It's been almost ten years since my last post here, but I did say that I might come back.
I had taken the decision to port my blogs over to my Weebly website, which went quite well for a while, but the cost of maintaining that became a wee bit burdensome, especially as Weebly was bought out by Square, and they're really only focused on sites that generate money.
Being cheap, I copied everyone of my blog entries, and there were a lot of them, to Google Sites. Sites is free, beyond the annual fee I pay Google that is, and was quite a good home for the blogs, up until I made a monumental error in 2023.
A message came through on my 'phone about tidying up my Google work area. I happily went through the instructions, glibly passing the warnings that my actions couldn't be reversed, and saw that my Google storage space was looking much better. Then I went onto Google Drive.
Yes, I had managed to delete, permanently, twelve years of Airstream blogs. Gone. Completely.
It's my fault entirely, I hadn't read and understood the instructions, and I realised that I couldn't really get upset because there was absolutely nothing I could do to retrieve this self-inflicted situation.
In 2023, I didn't do any Airstream blogs, but I did open up a WordPress account for my more general meanderings, and that is still running.
I did have a bit of an epiphany when I realised, just this week, that the Blogger account I'd started with, this Blogger account, was still active and yes, there were the original entries from 2011 through to 2014. So not twelve years lost, just nine. Hey, you take the wins when you can.
For the 2024 camping season, I will start my Airstream blogs going again. There's a kind of neatness to it being ten years since the last entry. Towed Haul is still in hibernation in London (Ontario) at the moment, and will be until the end of April, which is only a few weeks off now. We'll get her home, clean her up and plan some local trips. Then, hopefully, we'll have a few more blog entries to retain for posterity.
Could you comment on how well the 2011 Toyota Sienna held up as a tow vehicle? From older entries, you seemed happy with the performance, but I just wondered if you developed any engine, transmission or suspension issues from years of towing. Thanks so much for documenting your travels!
ReplyDeleteWe're still towing with the Sienna, same vehicle, now with 205,000Km (127,000 Mi) on it. The vast majority of that is not towing of course.
DeleteWe've experienced no issues with the Sienna, beyond those you'd expect of a 2011 car. It's been serviced at the Toyota Dealer more or less on schedule over the years. At about eight years in, I had one front suspension strut replaced, and last year all four brake rotors and calipers were replaced. I'm on my second set of shock absorbers, although I chose to replace them rather than it being required due to failure. To be honest that made no noticeable difference to the handling at all, so I've stuck with this second set for nine years. There have been no transmission issues, and I'm only on the second batch of transmission oil, which is not bad for that mileage. There's also been no other engine related issues either.
The only real issue I've had has been with the hitch receiver, which was an OEM thing, a Hidden Hitch I think. The square section box that the hitch stinger goes into has become a little deformed over the years, at the top rather than the bottom. It's not much of a biggie but it created a bit of "slop" as the hitch head moved a bit under load. I've remedied that with a clamp thing, bought on Amazon, to stop the slop, and that seems to have helped.
If you've read the blog then you'll know that the hitch receiver was beefed up at CanAm RV, who also added a second transmission oil cooler, both of which modifications were essential to allow the Sienna to work. Other than that the Sienna is a stock model, no upgrades at all.
Using a minivan isn't for everyone, and we do travel very lightly with bikes or firewood or stuff like that, but I think over the years it's been a great tow vehicle.
Thanks for the prompt reply!
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