Author: Sam

Categories
Airstream Accessories

Gear Review: Anderson Levelers & an X-Chock

**Updated May 2017**

When we bought the Airstream, we inherited a set of standard yellow triangle wheel chocks and some spare 2×6 boards to use when leveling on uneven terrain. It worked, and we didn’t give it a lot of thought for several months. Once our set up starting getting on our nerves, we upgraded to the lego-like wheel blocks and a wheel chock we found through the airforums. It did great for awhile, but we kept seeing friends with better set-ups, and honestly? The wheel chock wasn’t all that great.

The Airstream tends to rest against one or more of the chocks, and it often required moving the Airstream a little backwards, or a little forwards, to get it unstuck when headed out. Once or twice, we’d even bent the bolt through the chock, and we were just sick of it.

For Christmas one year, we decided it was time to finally upgrade and we decided on Anderson Levelers an X-Chock both available on Amazon (perfect).

The Anderson levelers took some getting used to but it didn’t take long. They are basically like a small ramp you drive up onto until you are level, and then slide the triangle piece underneath to hold it. Once we add the x-chock, the rig simply doesn’t move. Its fabulous. We can also get much higher on the Anderson Levelers than we could with our yellow lego-blocks. There have been more than a few times where we’ve gone all the way up on them!

We’ve also kept our set of lego-like wheel blocks. They store easily in the bumper and are great for when we need something under our stabilizers, or even under the front jack. We’ve also used the Anderson Levelers as a ramp to get up high on a set of 4 lego-blocks per wheel! That site was really un-level for sure and it was quite the achievement!

 

SAM_0813-Edit copy

We are so happy with our upgrade, I just wish we had done it sooner!

Categories
Daily Life State Parks Utah

Intermission

Four weeks ago, we arrived back at ‘home’ in Lehi, UT to sell our house and all of our stuff, as well as do a remodel on the bedroom to put in twin beds for the kids. We’ve sold lots of stuff,  are wrapping up the paperwork on the house, and the beds are almost complete (with the exception of custom made quilts that weren’t quite finished). Knowing it would be crazy, Jess had a flash of inspired brilliance before we even arrived back in Utah. She planned a 2-3 week tour through some of Southern Utah’s State Parks to give us a break from the logistics. Time to recoup, slow down, spend more time together, and test out all our fancy new toys and equipment.

Moving back into the Airstream wasn’t much fun. Clothes, food, bedding, electronics, and everything else random had to be moved from one house to the other. It’s taken us the better part of the last three days to load and organize and today we (finally) left!

About 90 minutes south on I-15 landed us in Yuba Lake State Park. In just a few hours, we had returned to our happy place. The kids love their new bedroom. Dinner was awesome. We spent an hour walking along the lake shore, skipping rocks. Then, while doing dishes, I witnessed the most beautiful moonrise over a lake that I have ever seen.

Even if only for two weeks, we are glad to be back on the road.

IMG_20140514_195918

Categories
Musings of Sam Thoughts on Life

Adventurous Mothers

IMG_20140122_161138

 

Many Mother’s, including my own, can’t stand the sometimes overdone praise that arrives on Mother’s Day each year. I won’t be doing that today, but I will highlight a particular attribute that both my Mother, and my Wife possess.

During her college years, my Mother traveled to India (and surrounding countries) as part of a school group for 9 months. At the end of the school tour, she wasn’t quite ready to return home and sold her return ticket to extend her stay. She worked in several Kibbutz communities for room and board, laboring as a grapefruit picker, a cotton jumper, and in the laundry. She arrived another 9 months later in New York, having suffered through much seasickness crossing the Atlantic via boat on her way back home.

My mother found ways to add adventure to our family life. We ended up with a small collection of kayaks that we would paddle around San Francisco and Tomales Bay, in addition to various lakes and rivers. My Father was happy to support and participate in such adventures, but it was my Mother that led us through such great adventures.

Kayaking in the San Francisco Bay was one of the activities we enjoyed while visiting California before Jess and I married.  Jess, my Mother, and I paddled out to Angel Island from Tiburon, paddling among small boats and large sailing ships. We battled wind and wake, and loved it.

