Leslie in the Atigun Pass, Alaska
In my last post, I mentioned the challenges of traveling long distances with dogs. There also are challenges to traveling with your spouse. My wife, Leslie Ware, accompanied me on the journey from the subtropics to the Arctic. Four months on the road in a trailer smaller than a walk-in closet can strain a happy marriage. It’s kind of like putting an otherwise reliable airplane through tricky maneuvers: hidden stress cracks in the wings and fuselage start to show.
Before we left, some of Leslie’s friends said encouraging things like, “My husband and I would kill each other.” A man we’d met when we started off from Key West looked at our tiny, tinny, 50-year-old Airstream, and said that if we made it to Alaska “in that little old thing” he’d be surprised if we were still married. When Leslie asked if he had any tips on marital survival, he replied, “Get a bigger trailer or take shorter trips.”
Leslie & Phil on “The Loneliest Road” (U.S. 50) in Nevada
Well, we got to Alaska, and we got back, and neither of us is seeing a lawyer. We actually drew closer on the trip. We became road buddies, because we had to work together every day to accomplish one simple task – to get from Point A to Point B. So tell me, if you and your spouse or significant other had to be on the road for four months, would you pull together or pull apart?
Retired 3 years ago. Have a lake house in south central Illinois and busy with hobbies. Just picked up your book and read the preface. Can’t wait t get into the rest of it. As for traveling with my wife for four months?…..yeah not so much. We get along and now each other’s moves, likes and dislikes, but not sure we could do that. Too independent after years of careers for the both of us.
My wife Susan and I traveled to Alaska in 2016 in our Airstream 23 CB. Had a wonderful journey. Four months on the road in the tiny corner bed with two dogs convinced us that we might want to try something larger. We bought a 25 FB (actually 26 feet). It felt palatial in comparison.
We’ve owned three Airstreams over the past twenty years, some of them new. Susan always wanted a vintage Airstream.
So, last August we traveled to Tucson and purchased a 1968 Airstream Caravel from the Luhrs. The 1000 mile trip back to California in triple digit weather had its challenges but we knew then that with a few adjustments we could go anywhere in that shiny little 17 foot, fifty one year old trailer and probably still be friends. In fact we just returned from five weeks in the Southwest and had a hell of a good time playing with other vintage Airstream campers and celebrating forty years together.
No way in hell would either my wife or I take the gamble! We can’t even paddle a two-person kayak together. We make great partners in life but mostly divide and conquer. Both fiercely independent.
Devoured The Longest Road. I don’t often bite at USA Today book reviews, but the one describing this book got my attention and I Downloaded. I was riveted. Added bonus is author from Westchester near Hinsdale and Oak Brook where I lived. Only issue: no photos!