The Argosy Has Landed

It's sitting safe and secure in my driveway. After 14 months of looking and researching, an airline flight (one cancelled, one rescheduled), and 1000 miles of driving - I've got me an Airstream. (Well, an Argosy - but close enough.) I even managed to get it registered after a two day process with the DMV. (They complimented the trailer, but it didn't reduce the 4.5 hour total time needed for registration.)

I guess it's a sign of how much I wanted the trailer that I considered it a good thing to find a trailer within the same time zone, or within a (very) long day's drive. I made the trip to CanAm RV Centre, a big Airstream dealer in London, Ontario, on my own - Jules was essentially out of vacation time. The dealer did a lot of work to the trailer, and handled its importation.

The trip past Rochester and through Buffalo brought back a bunch of memories. I went to engineering school in Rochester, often making this trip in a 1981 Buick with a portable CD changer bodged through my cassette player. Quite a change to make the trip in the Honda with an iPod and GPS (though my Honda has more miles on it than that old Buick.) Remembering the somewhat depressing job interviews I had in Buffalo, I'm happy things worked out the way they did.

I couldn't make a long trip without trying out some of the local food specialities. I picked up a pint of strawberries at a produce stand at a highway stop. (They would make up for the lack of fiber the rest of the day.)

Buffalo is known for two food specialities: buffalo wings, and beef on weck. Guess which one I hadn't eaten before.

A stop at Charlie the Butcher, next to the Buffalo airport, solved that:

Beef on weck is sliced roast beef served on a weck, a roll with caraway seeds and salt crystals on top. The beef, along with a potent horseradish sauce, was great. The weck - not so much, as the salt stung my lips.

I crossed the border and drove to London. I had to try a Tim Hortons in its native environment, since supposedly the American offerings are different:

I really liked the "walnut crunch", a chocolate donut without the hole, but the sour cream donut wasn't sour enough.

Next day I hung out at CanAm while my Honda got outfitted for towing with a brake controller and a reinforced hitch. CanAm specializes in outfitting more unique vehicles for towing, and they've rigged over 200 Odysseys.

It showed. The trailer towed awesome - even better than the T@B. A big part of this was due to the weight distribution hitch allowing the van to sit level, keeping weight on the front wheels. That greatly improved traction and steering feel. I was hesitent to deal with the hassle of hitching up this stuff, but it's worth it.

I got 15 mpg towing the trailer back, averaging 70 mph on the New York State Thruway, usually loafing along in fifth gear with plenty of power to spare. It's nice towing a lightweight, aerodynamic trailer. I have to say, I enjoyed passing SOBs (Some Other Brand) being towed by big diesel pickups going uphill with my little minivan.

Next post: more pictures of the trailer.

Tom