SPARKS, NV, 0752 PDT: Well folks, fans, followers, and bloggers — this is the last day of my Airstream adventure to windy Gillette, Wyoming. We are headed out this morning on the final leg to our homes. Our little caravan will start out together but will drift in our individual directions down the road as we drive our silver bullets home. It has been a journey — that’s for sure! For some of us, it was our first International Airstream Rally; for others, just another chance to visit with the extended Airstream family at yet another successful get-together.

0920 PDT: Depart Sparks Marina RV Park onto U.S. 395 south through Carson City and Minden, Nevada (junction Nevada SR-88), then on to the California state line.

1040 PDT: California state line!!

21 mph behind a hay truck!

1119 PDT: Stuck behind a hay truck going uphill on California SR 88. 70 miles to Jackson. Editor’s note: no milemarkers in California.

1147 PDT: Stopped on SR 88 for road construction. Just passed beautiful Caples Lake here in the high Sierra.

1309 PDT: Arriving in Jackson.

1415 PDT: Currently passing through Stockton, about to get on I-5 southbound to Tracy.

1515 PDT: Castro Valley, California… fifteen minutes from his RV storage facility in Oakland.

1530 PDT: Pulling into RV storage facility next to Oakland Airport!

Journey’s End: We decided to take highways 395 south to 88 west to get into California, instead of taking I-80 over a really rough and snow plow damaged road.  I had difficulty staying on 395 out of Sparks, Nevada, and had to backtrack (30 minutes of my mistakes), but finally got back on in the right direction.
At the little town of Minden, Nevada, we joined SR-88 west which headed south to the California line, then ascended the beautiful Sierras. This is where it became stressful: trying to enjoy the beautiful scenery while maintaining my concentration on driving.

There were two semi-trailer trucks loaded with hay, going down grade like bats out of hell, but uphill they were lucky to get over 21 miles per hour. The only passing lanes was while going uphill, but that was impossible for my Airstream – going 21 MPH and punching it to pass a hay truck only brought out church words from my mouth. I had to pull over behind the truck to let cars by!

Finally I passed both hay trucks while going downhill and sounded my air horns as I went by (they knew they were holding up a motorhome).  If I ever have the pleasure of going to the Reno area again I will take 88 to 395, a much more enjoyable route (despite the hay trucks) than the terrible, hard-to-maintain freeway that I-80 is known for.

Caples Lake

Thursday evening at home: Everything got back to normal quickly: picking up dog poop and cat hairballs, scooping cat litter boxes, washing laundry, etc. But most important was the contentment of familiar surroundings, being around the things I love, and being loved in return.

0720 PDT: Depart Wendover KOA. MM 410.

0947 PDT: MM 260: Halfway between Elko & Battle Mountain. Pulled over for a quickie rest break.

1140 PDT: MM 145, Imlay, Nevada. Spotted Thunder Mountain Park on south side of I-80.

1155 PDT: MM 129, halfway between Winnemucca and Lovelock.

1210 PDT: MM 118, 15 miles from Lovelock.

1330 PDT: MM 38, twenty miles from Sparks.

1400 PDT: MM 19, arrived in Sparks and stopped for gas.

1430 PDT: Arrived at the Sparks Marina RV Park for the night

The three of us stuck together for the 1044 miles from Gillette. Tomorrow morning we'll leave together, then go our separate ways when we reach California's central valley.

Herb Jagow, artist and operator of the Sparks Marina RV Park, holding an oil painting that now resides in the galley of my Airstream motorhome.

SPARKS, NEVADA, 1535 PDT: Really not much to report with today’s travel toward home in Oakland, California, except for Thunder Mountain Park. You’ve got to click on that link and you’ll get a big laugh out of what I actually saw. You’ll learn the real truth about it, unbelievable as it is, and this character who actually walked the earth and created this Thunder Dream of his.

Thursday is planned to be a shorter day for traveling. I’ll not take I-80 down from Sparks, Nevada (too rough of a road). Instead we’ll get onto 395 south to 88 west which will drop us in Stockton, then I-5 and I-580 to Oakland.

