Patience is Not my Middle Name.

I’ve found her! My little Airstream beauty.

She’s a 1966, 26-foot Overlander, and she's on Ebay. Here’s a link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110675508481

I’m sure you’ve seen those cartoons where a person is standing there with a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other, and they argue back and forth. Well, my angel and devil have been having a heyday with me the over past few days:

A: “The time is not right. You need to concentrate on other things. You don’t have a truck to tow her with, nor a place out of the weather to store her. What if there’s a hailstorm? The right trailer will be the trailer that comes along when the time is right.”

D: “You could tow that one home with the Dogmobile - go ahead, check the manual.” (I did check the manual, and the devil was right). “You could just park her in the driveway for now - go ahead, use your feet and pace it out. You’ll see there’s enough room in the driveway for the Airstream, Harry’s car and the Dogmobile.” (The devil made me do it - and the devil was right again). The devil crooned into my ear, “Sam’s Club sells a canopy that would protect her from the sun and weather.”

A: “Did you happen to look at the side of the house when you were so carefully pacing out the length of the driveway? Did you notice that all the paint is peeling off? Think about how guilty you would feel, having bought that cute little Airstream knowing that the kitchen floor has water oozing out of it and that you need a new hot water heater. You need to focus on the necessities, woman - like a new front porch for the house - and paint!”

D: “Oh, come on. It’s such a paltry sum of money - you could put that on your credit card. And then you could escape out to your beautiful little Airstream and just enjoy having your own little home-away-from-home in the driveway during the period of time it would take to save the money up for the new truck.”

A: “Okay, D - what about when the work needs done on the house? Where will she park it then?”

D: “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

It was right about then that the two of them got into a knockdown fight that would make even those who watch WWE pause. I’m still not sure who won that particular bout, but I ended up with a terrible headache. (It was probably from that folding chair the angel accidently slammed over my head when aiming for the devil.)

As is usually the problem when looking for things that are desperately wished for before the time is right, I’m going to have to heave a huge sad sigh of regret and let this little beauty go - well, unless I win the lottery this weekend, or someone drops a truck and garage right into my lap. (And if that happened, I’d most likely be in the hospital recovering for quite a while).

But finding an Airstream that will compare with this one is going to take a whole lot of searching . . . when the time is right.

Still Airstream Dreamin' . . .

Every day I browse through the ads for Airstreams on the internet (much like I was doing when I “wasn’t looking” on Petfinder for another dog and found JoLee). There are quite a few good-looking used Airstreams out there right now, and some at very good prices. Still, now is not the right time to buy my Airstream. Not only do I need a place to store a trailer - a place where I can go through it inch by inch and make it truly mine - but I don’t even have a vehicle to tow it home with.

Still, I’ve worked out contingency plans. If I found just the right Airstream, I could probably rent a truck to tow it home. And if I found just the right Airstream and could rent a truck to tow it with, I could probably park it in the driveway until I could find a place to store it - in fact, the way Airstreams are set up, the door of the trailer would be on the house-side of the driveway, and that would be mighty convenient.

As I look at all the Airstreams on-line, I’m refining my list of desires and developing a sense for the age of trailer that I want. No longer than 27 feet; the outside “skin” has to be in great condition; no leaks. It has to have an air conditioner that works. I like the older Airstreams best - the ones with the round tail-lights. They just look “friendly” to me. I especially like the look of the “Argosy” models - and those have the additional benefit of not needing “polished out” (something I’m not entirely sure I would ever do, anyway).

I found myself daydreaming on the drive home from work the other day - wouldn’t it be cool, once I got my Airstream, to have a colored film put on it? I’m sure you’ve seen what I’m talking about - most city buses have them these days, as do many local businesses. Here’s the description I found on the internet: “Wrap graphics are full-color high-resolution printed vinyl graphics with a protective laminate that are affixed to autos, vans, trucks, boats, RVs, trains, buses and pretty much any other type of vehicle. Since they are printed from high resolution images and are in essence driving billboards, businesses can almost use any of their own photos, logos and text that they currently possess.”

But what would I put on my Airstream? I thought about a blue sky and clouds . . . that would be pretty. But then it hit me. What would be more perfect (and the right shape) than an ear of corn?!? Oh, yeah. Can’t you just see me, tooling on down the highway towing a huge ear of corn from the Cornhusker State? I’m grinning “ear to ear” just thinking about it!

Maybe I need to curtail the Airstream dreaming a little bit . . . it seems I may be delusional. Ha!