Day 424, Restoration of the Traveleze

Old brass light fixtures needing some help.

Here I am in Oklahoma City working on projects around the house for my friends Brad and Robin. Robin and I sat down and created a list of all the things we think that need to be fixed.  First on Robin's list was replace all the ageing brass exterior light fixtures.  The lights are fine, but the brass has started to pit and tarnish.  I suggested we just paint with a hammered bronze paint and see if we can save them.  Robin was up for that, so I got to work on taking the lights down and removing the glass pannels.  While Robin went to a lunch appointment, I stayed home and worked on the lights. 

It was a busy day with repairs as there was a pool man, an electrician, a plumber, the cable man, lawn guy and the cleaning lady at the house all at the same time.  I got the lights all done just about the time Robin got back from her lunch appointment.  We then looked at the list and headed out to go buy what we needed to fix the rest of the items on the list.

The deck for the Traveleze



Back at Flyte Camp Vintage Trailer Restoration, Justin was busy working on the Traveleze.  I would love to be there working on the trailer, but for now I just have live through the pictures that he sends me.  Today I was shocked to see the progress that they had made.  They had reconstructed the decking, and the side walls.  They have replaced nearly all the wood framing with new and it looks awesome.  Justin said in another day they will be ready to stand the walls and sheet the roof!



The rebuilt frame wall of the Traveleze.



The progress is amazing and I'm shocked how fast the process is moveing along.  By next week I will be having to make interior decisions as the trailer start to take shape.  I know I want to hide an AC unit in the trailer under the bed in back on the floor.  Justin is confident it can be done and that we can hide the unit so you don't see it.  I also think I want to put in a toilet, so that is there just incase someone wants it.  Justin and I have also talked about returning the appliances to what came with the trailer and putting in small range and seperate refrigerator.

 It had been a fun day and I was very happy with the progress of the trailer.



Day 423, Flying to Oklahoma



Delta 320 at PDX

 I was up early to catch a plane to Oklahoma to visit my friends Robin, Brad, Dr. Nick and Ann.  It was the exact same route and flights I took over Labor Day weekend only this time I had ever intention of not missing my connection in Salt Lake City
.  I had to be at the airport by 6:45am and departed Redmond for Portland at 7:45am.  The flight is short and sweat, lasting only 35 minutes.  From Portland it is one hour and 30 minutes to Salt Lake City and the flight was smooth and uneventful on an Airbus A320.  The only down side was I was in a center seat on a full plane.


The connection in Salt Lake was less than 50 minutes and by the time I got to the gate, they were already boarding the plane for Oklahoma.  The flight to Oklahoma City is exactly 2 hours and were delayed about 15 minutes on the ground, due to congestion at the gate.

 

The frame of the Taveleze all painted up.

I arrived about 5:30pm, Central Time and Ann had drawn the short straw and was lucky to get to pick me up.  From the airport we went straight the Quail Country Club and met Dr. Nick and Robin joined shortly for dinner.  I had missed lunched, so I was starving.  The food was so good I over ate and felt misserable.



Back in Redmond, Justin and texted me pictures of theTraveleze frame which he had spray painted with an undercoat that would protect the frame.  It was nice to see it all cleaned and starting to look fresh and ready to start rebuilding.  Looking at the picture of the frame it is hard to believe that this is all that is left, and that this is were you start the rebuilding.

A Spartanette, that was manufactured in Tulsa, OK.

I joked with Justin that I was going to go to Tulsa and make a pilgrimage to the Spartan Trailer Co. former manufacturing plant.

It was nice to be back in Oklahoma and Robin has a busy weekend planned for us all

Day 422, Big day for the Traveleze



What's left of the 1950 Traveleze

Today I got pictures sent to me from Justin, that were not for the faint of heart.  In fact I wondered if a tornado had hit the trailer.  It's hard to believe how much of a mess you have to make in order to start rebuilding something.  The pictures looked as if the junk yard was the next and final destination for the now 61 year old trailer.



Wall frames carefully laid out



Other pictures were sent that showed the dismanteling was taking a more thought out process, showing the interior cabinets removed,

and the wall framing carefully laid out on the ground.  Everything is there to make templates from, so damaged wood can be replaced.  The floor will have to be removed from the frame and completely rebuilt.

It seems like now all the dirty work is over.  The rotted wood will be gone soon and the nasty insulation is gone. 

