Some Quintessential LA Experiences (alongside, of course, Airstream restoration)

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 3 Comments

Despite getting our first noise complaint from a neighbor (and so agreeing to limit the use of all saws to between the hours of 930am and 4pm, Sundays off), we’ve made major headway on our respective projects. Ben is well into the dinette/bed project which started as the sketch below. Getting the measurements to fit within the space but also the norms for sitting, eating, sleeping, etc has been challenging but fun – gets you really thinking about and imagining using the space.

Rough sketch of bed/dinette – just turn your head a little to the right….

He zipped the framing together pretty quickly, puzzling over the joints and posts the most. After a casual conversation with Mr. Peplow on a trip to borrow his band saw, Ben came away with the idea to use birch plywood for the panels instead of luan and to clear finish them instead of painting. Ben gave the birch panels the beadboard treatment by running them through the table saw at 2 inch intervals (as he did on the closet and bathroom doors) and as of this very moment, the two side benches are complete and permanently installed. He’ll tackle the back bench next, and oh, those corner curves. Between 930 and 4, not on Sunday.

: Redwood bed/dinette framing

: In place, ready for …

: Birch plywood panels, with homemade beadboard grooves.

In the meantime, my cushions have seen much progress, with help from Rebecca at Sew LA, where I went to an open workshop class. She thoughtfully pointed out not only what was wrong with what I had done so far, but two ways to improve- cramming more piping into my corners, so when you turn them right side out, there is plenty to go around; and more painfully, in order to get more accurate measurements on my cut pieces, I had to make and use paper patterns. You’d think a rectangle is a rectangle – how hard can it be to cut accurately? But fabric is slippery stuff, whereas paper isn’t. If you pin your fabric to paper, then cut, you’ll do better. Rebecca (with a third tip!) also suggested I up the quality of my fabric to something thicker, with a denser weave. So, my Project Runway dreams were, I won’t say fulfilled, but explored as I first trekked to LA’s garment district for better fabric, then patterned up.

: Cramming piping into the corner.

: Patterns – paper pinned to fabric yields a more accurate cut it turns out!

Finally, we had some visitors this week, and while they are all special, some were actual celebrities! (A quintessential LA experience!) All agreed to pose for pictures below. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, who live up the street and I used to babysit a ton for, came by for happy hour and Mrs. A. was the first to sit on the completed napping couch cushion! Cousin Michele Steele, based in Boston for ESPN but also a sub on SportsCenter, Uber’d over from work meetings in LA. (When I drove her back, traffic piled up because of a brushfire – sadly, like earthquakes, another quintessential LA experience.) A friend from high school was in town to give a book reading – you can purchase Liam Callanan’s latest on Amazon or preferably your local independent bookstore. And finally, Michelle, my neighborhood BFF from when I was a kid, was in town. I hadn’t seen her in years and hadn’t ever met her kids, to whom she is a celebrity, and to me too because she is getting her Masters in Math! Lots of catching up about our whether or not purple and red were still our favorite colors, Little House on the Prairie, bike riding, candy eating, Dodger games and Barbies. And about who dared who to eat (dry) cat food (she dared me, and I did). When Michelle was nine and I was eight, she moved four miles away (ugh) to a house with a pool (yay!) and we wrote each other letters. How sweet!

Neighbors extraordinaire, the Andersons!

Cousin and teevee star, Michele!

High school friend and author, Liam!

Childhood BFF, MIchelle

Last but not least in the construction updates, below is a little project that turned into a medium-sized one. Ben put the cabinet doors on the aluminum overhead cabinets. We used the same Union Jack aluminum sheeting that’s on the endcap shelves. Somehow completing this project just makes the interior look a ton more finished. Don’t you think?

Knobs and latches still to come on those upper cabinets.

And to round out the recreation and shopping department, we finally made it to the Rose Bowl flea market – say it with me: another quintessential LA experience! It was not overwhelming, as we were fortified with breakfast burritos and lemonade. Some scenes below, including a few items that caught our eye, but were not purchased.

We DID however purchase the lovely Pyrex refrigerator dishes below. Prices really varied, but we were happy with the collection and deals we got. They will be put to good use, starting with looking pretty in this little vignette with a finished cushion and the dinette in progress, atop the now restored Westinghouse cabinet from last month’s flea market! So much progress! Until next time….

Post-polish Pics + a Day Off!

July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 / barkersonbreak / Leave a comment

The LA sun has been relentless and hot – but the sheen coming off our sunscreen and sweat-slathered bodies is no match for the shiny Safari! Last week we worked with Colin of CFDetailing for three days to polish her up. Read more about the brutal work involved in our last post. Or, just enjoy the results in the slide show below…

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The only glamour shot I haven’t gotten yet is one from the roof of our garage. We used to scramble up there all the time as kids, but I took a long look at the three feet I’d be required to hoist myself up from the top of our neighbor’s wall to the roof and decided I was too old.

In other news:

-We took a day off and went to Ventura – a cool town on the water between LA and Santa Barbara to hear our brother in law play music at a festival there. (Could this, will this, become a travel blog some day soon???)

