Mysterious and elusive...

Not far from where I live, there is a person that collects trailers.  He stores them at an old drive-in theater, and they are highly visible to passersby.  I've never stopped to look, but NoJuan on Flickr stole a picture of the entrance to the drive-in...

And here are the trailers!

He moves them around now and then.  It also looks like the collection is thinning out, but I don't have photographic evidence of that.  I'd love to go look around there, but I hear he's pretty private about his stash.  Fair enough.

I found this older picture I took a couple of years ago.

Where did all the little trailers go?

Hopefully to good and loving homes.

Oyster Run, not so fun...

Well, it wasn't ALL bad.  Despite the rather crappy weather we still managed to enjoy ourselves, eat a good lunch, and do a bit of people watching.

In case you don't know, the Oyster Run is the largest motorcycle run held in the Pacific Northwest, and it's always held the 4th Sunday of September in Anacortes, Washington.  Usually the weather is great, and they get well over 30,000 bikers in town!  Such a spectacle.  Unfortunately this year a big weather front moved through - high winds and plenty of rain on the motorcycle parade.  By the time we got there, the rain was falling full bore and lots of the bikers were heading out.  Can't say that I blame them!

We saw all kinds of fun things, and do not fear - before the day was over we spotted an old trailer or two, on our way home.

We kicked off our fun at the Brown Lantern, with a drink and a bit of biker watching.  This fellow posed when he saw I was taking a photo, and then proceeded to show us that he had not broken his leg, but had lost two toes in a motorcycle accident.  Look closely!

Ouch!

These two were out advertising a nearby bar.  They might look silly, but at least they had something to keep their heads dry!

A typical dog altercation at a public event - leave them at home, people!  We never bring Syd out to something like this.  It just seems like it would be torture for most dogs.  Too much going on, food everywhere, and other dogs to drive them nuts!  Not to mention I'd like to enjoy the event, not spend the time dog wrangling!

Down on his knees to pray?  No - just down on his knees in a puddle.  Bummer.

Normally I take a lot of close up shots like this one, but there just weren't that many bikes to look at this year!  And they were all wet.

Did I mention the bikes were lacking in numbers this year?  Badly?  Looks like a ghost town down there!

That's really kind of sad.  A lot of bikers probably stayed home to watch football instead.

We saw this great kitty on our way back to the car.  I'm sure it was happy there were less noisy bikes this year.

But where are the trailers?  Where are the trailers you ask!  Never fear, I'm getting to that - we didn't see them until we were on the way home.  If you take one of the lesser traveled roads, you pass a little trailer park that in all honesty is a bit depressing.  It looks like people are living there permanently, and the condition of everything really isn't very good.  There's quite a variety of trailer types, sizes, and shapes.

That appears to be a Kit Companion, year unknown (1960's?) in the lower photo.  Close to the lakefront, and conveniently located next to the dumpster and porta-loo!

You can see the rest of my photos from the day here:  Oyster Run, not so fun...

If you are so compelled.  Cheers!

Winding down...

The seasons are changing and we're starting to bundle up our trailer for winter.  Another big rain storm is headed our way, so we got the trailer covered - the trailer doesn't leak now, but it definitely has a water catchment spot we don't want to turn into a leak!

We thought we might take it out again, but it's not looking like we will now.  Michael has started the stain and varnish project (which means lots of fumes that need to air out), and the weather is taking a turn.  It could still happen, but my work schedule needs to hit a weekend of nice weather... yeah, right.

It's going to be a long winter of not doing much with our trailer.  I'll have to work hard to find interesting things to post about!

Tonight I somehow got on the track of looking up Slab City in California - it looks fascinating, yet horrible.  At least they have a library!  I like the landscaping.

I'm not so sure I want to go there.  I thought I did, but...

I think maybe not.  [I watched a short documentary about Slab City that deteriorated into a guy going out to find some meth.  Not terribly appealing, despite the interesting things to see down there.]

So many sights!  So may weirdos!  Not so high on my list, after all.


G'night!

Trailerspotting...

Tucked away in the forest of Bay View State Park we spied this little gem of a teardrop trailer.  Too small for us, but dang is it pretty!

And it's possible it could be on the old side - I just noticed it's a Kenskill, and they've been making teardrops since the 1940's!  Nobody was around when I walked by, so I wasn't able to inquire as to the age of this trailer.

It looks so nice in the forest setting.  Cozy!

Tuesday Trash...

We saw a very sketchy trailer in Yakima.  It looked like it was settled in for the long haul - flat tire and all!  I think there's a limit to how long you can stay in a state park, and these people looked like they were going to push that envelope.

This does not look very roadworthy!

What's up with those lights?  Are they painted over?  Or maybe they have covers?  WHY?  It just looks sort of dodgy, doesn't it?

And the yellow foam?!!  An attempt at insulation gone wrong?

Yep, it  does look that way.  Or something stuck unto the outside of the trailer?

The addition of the tinfoil in the window makes things look even sketchier.

Nice wood window frame though!

Strange...

We have gas!

Errrr, propane that is.  Today we fired up the propane system, and you'll be glad to know nothing exploded.  We got the stove running, the propane lantern, and the fridge.  The fridge took a little work, and we even had to call the guy we bought the trailer from for a couple of pointers - but we did it.  Well - Michael did it.  He's the expert at figuring out how things work, and then he show me.  I pull things, hold things, and otherwise provide support in the process.  We're a good team.

Tomorrow is the last day before we leave, and I've got a list a mile long of things to run around and pick up, plus things to do here at home.  Today I did a lot in the garden, so our house caretaker won't have to water things that don't need to be watered.  Ha!