0730 MDT: Depart Rock Springs KOA

Breakfast stop

0830 MDT: MM 68 – stop at Little America for breakfast.

0925 MDT: Back on the road.

1012 MDT: MM 17, I-80. Eray calls for advice: while passing a semi on the left in a construction zone, the semi started to pull into his lane and ripped off the passenger’s side mirror of his Airstream. Past the construction, he pulled alongside the semi and motioned the driver to pull over. The driver shrugged at him and continued on. Eray took pictures of the truck & its license plates and wanted to know what he should do now, given that additional damage to the Airstream is unknown. My answer: hang up & call the Wyoming Highway Patrol at 911. Stay tuned!!

Wyoming Highway Patrol has us both pulled over just before the Utah line.

1030 MDT: MM 3 (Evanston, WY), just shy of the Utah state line. The Wyoming Highway Patrol pulled the truck over just in time! Eray is parked on the side of the road behind it. WHP is currently talking to the truck driver. Ed & Linda have caught up and pulled in between the truck and Eray’s Airstream.

Damage is to the passenger side concave mirror and bracing for the rear-view array which has been caved into the side of the motorhome. No apparent damage to the rest of the rig.

1052 MDT: Trucker has been ticketed for improper lane change. 3 different WHP officers questioned the trucker individually and Eray believes the trucker may have changed his story each time. Editor’s guess:WHP was checking the truck driver for being under the influence of drugs.

When asked to present his license, registration, & insurance card, Eray was told by WHP that his insurance card expired in February. After telling the officer he still carried insurance with the same company, the officer let it go. WHP is currently writing an accident report to give to both drivers, so it may be awhile before Eray gets back on the road. In the meantime, he has documented the damage with multiple photographs from several angles.

1121 MDT: Back underway. Utah State Line! Semi & driver are still back on side of the road with WHP.

1135 MDT: MM 185, pullover to rejoin Ed & Linda who stopped & waited for Eray.

1145 MDT: Back underway with plans to take the I-84, I-15 bypass around Salt Lake City.

1228 MDT: MM 91 on I-84, 3 miles from the junction of I-15 south near Ogden, UT.

1306 MDT: MM 111, back on I-80 west, leaving Salt Lake City behind. 111 miles to Wendover, Nevada.

1355 MDT: MM 77, stopped at roadside gas station for a slice of pizza & a milkshake.

1416 MDT: MM 56. Crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats. Less than an hour to Wendover and return to Pacific time zone.

1445 PDT: MM 410, arrive at West Wendover KOA, Nevada. Full hookups! Going to take a shower!!

1600 PDT, WENDOVER, NEVADA: One of our convoy of Airstreams took off 30 minutes early because they wanted to stop in Salt Lake City to shop, then head all the way to inside California.  Myself and Linda & Ed Dodge planned on going to West Windover, NV today.  I headed out 15 minutes before Ed and Linda, but we met up at the famous Little America hotel and restaurant, 30 miles west of Rock Springs where we had a wonderful breakfast.

I pulled out ahead of them as I travel a tad over what they like  to drive.  At mile marker 17/18, traffic just pulled away from a closed left lane and slightly inclined. I attempted to pass a semi truck on his left in the extreme left lane and as I was almost at his cab, he swerved into my lane. I saw him getting close and I moved a bit to my left but he kept coming and I felt the jolt and looked at my right exterior mirror: busted.

I immediately slowed down and he pulled back into his lane. I had no idea what damage he might have caused, so I made another run at passing him. When I got to his cab I looked at him and he shrugged his shoulders with a stupid look as if to say, well, so what?

I backed off and got his licence plate number, name of his company, and their 800 number. I was, by then, nervous as can be. I called my friend Lee who said call the WHP immediately. I did and gave them the information I had. By mile marker 3 (just a three more miles and we’d be in Utah) the WHP pulled the truck and myself over.

They questioned me and the truck driver. I saw him waving his arms all around as well as other hand gestures. The WHP came to me the 2nd time for my version of what happened. Then a supervisor pulled up and got involved. They questioned the truck driver 3 times, then came back to me and said they were going to issue the truck driver a citation for an illegal lane change. They filled out an accident report and sent me on my way.  I will give this information to my insurance company.

One picture is of the Airstream, the truck, and the 2 WHP vehicles just after the WHP pulled us both over following my call to them reporting the hit and run.

Any interior damage?

The second other (above) shows how the mirror was pushed into the coach. Could more internal damage have occurred? Problem is, replacing it may be impossible and another matching set may have to be installed. That’s up to the insurance company.

