out from the batteries.
	Related Stories: [Removing the couch and fridge for wiring],[Replacing an old vent with a Fantastic Fan],[Planning and layout of the solar], [Panel wiring, battery box modification and antennas], [Solar and Inverter Wiring]
Increased battery capacity	We replaced the existing batteries with two 6 volt Trojan T145’s for about 260aH of storage. For comparison, the stock Interstate Group 24 batteries hold about 150aH. We calculate that we average about 2-2.5 amps/hour so we should have power for about three days before reaching 1/2 capacity. The battery box had to be modified with some aluminum C-channel to accommodate the increased height of the batteries.
	Related Stories: [Planning and layout of the solar], [Panel wiring, battery box modification and antennas]
Inverter	In the 19’ trailer, we just plugged a 300W inverter into a 12V outlet and it was enough to run the TV, Apple TV, Airport Express and a laptop. We’d just keep everything plugged into a small surge protector and switch it over to the inverter when we were on battery power. For this trailer, we installed a fixed Magnum MMS1012 1000 Watt wired to all of the outlets in the trailer, the exceptions being the fridge and the AC which will only run on shore power. Note, we removed the microwave which we don’t use and would also be too much for the inverter to handle. A remote inverter control panel was mounted on the end cap of the cabinet above the dinette under the solar remote panel.
	Related Stories: [Removing the couch and fridge for wiring], [Solar and Inverter Wiring]
LED Lights	The first thing we did to the new trailer (‘cause it was easy and took about 20 minutes total) was to replace all the lights with LED bulbs. Just call Dan from LED4RV.com, and he’ll hook you up. The warm white LED’s look just like the incandescents and use a fraction of the power. We actually opted for 9 bulb LED’s instead of 12 in several places because we’d always found the 12’s in our old trailer to be too bright (which might be why the new trailers have dimmers). With the indirect lighting in the CCD cabinets, reading lights over the lounge and a mod to the dinette lights (below) we have a lot of lighting options, all with a low draw.
Rear Fantastic Fan and Vent covers	We replaced a manual vent in the rear with a reversible Fantastic Fan that will allow for a quick recirculation of air when used opposite the front fan. We also added smoke colored Fantastic Fan Ultra Breeze Vent Covers which will allow us to open the vents in wet conditions (and avoid the dreaded auto up and down all night) and even while rolling down the road. It’s great to be able to stop for lunch at a scenic pullout and have the trailer already be nice and cool, not to mention grocery stops when Gorilla needs to be left in the trailer.
	Related Stories: [Replacing an old vent with a Fantastic Fan]
Rewired bathroom light	We loved the fact that on our 19’ you could turn the light in the bathroom on in the middle of the night without having to turn the vanity light on. Strangely, on the 25’, the vanity light has to be on for the bathroom light to work. But, we came across a great post on how to make this change, and it worked like a charm.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
Replaced dinette lights	While extending the kitchen countertop (info below), we realized we needed another light fixture, so we took the opportunity to steal one from above the dinette and replace that one with a nice looking stainless dome light. As an added feature, this light has a red bulb as well which could come in handy while checking on the baby who might be sleeping in the converter dinette. Of course, that meant the other two dinette lights had to be replaced with switchable ones so they could be turned off when the center was in “red mode.” All these options give some nice flexibility for sitting at the table as well.
Relocated/updated thermostat	Since the new TV (below) will cover the area where the current analog thermostat is mounted, we moved it higher on the same wall and at the same time replaced it with a digital programmable thermostat. Pretty nice to have the heat kick on just before having to get out of bed and entertain a toddler first thing in the morning. Also, the old one was straight out of your grandmother’s house.
	Related Stories: [Panel wiring, battery box modification and antennas]
New water pump	Jarred by the rattling every time we used the water, we tried several solutions to remount and replumb the water pump. In the end, we also ended up replacing it with a newer, slightly higher volume pump which quieted things down quite a bit.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
