Vintage Travel Trailer Woes

When you buy a 40 year old travel trailer you'd better expect to do some work. Maybe I was lying to myself about how much work would need to go into Lola the Love Shack to get her where I wanted her to be. Or to be more accurate, to get her to where SHE needed to be.

Jason always says I enjoy a project, and this girl was the Mother Of All Projects to enter my life so far. I'll let you in on a secret....I am daydreaming about taking on another one. Yeah, I'm a little sick.

This was the beginning of the tear down at the front dinette.

 

That dent isn't from me, but that gash right above it is from me. I wasn't very careful gouging out the old wood rot and I damaged the aluminum skin. Lesson learned.

 

The first section of aluminum comes off. I was telling myself at this point that I wasn't going to invest too much time in a lot of renovations.

 

When that first section came off and the old rotted wood fell to the ground, I knew this was going to take longer than a couple weeks...but I KNEW it wouldn't take me much longer than that.

 

What the heck? Is there supposed to be something covering this hole on the roof? Turns out this is the refrigerator vent and there should be a cover over it. Add it to the list.

 

I kept saying that I was just going to do the minimum and that would be enough. Jason said that if I planned to keep this trailer for any length of time that I HAD to fix her right. He said, you can do it now, or you can do it later.

The first side is skinned. Guess how many staples it takes to attach those panels? What ever number you guess, add about 10,000 to that number.

 

This was about the time when Jason and I were both hating this project. Pulling staples wouldn't have been so hard if over half of them weren't rusted so bad. I was pretty amazed to learn that these old trailers are framed with 1 x 2's and cut plywood. Guess that is what makes them so light. Thankfully the rot was contained to the front and back with the sides being in pretty good shape.

 

I loved finding the Land Star model name written on the framing.



This is the back driver's side at the trunk. Lots of rot here.

And this is the trunk top. Rotten on both sides.

 

Every section revealing rotten wood makes my heart sink. I'm a little freaked out since I have NO IDEA how to fix this. I can't say enough how lucky we are to live in the digital age. Google became my best friend. I was so grateful to those who braved a trailer rebuild before me and posted what they had done to make repairs.

 

If anyone asked me what advise I would give them before taking on their own vintage trailer project I would say to take as many photos as you can. Document everything. These photos became valuable to me when it came time to put things back together. The other thing I would say would be to not get overwhelmed. Just pick one thing at a time to concentrate on. There were days when I got a little scared about the project. But after stepping away for awhile, I could look at it with fresh eyes. I'll admit that I spent many, many hours on the internet with research.

 

I hope I haven't scared anyone away from their dreams of a vintage travel trailer. I can honestly say that during this time, I was truly happy and in my element. It was somehow soothing knowing my girl was always out front waiting for me. I always had something to do. Unfortunately my family probably suffered from a lack of attention and the house got dirtier than it should. Jason actually called me Obsessed. Yeah, I really was.

I'm Back! And I bought a friend.

My blog is my homepage when I hit the internet. I have no excuse for ignoring my little blog. So without further ado, here comes a new post.

It's time to share with you what has had my interest, my time, my blood, sweat, and tears over the last several months.

Meet Lola, the Love Shack

She's a vintage 1972 Aristocrat Land Star travel trailer. I kind of love her. She joined my family mid October 2012. She was a little rough looking when we brought her home. I knew she would need a little work.

Lovely avocado stove with groovy wallpaper back splash

Dinette with old shabby curtains (I'm sure they are original)

Couch folded down to a bed.

 

I just couldn't wait to get going on fixing her up to be a sweet little gem we could enjoy camping in. All she would need were tires, a little paint and a few touch-ups here and there.

Ah, ignorance is bliss.

We did see this water damage before we bought her. We'll just find the leak and fix it. No problem. 

We brought her home and I started to clean her up and thought this front corner of the dinette was pretty bad looking and decided to replace some of the wood.

Before long, I had torn out so much rotten wood and uncovered the fact that the entire front was rotted away from years of water leaks.

 

I really had no idea of what I should do or where in the world I should even start. I feel very lucky to have Jason as my husband. He may not have wanted a travel trailer, but he knew how very much I wanted one (because I sent him craigslist links every other day) and he told me if I was going to fix this trailer, then I may as well fix it right.

It is a good thing that I wanted an old trailer so bad that I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get this old girl into shape. With the help of the internet and Jason's arsenal of tools I begin my trailer saga.

To be continued....

2012 Quarterly Update

Here it is, March. So far this year is not unlike last year. One change has been my work location at a new salon. Things are OK there, but I'm separated from the other girls and in a room by myself. I don't much care for that.

Another change is that I've been actively working out for all of this year so far....and LOVING it!
January I joined a boot camp fitness and by the end of the month knew it wasn't for me. I did manage to change my sleep and wake schedule to accommodate the early wake up, so now I just get up every day and work out at home. The changes in my body are slowly making their appearance and I have to keep reminding myself to be patient.

Along with the exercise routine, I decided that my diet needed an overhaul. January I just tried to watch my calories and carbs. Unfortunately I aways felt bloated and stuffed, yet still wanted to eat. In February I decided to try a vegetarian diet. Two weeks into it and I was thrilled with the way I felt. In doing some online searches, I learned about eating a raw vegan diet and wanted to give it a try. I've been eating raw ever since. I truly love it. I finally feel satisfied after a meal. I'm not constipated any more. I've noticed my face is slimmer and I'm no longer craving sugar.

This is my new Blendtec blender. It is perhaps the best purchase I've made this year. I have a big green smoothie for breakfast every day. YUMMY!