Sister Sara and brother in law Dave after his band’s performance

Ventura is home to San Buenaventura, one of the nine California missions founded by Junipero Serra. If you went to grade school in California, even public school, you were assigned to read and write about about Serra, re-enact his life, and build your own mission model to scale (my brother’s is still in a cupboard in the den.) Ben laughed when I told him this, saying his memory of Texas history in grade school was lessons of Jim Bowie, Sam Houston, etc. and none of Mexican/Spanish heroes.

The Pacific Ocean in Ventura, CA. To the left, right and behind this picture are dozens of people (many with RVs) enjoying an afternoon at the beach!

We took a long walk along the state park beaches just north of Ventura – lots of trailers, RVs, and even two Airstreams were parked along the beach. It seems there is an overnight section as well as one for day use only. It was so nice to see people actually USING their trailers – not just restoring them! We saw every type of person engaged in every variation of (mostly wholesome, family friendly) beach activities – football, fetch with dogs, eating chips, taking selfies, body surfing, surfin g, boogie boarding, hole digging. Unfortunately, the only picture we got was this one of the ocean. Just picture it all!

-I started making the cushions for the Airstream. We selected a subtly striped fabric – sort of Aqua/turquoise/seaglass color? I’m starting with the cushions for the napping couch which has two cushions, one of which will never be seen. That’s the one I’m starting with a test cushion. In order to get the foam a custom size and with the sought after 5,000 restful naps guarantee, I went to Foam Mart, the town next door in Burbank. I was grateful there was a local place I could go to get exactly what I need, plus some tips (eg you want to cut the foam just a bit bigger than the space it’s going in – in my case 3/4 inch.) Here is a pic of a “dry fit” of the first cushion – you can see I’m using a contrasting piping to bring in the navy blue of the curtains. I don’t think we’ll do that in the dinette, but we’ll see. (In the background of this pic, you can see our flooring boxes which arrived semi-safely via Greyhound from Maryland!)

Mock up of cushions for napping couch. Same green fabric will be used in dinette, but likely with matching piping.

Sloppy Joes -Last, for now, food. Shout out to a good meal at the Cracking Crab in Montrose. I haven’t seen this trend hit the DC area, but apparently seafood boil restaurants are all the rage here. At the get go, the server laid down the lime juice dipping “sauce” and it was awesome with our mussels, shrimp and popcorn lobster, pictured left. Totally new (to me) and better than lemon. Try it!

We’ve had some amazing meals at home as well thanks to California farmers and farmers markets. For example, cabbage. Would I ever buy it in the supermarket? No, but at the farmers market, it was irresistible. So we had sloppy joes (a childhood favorite) with coleslaw, pictured above, right.

What’s next? While I embark on the cushions, Ben is finishing up the redwood shower – see also previous post and our many, many Instagram pics on this project. We also did a rough sketch of the dinette/bed (so I could start the cushions) and Ben will begin building that next week.

Happy Fourth!

Lost and Found Storage Space

June 19, 2015June 23, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 4 Comments

I spend a lot of time thinking about space. Like: Will we have to store the beer in the bathroom? (See pic at left.) Ben’s wardrobe could and will be just 7 or less pairs of everything, but I need 14, or 21 maybe. I also love to cook and making thoughtful, simple, and delicious meals will be a big part of what will make this adventure enjoyable and economical. Cooking requires stuff: food, and in most cases some sort of equipment beyond a mess kit. Food + cooking equipment + our combined 28 pairs of everything need space to reside in when not in use. So Ben, when not doing laundry, and mostly in response to my wishes, spends a lot of time trying to create / save / maximize space as he designs and builds.

Original interior – cabinets above couch – all gone.

If you look at the original pictures of the ‘68 Safari, there were fairly large cabinets on either end. Those cabinets we torn out and replaced with – a four inch deep, open aluminum shelves.

Artsy pic of the shelf where a big cabinet used to be.

Artsy pick of the shelf where the cabinet used to be.

Pretty! But not exactly practical for storing that 2lb bag of basmati rice, or the 12-pack of Tecate, the extra blanket or soup pot. And of course, when travelling, open shelves aren’t great places for storage, though when we are camping, I suppose we’ll be able to use them for sooooooomething—I’ll let you know. Maybe socks.

One recent Sunday, after a night of going to sleep and waking up thinking about space, I convinced Ben that a trip to one of the many by all accounts fabulous flea markets in the area might be a good break and a way to “purchase” rather than have to build or design hack some additional space. Though in his real life, Ben would go to swap meets, auctions, flea markets, garage sales, etc all day every day, in these couple of months, it’s been tough to tear him away from the job site.

Fridge of left; to be built bed/cabinet on right. Needed a cabinet that fits in the middle.

But, we both agreed, the space between the fridge and the bed/dinette (as of yet, only marked out on blue tape on the floor) would be perfect for a cool vintage cabinet of some sort. It’s a very visible space, front and center when you step into the Airstream, and a piece of furniture could double as a side table and cabinet. We took measurements and off we went.

