After getting four new tires on our rig on Thursday, the brakes checked and our new vanity “1973 Avion” license plate on….we were off!

Last Saturday we woke up at 3 AM, hit the road by 4:15 AM for a 4-5 hour ride out to Fletcher’s Trailer Sales & Service in Trumansburg, NY.  “Fletch” is an Avion affectionado who currently owns two, but has owned others including a C-10 slide in model in the past.  He also was president of the Tin Can Tourists Northeastern division some years back and it was really cool seeing some of his memorabilia and photos in his shop.

We had our punch list of little to medium sized things that we wanted to get done on the Pewter Palace, and well…we had read horror stories of Avion owners (and Airstreams too) who took their rigs to local RV dealers (big and small) to be worked on with disasterous results.  So we decided that a five hour one way trip to the Finger Lakes Area of upstate NY was worth it to have someone who knows, loves and respects Avions could give her the TLC we were looking for.

So our early morning departure had an initial unexpected joy when the rear running lights (we thought were not working) ended up coming on!  wow…great!  well…not really, it was short lived and they must have a short or some wiring glitch because they only stayed on for a few miles.  Kevin had jury rigged some temp lights though on the rear bumper so we were fine.  The front running lights and the brake and signal lights all work fine all the time….so the mystery is now squarely in Fletch’s lap!

The trip was very uneventful with breakfast at a Denny’s outside Oneonta, NY and then continuing on RT 88 over many, many medium to very large hills which gave our Suburban’s new transmission and the Pewter Palace her towing trial.  She performed beautifully and Kevin continues to remark how smoothly these Avion’s tow.

The rig on the whole is in very good shape.  We do have two small window leaks on the curbside and some LP hoses and electrical wiring we need checked and repaired.  We figured, lets get it all done now and enjoy the next few years without much care or worry about safety or periodic issues.  All the systems worked when we bought her and when we slept on her last November, the furnace worked like a charm too and we were cozy, cozy despite it being 38 degrees outside that night.

We are planning to get the palace back by mid-May and have a few events planned as well as going to do a few campground jaunts too.   Gotta say, when we arrived back home at about 6:30 Saturday night, my brain was pretty much jello.  It had been a long day- but we are hopeful and glad to have our trailer in good hands.   Hopefully after we pay the bill at Fletcher’s we still have enough money left for gas!  LOL

Stay tuned.