Now here I am, married to an Adventurous Mother. Our adventure and traveling is very much due to Jess’ spirit of adventure. We are excited to share this spirit with our children as they grow older with adventures including (among other things) travel, mountain biking, and river rafting.

My Mother and my Wife have many valued traits, but today I am grateful for their spirit of adventure!

Categories
Faith

Because of Him

Though I am religious, I try not to be in everybody’s face about it all the time. Today, on Easter Sunday, I feel the need to share my testimony of Christ. If you have no interest in my thoughts, feel free to skip this post. Our regular posts on travel, family, and adventure (including the process of selling our house) will continue shortly.

I am not the same person I used to be. At times in my life, I have found parts of my life that I didn’t like. Very heavily in my teenage years, but even now as I learn and grow, I find myself desiring a change. Not a change of others, but a change in myself. My actions, thoughts, and desires are not always aligned with my wishes, goals, and desires for myself. As I identify the changes I would like to make, I try to follow Christ’s example and apply to myself his prompting to “go, and sin no more.” I have drawn upon Christ and His Atonement to make those changes. Through the power of the Atonement, I have left those pieces of my past self… in the past.

Christ isn’t concerned about the person we were yesterday, but about the person we are today, and the person we can become. He suffered for our sins, and died for us, to provide a pathway for us to become all we can become. Through His power, we can change, and we can be a different person tomorrow if that is what we desire.

Though in most ways I’m the same person I was as a teenager, I’m very different in some of the most important. As our life adventure unfolds in new and unexpected ways, I’m grateful for the guidance of Jesus Christ in both word and Spirit.

The video I’ve included below has been making the rounds on social media, and I love it. I even stole (borrowed?) the title for this post. Because of Christ, I am a better Son, a better Father, Husband, and Friend. If I have improved so much in the last 15 years Because of Christ, I hope I can allow him to help me as much in the next 15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

Categories
National Parks Virginia

Manassas National Battlefield Park – Virginia

Manassas National Battlefield Park

Convenient to our house in Virginia (which we house-swapped into, prior to Airstream travel) were two National Parks. The first was Prince William Forest, and the second was Manassas National Battlefield. Our visit here required a wait, as the 2013 government shutdown placed it just out of reach. We visited the first day the National Parks reopened.

When We Visited: October 2013

Ages of Kids: 8, 6, 3

IMG_2599-Edit

Though the day was cloudy, the visit was wonderful. We explored the battlefields, and enjoyed the wonderful outdoor exhibits as the kids worked on their Junior Ranger booklets. We also brought our FRS radios to the joy of our kids, who ran around playing with the radios most of the time outside.

Manassas was the location of the first Civil War battle, and it didn’t go at all as expected. Prior the battle, rifling had been discovered, and the spiral grooves in gun barrels made firearms much more accurate than muskets. As a result, the casualties were extremely high on both sides. Mix in a heavy dose of confusion on account of the hundred or so uniforms present, and the entire thing was a disaster. The present spectators (!) were thrown into confusion. They had expected this battle to solve the present issues once and for all, and the disaster that unfolded caused most to scatter.

IMG_2634-Edit

I’ve had moments in our travels that had a deep connecting impact upon my soul. One of those moments happened on the Manassas Battlefield. As I stood  in the row of artillery on the north side of the field reading about the confederate soldiers, I read about Stonewall Jackson.

Stonewall Jackson was one of those famous people mentioned in grade school that was significant for some reason, but I couldn’t tell you much about him. As I read the signs present, and considered the close placement of the opposing artillery lines, I came to understand how Jackson became ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.

Throughout the confusing and pandemonious battle, Jackson and his men held their line. History credits Brigadier General Bernard Bee with saying “Look! There stands Jackson like a Stone Wall!”

Standing there, on that very hill, helped me understand this bit of history just a bit more clearly. Stonewall Jackson is no longer just someone who’s name I vaguely remember, but a major participant in the early history of this country. This experience has motivated me to seek out these moments that connect me with the land, and with the past.

IMG_2617-Edit