The Pasadena City College Flea Market – held the first Sunday of the month and from what we heard is a “just as good but less overwhelming” version of the Rose Bowl flea. After a couple of hours of up and down touring-lots to see, browse and purchase, with good prices-we came away with a couple of good finds. We spotted the white Westinghouse roaster cabinet pretty early in our rounds. We loved the original clock, the shape, the cavernous storage inside (it’s all relative people) the height, the depth BUT but decided it was too wide, maybe too much of a project in that we’d have to maybe cut a couple of inches off somehow stabilize it again by attaching it to the fridge cabinet. Not exactly the time save we were hoping for. So we wandered, bought a bunch of small tins for a dollar each that can be used for storage throughout, and bargained for a super curvy gleamy bread box that in my real life I would never have used (just seems potentially like a place where bread goes to die) but will look and fit beautifully on our nice deep counter tops. Perhaps a place for bread, or more likely shelf stable pantry stuff. After thinking and searching and coming up empty for another cabinet, we decided the 50 buck price was right to give the Westinghouse a try. Maybe it would fit ok. Sure enough, when we placed it in the spot under the window and through a slab of wood on top (of course) it seems to really belong. So we lost two inches of width on the dinette. I will sleep on the bags of basmati rice if I have to!

In other space lost and found news, we realized we had more than a few inches of clearance between the top of the fridge and the countertop, and Ben set out to create some kind of cabinet there, really a little narrow cubby.

Foil friend for determining cabinet height

What could fit in such a small space? Foil and plastic wrap and baggies we decided, so a test-fit roll of aluminum foil became Ben’s constant companion as he measured and cut and fit. He worked tirelessly to get at least two inches of height out of that cubby. And he did it! We now have the coolest little sliding door cabinet. The door face is original trim from the Airstream. The handle is a through-bolt familiar to anyone who has ever come face to face with their subfloor. But it turns out, the foil fit, but plastic wrap doesn’t. So we imagine we will enjoy equally using that space for silverware – you can watch the full video demo on Instagram.

Screen grabs of sliding door cubby in action!

Screen grabs of the sliding door cubby in action!

If not silverware, maybe for our socks, or our rock collection, or our pet snake. Just kidding on the last two!

Everything’s going down the drain – hopefully!

June 4, 2015June 4, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

So, picture this scenario: I come back to my Airstream after a glorious day of hiking the most gorgeous canyon trails, where it was hot. And dusty. I’m exhausted, and all I want to do is take a real shower in my own home before kicking back for crispy time, to watch the sunset with a snack and a cocktail. Will I settle for a bird bath, maybe a full body wet wipe or the undependable campground showers? No!

I asked Ben Barker, amateur Airstream restorer, what he has done to make my dream possible.

Ben – why did you begin your foray into the plumbing systems with the shower drain in particular?
There are three drains in the Airstream – kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and shower. And I knew the shower would be the most involved. I started with its drain line, because, though I’ve never done this before, I understand it’s harder to run water drain lines than it is to run supply lines. Makes sense: drains use hard piping, with glued connections, so by nature they are more permanent and have less room for error! By contrast, we’ll use PEX tubing for water supply lines – PEX is pretty flexible and much more forgiving as it snakes its way around the trailer.

How did you plan for the work? Were you starting from scratch?
The gray water tanks and the main drain line from the tanks (located in the middle of the trailer, underneath on the axle) to the dump valve in the rear bumper of the trailer, were already installed. This existing main drain line would be like the main artery – the “drain highway” – so I planned out from there how and where to lay the shower and the shower drain. We had to work within the constraints of the bathroom size, the curves of the walls, the size of the water heater, how tall both Meg and I are, etc. as we finalized the location and the materials for the shower itself.

Bathroom layout from top: shower, water heater (sink will go on top), toilet

What did you do first? AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE CUTTING A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE AIRSTREAM?
First we put the newly acquired solid surface (Swanstone from Lowe’s) shower pan into position. For some reason, and I’m not sure why, the shower has to drain directly into the drain highway (if the dump valve is closed, the water then diverts to the gray tanks.) For both the kitchen and the bathroom sinks, the water drains into the gray tanks via their separate pipes; when the tanks are emptied, the contents travel down the drain highway on their way to the dump valve near the rear bumper.

Ben underneath the Airstream, checking, installing, adjusting the plumbing.

Drilling holes in our fancy new Nyloboard subfloor always makes me a little nervous, but I told Meg there was no turning back, and I summoned the courage and boldness of all the amateur restorers before me and I drilled an exploratory hole in the middle of the shower drain, through the subfloor, hoping and praying the drill bit would emerge somewhere close to the main drain line I was trying to tap into (I had measured of course, but you never know). Then I went underneath the trailer to see how close: with the belly pan removed I could see that yes! the hole was close enough to the main drain line (and thankfully, hadn’t penetrated it!).

So, the rest was easy, right?
Riiiiiiiiiiight…I cut the main pipe to install a T fitting connecting the shower drain to the drain highway. Instead of using the traditional P trap, I used a device from Vintage Trailer Supply called a hepvo which is great for RVs. It’s a self-ventilating one-way valve which essentially keeps water or gases from coming back in once they’ve gone down the drain so to speak.

Then I plugged away at framing out the shower pan, working around and within the constraints for the rest of the bathroom – finessing the water heater placement, wanting to maximize storage, leaving room for the door to open, etc.

So many plumbing parts gathered, but which is the right one?

In the meantime, I made multiple trips back and forth to Virgil’s to find a compatible drain to marry up the Hepvo device with the main drain line. Many trips. I ended up cannibalizing a small sink drain I already had and turned that into the main shower line.

