Bringing the Airstream Home

Our time hiking with Eric and Tina was amazing, but far too short. Weather reports were indicating a huge storm with heavy winds and snow headed right for our path back  Utah. That meant cutting our hike short and hitting the road as soon as we could. ​With about an hour of towing experience under our belt, it was time to head home. We left Picacho Peak State Park at 11 AM.

Around noon we were back in Phoenix. What a beautiful city, but there was a bunch of lingering smog in the valley. It was a beautiful drive up towards vegas, with the saguaro cacti everywhere. We love the southwest.

The next few hours were uneventful. FrED the Van towed the Airstream like a champ. As we came within an hour of Vegas, the winds starting picking up BAD. We pulled over to re-assess our options. We considered staying outside of Vegas for the night, but we were worried that we wouldn't be able to make it back to Utah through the storm.

Driving through a storm is one thing, but driving a 7000lb trailer through a storm is an entirely different story, especially when you're braking downhill.

We dumped our tanks, and tried to winterize the Airstream, but nobody in Nevada sold antifreeze for RVs or boats, since it never gets below freezing there. We waited for the wind to calm down, then we pressed on.

Passing the Hoover Dam was uneventful, but on a short stretch of road between the Dam and St. George was some road construction. There were concrete barriers on both sides of the one-lane highway, with zero shoulder or wiggle-room on either side. Add the fact that it was a windy road, and it was the most nervous driving experience Steve had ever had.

It was now 11:30 PM and we had been driving 12 hours. Driving 12 hours is exhausting. Add a big expensive trailer behind you, and it doubles the exhaustion. And we were only in St. George. On a good day with good weather, it would take us 4 hours to get home. It took us another 10 hours. We limped along at 30 mph all the way through the storm, to get home safely. What an exhausting day. We were sad to leave sunny Arizona and happy Eric and Tina behind, but we knew we were one step closer to our goal: full-time freedom.
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