The To Do List

I will keep this post simple, because it is a to-do list for the camper. I will probably keep a list in a sidebar that can be updated, but here is the initial list, broken down into two categories, interior and exterior. The camper is really camping ready, but I think that if we go ahead with most repairs/updates now, it will make for a smoother first time camping experience for Cheryl and the kiddos. Me…I have slept on open ground, in tents with no floors, in floods, in freezing cold, eaten sand in my chili and eggs for breakfast, hiked in the snow uphill both ways, yada yada yada, but yes I will enjoy that fresh camper smell, as well. We bought this little gem in June, and I hope to have her road ready by September 11^th when Oklahoma has a vintage trailer rally at Lake Tenkiller. So basically this is a two-month project. And, yes, I hope to keep everything within budget. (Gulp…I hope)

Interior

Water damage repair around roof vent, under front windows, and sides of front windows

12 volt system for fan, lights, and small accessories for boon docking

Exhaust fan for stove hood

LED lights for under cabinet lighting

New foam and upholstery for rear gaucho (couch)

New upholstery for front dinette cushions

New curtains

New dinette table shaped like original with vintage-look Formica

New propane lamp globe

Two additional 110 outlets, one under dinette, one in wardrobe for microwave above fridge

Pull old rusted water tank, replace in future if found to be necessary

Install fan for additional fridge coil cooling

Once over on all cabinetry and birch paneling with rejuvenating oil and steel wool

Clean up

Exterior

New paint-- siding, frame, tanks, wheels and hubcaps

Door handles and hub caps sand blasted and painted

Polish aluminum stripe

New Shasta decals

Reseal roof seams, vents, etc

All new aluminum square drive screws

New propane tanks and new propane fittings and system test

Install carbon monoxide/smoke detector

Pull windows, polish and reseal with new mouldings and butyl tape

Replace front glass (cracked)

Fantastic fan to replace roof vent

New tumbler for bargman door lock

New teardrop lights

New wire harness front connector

Polish bargman tail lights

New vintagelook awning

Cover water fill hole with new or patch

Replace 110 inlet

Repair door water damage

Repair screen door water damage

Water proof outlet installed under camper

Sway bar

Wheel well skin patched, minor rust damage

Future Projects

Portable a/c unit installed in wardrobe plumbed into wall furnace vents

Stereo hidden in cabinet over dinette

LED lighting along drip edge hooked into running lights

Hubcaps and door handles re-chromed

Trailer brakes

Solar setup for boon docking

Front hitch extension to make room for biodiesel tank

Until next time dear readers, shasta la vista...

The trip back with the camper in tow

So, we woke up fairly early the next morning and went out in search of a reliable place to have the bearings checked/repacked. The idea of being a 900 miles from nowhere in the middle of the night, trying to duct tape a wheel back on the axle was unappealing. We talked to the caretaker of the KOA, and he recommended Schieks Camper Sales in Eden. It was just a few miles down the road, so we packed up and went. They agreed to work us in and we dropped off the camper. They were great folks, very courteous and understood our need to get on the road. They had us in and out in a couple of hours. If you are in the neighborhood, I highly recommend them. Here is their website.

To kill time we headed into Fon du Lac for breakfast. Although we had our borrowed Garmin GPS, I called my personal Google guru, Cheryl, and within moments she recommended Schreiner’s Restaurant. Now check the spelling, this was not a restaurant run by old men in funny hats and go-carts. Cheryl informed us that it had been open since 1938 and that the quiche of the day was asparagus. It just so happened that we were literally passing by as she suggested it. It was a blast from the past with waitresses in aprons and little kerchiefs on their heads and cooks in the back with paper boat hats. The food was great. We had the asparagus quiche, muffins and split a Belgian waffle. With full bellies, we left in search of some extended mirrors for the Jeep and a few other supplies. Once stocked, we headed back and browsed the camper parts while we waited for them to finish up. It cost me just under $100, which I thought was reasonable for a morning rush job and for peace of mind. Granted, I could have done it in a couple hours in the driveway for just a few bucks, but said driveway was 900 miles away. So, we hitched up and took off, pausing along the first 50 miles or so to snap a few shots of great barns, the likes of which have gone the way of the Dodo in Oklahoma, or should I say tornado, that is if we ever had barns like that. After pulling over for the first few, Adam started just snapping shots on the fly out the window, a surprising number of which actually survived.





We got on the interstate and cruised at about 65 most of the way home, stopping only to refuel the Jeep and our bellies, and once to pick up about $50 worth of cheese and souvenirs at Shultz’s Cheese Haus. Let me tell you, these guys make great cheese; we tasted about a dozen different varieties and settled for a half pound of 2 year aged cheddar, 10 year aged cheddar, apple jack (a blend of swiss, cheddar and jack), garlic brick, and even one called chicken soup, that tasted like, well you probably guessed it.