New water filter at kitchen sink	Plumbed a 3M Filtrete water filter into the cold line at the kitchen sink for filling water bottles. Also added angle stops to make repairs easier. All fresh water is filtered at the hose but’s nice to have a secondary filter at the faucet for drinking.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not]
Relocated heat vents	The addition of a storage cabinet just inside the front door (below) necessitated the removal of one heat vent. We also wanted to install closeable vents in the rear bedroom and bathroom, but the furnace specifications require three open vents at all times. To compensate, we added two new vents under the oven and later, added another under the fridge so can efficiently heat the main room where the kids sleep while our room stays nice and cool behind a heavy velvet curtain. We’ll likely add another curtain to close off the lounge/pullout bed area for even less space to heat.
	Related Stories: [Drawer fronts and kitchen scope creep], [Stick some cork in it - Kitchen and bathroom countertops plus one for the pup]
Connectivity	Staying connected to friends and family (and the next place to camp or the solution to the latest problem)
Cell Booster	While traveling with several Airstream full-timers who work from the road, we learned the power and value of cellular boosters. Of course, many of these people also have connections through two or three providers so they can choose the best one for any location, but often the signal strength still needs to be amplified. We went for a simple solution that's actually worked great for us, the Wilson Sleek Universal which is basically just a cradle to boost a single device whose data connection can then be shared through wifi. We can put either of our AT&T phones into the cradle and hotspot the connections or, more commonly, just leave the Verizon JetPack in the cradle (not always with the cradle plugged in, it gets hot and the JetPack batteries have some history of bulging with heat!)
Wifi Booster	Frankly most RV Park wifi is not really worth extending. It seems that most road warriors just do what they have to to supply their own connectivity and not worry about slow or finicky park service. We went with a cheap but capable solution of a Pepwave Surf On-The-Go . At $99, it has an external antenna port (see below) and can autoswitch between either our JetPack or any campground, library, restaurant or mooch-docking spot wifi network we can find. It also serves as our internal network for things like the Apple TV.
Antennas	Our friends at Riveted seem to like their dual antenna setup, but while looking into it, we opted to go with one omni and one directional antenna instead for more flexibility. We could hook the cell booster to the omni to generally boost coverage and then point the directional across the campground to pick up the wifi. Alternately, we could boost the campground wifi with the omni and point the directional towards a far off hilltop to bring in cell service. Links to the antennas we went with and a neat idea to mount them in the blog post linked below.
	Related Stories: [Panel wiring, battery box modification and antennas]
Air conditioner leak repair	After an initial leak during hard rain was fixed by an RV repair guy with gobs and gobs of sealant, another emerged when running the AC. We traced the issue to a cracked drain pain leaking condensation into the trailer.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
Entertainment	Music, TV, streaming video.
New LED TV	The TV that came with the trailer really shows how fast technology is moving. It was maybe a 18” 4:3 ratio LCD on a janky wall mount. We replaced it with a Haier 24” LED TV that fits perfectly on the same wall and a swivel and tilt mount that will allow it to swing 180 degrees for viewing from the bed. We also ran a new HDMI cable from the cabinet above the dinette where the AppleTV will be and another along the cable track to the couch for playing movies off the laptop.
	Related Stories: [Removing the couch and fridge for wiring]
Updated/relocated  radio	The stock radio was mounted inside of the CCD cabinet above the lounge which hangs in the center of the roof curvature with empty space on either side. Later models of the CCD extended this cabinet to fill the entire width. We installed shelves/extensions on either side and mounted a Pioneer MVHX560BT Digital Media Receiver on the right side, freeing up the cabinet for storage. Note that the stock CD player also played DVD’s and was wired to the TV via a component cable. We’ll play DVD’s off the laptop connected via the HDMI cable run to the lounge and the rest of our music via bluetooth or the USB input (which also makes a convenient charger). There was also a multi CD changer which we yanked to save space and weight. I also stuck a taller replacement antenna on the FM post in front of the front fan which actually improves radio reception. Finally, I installed a subwoofer cutoff switch in an effort to get rid of a cycling hum while the inverter was running. As an added benefit, it will decrease power usage while dry camping.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not], [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
