Shasta & Nomad

Shasta & Nomad

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Shasta LoFlyte - Day 1

99 just turned off the little space heater, the radio and the lights. She said, "Good night little trailer" and walked out my sticking door, slammed it shut and I watched her disappear in through her back gliding doors.
Then, as soon as I knew she was out of earshot I let out the hugest sigh and loudly proclaimed, "HALLELUJAH"!!

Holy running lights, who knew she was going to spend a whole entire day with me and who knew she was going to rip my rear to the bones! She better fix this cause I have been trying to hold myself together for quite some time now and I am feeling awful naked back there!

This morning started out okay. All of my cupboards and cubbies and storage areas were gone through. There was some stuff in me I forgot I had. It was all thrown away along with the junk I had in my trunk. We filled up one garbage can and two big garbage bags. Then out came Shelly the Shop Vac and we set to work getting me a little bit cleaner. It's always nicer to have a clean working environment. 

First came the kitchen and dining area. Here are some pictures of my insides:




There is sticky paper on the walls in my rear area. This made 99 shudder just a tad.



In this picture my upper bunk is in the up position which allows for more headroom.

And here my upper bunk is in the down position.

Because it was raining 99 was able to see where my leaks were coming from and it appears to be the windows and one area at the roof line. She said this means I needed to be sealed on the outside as soon as we get a dry sunny day over here. Then she told me she was worried what my bones might look like underneath the water damaged walls. No sense in prolonging the inevitable. She set to work ripping out my curb and street side rear walls. Anyone who has ever tried fixing up a forgotten trailer knows that this is an intense moment. You never know what you will find and sometimes once you start it's hard to stop. 

The water damaged paneling tends to come off in layers. The drips coming down seemed to only cause the initial layer to be wet because underneath it was dry. You could see where it had been wet at one time though. But we have had tons of rain and 99 was pleased to see that maybe some of the damage was from an old leak that had been fixed and not continual leakage.

Here you can see where I leaked pretty badly at one time. It was dry, just stained.


Now to see how bad my bones had been damaged. 99 kept on ripping me apart. She found my old insulation looked fairly clean. This was a good sign!

Boy oh boy was I pleased with my diagnosis. Not sure who was happier, myself or 99. My bones are pretty intact and not all rotted. 99 couldn't believe it. This kind of stuff never happens to her. Apparently she is used to sliding down the bannister and having the splinters pointing the wrong way every time! How could it be, she asked. Neither one of us know. She wonders if maybe my ride home shook things up to cause the windows to leak now, but even with the prior damage you would think that those braces under the windows would be rotted. Not the case. We both did a little Hallelujah dance and got right back to work!





Now we had been at this for quite some time! 99 still has to work on prepping me for new walls. They will not go in until the rain stops and I can be sealed up properly on the outside. It was way too early to quit working so we moved on to tidying up. My lower bed board was removed for more space. 99 loves the way my floors feel so solid underneath. She even found a spare tire! 


In the storage space behind the street side dinette seat she found one of those mini televisions with a radio option as well. She plugged that baby in and were jamming then!


She found lots of other things too. A broom and a dustpan, a hibachi, tiki oil, silverware, clothes pins, awning rails, and the list goes on. Most of it went right into the garbage!

Some carpeting that was on my floor was pulled up and 99 was once again in disbelief. She could not believe the condition of my original flooring! She told me some horror stories she had been through with other trailers, namely Edgar and Faith. Mine was pretty descent! At this point I knew I had won her heart. But I kept on impressing her. My dining room table was just about perfect. No burn marks where someone mistakenly set a pot down. My countertops were the same way. The sink cleaned up nicely and I even have my sink cover. I have all my original hinges and drawer handles. My pull out cutting board had sticky paper over it, but underneath the wood was as if it had never been used. My lamp shades have no cracks in them and the lights all work. The fridge was not filled with leftover food from many, many moons ago. Yeppers, it was a good day here at the jungle on the east side! Nice!









All of these good things will make life much easier. Don't get me wrong, I am not perfect by any means. You have already seen that. But just having these little things be okay makes a world of difference. Least that is what 99 said. She also kept saying, "thank you, little trailer, thank you!".

I kept saying, HALLELUJAH!!

Well, it's dark up in that house so I am sure 99 had the soup she kept talking about and the shower she said she couldn't wait to take and is now counting trailers until she falls asleep. I better end this blog entry and get some rest myself. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be another exciting day. 

Good night vintage trailer fans. 

Revival!