So, does the shower drain work? Will Meg’s dream come true?
After hooking everything up, tightening screws, doling out silicone, I did a bunch of leak tests with the garden hose resulting in minimal drama – just a few adjustments here and there.

However, in the final test, the shower backed up and almost overflowed! We soon realized we had

Oops! On your test, don’t put more water down the drain than the tanks can hold!

Garden hose critical to plumbing tests.

maxed out and completely filled the 30 gallon water tanks. So we began the process of dumping the water, though of course, carefully.

Twelve 2.5 gallon buckets of water were recycled to give John’s rose bushes an extra drink this week.

Any more to this story? What should we look for next?
The frame out of the bathroom included the installation of the on-demand water heater, a PrecisionTemp RV 550 NSP from Vintage Trailer Supply. I spent some time on the phone with the manufacturer – the installation directions always seem to have a few blanks to fill in, and I found what turned out to be an extra screw rattling around inside. The heater has an exhaust pipe which required a trip to the auto parts store this time–parts to extend the exhaust pipe.

And, we are still researching/debating shower surround – we’ve considered everything from tile, to solid surface, to stainless steel and now we’re coming back to wood – cedar planks like in a sauna. Some negatives to that, but we’ll try to work around those and figure it out as we go.

Lunch break – Ben loves pictures! And lunch breaks!

And???? And, I’ve promised you [Meg] to install those curtain rods so you can hem the curtains and finish that project.

Right, get on that please! More coming soon on curtains, the refrigerator, oven, kitchen storage, and a trip to Home Depot to buy stuff!

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Doors!

May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 6 Comments

If the past few days had a theme, it would be doors…and windows…and a hinge.

Clothes closet up top, air conditioner stored and rolled out when in use from bottom compartment.

First up in our recap, the combo sliding (up/down) closet and air conditioning door. The closet is on the curbside, just forward of the bathroom. We knew the clothes closet would have to share space with the air conditioner (we opted for a portable, rolling unit instead of a rooftop one). At some point a few months ago when Ben was scoping everything out, he asked me to bring out a dress on a hanger so he could see how tall to make the closet. Well I’m not sure what the point of that exercise was, because the closet is four feet tall. But it is beautifully framed out in redwood; the doors are redwood with luan panels inset.

One more lament, and I’ll let it go: we came upon the idea of doing sliding doors, thinking that would be the best use of limited space. I now realize we will not have a “back of the closet door” on which to hang things. 😦

To make the door panels, Ben used the table saw – ran the luan through multiple times with the blade so low it was only nicking the wood – and the result is a fake beadboard panel that is thin enough to fit in the the doors. When seeing it finished, I pronounced the door beautifully rustic, which Ben took as a half insult. JK – he agrees – high design rustic = cool.

Bathroom door, old factory glass

The bathroom door, also of redwood and luan, went pretty smoothly. It includes a glass panel, to let a bit of light in both ways. It’s that greenish industrial glass, with chicken wire. It’s definitely vintage, definitely from eBay, though if you believe Ben’s description of it on Instagram, we also *know* it’s from an old factory. Probably. It made it here in one piece from Maryland wrapped in a wool blanket and 3,000 miles of positive thinking.

He needed a miter gauge to closely fit the various pieces of the frame and panel (also known as stile and rail) door. The one that came with the job-site table saw acquired after we got here was a K-tastrophe. So he built one that only produces 90 degree cuts, but was adequate for the job and way better than the cheapo one from DeWalt. (The table saw itself is decent for its purpose, though Ben says he’s pushing its limits.)

Counter top extension, magic hinge

Next up, the hinge – one that will be much used, and was much labored over – Ben finished mounting a flip-up counter top extension/cutting board next to the stove top. It’s attached with an aluminum hinge he picked up from a boat salvage place. The spring loaded supports came from Rockler. He used a chisel to mortise out the hinge, attaching it both to the existing countertop and the extension. It works like a dream. DO NOT WORRY. To make full use of the napping couch, all one has to do is raise (with ease) the hinged counter top.

In ladies-land, we took on windows, and I started one of my major projects – the Airstream curtains. After considering what might go well with celery-colored bulkheads, wood, and aluminum, we chose a navy blue and white zig-zag stripe, which we are 99 percent sure was the right decision.

From lower left, counterclockwise: fabrics we considered, panel under construction, and finished panel.

It might be a little dizzying if you are prone to vertigo (we are not, thankfully). I clicked around and settled on pleated curtains, which I’ll attach with curtain hooks. The whole shebang involved buckram, blackout lining, and lots of measuring. I have some sewing experience, enough to struggle-though-not-give-up on following written instructions. I’ve been using these tutorials for the curtains, and found this when I realized I didn’t have a blind hem foot. Ya see… Ben’s not the only one who can come up with a work around 🙂

There are six windows in the Airstream, though three of these are double windows, with a smaller second window below the larger one. I may do those smaller windows in plain ole navy blue, to give the eyes a little rest. Some of the windows ARE the same size, but each seems to have its own personality, involving a frame that juts up against a shelf, doorway, or yes, even a bulkhead. So, I re-measure a lot. I’ve only ripped out one seam so far, which I consider incredible. We’ll mount them in the next day or so. I can tell you the blackout liner really works-a must have if we plan on sleeping past sunrise ever.

