Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I thought I'd start off this holiday season by finally getting around to chronicling our road trip in our (rented) 27' airstream!  Beware, the posts will be lengthier than usual since there's so much to talk about!

And here she is!  What a beauty!

A little bit about towing an airstream for the first time.  Well, this was the first time I've driven a truck, let alone towed something so massive so you can understand the MAJOR difficulties I had.  Especially when driving from SF to LA on the I-5, which was the most congested highway that we encountered on this trip (in hindsight).  So it was a real sink-or-swim moment.  Luckily (for me), Brian drove first so he got to experience all the problems first.  And the biggest problem was trailer sway.  As newbie towers, this was not something we expected nor something we even experienced before.  I guess the closest thing I can describe it to is when your car is hydroplaning.  You can't really use the brakes nor control the steering wheel very well.  You can only hope to slowly counteract the sway with the steering wheel while gradually decelerating and hope not to hit anything in the process!  Luckily the Ford F250 we rented had a trailer brake which helps (if you know how to use it right, which of course we didn't during that first day.  A later very informative YouTube clip on the second day showed us how to do it right).  At some points it felt like the trailer was controlling the car and not the other way around.  The trailer sway got particularly bad when there were high winds, going downhill or when a large speeding big-wheeler passes (and super terrifying when a big-wheeler speeds pass you downhill in a high winds area).  Luckily we only had one major near-miss, but no accidents.  Staying between two lines was been harder.  And did you know that outside of the yellow lines there are rumble strips to let you know that you're veering off course (I never knew that since I've never strayed outside the lines before!).  I got to know the sound and feel of those rumble strips very well (basically every time I drove).

And here we are driving from SF to Barstow.

Thank goodness for towing mirrors (absolutely essential)!

And finally resting after a long hard first day of driving.  We drove from LA to Barstow and it took us about 5 hours I think.  We tried to split the driving 50/50 because it is absolutely exhausting towing a large trailer in such an uncomfortable truck (the truck had ZERO amenities).  This is the dinette and the dog bed was underneath, also where the heater vents are conveniently located so the dogs loved it there.

And the secondary dog area, the hallway leading to the bedroom.  On the left you have the shower and closets (in the foreground) and on the right you have the bathroom (where Hachi is sticking his nose into). 

The next morning in Barstow:

We had the pleasure of getting to know Nespresso during our trip, provided by the rental company.  After 3 weeks with Nespresso, we are converts.  We love it!

I also took along my fav, the nutribullet so that I could still get something healthy on a road trip.  Being able to bring everything you love is one of the best things of taking a trip in an airstream (or any trailer really).  Sorry for the ugly brown shake, that's what happens when you mix greens and acai (but it was delicious!)

And here's a pic of our freezer (so that we wouldn't have to cook from scratch and could spend more time adventuring).

And this was our first RV park on our trip.  Yep, it was called Shady Lane and yep, it was shady (and keep in mind there were 0 large trees on the premises).  This was taken as we were leaving because we actually pulled into this place around 9pm.  And it was even shadier then!  The people who helped us were a little scary looking (real characters!) and that first night I thought "What did we get ourselves into?" and "Will we get through it alive (considering our terrible towing skills and now literally shady RV parks)"?

But make it out alive we did and now Vegas ho!

Ellie was happy to make it out alive too.

The dogs' temporary abode while we drove.

On the way to Vegas!