Inspection Time

    Once home and with the trailer in the garage, it was time to assess the condition of the interior. As expected, there is a lot of water damage in the rear. At least all the parts are there, which will make duplicating everything much easier. I documented everything and took plenty of measurements and pictures. Needless to say, the complete demolition shall commence immediately!

OK, well at least everything is still there.

The stove and ice box should clean up nicely.

The front is fairly dry.

The original unused spare!

Hmmm.... What a nice storage cabinet.

Not. Surprise!

Morning Pick up

    Beau and I stayed Saturday night at a roadside motel in Fairbury Nebraska. We arrived in Jansen at 9am Sunday morning to meet the seller. He had told me over the phone that he thought the tires would be good enough to get back to Denver. Well it was a good thing I brought along two new tires because both were in awful condition. We pulled it out of the field next to his barn to inspect. The picture below should speak for itself. Unfortunately, he did not have an air compressor available. So I would have to drive it that way for 6 miles back to Fairbury for air.

    I didn't spend a whole lot of time looking the trailer over as it was what it was, having already purchased it (a quick glance inside confirmed the demolition will proceed). I would do a thorough inspection once I got it home. It was also a good thing I brought one of those temporary magnetic brake light kits. Because the lights didn't work either.

    After getting air in the tires, I decided to try and make it down the road a few miles. It was Sunday, and I wasn't going to find anybody to mount the new tires. Because of their condition, I stuck to the back roads and didn't exceed 45 mph. 

    250 miles later we pulled into Colby Kansas where we will have to take the interstate the remainder of the way. Beau and I ordered a pizza and stayed the night. At 8am Monday morning we were at the local tire dealer getting the tires mounted and bearings packed. We rolled out of Colby at noon, and it was smooth sailing at 75 mph back to Denver. The next day would allow for a more comprehensive assessment. 

A big thank you to Beau for being the best ever non-human road trip partner!

And So It Begins...

    Never mind the name of the blog for now. We'll get to that explanation in a later post.
Three pictures on Craigslist. That's what this first post is about:

   These three pictures were enough to make me do something I had never done before in my life; Make a large purchase online and sight unseen! I had been searching for a vintage camper on Craigslist for awhile, ever expanding farther and farther from the Denver area. A search of the Lincoln Nebraska area resulted in a recently posted 1960 Layton trailer about an hour south of there in Jansen.

    There were no photos of the interior. I wasn't too concerned about that, as I was planning on totally gutting it and starting from scratch. If the interior turned out to be nice, then that was an added bonus and would save a lot of work. A phone conversation with the seller was enough to take a leap of faith, and purchase it for a great price over the phone.

    Its an 8 hour drive to get there. But I learned from past experience that when something comes up, you better jump on it and go, or regret it later. So the next day, my Border Collie Beau (my Aussie Roper stayed home to attend to his own blog) and I were off on our very own adventure. Nebraska here we come! Stay tuned...

Beau's enthusiasm diminished after the first two hours of windshield time.

A sign that all will be well? We passed this Shasta? eastbound on I-70, somewhere in Kansas.