Grilled veggie pasta, practicing food photography

Let’s break the theme and have a food pic, of a grilled veggie pasta, made with every vegetable acquired at the farmers market last Sunday: beets, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, onions. Added a little pesto. It was delish. Sister Sara, Ben and I grilled and ate outside with my parents. I’ll leave you with my friend Pam’s critique of my food photo shot (so you can learn as well).

A little too much going on between the bread and fork AND pasta. Pull back the camera a hair and take out the bread. Zucchini piece on the right third, fork on left third, maybe flopped over.

This shot shows the garage interior thru to Ben’s worktable/space in the back.

We are enjoying mostly cloudy and cool days, though today the sun finally came
out. A real LA day, in Ben’s estimation. He celebrated by riding his bike to Anawalt Lumber for caulk and glue brushes (Anawalt has been a local, family-owned institution since the 1920s, and it’s also our source for redwood. It’s just up the street and though I had never been there, my mom remembers going for boy scout supplies back in the day.)

So much ahead – we picked up our shower pan today, so that sets up more plumbing and bathroom construction. Lots of head scratching about the dinette/bed area. I have 6 curtains down, 12 to go. And, Ben is thinking seriously about buying an Anawalt t-shirt, and is encouraged by the fact that IT will fit in the closet.

Bulkheads are Essentially Interior Walls

May 22, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

Painted bulkhead, aluminum channel – no gaps!

Finishing touches on bulkhead; the job started with a tick stick.

Lots of progress in the last week – highlights are really the bulkheads – essentially the interior walls – to separate the bathroom, and form the combo (little) clothes closet / home for the air conditioner. First we (recall I use the term “we” very loosely) measured using an old boat builder’s technique to take curves off the Airstream walls. The tick stick transfers the curve of the wall onto the bulkhead. Note, like a boat, few things are plumb, level or square, so these measurements are not exactly precise, but definitely taken with care.

After much remeasuring and cutting, we were satisfied with the fit to the curves. Then, we cut lengths of aluminum channel which we were using to attach the bulkheads to the trailer walls. Ben did most of the fitting, attaching, sliding, pounding, shoving, pushing, etc to make them fit. I was occasionally brought in for support roles to stand on a board, pound a hammer, push or rivet, sometimes helping, often not so much, but consistently providing food and taking the lead on social media updates!

In the end, the aluminum channel was riveted to the interior walls, and the bulkheads were inserted into the channels, so the channel serves as a very cool and clean trim for the walls. Where there were a few gaps between the channels and the walls, we’ll just “throw in some silver goop” says Ben.

We decided we wanted to paint the bulkheads and knowing the overall color scheme will be blue, gray, and green, with of course lots of metal and wood, we settled on what we are calling a celery green. I’ve liked it from the start, it’s growing on Ben. The actual color is … I’ll look it up! from Dunn Edwards.

Other progress includes – framing out the napping couch – just long enough for me to recline on diagonally, as Old Abe had to in his boarding house death bed. Ben will be doing most of the napping anyway, so no loss.

Napping couch – perfect size for someone shorter than me!

We also borrowed a thickness planer from our longtime neighbors, the Peplows. Mr. Peplow has a wood shop (which Ben toured while Mrs. Peplow and I talked travel plans) and has most recently gotten into turning – he has quite a collection of pens he has made – look for his Etsy shop soon! It was super nice of him to not only lend the planer, but walk it over to our house and leave it with Ben for a spell.

Last weekend we visited my young and dear friend Clare and her family in Santa Monica. They have an awesome little guest house, and their girls, 4 and 1, were full of energy and fun.

Family fun! Will get their own Airstream some day!

Their kitchen/dining room is shaped sort of like a very large Airstream – I predict they’ll join us on the road in 15 years, or maybe sooner.

Branzino, beans, and super corn!

Robin made Branzino on the grill and I ruined the “food porn” photo of it with this giant lemon wedge straight from the ladies’ grille at the Country Club!

Ben is currently doing more trim carpentry – right in his wheelhouse – pure woodworking, so truly fun for him. He picked up some redwood to build the bathroom door and what we think will be sliding doors for the closet. Redwood is lightweight and beautiful! He’s also working out a cool way to mount an extra cutting board next to the stove – one that will lift and lower on hinges.

Airstream Restoration Actually Begins

May 16, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / Leave a comment

Working to achieve the necessary angles on the gray water drains.

Measuring, cutting, and trimming pretty lauan plywood for bulkheads.

The last couple of days have seen a lot of trailer progress, but days must have better eyes than we humans, because we have had a hard time seeing it.. Huh? In other words, Ben has been doing lots of time consuming bulkhead fitting, tweaking of cabinetry, gluing of plastic drain pipes … zzzzzz … this stuff is entirely necessary, but rates at the rock bottom of the crowd-pleaser scale. Just not a whole lot of visual payoff. I have helped a little bit but always end up having to take breaks to rub the sawdust off my nose and eyelashes. This afternoon we did a dry fit of our cool kitchen sink faucet just to liven things up (it looked pretty cool).

We have covered a lot of ground in the valley gathering materials – North Hollywood and Burbank seem to be home to the majority of the hardware/metalwork/plumbing experts and supply places so far. The sheet metal guy we visited had a picture of Brad Pitt hanging in his office! Metal worker for the stars! But all the stories we pulled out of him were about Mickey Rourke. Everyone is very nice out here in LA. We knew that going in, but are constantly amazed by the pleasant customer service interactions. We’ve also been searching online for materials related to tip out trays, 12 volt LED bulbs of various shapes and sizes, and table spiders. Hm.

