The Long Road to Smiles!

After more than 15,000 miles in 4 weeks we realize every turn shows us many new vistas? Our new 26-U Airstream Flying Cloud is being pulled by our 2018 Ford Expedition!  My husband had to have this new comfortable “truck” as they are our forever dream.  I know our doggie was very happy with her posh back seat all to herself also.

After more than 15,000 miles in 4 weeks we realize every turn shows us many new vistas? Our new 26-U Airstream Flying Cloud is being pulled by our 2018 Ford Expedition!  My husband had to have this new comfortable “truck” as they are our forever dream.  I know our doggie was very happy with her posh back seat all to herself also.

Our first adventure was our roundtrip Thanksgiving loop to Colorado.  The last time we drove over Interstate Highway 70 in our old true blue Explorer.  We went up through beautiful mountains, deep valleys and truly magnificent canyons.  We just knew that our next trip would be even more spectacular because our home was coming with us.  The big difference in trips was the snow and steep climbs made us rethink traversing the Rockies with all new equipment on this first big winter trip.  So we chose south on Highway 10 then up to Colorado through Arizona, New Mexico and a tiny piece of Texas with 3 days “camping” at the ranch.

We learned a lot about having a tiny home following us wherever we went and also learned how different 12 years makes in Airstream innovations.  We grew from a 20 foot cute cozy Flying Cloud to a 26 foot little home.  We have a big girl refrigerator and freezer that more than  acomodated our needs.  Of course I had to over prepare because we were not sure how things would go.

We did not realize that this Airstream did not have a water filter.  Our 20 footer did.  I did do prep work for making soups etc quickly as we went.  We were only staying overnight as we went.

We planned on leaving about 10 in the morning but left at 5:30 pm because our Airstreams pre-flight repairs and adjustments were not ready as promised.  This put us way behind.  We promised ourselves no more driving through the night to rush anywhere.  Well that did not happen.  We arrived at our first stop at Gila Bend KOA Arizona.  I thought we were lost in the Mexican dessert as there were few to no lights on the highway and we had never driven on this highway before, not even in the daytime.  Oh yeah,  I think this highway is owned by truckers, great big 52 feet long semi’s that swoosh by you and we felt like ants.

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The KOA at Gila Bend was very clean, well maintained and we got a pull through!  We were cozy and it was so easy to shower, have coffee, walk the dog and make my morning shake.  We prepped for our lunch on the way, made sure we refilled our water bottles and off we went.  I would recommend Gila Bend to people going that way as people were very nice, courteous and we felt safe there.  I was happy that we got to witness the Air Force flying their wings in the morning sun!  What a thrill.  We had doggie snacks and water cup for Kona our 9 year old mini Aussie and our protien bars, Fit Chews and Fizz sticks to keep us alert, hydrated and energized.

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Looking forward to seeing where we are going this days ride!