We own two airstreams. Why? I frequently ask myself the same question. Here's how we got there.
The first camper
In 2020 we decided we wanted a camper. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was the midst of the pandemic; it was just where we were in our lives. We weren't interested in motorhomes and didn't want to deal with a pop-up, so we started looking for a travel trailer.
There weren't a lot of options on Craigslist. It turns out everyone else was also looking for a travel trailer at the time, because #COVID. Nonetheless, we found a promising candidate that we eventually purchased, a 2006 R-Vision MaxLite.
We purchased the MaxLite with the full intention that it be a "first camper," meaning if we enjoyed it and used it, we'd consider upgrading in the future and if not, we'd sell it and not be out a ton of money.
The MaxLite turned out to be a great first trailer for us. It wasn't huge, but had all the space we needed for our young family and it saw a fair bit of use, mostly in family members' yards.
At some point, though I don't remember exactly how, we started shopping for an Airstream.
The first Airstream
The first Airstream took a fair bit of work and travel to find. As with the MaxLite, we were still in the midst of the COVID-fueled camper boom and Airstreams were in high demand. I drove all over looking at candidates: Chaumont for a gutted Land Yacht, Buffalo for an Argosy, Elmira for an International, almost-Maine for a partially restored Airstream, and finally Erie, PA for a 1973 31-foot Sovereign.
We bought the Sovereign from Erie, basically sight-unseen and that was a mistake. When I went to pick it up, I could see it wasn't in the condition we'd been led to believe and almost certainly not worth the asking price. But, I had only a cashier's check (and probably something of the sunk cost fallacy), so it came home hooked to the back of my truck.
Today the '73 is only marginally closer to a servicable trailer than the day I brought it home. I've removed much of the interior, but, frankly, don't have the time necessary to spend on the shell-off restore it requires. This is what has led us to owning two Airstreams.
A second Airstream
We had two travel trailers in our yard, neither seeing any use and both in need of repairs. We resolved to get back on the road and I began the process of repairing the MaxLite.
Every bit of work I did on the MaxLite revealed more water damage that would need to be fixed (mainly delamination of the sidewalls). I was beginning to think that the long-term result wouldn't be worth the effort.
As I was busy becoming discouraged with the MaxLite a 1995 25-foot Airstream Classic fell into our lap. It was located about an hour away, looked to be in good condition and seemed fairly priced. An in-person visit didn't yield any major red flags and we added a third travel trailer to our collection.
The new plan: get the MaxLite to a saleable state and shrink our inventory by one; get to camping with the '95.
The reality: the '95 is still a 30 year-old trailer in need of repairs and some upgrades.
Evidence of leaks and wet floors, a shoddy renovation, and accumulated filth in our 1995 Airstream Excella.
Over the next who-knows-how-long, we'll be working on some repairs, upgrades, and modifications to this trailer and posting them (probably not in a timely manner) here.