Dinners have included Moroccan chicken thighs with yogurt sauce, and salmon coconut curry. Dad has become more interested in eliminating sugar from his diet, so he and I cooked eggs side by side this morning. All my time growing up, Dad never cooked, and hasn’t ever really. But he knew a lot, learned a little, and

Food photography tips courtesy of Pam!

we’ll cook some more for sure in the weeks ahead. I’ve been swimming at the Y, and taken our bikes in for some tweaks. Since our last post, Washington’s hockey and basketball teams have been thumped out of the playoffs, but the Nats continue to do well and we are listening to this west coast swing on west coast time. Not bad.

Oh, and it rained! A ton – an inch or two. Lightning, thunder, the whole nine yards. Drought restrictions imposed aren’t as tough as I expected – or as I remember when we were kids. Basically, you are restricted to watering your lawn on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Other than that, there are suggestions, eg a 3 minute shower at the gym and general sounds of alarm emitted by my mother when we let the water run while washing dishes. Good training for the 30 gallon tank in our future.

Getting Ready, Set…

May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 4 Comments

Hello from sunny California! It’s been a happy whirlwind – from the safe end of our journey to LA, through the “prep” for the (third and final stage of the) Airstream’s restoration. Coming entries will be of greater interest to shop, design, and grease geeks. But, to recap:

North Beach MD to Glendale CA Google Maps

Our route cross-country, April – May 2015

Wednesday, 5/6
After Albuquerque, we hightailed it through the rest of NM (through a couple of scary thunderstorms), and across the Mojave desert. Ben put in a 12 hour plus drive day, again, thankfully with no problems. We bunked down just outside of Orange, got up bright and early to make one last pit stop: Brad’s Valero in Orange. The situation was this – towing the Airstream, the rear end of the truck was riding too low. For the mechanically minded, Ben had installed a Roadmaster Active Suspension, essentially a device that helps out old tired suspensions, and provides other benefits – anti-sway, increased traction, etc. The Roadmaster had helped, but on the trip out to Calif – fully loaded truck and Airstream – the truck’s rear end was still sagging too much. We called our Roadmaster rep Ryan in North Carolina and he took charge – he arranged for us to trade in our Roadmaster for the newly released heavy duty model, and he hooked us up with Brad, his star Roadmaster installer in California. Awesome customer service all around – Ryan took our situation very seriously and was determined to make his product work for us. Brad owns a very very busy service station where every staff member was all about customer service. Brad, like everyone in California, seems to have just hopped off a surfboard, or at least still grooving the good vibes from his last wave. Super efficient, friendly, quality-focused. We’ll be back for a truck tune up before we leave. And the truck is great with its new heavy duty Roadmaster system!

We completed the last leg of our journey–from “the 5” to “the 605” to “the 210”, because you don’t want to go throughdowntown LA then or really anytime of day. (The SNL skit does not exaggerate.) Official arrival time on a quiet curb across from my parents’ house in Glendale: 11:30am. Departed North Beach, MD at 10:17am 9 days earlier. Anyone want to do the math? Nevermind, who are we kidding? Google’s got it: 42 hours of driving time, that’s 2,793 miles!

Dad (right) and brother Johnny helped direct us in.

My folks were more excited to see us than the Airstream, but made a valiant effort pretending! After a quick breather, Ben pulled away from the quiet curb and backed into the driveway – the presence of a telephone pole made us imagine this scenario ending badly. But he did awesome – we didn’t even need to block traffic. A little scraping and groaning (from the Airstream) and we were safely in and positioned well for the duration. I thought I might kiss the ground when we got here. I didn’t, but the look on my face in this photo taken immediately after I think (I hope) exudes gratitude to all who got us here safely, or ma de appeals to that end.

Thursday 5/7
After unloading the truck (mostly our personal stuff + 4 sawhorses!), we began our work prepping the garage for the Airstream restoration. My parents’ garage is the perfect blank slate for such work, but blank it was so we set out for a marathon trip to Home Depot. You know the type. Spouses separated for upwards of an hour. In our case, me with my heels kicked up in the patio furniture displays, and Ben wielding 2X4s, 4X4s and plywood sheet onto a giant cart. Wood for shelves. We are also working on a couple of projects for my parents which we’ll squeeze in.

Somewhere in there I went grocery shopping – I am excited to cook during my time here in ways that will help prepare me for Airstream cooking: keeping in mind budget, space, minimal tools, but NOT ingredients, because for gosh sake it’s spring time in California and fresh fruits and vegetables will be had.

The perfect blank slate shop garage, after we cleared a few things out.

Dinner: Roasted Rockfish, asparagus and sweet potato wedges.

Friday 5/8
Build garage shelves! From zero (everything is on the floor of my parents’ garage) to fully functioning within five or so hours. In sorting out the stuff in the garage we made three piles – save, pitch and

Shelves in progress

freecycle or garage sale. We pretty soon realized there was really nothing for the latter category. I don’t know what it says about my parents, but they have nothing anybody else would want. Unless you count the Nixon AND Kennedy pins I found in the way old box. or my Uncle Ron’s slide rule. We spend some time looking at my dad’s Air National Guard action photos, and teasing my younger brother (in Boston) that we accidentally threw out his Star Wars action figures. When

One for mom and one for dad! Perfect couple!

putting stuff ON the shelves, we stacked and roped off with earthquake safety in mind, and shelf-ishly kept some clear for the stuff for the Airstream project. Again, we’ll configure all when we depart.