Kitchen/DINING
Extended countertops	While surfing around one night, we came across this picture on Pinterest which shows a similar trailer to ours with the microwave removed and the countertops extended into this space. That extra space to the right of the sink allows for a drying rack, soda stream, blender or whatever while leaving space to the left for prep, all with minimal loss of cabinet storage.
	Related Stories: [Finding more kitchen counterspace and building drawers]
Replaced countertop material	Honestly, the white melamine throughout this trailer just didn’t do it for us. Wherever possible, we wanted to replace it or cover it with a real wood or veneer. The countertops are an easy thing to replace (and needed to be extended anyway). We settled on slab cork as a renewable, lightweight, high performance material with a price point somewhere between butcher block and stone (which is way too heavy anyway). We also replaced the faucet with a taller model and installed a dish soap dispenser (we put this setup in our 19’ and really liked it). The sink cutout was repurposed as a removable cutting board.
	Related Stories: [Finding more kitchen counterspace and building drawers], [Stick some cork in it - Kitchen and bathroom countertops plus one for the pup]
Reworked kitchen storage	The storage in the cabinets beneath the kitchen countertop was pretty badly done. Of course, you lose a lot of space with bumpouts that hide ducting for the heater and some plumbing (see before pic above). Nothing to be done about that. But why you would make it so you have to open a door just to pull out a drawer, especially in a tight space? This called for a complete do-over as far as I was concerned. We gutted the cabinets, installed a full extension slider in the left bay for garbage and recycling, added two thin silverware drawer and cutting board drawers in the wasted space above (idea borrowed from Dreamstreamr) and ran new custom drawers (no doors!) all the way down the right side for tupperware, tinfoil, ziplocs, dish towels etc. For the pantry above and below the new section of countertop, we added DEEEEEEP full extension drawers with heavy duty (well, medium duty but that holds something like 150 lbs) slides for pantry items like flour, rice, pasta, canned goods, cereal, snacks, etc, and by moving the propane detector, found space for an extra drawer at the bottom.
	Related Stories: [Finding more kitchen counterspace and building drawers], [Drawer fronts and kitchen scope creep], [Stick some cork in it - Kitchen and bathroom countertops plus one for the pup]
Dog bowls and food storage	With a toddler on the floor and another one learning to crawl soon, it’s important for everything to have it’s place and nothing to just be left out. We’d built a dog food “station” into our 19’ and loved it. This time, we found the space underneath the fridge and built a small cork shelf with insets for two bowls with tight-fitting lids.
	Related Stories: [Stick some cork in it - Kitchen and bathroom countertops plus one for the pup]
LIVING AREA	Lounge and dinette area.
Updated CCD Cabinets	Unfortunately, we liked the upper cabinets in our Flying Cloud much better than the ones in the CCD. While the CCD’s are deeper, the openings are smaller and the sliding plastic doors only allow access to one half at a time, a pain in the ass if you’re loading clothes for a trip or putting things away after a big grocery run. Not a big deal, but as mentioned above, we weren’t big fans of the white melamine, at least not with the orange interior surfaces that make the in cabinet lights (something we like) look like an amusement park. For now, we laminated roll cork onto the existing 1/4” orange interiors for a more organic reflection and soft surface for pots and dishes.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not]
Reupholstered couch	The Airstream couch is about as comfortable as it looks. Sure there need to be some compromises for it to be useful as a slide out bed as well, but we knew we could improve upon it. We had new cushions made of thicker, higher quality foam and along with zippered, machine washable microfiber covers. Meanwhile, we saved a bit of money by stapling the same fabric to the structure of the lounge to match.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not]