Hello vintage trailer fans! I have moved on up to the east side and I think I may finally get a piece of the pie! Right now I am sitting in 99's driveway! She came out to get me with her carpenter buddies, Hot Rod (left) and Doobie Brother (right). Hot Rod had an awesome tow vehicle that I really liked riding behind. It was a bit muddy from all the rain we have had and my tires were sunk in the mud. They hooked me up and you should have seen them almost fall over when they plugged me in and my lights worked! Well, except the brake lights, but that might just be a bad ground. 99 said she never has that happen with old trailers she tows home. I think I have already impressed her. 
The trip was nice. At first I swayed a little even though they went slow, but they stopped at a station and put air in my tires. After that, I towed like I wasn't even there! Even on the expressway in 5:00 traffic going 65 mph at one point. Hot Rod was a real champ at towing and the three of them were singing and laughing the whole way home. It was awesome to be back on the road even if only for about 40 miles and they kept saying how they revived me and what good Karma I have. I'm thinking carpenter people are sort of rebels because they towed me home without a plate on me...but they made it and boy were they proud of themselves! 
99 did not get to work on me. I'm thinking carpenter people like to have fun too, cause they all went out to celebrate right after I was parked. So, here I sit. There is a space next to me for my brother, the Nomad. I can't wait until he gets here. He is going to be a bit more work getting home. His tires have to be changed and right now it is too rainy and too muddy to do that. Jeepers Creepers, I sure hope 99 does not forget about him!
It's pouring rain again today! 99's buddy Dr. Blaine told her to look on the bright side...she will find out where my leaks are! Seems like we all suffer from leakatosis at some point. 
Anyway, 99 is going to dig into me today and we are both a bit nervous about that. Been waiting for her to come out here all morning. I would say since the sun came up, but there is no sun here today and none expected for the next five days. My skin is in excellent shape with nary a dent and no B.B. holes. That's a huge bonus! Plus, I still have my wings, or fins as Doobie brother called them until politely corrected by 99. My interior lights work too! Unfortunately, I am a big dirty mess on the inside so today will be a day of exploring my innards and cleaning. I am not much to look at in there, but I do have all my vintage parts and I should be looking pretty again in no time! 

I will post some more pics later. For now, I leave you with this:

“And a beautiful world we live in, when it is possible, and when many other such things are possible, and not only possible, but done-- done, see you!-- under that sky there, every day.” 
― Charles DickensA Tale of Two Cities

And so it is done, I have been pulled from the mud and am about to embark on what I know will be an incredible journey! I hope you will follow along with me, but most of all I hope you never give up hope in your life and always hold on to the belief that all things are possible. It's a beautiful world if you just choose to look at it through the right lens!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

A Tale of Two Trailers





Hello vintage travel trailer fans. I am a Shasta Loflyte and next to me is my brother the Nomad. Right now we live in Hamlin, NY and we have been sitting out here behind a barn for about five years just waiting for something to happen. Well, it did! Not sure what comes next, but this is how our tale begins!

It was a rather gray day here in upstate, NY with a damp chill in the spring air. This morning the guy who owns us came and opened up our doors and let the fresh air in. Neither one of us was sure why, but we felt a sort of electricity in our wiring. That's when 99 arrived with her friend, Ironman. Our owner said to them, "here they are, they are ugly and uglier". We knew what he meant and that he really meant no offense. It was true. We have kind of let ourselves go a bit and if he did not like us he would not have taken us on to begin with. It was good to hear the new people say that we might be ugly, but beauty is in the eyes of the beholder if you can see the potential. So, while Ironman and our owner chatted, 99 went through us checking out our nooks and crannies inside and out. She went through me first and then she went through my stepbrother. That is when we realized she was here to take one of us home with her eventually. She kept going back and forth and we figured she just could not decide . So, our owner said she could go home and think about it and he would hold on to us until he heard back from her. 

Here are some pics of us so you can get an idea of the decision she had to make....me first! (My brother says I am the spoiled one, but ladies should always go first. Jeepers creepers!)

This is my patootie!
Here is my street side.



This is my brother:

Streetside

Curbside

Patootie...he finds that to be his best feature. Brags about it endlessly!

After 99 and Ironman shook hands with our owner they pulled out and we weren't sure what was going to happen next. We wished each other the best of luck in whatever our fates may be. I know I secretly crossed my wires that she would choose me, but also wanted the best for my bro. It was quite a conundrum on both our vintage parts. 

Later that day, 99 called. She made an offer on me and an offer on my bro. Our owner accepted both offers, but only on the condition that 99 take both of us. We really liked that idea, but we also knew someone would have to be out of their minds crazy to do that. I mean one downtrodden trailer has to be enough to drive someone nuts, but two? Seriously, break out the straight jacket!!

As fate would have it, and lucky for us.....this 99 chic is a downright certifiable wackadoo! No bones about it!! And guess what? We like it!! Nope, we don't mind one bit as long as it is us she is crazy about!

We are still sitting here behind the barn and are not quite sure when we will be leaving. We have to go from the West side of the big city to the East side of the big city. My bro needs some tires, so I will go first. Last night we did not sleep a wink! We are so excited!! 99 plans to fix us up so we can get back on the road again. We may end up going to different homes, as she won't be keeping us, but we have time to prepare for that. It's whats best! Our time with 99 and all the most amazing people she has unwittingly roped into her traileritis who may never have recognized a set of wings or given second thought to a scotty doggie before... Yep,! You bet your sweet patooties we are going to enjoy every second of it!!

So tune in again boys and girls. We hope you will follow along on our journey as we are transformed back into two fine specimens. Well, speciwoman in my case.

For now, I leave you with this:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” 
― Charles DickensA Tale of Two Cities

From what I hear it has been the winter of despair for 99, but seasons change and with that comes the spring of hope. I am sure lots of unbelievers are going to tell 99 how foolish she is, but they will see her wisdom when she starts to work her magic. Gonna be the best of times and the worst getting us back to our old glory and that is probably putting it mildly, but 99 believes in us. Hec with incredulity, here is to the incre "dual" ity of the two of us finally seeing the light again and 99 too!. 

We believe....do you?