I AM THE ROAD TRIPPING QUEEN!

Gosh it has been a while hasn't it?
And I realize that I have a LOT to fill you all in on since last I wrote. So many awesome road trips, so many adventures and, as is often the case, I've been so busy being out there on the road collecting other people's stories for my Vintage Trailer Magazine that I have neglected my own blog a bit. Sorry about that! I promise to fill you in on where I have been and what I have been doing now that "Rosie" has been tucked away for the winter and I have some home time for a change.

I have only recently come back from a mega 4,000 mile trip from Oregon to New Mexico where I attended the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with my Sisters on the Fly.
This is one of those things that has been on my bucket list for such a long time and I have to say, it far exceeded my very high expectations. To be surrounded by 500 hot air balloons as they inflate and take flight is truly a sight to behold that I can only describe as total sensory overload.  But I'm getting ahead of myself now with lots to fill in before we get there...
Lets start at the beginning of this road trip.

After having spent the previous day packing everything I would need for the next 3 weeks on the road into the trailer and the Hudson, I left Oregon at around 10.30 a.m on Saturday the 7th October and drove 330 miles to Susanville, California where I stayed at the same RV park I had stayed at on my way to Reno for Hot August Nights: Susanville RV Park. I wrote in my journal at the end of each day and kept records of the roads I drove, each time I filled up with gas, and how much I spent on gas, food and accommodation on each day. I had planned each day's drive to be progressively less than the previous one to allow for the chronic fatigue and difficulty seeing out of my left eye that I have been battling since I got Bell's Palsy in August. Although it still is affecting me slightly, I am one of the lucky ones as some people never recover from the facial paralysis that this nasty illness causes. I was fortunate that the worst of it only lasted about two months for me.

The day Bell's Palsy struck - it was really scary!

Determined as I am,  I was not about to let the lingering symptoms of this darned thing prevent me from pursuing my road tripping dreams. I ended my diary entry on that first day with the words:
"I AM THE ROAD TRIPPING QUEEN".

I ended up having to make what was supposed to be the Sept/Oct issue of Vintage Trailer Magazine the Nov/Dec issue #36 as typing on the computer was virtually impossible during this time.

Yesterday was a wonderful moment when that magazine was delivered and I got to sit and read it from cover to cover for the first time. I love that moment as much as any of my customers as working on it over a period of time in separate pieces never gives the same feeling as when you have that hard copy of glossy paper magazine in your hands! It is always my favorite day. I'm like a proud mama holding her newborn baby for the first time every time.  Although this one took a while coming I think it is one of my best issues yet. Isn't she beautiful?

To order your copy or to subscribe go to: www.vintagetrailermagazine.com

Rosie's make over begins...

Rosie is a cute little 1949 Crown "canned ham" caravan that we found for sale in the yard of a Salvation Army thrift store across the road from the Hot August Nights Swap Meet two years ago. I wrote all about her in a previous entry and you can read all about it HERE

After having spent the last two years locked up in a shed in Oregon, the time has finally come to give her the make over she deserves.

Her old axle and bearings were pretty crappy and it had a 5 by 5.5 stud pattern that limited our options somewhat, so once she was rolled out of the shed, she was hoisted up onto stands and the temporary wheels we had put on her to transport her from Nevada to Oregon were removed.

We ordered some shiny new chrome smoothies and Coker whitewall tyres and a brand new axle, hubs and bearings online and Noddy set to work replacing the old ones with the new ones in the car park of our hotel.

Noddy had been quite confident that we could do the rest of the restoration work ourselves as we have now done up four  caravans together and they all came out AMAZING. The problem was that we both have very busy schedules and Rosie was going to be a big job.  She had suffered quite a bit more structural damage than we had at first noticed, and having been transported hundreds of miles with missing windows had made it worse. The once intact ceiling had been sucked out through the missing window in the door revealing some major rot in the supporting timbers and the side panel had come loose. After re-bracing her temporarily with some extra timber and boarding up all the missing windows to make her air tight again, we both agreed that it was time to call in the experts.

After having sussed out quite a few vintage trailer repair places around, we decided on Retroluxe Vintage Trailers in California. Firstly because I liked their cool name, secondly because in our email communications they had always been great to deal with. The third and main reason was that their prices seemed reasonable (as always, we work to a tight budget!) and the work that they had done that I had been watching on their Facebook page was impressive.  Feedback from their customers was always glowing and Scott had years of kitchen and cabinetry making experience under his belt that I thought would come in handy in repairing the extensive timber damage in both Rosie's structural framework as well as in her internal fixtures. Scott 'gets' the hot rod-yet-original kind of look I was wanting. It was great to be able to meet him, Wendy and co-worker Damon at Pismo a couple of weeks ago to talk about our plans to start work on Rosie.

One week later we set off on the 8-hour drive from Oregon to Northern California with our 1975 Ford F250 truck and our new-shoed Rosie in tow...

Once we crossed the border, we stopped for a break and a photo of Rosie with Mount Shasta - isn't she just the cutest?

The next day we caught up with Scott and Wendy for breakfast at a local eatery and then spent a great day sightseeing around the area, antique shopping, checking out the great collection of second-hand caravan parts and retro wares at the Vintage Deluxe Travel Trailers Shop 

We even found this old US Military Airstream Bambi for sale on the side of the road.... very tempting!

Later that afternoon we chilled out and brainstormed our ideas for Rosie over a glass or two or three of particularly scrummy wine on the deck of the Iverson Winery vineyard.

The next day Scott cast his expert eyes over our Rosie and we talked in depth about what we wanted to get done, what was required and how much it would all cost. 

"I'm not afraid", declared Scott 

"We can do it!" said Wendy

  I breathed a sigh of relief and dreamed of what kind of fabulous interior style I will do once she is all done... Stay tuned!