Dinner: Beef stir fry with broccoli.

Saturday, 5/9

Back to Home Depot for materials to build a beefy rolling work bench. It was fun and easy to build – casters rock! It’s perfectly suited to the job, but alas it’s next life will be as a lowly laundry table. Ben added some handles to the garage doors, and other odds and ends to make everything flow easier.

Dinner: Shrimp and spinach quesadillas.

Sunday, 5/10

Ben and I began the morning with the first of what I’m sure will be weekly treks to the Montrose Farmer’s Market. We walked the two miles or so up to Montrose with an empty backpack, stuffed the backpack (and another bag) and called Mom begging for a ride home. No dice. After resting up and fortifying ourselves with macaroons, we trekked home. Highlights: berries, berries, berries, nectarines, gorgeous avocados, rainbow chard, golden beets, dates, walnuts, a knife sharpening stand where Ben got his pocket knife tuned up, an awesome dixieland band (cornet player had a vintage cool stand-mounted mute, the likes of which Ben, a former player, had never seen).

In the afternoon, we emptied the trailer – two piles – stuff for the project, and other stuff, which could roughly be divided into three piles: 1. fun stuff (bike helmets, kayak, metal detector), 2. necessary for living stuff (sub sub divided, kitchen, office, sleeping, and 3. the why the heck did we bring this??? I was pleasantly surprised that the latter pile was smaller than I thought. Still doesn’t make up for how many clothes I brought.

We have so many tools and materials for the project that we have to keep some stuff outside (see pic above). For example the cabinetry is carefully draped in a tarp, and though we feel certain the 0% rain chance will hold, around here you gotta

Work table on casters in teh distance, new shelves on the left. Patriotism on display throughout!

Work table on casters in the distance, new shelves on the left. Patriotism on display throughout!

plan for earthquakes too. This while a tropical depression is threatening our Maryland house. And tornadoes and storms wreaking havoc in TX, OK and AR.

Mother’s Day dinner (much from the farmer’s market): Goat cheese and walnut stuffed dates, Italian white bean and chard soup. Aunt Margaret came over – an intrepid traveller herself, she asked excellent questions about our planned trip and the Airstream during her moonlight tour.

Monday, 5/11
Day began with – wait for it – a trip to the hardware store. Had to get a can of Bondo, which is a fiberglass putty filler typically used for repairing body damage on a car. For our project, we needed it to fill in various holes and depressions in our new Nyloboard subfloor prior to putting in cabinetry. Process: scrub subfloor with SImple Green, damp mop, wipe down, let dry, apply Bondo (the unique smell of Bondo, according to Ben, hasn’t changed since 1978, when he practically re-created the body of his rust bucket

Ventilation is key – note California drought cool lawn in background.

Triumph TR-6 with the stuff. Ah, memories …). Anyway, for those who have never used Bondo, you scoop out a hefty dollop onto a plastic plate, squeeze on a “ribbon” of hardener paste, mix quickly, then apply even more quickly. You don’t have much time with this goop

Love? Annoyance? Both?

before it starts solidifying. So, holes got filled, seams got evened out, floor got sanded and damp mopped (again) and that was that. But the workday was about over by then and it was time to break into the newly acquired 30 pack of Miller 64 low-cal beers, which tasted pretty delicious on a GORGEOUS California afternoon.

Dinner was Mom’s treat at Dish Restaurant (she was flush with her Mother’s Day gift card). Dad had a church meeting, but my sister Sara and her husband Dave joined us for half price hamburger/beer night. Free spirit Ben rebelled by ordering a salad and wine. While we’re in California, we will definitely go see Dave and his band (Just Dave Band) perform – Dave recently played harmonica (for the 2nd time!) on American Idol, most recently as a part of Boy George’s Karma Chameleon. Both performances got him serious camera time!

Tomorrow – Unlike California lawns, the Airstream starts growing again. Please consider adding a comment / question / feedback to this post! Or point out the typos, or offer a suggestion on how to fix all the goofy wordpress spacing/formatting! PS We delayed watching Mad Men to get ‘er done!

An Ode to Cousins

May 7, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

In a town called Albuquerque, in New Mexico,
Two little cousins reside, with their dog, Cleo.

There’s Bronwyn, spunky and full of glee,
A one-kid welcoming committee.

Then there’s Maeve, a leader in fashion and style,
she’ll make the trends list with her Nutella smile.

Their parents are doctors, saving patients all day.
Their au pair is a wiz at pancakes, pigtails, and play.

The adobe house is the perfect place to kick back,
After foot races and booby traps and seaweed snacks.

This travelling pair wished they could stay longer,
But fortified by family, hit the road even stronger!

Ben supervises Meg’s cousin Elizabeth’s daughters while they check out the Airstream. Cleo the dog considers her next move.