Speaking of water, we discovered we have a vintage ice cube tray in the trailer.  After Michael got the fridge running, he thought it would be great to fill it with water and make ice (we have a tiny freezer).  Shortly after he put the ice cube tray in the freezer, we notice a steady stream of water dripping from the fridge.

WHA?

It's either the fact we weren't perfectly balanced (ooops, I meant level), or the tray has a leak.  I will investigate tomorrow.  But I feel like I should post this picture on Facebook as one of those "CLICK LIKE IF YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS!" posts.  Ugh.

We got some new potholders for the trailer, too!  My friend Christine makes these and many other very cool things, which can be obtained from her HERE.

One last thing before I wrap up for today - I was out and about in town, stocking up on wine and other important things (as one does), and I spied this cute little trailer.  The holiday weekend has of course brought out everybody and their brother and their trailers, most of which are hideous boxes with no style.  But there have been a few gems.

A Surfside Triple-E, circa 1974-1976 (or thereabouts).  Cute!

All right then!  One more day before we hit the road.  I'll check in tomorrow evening after my frenzied day of preparations.

Cheers!

Relaxing...

Sort of.  It always takes a couple of days to get into the swing of not working, and not jumping out of bed at six in the morning to get ready for work.  I did manage to doze off again, and could call it a proper sleep in this morning.  Got going slowly, and took a long (1.5 mile) walk with Syd on a new route we've been enjoying.

We're really starting to focus on what needs to be done before we leave on  Wednesday - only two days to get everything ready!  We bought a few things for the trailer - a tiny coffee maker and some kitchen implements.  It came with a lot, but there were a few things that Michael wanted to get.  Tomorrow we start packing in earnest, and cleaning up the house before we go.

Now that we have an Aloha trailer, I've begun to notice tiki stuff everywhere.  Spotted today at K-Mart:

Groan.  No, we did not buy it.  But I bet it looks good when its eyes are lit up!  We're not particularly interested in any sort of theme for our trailer.  We just want it looking good and feeling like home away from home.

I also spotted a cute little trailer parked at the end of the Wal-Mart parking lot.  There's usually one or two rigs parked down there, taking advantage of the free camping.

I was making the rounds of all the places today looking for a permanent coffee filter for our new coffee maker.  No luck - if I don't find one at the last stop on Tuesday we'll just have to get paper filters.  Oh well.

I spent more time in the trailer this afternoon, reading and doing a little bit of artsy stuff.  It's a nice little spot away from the distractions inside the house - especially the computer!  I can watch the neighborhood go by - okay, I mean I can spy on the neighbors!  Our street is pretty sleepy most days.  There was a little girl walking up and down the street today with a toy playing Christmas music.  It sounded like an ice cream truck, so I was really confused until I saw the girl and her toy.  Then it was just eerie.

Counting down...

Not long before our first trip with the trailer!  We're getting very excited about it, and working on getting everything ready.

Syd is also looking forward to the trip.  He enjoys spending time in the trailer.  Today I was sitting at the table for a bit and he just had to sit right next to me.  It was a bit cozy, but I did manage to catch a good picture of him.

He's still a bit nervous in the trailer, but getting used to it.  We want him to think of it as his second home!  I'm sure once he gets fed in the trailer, and sees us eating there it will fully hit home.

Home is where the kibbles are.

Now that we've been bitten with the vintage trailer bug (what does that bug look like, anyhow?), I've become hypersensitive to trailers of all sorts.  I was waiting at a stop light today and saw this bugger drive by ~

Don't be fooled like I almost was.  At first I thought maybe it was a "newer" vintage trailer (!) but no - it's probably not more than a couple of years old.  It looks a bit better than most of the modern trailers, but DON'T BE FOOLED!  It's no canned ham.  It's a Starcraft AR-ONE.

Then there's things like this little modern teardrop trailer.  Cute, but did they have to put the ubiquitous swish design on it?  I have more to say about trailer design, but I'll save that for another day.

Built after 1975?  Pish posh, I'll have none of you.

Oh dear, I'm already a vintage trailer snob.  HA!

More and more we realize how lucky we were with our find - all original, and in such good shape!

Oh boy!

Not far from us there's an old drive-in theater, which in the past few years has become something of a trailer storage location.  I've always been fascinated by the supposed trailer graveyard, but haven't had a clue about what goes on there.  I alway figured they were just hoarding trailers for the apocalypse.  Turns out they're actually selling some, as I discovered on Craigslist. They had a listing for a tiny Fireball, too small and too rough for us.  But it gave me the open to get in touch.  We should be able to go poke around there soon to see what they have!

I'm excited.  Who knows what treasure lies sleeping in there?

Who knows what we'll find... who knows?  Will there be clowns there, living in the trailers?  It's the Circus Storage, after all...

I hope there are some clowns.

Trailerspotting

Trailerspotting - it's a bit like trainspotting, only there's no heroin involved.  No visible tracks on your arm, but the addiction is there.  Once you've got trailers on the mind, you're looking for them everywhere and noticing them where you've never noticed them before...

Last week when we returned from vacation, and began our second week or so of wanting a trailer (so badly, so badly wanting), I spotted this trailer just a few short blocks away from our house.  It must have arrived while we were gone, put in place to taunt me every day when I drive by to and from work.

An Aristocrat Lo-Liner, year unknown.  Just sitting there.  Winking at me as I drive by.  I'll be watching closely to see what the new owners do with it, if anything.  They don't mow their lawn much, or pick up their empty garbage can when it falls over in the wind (for days), and most recently they've left the windows of their pickup truck open... for days.

This isn't the trailer for us, but it's about the size we're looking for.