In Kansas City, we ran into a woman at a Wendy’s who had just bought a 1963 Shasta from a guy in Wisconsin a few miles outside of Fon du Lac for $4,000. Hers was very nice and had been recently restored. I hope to keep our restoration below that mark. My goal is to keep it under $3,000, including the cost of the camper. I am making that statement now so you can help keep me honest. After talking to her for about an hour, we got on the road again and pushed on until we hit Bartlesville at 3 in the morning, where we slept where we fell. The next day the woman’s friend called and offered to buy my camper sight unseen. This made me feel even more that the whole trip had been worth it. Now, as this story progresses I will lead you along my trail of restoration. For some it will be less interesting until we get to the finished product, but hopefully for most it will be an informative journey that helps other crazy Shasta renovators like me find parts, figure out how things come apart, and learn from my mistakes. So, if you are following along so far we have:

Trailer—$900+ Bearing Repack—$100, bringing our tally to $1,000.

Until next time dear readers, shasta la vista...

In the beginning...

Well, here it is. This is how she looked when my brother and I arrived as the sun set near Fon Du Lac, Wisconsin. Even in our exhausted-from-driving-14-hours-straight state, we could see that she was worth every penny of the $900 Rick was asking. But wait, already I get ahead of myself, "How is it two Oklahoma boys found themselves in the middle of Wisconsin with $900 in 5's, 20's and 100's from three different ATM machines?" you ask. Well since you're so nosy, I'll tell you. A couple of months ago my wife, Cheryl, and I started talking about camping. We have two kids, ages 2 years and 4 months, so we thought we would crank up the challenge by taking them into the great outdoors. Now, I have always been an avid tent camper, "RV's...Pattooie!", but as I considered both Cheryl and the kids stuffed into tents, I thought to myself, "Maybe a small camper, a pop-up, it is almost a tent” would be a good idea. So that got the ball rolling.

Then Cheryl found her inspiration…a sno cone stand in Kansas City that was made from an old Shasta trailer. See it here. After reading the story about the rescue of this old 50's camper, our search was on. We watched eBay, Craigslist and made random Google searches trying to find the perfect camper. I tried to keep it within reason, 200 miles or so. I didn't want to haul some relic clear across the country. Ahem. But one night I was bored, there were so many cool vintage trailers on the coasts, so I expanded my parameters to a 1,000 mile radius from Oklahoma. It was late, I got tired and finally went to bed. The next afternoon when Cheryl got home from work she got on the computer and started searching where I left off. “This one looks nice; it is too bad it is so far away.” I looked it over, read the description and saw the time stamp. He had only posted it about 30 minutes earlier. Now if you are not familiar with these trailers, here is how it works. If it is a good deal, it is gone in about a day. If not, even if they say it is decent, it is probably a rat-infested piece of junk. So, after about 5 minutes of discussion, saying phrases like “This is crazy” and “Our parents are going to think we are nuts” and two phone calls to Wisconsin, we decided that I would make the 28 hour, 1800 mile round trip to get it. Rick said he would hold it for us, which he may have second-guessed later since he got about 25 phone calls about it while I was on the road, including several sight unseen offers.

Now a little background on me…I am a stay-at-home dad of two, while Cheryl brings home the bacon. I am a Jeremy-of-all-trades. I have been a lumber yard guy, a grill cook, a landscaper/lawnmower, a manager of a plant store chain, a construction manager for a nationwide dental company and now a dad. Let me say my most recent position is the most exciting/rewarding so far. Along with raising children, I have my projects…

Last year I built a biodiesel reactor to make fuel from waste vegetable oil for our vehicles and put a new motor in my old Jeep so I could sell it and get it out of the driveway. So, just as the front of our house begins to look like a home again and is almost free of debris, I see the emptiness and long to fill it with a “project.” Cheryl often refers to our driveway as “the salvage yard.”

So here we are empty driveway longing to be filled, trailer in Wisconsin longing to fill it. Now what? I called my brother who agreed to be my copilot; he’s a teacher so he didn’t have anything to do, right? Then we called Cheryl’s parents and asked them to come watch the yahoos while I was gone. Did I mention this was a Wednesday night? So the next morning I headed to Wisconsin, picking up my brother on the way. The drive was relatively uneventful; we got there at 8 in the evening as the sun was setting.

Here we are back where this tale started. We looked inside, took a few pics, paid Rick, thanked him for holding it and hauled it to a campground in Fon Du Lac where we ate our Wendy’s dinner by flashlight and fell asleep.

Until next time dear readers, shasta la vista...