Reworked lounge storage	We pulled the door off the storage under the seat and found room for four toy baskets and some extra storage behind. Behind the lounge backrest, we removed a small storage box and completely opened up the space which will now fit a guitar, mandolin and fiddle for me and a ukulele, 1/16 scale fiddle and small keyboard for Wynne. (Don’t get your hopes up for our ability to entertain around a campfire. In addition to not being very good, we’re usually asleep by 9:30 these days!) The top of the storage is a new maple “mantle” with a wide hinged lid for easy access that makes a great spot for resting a drink while lounging. We also replaced the slides under the pullout bed with slightly longer ones and resurfaced the pullout with hardboard to make a larger and more usable play table.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not], [A Shakedown Weekend]
Reupholstered dinette benches	The cushions with the rolls between the backrest and seat may have looked like high design when they came out but they are just not comfortable. Airstream must have figured this out ‘cause you’ll notice that the cushions in the new CCD’s are different. We had new cushions like these made of good quality foam with fabric to complement the new couch upholstery.
Built-in shoe storage/cat heater	Just to the left of the door as you walk in was a fold up counter extension. In addition to being flimsy, it could only be used when you didn’t need to get out the door. There was also about 7” of space between the edge of the cabinets and the door frame. On our 19’, we built a platform for Gorilla’s dog bowls below a shallow cabinet with room for a few shoes below, an idea based on this pic. This time, we built a 7” deep extension of the cabinet with cubbies for adult and kids shoes, baskets for hats and gloves and the dog leash, and a swing out mount for a catalytic heater supplied by a tee off the propane supply for the stove. The new countertop extends over this cabinet, with a couple “junk drawers” beneath it.
	Related Stories: [Drawer fronts and kitchen scope creep], [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not]
Replaced accordion divider	We’ve always thought the standard accordion dividers were clumsy and just begging to be drawn on or crumpled by a kid. This one was also in the wrong place, leaving no floor space to stand while getting dressed in the “bedroom.” We used a flexible curtain track to hang a heavy velvet curtain from IKEA a little farther towards the kitchen. We also added another curtain to close off the front lounge/pull out bed section for heat efficiency and privacy that fastens to the ceiling with snaps.
	Related Stories: [Setting a deadline for the maiden voyage, ready or not]
Installed diaper changing station	Similar to one we’d had in the 19’, a series of hanging bins – including one with an airtight seal for “soiled” diapers – mounted on the bedroom wall puts everything at an arms reach at a time when sometimes you feel like you could use a third hand.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
Bathroom updates	After finding some rot in one of the side panels of the shower, we decided to replace it with semi-opaque, frosted acrylic panel that will let a little more light into the shower. In the process, we added an access panel for inspection and repair of the plumbing behind the shower. We put a frosted film on the lower of the two oval bathroom windows so we can leave the shade up more, remounted the shower head and some shampoo and soap holders and hung swing out towel racks and a shaving mirror. In the exterior sink area, we replaced the countertops, made use of a faucet and soap dispenser we’d bought for our house and added two inset pails for toothbrushes and a small garbage.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix], [Stick some cork in it - Kitchen and bathroom countertops plus one for the pup]
Exterior
Installed Fiamma Bike Rack	After considering a lot of ways to carry bikes either on the Airstream or the tow vehicle, we settled on the idea of mounting a specially designed bike rack on the rear of the trailer. Support arms secure the rack to the ribs of the body of the trailer preventing the vertical bouncing that had caused separation of the body and frame with basic hitch-mounted solutions.
	Related Stories: [Bathroom updates, storage tweaks, a bike rack and an AC fix]
Upgraded tires	While having the wheel bearings repacked (check out MaliMish’s tutorial if you’re considering doing it yourself), we noticed that the Goodyear Marathon tires that were on the trailer were the originals, over 9 years old (most people don’t recommend using rubber older than 3-5 years). After exhaustive searches on the Airforums, we decided to switch to a passenger car tire with an upgraded carrying capacity which would have a higher speed rating and a smoother ride than trailer tires or “E rated” heavy duty truck tires. We ultimately went with four new Michelin LTX235/75R15’s.

