Unlike most monstrous RVs cutting wide paths down the highway – nearly all built on steel The magic is in its chassis, and the details are in its appointments.Ī vehicle that casts a shadow larger than your college dorm room is considered a "compact" in the recreational vehicle world.
However, it accommodates earthlings in an innovative package with "car-like" handling, performance and safety, says it maker. The Airstream Interstate, a Class-B RV, isn't built for returning astronauts. NASA jumped on board, welcoming the crew of Apollo 11 home from the moon at the end of the decade only to quarantine them within a specially modified bright silver Airstream trailer. Trademark streamlined, polished aluminum shells. Tracing its roots back to the early 1930s, the manufacturer had become a household name by the 1960s as the public quickly took note of its Now, with the 17-million-year-old fissure less than an hour over the horizon, and with everyone chatting giddily about the upcoming spectacle, I've pleasantly come to realize that the motorhome method of travel isn't just for those hobbled bodies with thinning gray hair.Īirstream is the Rolex of the luxury recreational vehicle industry. Two days earlier, I had shoveled my wife and two kids into thisģ500's sliding door, cranked over its six-cylinderĭiesel engine and pointed its black and chrome nose out of greater Los Angeles and towards the Grand Canyon. This monstrosity makes me happy for one reason - my passengers are undeniably having a good time. My delight has nothing to do with its throttle orīraking response, either, as both are as numb as your forehead after the eighth beer. My smile has nothing to do with on-road stability, as the ten-foot-tall, slab-sided vehicle reacts to wind gusts like the vertical stabilizer on a Boeing jet. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter drives like a 25-foot long breadbox. My grin has nothing to do with my camper's handling, as this heavily accoutered Piloting an 8,500-pound motorized house down the highway is far from my idea of fun, yet inexplicably, I'm enjoying myself. LA To The Grand Canyon In The Mercedes-Benz Of RVs