Greetings from the Road
Rolling solo – Three wise women share their trailer tales
Single gal Cari King had one eye on the road for several years, and recently reached a crossroads in her life when she was ready to become an Airstreamer. “It’s time for me,” she said. “All of a sudden my kids were gone and my family had lives of their own. When I lost my mother a couple years ago that was pivotal for me. This is the first time I’m not taking care of anybody: no kids, no parents, no boyfriend, no husband. I’m learning how to take care of myself for the first time. I thought if I’m going to do it, let’s just do it. Life’s too short and wonderful not to get out there.”
“I’ve always wanted get a travel trailer, and I looked around,” she said. “When I came across Airstream, I was hooked. I love the whole idea about them, the interior and exterior . . . they just make you smile.”
King settled on a shiny new 16-foot, 2011 Sport; choosing a new model under warranty enhanced her comfort level. “The Sport is a perfect size for me,” she said. “It’s totally self-contained and easy to tow. And it’s an affordable model — cost was definitely a key factor.”
King has no trouble using the manual hitch jack on her Sport. “The dealership showed me through the whole thing, but it was fairly quick and at the time it looked simple,” she said. “When I actually did it myself it took some time, but I would just pull out the manual or the specific instructions for each piece of equipment and figure it out. I was a little nervous about hooking up, but gosh, within just a couple of times doing it, it felt really comfortable. It felt awkward at first, and backing up was a chore, but now it’s a piece of cake!”
King recommends joining the Airforums to learn more about your Airstream and owner activities. “I sign up for rallies there; I go to the newbies threads to read about winterizing or something that might interest me,” King said of the online community. “I’m interested in people who are out there doing it by themselves; I glean a lot from them. And I love meeting new people.”
“I’m proud of myself that I’ve done this. It really has had an incredible impact on my confidence. I’m excited for all possibilities,” King said, as she prepares for a long trip to visit friends and make new ones along the west coast. “I feel very confident in being able to handle what comes my way.”
Her advice for other women considering the trailer life? “Just get out there and practice and try, because it really does become second nature.”
“This is my first experience with trailering,” said Janine Robberson, owner of a 29-foot 2010 International. “I said, well, I’ve never done this before, but I’ve got a pilot’s license so I guess I can tow an Airstream!”
Robberson jumped feet first into Airstreaming, “figuring it out” on her own, and had a friend’s son — a trucker who drives 18-wheelers — coach her on backing up. “Basically that was the one time I had some help,” she said. “At first, when I was trying to back into a space, I had a lot of people get tired of waiting for me and they said, ‘get out and I can do that for you.’ I always said yes, but sometimes it made me mad; I thought, I’ve got a learn how to do this!”
She can now squeeze her rig into tight spaces. “It’s not necessarily pretty, but I can get it there,” she said. “What’s hard is when everyone’s telling you what to do. Just leave me alone I’ll get it done,” she laughed.
Janine has towed her Airstream solo (“just me and my dog”) to the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) convention in Wyoming, and zigzagged across America, state to state, visiting national parks. “There is such a camaraderie of people with Airstreams,” she said. “You see another Airstream parked, and what you do you do? You go talk to them.”
“I like the camping experience, and I like having my own bed and being able to take a shower,” she said of her decision to buy an Airstream. “I just thought, it’s time to just do what you really want to do, and that’s what I really like, and that’s how I started.”
“I’ve always liked to travel, and I like the outdoors,” she said. “I love the experience of seeing this gorgeous, gorgeous country of ours. It’s so diverse. My husband died six years ago, and you know, that kind of makes you realize that life is fragile and you better take advantage of all the things you want to do.”
Shelah Johnson, founder of TrailerChix.com, an online and real-world community “that fosters fabulous living in small eco-friendly footprints”, downsized her lifestyle and became a Airstream full-timer three years ago. She now lives in a 30-foot 1976 Excella 500 and is currently restoring an Airstream Argosy Minuet to tow in search of her next adventure.
She entered the RV lifestyle when, years ago, she and her friend Diane bought an oil-leaking American Clipper motorhome they saw for sale on the street. “We knew absolutely nothing,” she recalled. “Diane’s husband thought we were crazy. We didn’t care; we were putting in new curtains! The first thing we got was a martini shaker, and Diane started sewing up cushions.” Hilarity ensued, involving road trips with girlfriends (with a husband acting as designated driver while the women partied on the highway).
“We get together now and laugh and say ‘remember that trip?’ Adventures like that bond us,” she said.
“I think we have to give ourselves permission to have an adventure,” she continued. “The hardest thing to do is believe in yourself. It sounds crazy but you really have to say, ‘I’ve got this. I can do this,’ and stop overanalyzing. Once you make the decision to do it, everything gets easy.”
Letting go is part of Johnson’s mantra on the road. “You might be traveling through traffic, or come onto a road that you’re not familiar with, or backing into a space, and you just have to let go of expectations and outcomes. They are never what you want anyway. I have been so amazed at the things that have come into my life because of that; meeting new friends and seeing new places I would’ve never dreamt possible, just by saying yes. Yes, I’m going to do it!”
“The fear I experience is overcome by the fact that I know that there’s a solution for everything,” she said. “I’ve seen it happen time and time and time again. We may be in a small jam, but you can get out of it, and laugh about it later. The times we were stuck in some horrible situation are now the storyline of so many parties. If everything goes perfect I’m not sure I’m pushing my limits enough.”
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