Well, That's It For This Year

Living in the frozen north (it's much further south than England, but it sounds good), we have to put Towed Haul into storage for the winter. I fleetingly though about rebuilding the garage to get the beast put away on site, as it were, but that idea was a teeny bit impractical. I also thought about driving to Florida, migrating like the birds, but Mrs T might miss my scintillating company if I were to be absent for six months.  Better, then, that we wing the Airstream up to CanAm RV in London, have them give it an anti-freeze transfusion and store it on their lot for the duration.

Cleaned up and ready to go

I spent a couple of days cleaning her up (Towed Haul that is, not Mrs T) and removing all our goods and chattels. I called CanAm to make an appointment and was once again wrong footed with their very casual attitude. "Bring it in any time" says they. "Wednesday?" says I. "Anytime" says they. Hmmmmmm.


I did ask about dumping the poo tanks, certain that CanAm would have the facility to do that. "Well, we can" said the Service Manager "but our guy doesn't like doing it, and we charge $25". I was just about to suck my teeth and make disapproving noises when he pipes up "Why don't you take it to the local Truck Stop here? They have a dump station and it's only $10". Curious advice from a business, I thought, but why not? But I digress.


So, with a clean and shiny (if a little empty) trailer, I attempted to hitch the car to Towed Haul all on my own, Mrs T being somewhat indisposed at the time. I'm pleased to be able to report that hitching was achieved on only my fourth attempt; it's taken longer than that with help before now! OK so I had the assistance of the back up camera on the car but I still felt pretty pleased about it. 


We had a long last look at our baby, checked all was stowed well and ceremoniously locked her up, ready for my run up to London the following day. It was quite emotional! Well, not for me, obviously, I'm a rufty tufty bloke so I was unmoved, but Mrs T was strangely silent and shiny eyed.


So there I was, on Wednesday morning, pulling Towed Haul up Highway 401 and finding the going very easy (it would be, the trailer being empty. Doh!). I made for the Truck Stop first and found that they had not one but four RV dump stations, built into the fuel and water islands specifically for RVs. How spiffing! Despite the big warning signs to the contrary, the lady on the till wouldn't take my money up front so I dumped the tanks and then headed back into the gas station shop to pay. Being a good and hygienic little camper, despite wearing disposable rubber gloves for the dumping operation, I went to the (really very grubby) loo and washed my hands before heading out, buying a coffee and paying the nice lady. I made a mental note that Flying J truck stops were very RV friendly places and determined to find out where there were more. It's very educational this camping lark.

Heading over CanAm was fun as I sat the car and trailer in the centre lane of the highway, on the speed limit, and let people fly by me on either side, safe in the knowledge that a couple of Ks further on not only did the road go from four to two lanes but one of the two was closed. See how I think ahead? I hope you're all impressed!

At CanAm I just pulled up in front of the store, went in and met up with Marshall, the Service Writer. He logged all the details on the computer and then came out to verify the small warranty items we needed doing, dispensing some excellent advice in the process. I asked him about the alarming way the wheels appear to tilt when backing the Airstream up at slow speed and he was able to soothe my worries away. Apparently it's not the wheels but the tires that appear to tilt, the section underneath the wheel being pushed outwards whilst the section at the top goes inwards, giving a real tilted effect. It can also happen at high speed, too, and he suggested I look at pictures of F1 cars cornering at speed to see the same thing happening; do you know, he's not wrong? Brilliant stuff! Anyway, fifteen minutes later I was unhitching and leaving the keys with Marshall before scuttling in to pay; $1 per day for storage isn't a bad deal in my opinion.


Then I had to drive away and leave poor old Towed Haul on the forecourt. Oh woe is me! It's really stupid because we leave her on the driveway or at the campground often enough so why this should be any different I don't know. It's only a pile of aluminium and wood after all but it was a wrench for me and it's still going to be a long six months before we can go to collect her. What a sad sack I am.


So, that's it for the season for Towed Haul. We've driven her 9,600 kilometers, stayed 45 nights in her during the season. We've stayed at 5 Provincial Parks, 1 Conservation Area, 5 US State Parks and 5 commercial campgrounds. When towing we've averaged about 18.8 litres per 100 kilometres, which is around 12.5 miles to the US gallon or 15 miles to the Imperial gallon; roughly twice the consumption for the Toadmobile when we're not towing. That stacks up quite favourably when compared to the usual tow vehicle of choice for other Airstreamers, the Pick Up Truck. They get similar consumption figures when towing but when not towing they don't often better 18-19 miles per US Gallon; that gladdens my heart, I can tell you.

We've learned the tricky art of hitching and of backing up. We know that 60 mph is a sensible speed when towing and that it usually rains when we deploy the awning. I dented the beast on our first trip out (total inexperience on my part) and crushed the car to trailer power connector when trying to back up in the wee small hours of the night. On the positive side, we can set up and break camp smoothly now and hardly ever try to drive off with the chocks between the wheels. We've had the fuses blow on the electric jack and the water heater but we're skilled at knowing when the grey water tank is about the overflow and what we can do to prevent it. We haven't cracked picking dry weekends for camping but we're very adept at dealing with heavy rain and waterlogged camp sites.


Overall, though, we've had more fun than we dared think we would have. We still have lots to learn but heck, we have a great time find out what we're doing wrong. Roll on April.