The End of Our Airstream Dream
We had a lot of time to think and talk over the winter of 2019-2020. We rented a house in Sedona, Arizona that sat in the shadow of Chapel Rock. The house we rented was considerably smaller then our home in Ontario and that was, to our surprise, a bit of a struggle for us. While we had no doubt that we would eventually adjust, there were some features of our Arizona home that we considered deal breakers for anywhere we were going to live full-time. One of the main issues was a small office with just one desk. Lesley brought her desktop computer and set up there so she could work, which left me to use the dining table when on my laptop. When we booked the house I did not think this would be an issue; however, it was much different in practice than in theory. I found it really very awkward to work at the dining table every time I needed to use my laptop. At first we discussed ways we could incorporate a work station for two into the Airstream. But, the more we talked about it the more we would find ourselves discussing concerns that the Airstream’s size was just to small. The primary concern we both had was the lack of slide outs. Without them our entire living space would consist of one small hallway. We talked about how difficult something as simple as walking to the bathroom would be if one of us were in the kitchen cooking. Okay, let’s be real, if I were in the kitchen cooking. Lesley doesn’t cook. The more and more we talked, the more and more we concluded that the Airstream was just too small. Before long we found ourselves in front of the television watching 5th wheel trailer walk-throughs. By the time our second month in Sedona was drawing to a close, we were seriously considering looking at 5th wheel toy haulers upon returning home. Our plan was to turn the “garage” of the toy hauler into an office.
At the end of January we left Sedona and headed for California where we would visit some old friends before making the long journey back to Ontario. Once we had settled back in at home we again began to talk about our options. Maybe it was being back at home and being able to look out the window at the Airstream, maybe it was the fact that the Airstream was bought and paid for, I don’t know for sure. But, for whatever reason, we decided to stick with our Airstream plans. It was almost March and the weather should be nice enough for me to get back to work. Or so we thought. It was like Mother Nature herself was against us that spring. We had what was possibly the coldest and rainiest springs I can remember. Then came the COVID lockdowns and border closures.
By the time the weather began to cooperate it was almost June. Between the weather and COVID making it even more difficult to get parts in Canada than it already was, we were again having concerns about finishing the trailer before the fall. The border was closed and it wasn’t looking to promising that it would re-open before the New Year. Spending the winter in an RV in Canada was not something we had ever even considered.
It was then that the offer came in. Our home, which was a building that had both our residence and my business in it, had been for sale for nearly a year. We hadn’t had one serious offer in that time and it was looking like we would be waiting a while to find a buyer interested in our unique space. Up until this point it had been beneficial for us that the sale was taking so long. Now, however, it couldn’t have been more inconvenient. This was the final straw for our Airstream plans. There was no way it was going to be finished before the building closed and our chances of finding a rental property that had enough space for us to park the Airstream was slim. We needed to make a decision and fast. We again started looking at 5th wheel trailers. By this point we knew that if we purchased a new trailer it would likely be a Grand Design. We decided to head down to our local dealer and take a look at what they had on the lot.
The rest is history. In one weekend, we had decided to sell the Airstream and buy a 5th wheel. We decided instead of the expensive toy hauler a smaller more affordable unit would be more appropriate. After all, we didn’t even know if we were going to enjoy full-time RV living. We figured it best to go with a unit we felt we could live in but that wouldn’t break the bank. RV’s depreciate quickly and we didn’t want to fork over more than a hundred grand on something we could decide to sell a year later.
A week later we purchased a Grand Design Reflection 337RLS and put the Airstream up for sale on the same buy and sell website we purchased it from. It sold in less than 24 hours. The buyer needed a couple weeks before he would be ready to come pick it up, which was perfect since I still needed to reattach the body to the frame. Luckily the new “c” channel had come in while all this was going on and it wasn’t long before the Airstream was back together, loaded with all the parts I hard kept/purchased and was rolling out of our driveway on its was to it’s new home.
We were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. We had a trailer that was ready to live in and a couple months before the sale of our home closed. Now all we had to do was get rid of most of what we own, figure out where we were going to spend the winter and move into our Grand Design.