Killing Time in Canyon, TX

May 6, 2015May 28, 2015 / barkersonbreak / 2 Comments

May 2-4, Canyon, TX

There’s no way around it – we had to kill some time on our progress west. So we could see my cousin and her family in New Mexico, and get to California the same day a truck suspension part arrived.

We looked at a map and zeroed in on Canyon, TX, about 20 minutes south of Amarillo. It worked out great to take a few days “vacation” and SEE some sites, get to know an area with at least some level of detail. We chose Canyon after learning (Yelp and Trip Advisor are our best guides so far, along with key word searches like “cool places to see between x city and y city”) it is close to a couple of recommended state parks for hiking and is home to a great history museum. We booked an Airbnb which went above and beyond to accommodate our schedule. We pulled up Friday evening, unhitched and settled in.

Home sweet Airbnb home in Canyon.

Canyon is pretty happening compared to some of the other west Texas towns we rolled through on the way there. That is, if the presence of three Thai restaurants is one of the measures of happening-ness. We dined at Sayokomarn Friday night, right off town square. It was packed with families and groups of teenagers. Everyone appeared to be eating the same thing – a big pile of fried rice. The waitress explained that the teens in particular always ask for it sans vegetables. If a kid requested the vegetables, he was considered a rebel. So! The food was terrific – super fresh and spicy. We walked a bit around the square, popping into Palace Coffee Company, a cool space, conveniently across from the Vape shop. The staff there gave us some tips for our hiking and recommended we talk to a bearded fellow sitting alone sipping his coffee – he worked at the museum and ended up giving good advice about what not to miss (firearms belonging to Kit Carson and Quanah Parker that were exclusive to the museum, but for some reason were located in a place many visitors miss. We didn’t miss).

The next day we hit the museum hard, first thing. The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum sign out front reports that “they”

say it’s like the Smithsonian with a Texas accent. It didn’t talk, so we can’t vouch for the accent, but it was a very good museum – lots of thoughtful displays, attentive to millions of years of history, geologic, cultural etc. It helped to situate the area’s significance in American history – 1870s & 1880s – rise and fall, railroads, cattle drives, buffalo decimation. Takeaways from a graphic video showing Native American reenactors gutting a bison using tools of the day: removing the bison stomach requires brute force on the part of the Kiowa hunters; work quickly; the bladder is super useful as a water container; once you dry the skull, the horns come off easily. Later, inevitably, there was talk of petroleum, but by then we were tuckered out and still had the windmill and gun rooms to go. The old windmills are very cool, by the way.

Off to Palo Duro Canyon – said to be the second biggest canyon in these here parts (but no measuring tape large enough to prove it, I guess). The Canyon’s infrastructure was built in the 1930s by the CCC – buildings, roads, trails. As you read the history, the state was clearly lucky and grateful to get to benefit from this federal New Deal program – as the land had just come into state hands and was not quite yet eligible. They also noted that it may have been the only or one of the few CCC programs at which veterans, African Americans and young people all worked.

The main hike there is the Lighthouse Trail – about 5 or 6 miles round trip, with some challenging rock scrambles at the end to make it up to the rock figures that resemble…yes, a lighthouse. Ben was a hero and carried our backpack with our mandated gallon of (tepid and eventually warm) water per person, which we drank nearly all of and it was only May (heaven help the hikers in July and August). I had to do part of the return trip on my hands and butt. Your reward at the end is a stop at the trading post for cold Gatorade and soft serve ice cream.

After a light 3 mile hike to get to this point, the hard part’s to come on Lighthouse Trail in Palo Duro Canyon.

The next day we trekked south to Caprock Canyon State Park. Smaller in scale, though not in sites, Caprock was much less crowded, likely because it’s much further from the two nearest population centers, Amarillo to the north and Lubbock to the south. We did a good portion of the Upper Canyon Trail (too tired for the rock scramble to the Fern Cave at the end -next time!) We had the added bonus of ice cold water from bottles we had frozen the previous evening-lesson learned the hard way the day before.

Caprock is home to the bison descendants of the Goodnight herd, saved from extinction in the 1880s. But darned if those critters didn’t hide from us u Buffalo warning ntil just as we were leaving. We turned into the park’s lake area to dip our toes and Ben spotted about two dozen about 200 yards off. We sat and ate oranges (we’d run out of chips), watching them from a picnic bench, following the park’s rules, avoiding certain death by staying back 50 yards – see warning that doubles as your park permit (to the right.)

Canyon weather, coming in from the west.

On the drive home, we finally got a chance to track some weather – groups of thunderstorms seemed to be headed straight toward Canyon – just enough to scare me, but captivate Ben. They mostly broke up or went around us, but we got a good pic and eventually as we were falling asleep got some thunder.

Alas, no twister. Ben’s enthusiasm for tornadoes has waned some since we got the Airstream, i.e. tornadoes are typically accompanied by large hail, hail dents aluminum, Airstreams are made of alumininum, etc., etc.

By the side of the road exiting Canyon – Route 66 era and full of charm.

So, an extended stay in the Texas panhandle was a risk, but well worth it. On our way out of town Monday, Big Tex Randall wished us well, and we him. So long Texas!

UPDATE: A reader reminded me that Georgia O’Keeffe lived and taught art in Canyon for a bit. Great info, including her own words on the plains, the people, teaching etc, on this from West Texas A & M University.

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Checking out America in a vintage Airstream

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