The Maiden

One year after we bought Bessie, we took her out for her maiden voyage. The road isn't anything new to her or to us, but it was our first trip together and cause for major celebration.

It was the First of May, and the tulips were blooming in Oregon.


As you know, Bessie has been a major restoration project for Brie and me - the entire cause of this blog - and there were points in the early spring when we were planning backpacking trips that I began to wonder if I made a major mistake by spending so much time and effort working on a trailer.

I'm completely enamored with Bessie herself, Airstreams in general, and the idea of self-sustained freedom on the road (she's my Black Pearl), but there are aspects of trailer camping that I'm not aligned with. I wondered how this would all pan out in reality. In essence, I badly needed to get her out on the road.


We decided to take her out to the coast. One of the driving factors behind our purchase was to have a comfortable place to wait out poor surfing conditions (wind, tide, chop) as well as to have a temporary home if we ever decide to pull the plug on society and wander off into nomadic bliss.

We loaded her up and headed to the sea.



A myriad of stops along the way helped bolster my confidence that everything was running smooth. The hitch was strong, the safety chains were new, the brake and signal lights worked, she towed fine, turns were okay, the brakes were solid, and nothing flew off!


We took the highways and backroads of Oregon farmland as we meandered through the Willamette Valley, over the Coastal mountains, through Tillamook Valley, and up Highway 101.

There's still snow on the Coastal Range mountain tops!


"Go, go, go, go carefully. Go Airstream Driver"
-Gomez, Airstream Driver


Oregon spring skies. Patches of sun...


And patches of rain!


The photo above is of a rainbow, but the camera wouldn't turn on in time. It's in the middle of the photo, shooting straight up like a pillar. If you can't see it, well, it was beautiful. Perhaps now you see why we thought it a good idea to have a "hard shell tent" at the Oregon Coast!

Three hours later, we freaking made it! Is that just happiness and pride or is there a year's worth of blood, sweat, and relief gushing out of this face?


We arrived at dark, unhitched the trailer and went in search of food at 9pm in a town that closes at about that time. We found a pub with decent food, then came back to Bessie for the night. Brie's warming up in front of the heater.


The heater was key. It pumps out enough juice to warm ourselves next to it and it heats up the trailer a noticeable amount. Now it's time to go read in bed.


In the morning, I was the first one up, so I checked out the campsite which was mostly empty. I took a morning stroll and checked out the river and the wild bunnies. How cute are wild bunnies? Very. Way cooler than seeing deer.

(Bunny Law - all dogs remain leashed)


We had campsite number 57. I recommend it.


We both slept very well on that memory foam mattress. No tossing and turning. No rocks under my back, and my sleeping mat didn't deflate. I forgot the blanket though, so we used our sleeping bags.


We took our time and hung out in the morning, trying to figure out what to do for the day. We had a grab-bag of options from previous research but weren't sure what we felt like doing. We actually had spotty 3G coverage - that's surprisingly good for the Oregon Coast - so we're checking tides, weather reports, email...


We decided to have some breakfast. We recorded it on video and had a lot of fun playing around but the files are too big to upload. I'll have to edit them and drop them into a new post.


We decided to trail run Cape Falcon, a beautiful Cape in a State Park south of where we stayed. We wanted to try out our new trail running shoes. Brie and I get along well partly because neither of us like shoes, and these new trail shoes by Merrell incorporate the idea of barefoot running. They're simply a rubber sole that laces to the bottom of your feet. No socks required. They're awesome for trails.

Here's the trail - 5.4 miles roundtrip. We walked for portions - we're just newbies - but we ran a good distance. The forest air was so clean.


The trail was perfect. Trees, ferns, flowers, soft earth, waterfalls, creeks, birds, and sunshine. It was a fantastic way to get to the beach.


Which happens to be one of the best surfing spots in Oregon. The waves were a little mushy today, so we opted for the trail run, but the sets coming in were certainly beautiful. I had to watch a small crew of surfers repeatedly miss pulling into waves before I felt I could move past this viewpoint. Even if the waves are a little weak, it's never a bad day when the sun's out and the surf's clean in Oregon! But the same can be said for a trail run to the point of Cape Falcon!


We saw the beginnings of wild strawberries...


Wild sabretooths...


Wild monkeys...


And even some wild sea lions! A pair of them swam around the rocks below us.


I love this place.


Short Sands, you are one of the most beautiful places on the planet.


On the way back into town, we took advantage of low tide to check out the tidepools of Haystack Rock.


Monster starfish, barnacles, freezing cold water, little hermit crabs, and cute anemones.


Cannon Beach rules!


We returned to the campsite for a good warm shower (not in Bessie).


We changed and then strolled downtown for some noshing.


Downtown Cannon Beach has some very cool buildings.


We found a nice little tapas restaurant with live musicians (guitar, bass, and sax) to set the mood for excellent food and wine.


The plaque below says "Professor Lindsey's Magic Firewood", and that is the future Professor Lindsey at the table.


