NOTED
Road Trip A couple, their dog, a 33-year-old Suburban, and an Airstream trailer travel across the country words and photographs by SUSAN GARRITY
O
n Dec. 1, my husband Jeff Basham and I, along with our Boxer, Izzy, set off on a cross-country journey, departing our home in Historic Oakwood for a planned 16-day trip to Vancouver, Canada, with no return date. We made the trip west in our beige 1989 GMC Suburban, towing a 2011 23-foot Airstream trailer. I mention the specifics of the vehicles because these are both, apparently, seen as “classics” by road travelers. My husband is definitely a car guy — he’s nursed our Suburban back to health on many occasions, as well as numerous MGs, Jeeps, and Miatas over the years. (In fact, the Airstream brings the total to 40 vehicles we have enjoyed together, one for each year of marriage, with only three of these bought new.) So when someone invariably rewards him at a gas stop with a comment like, How many miles do you have on that? What year is it? or I once had one just like yours, there’s instant recognition of anoth-
46 | WALTER
er car guy and immediate bonding. Jeff responds to the implicit compliment with all the requested details and a head nod to their shared appreciation. We were headed to visit one of our daughters and her husband, whom we had only seen once in over two years because of Canada’s Covid border restrictions. The motivation for purchasing the Airstream was to ultimately visit all three daughters and their families in their distant homes — Vancouver, Brooklyn, and central Kansas — for extended stays. We considered alternate means (a hotel or rental, even a towable boat), but this offered the most flexible approach to visit for a while, while maintaining our (and their) sovereignty. Seeing the country along the way would be an added bonus. Our route from Raleigh took us due west along I-40 to Barstow, in southern California, then up 58 to Bakersfield, where we picked up Interstate 5 straight north to Canada. We had made reservations each night in advance based on five
to six hours of drive time each day. We had a few longer stays worked into the schedule, where we planned to spend two or three nights. Some friends saw this undertaking as adventurous and maybe a little bit risky. Others were envious of our spirit, curiosity, and time for an open-ended journey. We were mostly worried about the things outside our control, such as weather, traffic, other drivers, and engine failure. Having a mechanically talented spouse on board, along with great roadside insurance, assuaged that last concern. To us, the main uncertainty had to do with space. Two people and a dog navigating a 172-square-foot interior would require dexterity, patience, and creativity — but we did share a tent one night in California, and we’d camped a couple of nights in a Volkswagen bus. Then, of course, were the years of zero personal space when the children were young. But space, we soon learned, would not be our biggest challenge. The real hurdle