Ready for the after pictures? Here ya go!

Photo by Jess Curren, Picture Me Mine Photography
Photo by Jess Curren, Picture Me Mine Photography
 
Photos by Jess Curren, Picture Me Mine Photography

Photo by Jess Curren, Picture Me Mine Photography

 
 

 


See ya out on the road!!

Yucatan Flashback and Future Plans

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about our next adventures; Alaska’s high on the list as are the Canadian Maritimes (head north to Bangor, Maine and take a right – yeah, I didn’t know you could do that either until I looked at a map). We’ve even talked about extended travel in Europe, especially if wanderlust hits some of our traveling friends. And this just as Wynne’s turning two years old and getting her first introduction into a more formalized school environment through a local Montessori Toddler Program. The time is getting nearer for us to consider the value to a child of a well-ordered classroom environment in contrast with the new and different experiences and direct exposure to learning situations available through travel.

In the last weeks of 2013, we signed about a zillion enrollment and release forms, read through pages of rules and regulations (all designed to provide a supportive environment and keep our child safe) and, of course, wrote a big fat check. We also ran up our credit cards with flights, hotels and rental cars to take a trip with some family back to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and places we hadn’t been to since our drive from San Francisco to Panama almost three years ago. All of this has been a great opportunity reflect back on that trip - to the things that were (or weren’t) on our minds, to the limited possessions (and budget) we had and to how valuable it was to immerse ourselves in a new culture - while considering the experiences we might like to have as a family in the coming years. Of course, things were a little different on this last trip to the Yucatan…

Last time, exploring Palenque for hours…

This time, eating ice cream in the shade at Chichen Itza…

Last time, enjoying a relaxed coffee at a sidewalk café in San Cristobal…

This time, craving a nap on a patio in Isla Mujeres…

And after last time’s experience with a “trained” Spider Monkey that led to a bleeding finger and an afternoon Googling obscure primate-borne jungle diseases, this time Ann was a little leery of letting one get too close to her daughter.

But there were definitely some similarities, like sunset photos with perfect white sands and incredible blue water in Tulum.

Last time, without a care in the world.

And this time, confident that our daughter was in good hands with her cousins.

And beautiful views (despite cloudy skies) at the Tulum ruins.

And swimming in cenotes fed by an immense underground river system.

Check this one at the Tulum Monkey Sanctuary. Take a step off the edge, do your best Jesus-on-the-cross impression and fall 10 feet or so into a cave.

And strolling around the markets in the central squares in the evenings, although this time we had someone to buy one of the inflatable animals for.

Oh sure, judge us if you must, but *you* trying saying no to this face…

Traveling with my brother’s family, all of whom were more than happy to grab the hand of our littlest traveler and disappear for an hour while Ann and I had some rare solo time, was a great way for us to return to this part of Mexico.

And even the teenagers eventually came to appreciate how much more time they had to enjoy their vacation with a toddler reminding them to wake up early and seize the day.

 

By now, Wynne’s a pretty good traveler; She’ll sleep in the car or any crib we roll into a room, although she did point out a few ways that some of the Mexican hotel cribs might not quite be up to US safety standards.

Of course, sometimes she’s an…

And sometimes she’s a…

… but that’s gonna be the case whether we’re at home in a big house or anywhere in the world.

While all of our arrangements went smoothly and the group traveled well together, by the end of the trip, we found ourselves reminded of some of the things we like most about traveling “overland,” whether in the Xterra with a roof top tent or the Airstream. First, there’s the flexibility; If you like where you’re staying, you can typically stay there without worrying about reservations or significant additional cost. By the same token, if you hear about something interesting, you can usually change your route to include it, a move that’s not always possible when you have a rented car or are subject to pre-made transportation reservations. Second, the food; Without a way to cook for yourself, whether out of a camping kitchen on the tailgate or the cozy-but-full-featured trailer galley, you’re eating out at restaurants as many as three times a day. While that can be indulgent and delicious (see our recent stay with the trailer in Portland), we pretty quickly get sick of eating too much, waiting too long for another beer or the check, paying too much and entertaining a toddler at the table.

Finally, it’s just personal, familiar space where you can decompress after a day of travel. Even crawling up the ladder into the rooftop tent, zipping ourselves in and starting an episode of “True Blood” on the laptop had been enough to make us feel at home while driving to Panama. In the trailer, we have just about all the comforts of home including our own bathroom, shower, fridge full of either familiar or new-found-favorite regional food and creative outlets like musical instruments and toys for Wynne. I’ve said a few times before that when moving from hotel room to hotel room, I start to feel like there’s an “expiration date,” a limited time until I’ll want to go home and recharge. I think one of the most interesting parts of our last few trips in the Airstream has been the feeling that we could just keep going.

So after a great trip, spending time with family, revisiting some old sights and seeing some new ones, we’re returning home to consider what we might like the next few years to look like. Wynne will start a semester of “school” next week which we think she’ll really enjoy. We’ll also get to meet a bunch of new parents with similar age kids which will be good for us. And maybe we’ll end up with a little better perspective on the value of a classroom environment vs…

 

 

 

In the meantime, we plan to dig into some modifications we have in mind for our new 25’ Airstream CCD, to take some last weekends at local state parks in the 19’ Flying Cloud before listing it for sale, and to remember the look on the waiter in Valladolid’s face the first time Wynne looked at him and asked for “Agua.”