[VAL] An Airstream anthem

[Marie Deatherage <omaried@xxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone,

My husband Ric and I have been lurking on this list for several months, 
asking a question or two, but staying mostly quiet because we know we 
are way early on the Airstream learning curve.  When I met Ric, one of 
the first things I learned about him was that someday he wanted to own 
a vintage Airstream.  Last spring, his dream came true...  one Friday 
afternoon just before 5 p.m. he called me at work, and said a little 
too cheerfully, "How ya doin?"  "Fine," I replied cautiously, "just 
getting ready to come home."  He told me where he was (a ways out of 
town) and I asked, "What in the world are you doing there?!"  He 
replied with great glee, "I just bought an Airstream!!"

And the rest, as they say, is history.  Of course some would say we did 
it all wrong, first buying it and then learning about it...  It's a 
1964 Tradewind Land Yacht, needed pretty much everything redone... We 
named it Toaster Moon (long story...)  Ric spent all summer doing all 
the grunt work (and hired someone who knew how to work on RVs to help 
with the stuff that took special knowledge) and I got to decorate it.  
Yes, it's been a money pit, no surprise there, huh?  After we finished 
the inside, Ric took it to the closest real Airstream place to us 
(Sutton RV in Eugene, Oregon) and got new wheels, tires, and the axle 
checked and all that, then we took it on our first trip.  I would only 
allow us to go about 20 miles outside Portland Oregon where we live 
because I was kind of fearful of pulling this really big thing behind 
us.  A special challenge for us is that our son, who is 25 now, is in a 
wheelchair.  He went along of course.  We also have to take our two 
little fluffy dogs everywhere we go.

Anyway, it was kind of crowded, but we had a great time, I made us 
spaghetti for dinner, we learned a lot (which led me to the post asking 
about where the grey water is supposed to go, we didn't know it was 
going to pour out on the ground, which led to us getting busted by the 
park ranger after he got a complaint, but now we know about those blue 
tank things, which we will get before spring).  So that glorious autumn 
Saturday evening in our Toaster Moon led my husband, who is a 
singer/songwriter, to write a song... called In a Toaster Moon.  I 
think it could become the Airstream Anthem. I think it's so beautiful, 
a very catchy tune that's hard to get out of your head...

If you'd like to hear it for yourselves, you can do so at
> http://www.cdbaby.com/ricseaberg4

And by the way, we don't know any other vintage Airstream owners, I've 
never even seen the inside of one, we would love to meet you and see 
one another's airstreams... so if you are ever heading to Portland 
Oregon please let us know.  We hope to be able to start making trips 
next summer.  I look forward to retiring someday so we can take long 
trips and maybe even attend a rally!!

Sorry for such a long post, is there a word limit, guess I'll find 
out...

Marie and Ric in Portland, Oregon