Linda & Peter leading the way.

0730 MDT: Depart Gillette on Wyoming SR 59 south.

0830 MDT: Turn onto SR 387 south.

0945 MDT: Turn onto I-25 south.

1005 MDT: Turn onto SR 220 south in Casper.

Lunch break!

1200 MDT: Stop at Devil’s Gate rest area for lunch.

Elder Mr. Bloz, the Mormon docent at Devel's Gate, & Eray

Devil's Gate

1245 MDT: Back underway.

1315 MDT: MM 25 on U.S. 287 south to Rawlins

1555 MDT: Arrived at Rock Springs/Green River KOA RV park.  Still Wyoming weather: wind, wind, and more wind but no clouds or rain. Linda and Peter were the first to arrive as Linda, Ed, myself and Royce stopped at 11:30 for a lunch break and to visit the Mormon Handcart Historic Site – also known as Devil’s Gate. We took the picture of the entrance as well as my Airstream with the Devil’s Gate in the background. This KOA is like all of Wyoming roadside RV parks: gravelville and windville.

Fireworks over my Airstream!

0800 MDT: Yesterday afternoon I drove the motorhome away from the rally to fill the gas tank and wash the red dust off.  Now that I’ve moved the motorhome from where it was on red gravel with flying red dust to another location with partial grass and brown dirt, it’s raining!  It wasn’t forecast to rain, but I have learned that this is Wyoming. Looking at the weather on internet, it is only raining in Gillette; nowhere else in Wyoming.

1830 MDT: – The rain made a muddy mess of the new parking spaces. It rained for about 2 hours, then quit and partially cleared up. The wind did remove some of the moisture from the ground. I checked the weather and they predicted 76% chance of evening thunderstorms and with that in mind, I prepared the motorhome to move to the cement parking lot. My rear drive wheels spun out a little as I was leaving the heavily-soaked parking space. I am all  set to head out tomorrow morning with no mud traces, exterior or interior.

First day we drive to Rock Springs, Wyoming. Day 2 our destination is West Wendover Nevada. Day 3 we’ll end up in Sparks, Nevada. Day 4 will bring me home to Oakland, California. There are some new routes we’ll be taking to cut off some of the rough, washboard roads (from the snow plows) in Nevada.

There is the closing ceremony tonight, plus a surprise guest for the entertainment, all at 7 p.m. Then, weather permitting, fireworks at 10 p.m.  If I watch TV tonight it will be via my generator as I am dry camping (no hookups) on the cement parking lot.

2200 MDT: Before the 10 p.m. start of the fireworks, the Governor of Wyoming announced on a designated radio station that the great state of Wyoming celebrates the 4th of July, etc etc. and what it really means to Americans. Then he gave the countdown and at “1 – 0,” the fireworks started and the radio station played music in sync to the type of fireworks going off.  I have never seen fireworks so close (I’m usually far, far away). It was spectacular! The local newspaper said this year was going to be the the best, that last year the town spent $25k while this year the cost was $64k. There must have been 1/2 the town of Gillette at Cam-Plex to watch. That would be 10,000+ Gillette citizens!

The finale lasted for 20 minutes!

Cowboy Eray!

Saturday, July 3: Well, it’s almost over for activities — except for happy hour at 4 p.m., to which I will hitch a ride with friends Linda and Ed over to the BoxElder RV Park where I was until this morning. Things are really winding down from the hustle-bustle it has been this past week.

Left to right: Joe, the new Region 12 1st VP, John, new International Airstream Club 3rd VP, Judy, new Region 12 President, and Eray, 2nd VP of Santa Clara Unit and Region 12 Membership Chairman

Thursday, July 1st: Gillette, Wyoming – International Airstream Rally

Wyoming humor

8:30 a.m.: I am attending the classic Airstream motorhome restoration class. Paul Fancey, the instructor who is holding this seminar, is collecting email addresses from classic motorhome owners like me.  His purpose is to set up a network to be able to establish a forum for problem-solving issues. I am taking a video on how my motorhome was constructed at the Airstream factory to share with those attending. Editor’s note: click on On The Road → 2008 in the menu bar and go to Day 17 to see Eray’s visit to the Airstream factory, or just click here.