Sunday morning we strolled back into town for some crepes, smoked mussels, and to check out some of the shops. We bought Letters to Uncle Mike in a cool little bookstore, and a couple toys for our little friends at this little joint...



More sunshine and flowers from a weekend loaded with them.


We hitched Bessie back up to Battlecat and stopped for a picnic at another beach. We just missed the tide, but that was okay. It's always good to be around other surfers, and we did a fair amount of sleuthing for our next strike. Indian Beach is one fantastic place. You are literally living in a postcard when you're on this beach! We had a nice relaxing picnic and nap before our long trek home.


On the way home, we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. By this point we were tired of the camera, so it stayed in the truck, but here's a shot of Bessie in the parking lot!


And then we gassed up and headed home. It was a wonderful trip. Perfect getaway for the maiden voyage.

Here's one last parting shot of Bessie at our weekend campsite.


We are so thankful for the good karma we found all weekend. I hope we are blessed with many more happy memories, and may that happiness find you too.

Plumb Done

I'll admit, I procrastinated this one. Retro-fitting a trailer with a grey water system is simply a beast.

Just thinking about how to list the constricting parameters makes my head swim. First you have limited space, because your drainage system must continually go downwards and you must arrange it around or between the grid of the trailer frame. In an Airstream, the back end tapers upwards to give it that pretty little twinkie rear, but that also limits your space. The rear of the trailer is also the most vulnerable, as the uneven "roads" you will travel, and bump your butt along, pose a threat to breaking the lowest part of your system - the drain valve.

Second, you are limited to using the only RV exit valve manufactured under the sun, which fits on a 3" pipe. Factor in two p-traps (under your sink and bathtub) that are 1-1/2" pipe diameter and then remember that you can only go up one size in pipe at a time - and that you have to have lengths of pipe between the pipe-adapters - and you run out of space quickly.

The photo below shows how snug some of the spaces can be. That flexible pipe is the only option that will make that curve. If it fails, so does my entire drainage system. The big black valve is the toilet drain, and it's a separate system. If I have to do this all over again, I'll have some re-thinking to do, as this configuration is more a construct of what I COULD do compared to what I wanted to do. It leaves much to be desired, but a working system isn't one of those desires, cuz this works!


That white flex-hose runs parallel to the black water tank and makes another curve through a hole cut into the trailer frame. I taped and zip-tied it to the frame to keep it from rubbing against anything as it travels the road.


Going through the hole cut by the previous owner, the flex hose ends in the first of many combo-adapters in line (shown below). This combo set is designed to funnel into the 3" exit pipe. What you see here (sort of flashed-out) is a flex hose clamped onto a 1" pipe that goes into a 1" bushing that couples with a 1-1/2" pipe that goes into a 1-1/2"x2" pipe-adapter that connects to a 2" right angle connector that feeds into another length of 2" pipe that is held in place by some stainless steel tape that is screwed into the bottom of the plywood subfloor.

Was that hard to read? It was hard to figure out. And even harder to do, given the space. I took this photo by sticking the camera up into the hole and pressing the button. Was happy to see a good picture. Wish I had as good a view when I was actually working on the project.


The connectors continue (below) as you recognize the 2" pipe held in place with the stainless steel tape connecting into a 3"x3"x2" T-fitting (hidden from view). One end of the T-fitting leads to the exit valve you see in the foreground. This is where I will connect the portable 10-gallon grey water tote-tank (on wheels!). The white pipe in the background is the 1-1/2" pipe from the bathroom sink. Oh yes, we had to do crazy-combo-connector-crap at least three more times.


But I'll spare you the whining and the photos from crazy-connector-combo-crap. Here's a close-up of the stainless steel tape. Whoever made this stuff was brilliant. Simply brilliant! They saved this project for me. Do you see the holes in the aluminum below the pipes? That where my arms went through while I worked from my back underneath Bessie.



Lots of leftover parts. The original design was more grandiose and elaborate. After two botched plans, I was simply satisfied with a functional system. I'm very thankful Home Depot will let me return the extra parts. The little hammerhead shark piece is made from 11 separate pieces/adapters. It is unique to Bessie.


One end of the hammerhead is seen below attached to the flexible white pipe. Whoever made this flex pipe is brilliant. Simply BRILLIANT!


Oooo, all the parts are connected and cemented. Time to seal'er up.


Other side is good too...


And now she's road worthy! Still must figure out a clever way to access the drain valves in an easy fashion, but that can wait until the weather is more agreeable, and other projects have some attention paid. I will cover this gap with a piece of aluminum prior to the first road trip. Can't risk damage to the black water tank or my precious length of flex hose!


Oh, if you could see the look on my face in this picture. Brie came home from work, took one look at me and said, "You look like you are covered in shit from head to toe."

Oh yeah? Guess how I feel?


Exhausted. I spent two full days working on this - in the mud, rain, and cold. I went to the hardware store three times to finish the project and ended up with well over $100 in extra parts from plans, and second plans, that didn't pan out. I'm so over planning and re-planning this project. But there is good news. It's over!

Guess what folks? Bessie's grey water system is street-legal. I'm coming to wash dishes at a curb near you.