Our first long trip together

My wife and I just pulled in after spending a week 8,500 feet up in the Southern Colorado mountains near South Fork, Colorado. That is the South Fork of the Rio Grande. While we had camped in the AI before this was our first extended trip together and we learned a lot about our AI and the best way for us to use it.



CAMP SITE RECOMMENDATION

We stayed at the South Fork RV Park about 4 miles east of the town of South Fork, Colorado. Our AI seemed a bit diminutive in the midst of all the fifth wheelers and and no few 40 foot + motor homes. Many, perhaps most of the campers there come back year after year and no few rent their space by the month or even by the season. So it behoves you to get your reservations in early. The ambiance is easy going, and comfortable and many of the sites are on the bank of the South Fork of the Rio Grande. Unlike almost every other RV park we saw in the area it is tree covered and shady. The laundry is first class, the bath house clean and neat, and just some of the nicest people you will ever meet. There was one other Airstream, there a 34 year old trailer that comes every year. They have free WiFi but the bandwidth is very limited. We ended up using the 4G network with our iPhones and iPads.

FURNACE

Our AI performed wonderfully with one exception. We bedded down the first night confident the furnace would keeps us comfortable in the expected 40 degree temperatures as it had for me on a previous solo expedition. Unfortunately because I made such a big thing out of how efficient and effective the furnace is — we were never ever able to get it to turn on. I checked and/or replaced all the fuzes, the hot water heater, and stove worked well. We were on shore power, but I even checked the generator and it and the air conditioner worked perfectly. Just no furnace. I guess it is off to the shop next week, but that did not help us all last week. Now 40 degree weather may not sound too bad for you folks from up North, but we left 105° temps in Texas, and 40 seemed downright chilly, albeit welcome, to us.



Any suggestions before we get in the too long service line at the Airstream dealer are welcome

TOAD

This trip was also our first experience with a toad and this was a real learning experience. We put my wife's VW GTI on a Demco Kar Kaddy SS and hauled it along with us. The Demco towed beautifully, to the point I kept looking in the rear view video to be sure it was still there. While I did not keep precise records on mileage the toad appeared to cost a bit over 1 mile per gallon for the entire trip. It was great having the toad so we could leave the AI in camp and explore all over the southern Colorado mountains in the zippy little GTI. Overall the toad and Kar Kaddy SS performed admirably — the Kar Kaddy SS even protected me from my own errors and failure to check the tie downs frequently enough.

TOAD SURPRISE

My wife has long complained about the ride in the AI rear lounge claiming she spends more time airborne than in the seat and coming home with bruises from the seat belts. Imagine our surprise when the toad completely tamed the "empty school bus ride" in the AI lounge and made the ride as good as the driver and co-driver seats in the front. Our question is how to get that same tamed ride without having to pull the toad everywhere we go. I don't think it is a matter of extra weight, the tongue weight of the loaded Kar Kaddy SS is less than 100 pounds but from the drivers seat it feels like the additional drag is at least a major part of the equation. Any and all suggestions are welcome before I once again take the AI to the Suspension Shop.

TOAD DISAPPOINTMENT

The engineering and construction of the Demco Kar Kaddy is all first rate with one glaring exception. Part of our trip took us South on US 287 through the Oklahoma Panhandle. US 287 in the Oklahoma is a notoriously bad bad road and even the very best riding vehicles will shake your kidneys loose, if not your eye teeth. The Kar Kaddy, which to that point had taken everything I had thrown at it including a couple of misjudged turns over a curb or through a roadside ditch could not take the punishment of this notoriously mean road. By the time we left Oklahoma and entered the Texas panhandle, the Kar Kaddy was trying to shed parts. The fenders and taillights of the Kar Kaddy appear to be well made, sturdy plastic castings connected to the surface of a moderately substantial aluminum or steel frame with plastic(?) bolts or fasteners of some description. By the time we got into Texas four of the six fasteners on the left fender were among the missing. The right fender has a large and rather substantial instruction sticker and three of six fasteners on that fender had also departed for parts unknown including one that blew a hole through the aforementioned instruction sticker. These are easily replaced with 10x20 ⅝ bolts and cap screws, but unless someone with smaller hands than mine is doing the work the wheels will probably have to be removed to replace the inner ones. Personally I am going to wait and see what the dealer and/or Demco have to say.

Don't misunderstand me, I love the Kar Kaddy SS and my wife does too, but the parts falling off is a real dissppointment