From last night's dinner: Eray with Burt Byam, distant cousin of Airstream founder Wally Byam.

9:15 a.m.: I am attending a membership chairman seminar to learn my regional responsibilities back home in California.

Today we are honoring Canada Day and most of the 2,000 Airstreamers are participating.by wearing white pants with red shirts.  One of the vendors hired an airplane to take an aerial view of the entire Cam-Plex facility with all 720 airstreams in their RV spaces. I purchased a large 8 X 10 photo and had no problem spotting our beautiful 1986 “345” motorhome. With the aerial view you can see the huge size of this complex and why walking to and from the main buildings is a great exercise for MOST folks.

A few of us have agreed to caravan back to northern California; at least 3 RV’s will be going.  We’ll pull out of Gillette at 0800 Monday morning, July 5th.

Nameplate on world's oldest Airstream

Each star represents 5 years on the road: 50 years! Hmmm... that's 25 years short.

Oldest Airstream in the world: built in 1935

His father built this coach from $5 mail-order plans!

The Yampa Valley Boys

Tuesday was sort of a free day to just wonder around the vendors’ tables, lunch, and socializing with fellow Airstreamers. That evening we went to the main great room and enjoyed the Yampa Valley Boys playin’ cowboy music. 50 members of our California Aistream chapter went to dinner at Boss Lodge in Gillette. Then early to bed as I had to get up early and attend another delegates seminar/meeting.

Wednesday morning we delegates voted for the new International officers for 2010 and 2011. The meeting went just a little over 2 hours. I had my picture taken with our outgoing Santa Clara President, Cecelia, and our new Region 12 President, Judy.

Outgoing Santa Clara, California Unit President Cecelia, Region 12 1st VP, Judy, and Santa Clara Unit 2nd VP, Eray. In November Cecelia will become the Region 12 Recording Parliamentarian. On Sunday Judy will become our new Region 12 President, and Eray the new Santa Clara 1st VP.

The Wedding Chapter

Thursday morning I awoke at 4:15 a.m. from a restless sleep and got ready to drive to the Gillette Airport to catch a flight to Denver, Colorado.  I was to meet up with Simon in Denver at 9:20 a.m. to continue on to Grand Rapids, Michigan where we grabbed a rental car to drive to Saugatuck. We checked into a Best Western about 3.2 miles from the Felt Manson where the family wedding was scheduled. My grand nephew was to marry Allie, his sweetheart of 8 years. Thursday evening was the dry run for the wedding party, so we just relaxed and watched.

The wedding was to begin Friday at 4 p.m., so Simon and I spent the day driving to downtown Saugatuck where we had lunch and walked the 23-block town — very interesting, even the riverfront areas.  By 3:30 p.m. we arrived all dressed up with somewhere to go. Guests started arriving at about 3:45. Since Simon had the only video camera, he was encouraged to travel wherever he wanted to take advantage of the best of the wedding proceedings (he did good!).  Everything and everybody did very well and it was a delightful affair!

The Honeycutt wedding for Eray's Grand Nephew Michael Fish to his lovely bride Allie. 130 friends and family enjoyed the wedding at Felt Mansion in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Dinner under the tent started about 6-ish; dancing started about eight.  Simon and I left around ten so we could get up at 6 a,m, on Saturday to catch our flights back to Denver where he headed back to SFO and I to Gillette, Wyoming.  I was back by 2:15 p.m., picked up Royce from the pet sitter, and Simon texted me that he had landed around 3:30.

During yesterday's storm

This morning I drove a dry-run to the airport which was not at all where Enterprise Rental Car said it was. I so was glad I took the drive and found out the quickest route. I went inside the airport and got my boarding passes for Gillette and Denver.  So tomorrow when I wake up at 5:00 a.m. and have breakfast, my bag will already be packed and I can leave at 6 a.m. and be there by 6:20 with no problem.

After the storm

I visited the huge Cam-Plex Center building where all the Airstream activities are going to be held during the rally and got the lay of the land. At 2 p.m. went to the pool with new friends who got wet while I watched. Afterward with them in their 1995 36′ Airstream motorhome. Good conversation and sharing! Saw another motorhome same size and year as our’s — needed some TLC. On the front and back bumper it says, “Lets Party,” and they have.

Tiny airport

Gillette Airport security