Getting Started

Hello. Pat & I travel in our 2004, 34’ Airstream Ltd. It’s our dream trailer. It has a slide-out, fireplace, dome satellite dish, two a/c’s, and pulls like a dream. Even though we tell our human children that the trailer feeds 2 and sleeps 2, we do allow our pet children to travel with us – they’re easier to clean up after, and make less noise. We have a dog, cat, and 2 parrots that go everywhere with us.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle our travels in this wonderful dream of a trailer. We’re going to start with notes of our vacation to New Mexico this summer. We are caravanning with two other couples. One is towing a 31’ Airstream, and the other tows a 36’ SOB fifth wheel. We’ll start off from Top of the Hill RV Park, just outside of Boerne, TX, and then head to Silver City; NM, Socorro, NM; Ruidoso, NM; and Taos, NM. We’ll then start our return to Texas via Lubbock, TX, and San Angelo, TX. We’ll leave San Angelo and part company when we get to USHwy 281S . Our two caravan friends will then head home to Bryan and Conroe, TX while Pat & I will turn south to San Antonio. The trip will take about 24 days and a solid 1,000 miles.

This is our second Airstream, and the heaviest at 9,500 dry pounds. Our first was a 2000 31’ Classic that was 7,100 dry pounds. We towed both trailers with a 2000 F250 PSD, a brute of a truck that seems to be built for the job. Three summers ago we towed the 31 through South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. We never encountered any problems pulling the 31 up or down the 7% & 8% grades that we traveled over. This will be our first experience in the mountains with the 34, and I’m a bit anxious to see how it goes, dragging almost 5 tons behind us. We’ve been to New Mexico before, but a week was the longest stay.

Our past travels through New Mexico were always humorous. If you can’t laugh about what’s going on – don’t go to New Mexico. This is an under-populated state. It’s mostly rural areas, Indian reservations, and mountains. Oh, it does host a former nuclear proving ground and an alien landing site. It has two east/west interstates and one north/south interstate. They may or may not have access roads. You can not count on an access road actually providing access to the interstate, which means it should be called something else. All things considered they are a lot better than driving through Louisiana. The state highways are mostly 2 lanes, and will have an occasional gas station every few hundred miles or so. They are scenic and do go through some interesting villages and towns.