Searching for the right Airstream

Over the years I have been quietly gathering Airstream information.  I mean, just in case Robert came home one day and said "Baby, I have had a fabulous idea, we should buy an Airstream and remodel it" (he would also sound like Keith Urban while he was telling me this)  I wanted to be ready! My Pinterest Airstream board had been around for awhile now, I had been "glamping" for ages in my daydreams.   As soon as I had the green light I went into high intensity search mode.   I love research and the hope of finding that perfect diamond in the rough energized me. We had a very specific criteria. We knew it had to meet the following to work for us.

• In reasonably good shape
• Less than 28' long (too many people had told us over 28' the towing gets harder)
• Something we could just do an interior facelift on
• A fairly quick turn around on the remodel time frame
• Well priced
• Not already remodeled by someone else
• Hopefully in driving distance to pick up
• Pre 1971 so you had the real wood cabinets
• Post Mid 60's so it wasn't literally falling apart
• A queen bed or space for a queen bed

I began to search Craigslist nightly.  Living in Arizona the good news is we have a dry climate and most of the trailers we were seeing are not water damaged or moldy.  A plus on the renovation side.  As I searched the classifieds daily nothing seemed to be just right.  A few had possibilities but either they didn't have the right bed layout, too much damage, too big, too small, too expensive, or already renovated.  Fortunately we still had time and I kept looking.

Then one night the ad appeared: a 22' 1965 Safari Airstream International that was extremely clean, everything was working and it had been lightly used.  We were on it!  And it was only about 2 hours from our home.  We were stunned at what good shape it was in.  It was exactly what we had been looking for and the price was fair.  No water damage, the floor was solid, the axle appears to be strong, there were new tires on it, the AC and refrigerator worked. Anything we wanted to do was up to us. (note I have not mentioned the condition of the water heater, that was a little surprise "gift with purchase!")

 It could not have been any cleaner

  All the original bins were still in the pull outs.

 The bathroom was in perfect condition

 The walls are in super shape.

We gave the man our money and we had ourselves a little Airstream!