In just 5 days, Jared will be 16 years old. How did my baby grow up so fast? He got his drivers permit just last month, so he will still have to wait 5 more months to get his licence.

Oh yeah, he also got his braces off about a month ago. Ain't he cute?

Jacob finally got his drivers license. It's great because while he's visiting, we can have him run all the errands we don't want to. He seems to love it, but I'm sure he'll get tired of running around for us after awhile.

And lets not forget The Color Run back in January!

Here is Team Redrun Redrun  =  Me, Suzee, Jason, Olivia, Sarah, and Jim. It was a lot of fun. Jacob didn't get to run it, but he did get to be a color thrower.

Yes, he was in the green zone. The kid was covered from head to foot in green.

His feet were stained for quite a while.

Next Saturday on St Patrick's Day, Suzee and I are going to be doing the 4K Four Leaf Clover run at the Westgate Center. We are going to be wearing something fun and St Patty day themed. I'm looking forward to it.

Am I still considered a blogger?

Welcome to 2012!

If one does not blog with any consistency, is that person still considered a blogger? I should try to get in here more often and start posting again.

I'm looking forward to this last year before the world ends (as far as the Mayans are concerned). I've just started at a new salon and will have the option of working more now that I do not have to share my station anymore. Yay!! It's great to know that when I clean my mess up and go home, and come back another day, that I won't have to clean up after somebody who must not see all her nail dust and clippings and therefore leaves them for me to take care of. See, it doesn't take much to make me happy. Just a clean station and lots of yarn to crochet with.

Happy New Year everyone!

Montana Vacation Part Deux

Once we left the cabin, we headed to Kalispell. We spent several days at Marcie’s house. One of those days we headed to Big Mountain in White Fish. Jason missed out on our trip because he had another golf day planned with a friend.

You can just make out the ski trails in the mountain ahead.

As soon as we got there, we hopped on a lift to ride it to the top of the Alpine Slide ride. You can see some of the slide in the picture I snapped of Betsy, Taylor, Beau and Jim in the first lift.

And this is the picture of them from the lift I was riding on.

It’s me, Jessica and Parker. Aren’t we brave riding with the safety bar up? Actually, I didn’t know we had one!

And bringing up the rear is Jared, Olivia, Brittany and Jacob. Behind them is where the Alpine Slide ends.

Here’s a small section of the slide taken from my lift.

As you come up to the top, they tell you to get ready to run so the lift doesn’t run you over. Here’s my kids and Britt getting ready to run for it.

Time for some documentation photos….pay attention Jacob. Jared knows what to do.

Hey Jared, let me get a picture of you. Thanks for blocking my shot Jacob.

Um, Jacob… will you please cooperate so I can remember this day and scrapbook about it please.

Oh look, it’s me and my kids. The background almost looks fake in this picture. As you can tell, it was a chilly day.

This is looking down at part of the Alpine Slide track. That tiny man is there to take pictures so the tourists can spend lots of money for a copy.

Here is most of our group. Everyone gets instructions on how to operate the sled. I’ll be in line as soon as I get some photos.

Get your phones out so you can video your slide!

There goes Jared! Have fun!!     So did they enjoy it?

YES!! Here they come up the lift to go down the slide again.

After sliding, we all went on a nature trail walk. Big Mountain also has zip line tours, but it was WAY over our budget.

We could hear these people coming down these lines before we could see them.

I really loved being on that trail. Living in Arizona makes you appreciate simple streams and green everywhere you look.

Finally the day trip is over and it’s time to go.

Everyone is a little tired and ready to call it a day.
That’s it for part deux. I’ll try and wrap up the Montana Vacation in one more post to come soon…..

Our Montana Vacation (part 1)

We got to escape the heat of the the Phoenix valley for a little while this summer. Almost 2 whole weeks. We left the last week of June on a Thursday night and drove straight through like we always do. I have to say that the last 6 hours of our 21 hour drive are almost painful.
I took lots of photos of my view from the front seat of the truck.

As soon as we crossed the border, I took a picture of the first Montana snow-capped mountain. Beautiful. From here we only have about 4 more hours of driving until we make it to Plains.

Our windshield has collected some of the native insects. I’m very happy to see the sign that lets me know we are almost there.

Love the green hills up ahead.

This is the Clark Fork River. It is so swollen from all the snow melt. It’s flowing FAST and it’s muddy.

I had to throw this picture in here. This is down the street from my mom-in-law’s house. I LOVE it. I should have knocked on the door of the house and asked if they were interested in selling it. Don’t ya just love the wings?

Here’s another view of the Clark Fork as seen from the bridge in Plains.

It’s Tina (Fat Lard). These folks also had some miniature horses.

Isn’t it adorable?
We went to the cabin after the weekend. I was looking forward to seeing all the work that Jacob and his cousin Brittany had accomplished during their 2 weeks before the families arrived.

There used to be a shed right where Jacob is standing. He and Brit had muscled that thing down during many trips back and forth from Plains.

Katy Lou had to get a permit so we could burn all the scrap lumber and the kids each helped to chop some of the wood into fire pit sized chunks. The rest would be for the bonfire later.

Tell me who doesn’t enjoy a good bonfire? This picture does not do that fire justice. It was BIG and it made so much black smoke (probably creosote in those old railroad ties). I half expected the fire service to show up.

When dinner time rolled around about 3 hours later, Jacob decided to use it to cook his hotdog. Those coals were pumping off some serious heat, so he found himself some protection. LOL!

No trip to the cabin is complete without having s’mores.

Check out the wood burning stove. After our first night, Jason fired it up and cooked us all some bacon. He’s awesome.
The kids did so much work that they were done after one night and we ended up going on to Kalispell later on this day.
To be continued…..