Favorite Travel Quotes

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts."
-- Mark Twain
Innocents Abroad

"Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey." -- Fitzhugh Mullan

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." -- Lao Tzu

Airstream Updates Simplify Work

Janie at Airstream Work Station

Janie at Airstream Work Station

©Bert Gildart: We’re in Salem, Oregon, attending the Northwest Outdoor Writer’s Association. The convention includes lots of seminars, and perhaps most importantly, enables us to make new contacts and renew acquaintances with old friends. The convention also provides supporting members with the opportunity to acquaint us with new products.

Two days ago I met, Mike, the PR man for Toyoto, and had the chance to learn more about their line of pickups (such as the Tundra) and their SUVs.

But more interesting, Mike and I shared a mutual interest in the Gwich’in, and he has traveled through some of the same Arctic lands that Janie and I have traveled. Go to our Home Page and you’ll see the Gwich’in have figured so significantly in our lives that one of my pages is devoted to the Arctic Refuge and the dependency of the Gwich’in on the refuge.

Like us, Mike has thrilled to the passage of throngs of caribou through this sensitive land. As well, we’ve both spent time in the Canadian Arctic, but he has been to Hershel Island, located near the mouth of the McKenzie. The fabled river flanks Gwich’in Indian land, and one day, I’d like to visit this old whaling stopover.

AIRSTREAM UPDATES

But other meetings are just getting started and so this seems a good time to share some updates we’ve made to our Airstream. Several weeks ago, while in Tucson, I visited with the Airstream dealer about installing an inverter I’ve carried loose for the past few years. I wanted to have it installed to an area of the trailer that would enable me to use it without wires running all over the floor–because 12V outlets are remote.

Airstream suggested they link it to the wires from the stereo located immediately above the Airstream’s work station. They created a permanent installation and now, when we have no 120 electrical hookups, we have easy access to a 12V energy source.

ELIMINATING HOOKUPS

As well I purchased a much smaller inverter which now provides power for our TV, meaning that we can remain pretty much independent of commercial campgrounds. Of course we need a source of power to keep our batteries charged, which we had in the desert. Sun and our solar panels kept the batteries fully charged.

Permanently installed inverter

Permanently installed inverter

That will also work in the Northwest when the sun shines, but when it doesn’t, we’ll have to rely on our generator, a Honda generator in our case, which operates at less than 50 decibels, and so is fairly unobtrusive.

All totaled, our expenses for these new modification was about $80. That, however, does not include the pure sin wave (required for a computer) 300 watt inverter we purchased about five years ago when we bought our first Airstream. These additions (cost about $300) mean we can work anywhere, watch TV (or movies) without the necessity of commercial hookups.

Our meetings conclude tomorrow, but tonight is the big night for Janie and me, for this is banquet night and the night Janie and I get a chance to see how our small part goes over. As mentioned in previous posts, we have about 24 “mystery” items we display. They’re all related to the outdoors and are intended to test the knowledge of all these outdoor writers, but in a way that provides a few chuckles.



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