The inside cabinets removed



What's left of the floor will have to be rebuilt



Day 421, Tuesday

The inside of the Traveleze after the cabinets were removed

Today the interior of the trailer came out of the Traveleze.  Justin carefully removed the cabinets and I joked with him about "what's holding it up"?  After seeing the rotted wood in the walls I was actually serious.  There really isn't much left to the trailer. 

Today was a workout day as well and I was feeling a bit out of shape.  My arm and shoulder are a bit sore from all the painting I have been doing.  We focused on stretching out my shoulders and worked on a lot of upper body.  After the workout I really wanted to run by the trailer and see how it was looking, but since I had my Mom I just headed home.

The content of the insides of the Traveleze

When I got home I checked my cell phone because it had rug twice while at the gym.  Someone from Medford had called and they left a message.  I played the message and it was someone interested in buying my pickup truck.  I had actually forgot I still had it listed on the AutoTader.  Back in January I had thought about buying a new truck and listed it.  They want to come come see the truck this Friday or Saturday and will be playing golf at Eagle Crest.  I am going to be out of town, but my Dad said that he could show the truck and if they are interested they can work it out with me when I get back.  Well now I needed to clean the truck.  It really isn't too dirty, but I needed to clean out the bed and vacuum out the cab.  I texted a friend who has a auto detail shop and he could get in me in for a full detail tomorrow.

I'm not sure what I will do if they buy the truck.  I live the truck, but I guess I could buy a new one or find a good deal on a used one.  I also might find a 3/4 ton so I could pull a Spartanette.

The rest of the evening I cleaned up the kitchen and went through papers.  I also loaded up my recycles in the garage so I could get rid of them tomorrow.  I had a pickup load of cardboard and other plastic products to recycle.

Day 420, The Traveleze Restoration

Removing the skin and exposing the sever rot in back.

On Thursday last week, Justin was able to pull the windows out of the Traveleze and it took over 4 hours to get them out.  Today he was able to remove most of the outer skin and reveal true extent of the water damage.  We knew there was damage, but Justin was completely surprised by the amount of damage and to the extent of the repairs that had been done to the trailer over the years.  When the back skin was removed the back end of the trailer basically let go and fell to the floor.

Justin texted me and said I needed to come look at the trailer and we needed to talk.  This was not a good sign in my mind and I wonder if the Traveleze really just needed to crushed up and deposited in a landfill.  I said I could be there shortly after 5pm and that I would head his way after work.

Preparing to paint the living room wall

When I got to Justin's shop the Traveleze was looking a little worn out, but it still had its awesome shape that had originally drawn me to it.  Justin showed me what he found and you could see the major alteration that had taken place to the front end in an effort to beef up the front frame.  The back end is really were the water leakage had taken its toll, and it dictated that a complete rebuild was going to be in order.  Justin sat me down and down and told me what we were looking at and he wanted to know what my thoughts were.  The price to restore the trailer obviously just jumped.  I seriously thought about scrapping the project and moving on.  After a few minutes of talking with Justin, I decided I really wanted the trailer restored and we needed to proceed.  Justin said great and that he would get started on a complete rebuild.  When it is all done I will have a new trailer that will hopefully still have some of it's nostalgic old charm.

The living room after paint

I headed home around 6:15pm and I still needed to finish painting the trim on the barn.  I had picked up three gallons of paint, one for the barn, and two more of the inside colors.  I really wanted to paint the west wall of the living room tonight.  By the time I got up on the ladder it was already starting to get dark.  I estimated it would only take me about 20 minutes, so I painted quickly, as the last bit of daylight faded into darkness.

I was wondering if I had enough energy to start painting the living room, but I tried not to think about it and just started.  I started painting on the west wall around 8pm and hoped I could have it done by 11:30pm.  There are a lot of windows to cut in around and it was going to take some time, but I figured I could watch TV and get it done if I just kept at it.  Sure enough by 11:45pm I was touching up the last coat of paint and the wall really looked good.

Again, I had forgotten to lock up the chickens for the night.  I had three eggs, four for the day, but one had no shell and was just the membrane.

Day 419, Sunday and more painting

painting the trim

I spent the morning looking at the new wall color in the living room and getting used to the darker tone.  It looks great, but there is definitely a different play of light.

Church is at 11am and today I'm usher, so I need to be there by 10:30am.  I don't know what it is about Sunday mornings, but I'm always a little late.  Ushering went well, the service was entertaining, thanks to our great Pastor, Rob. The hour always goes very quickly and soon I was out the door.

On the way home I stopped at my folks house and pick up an extension ladder, so I could paint the trim on the barn.   I really need to paint the entire barn before winter, but I the trim is the worst part and I really need to get it done.  When I got home with the ladder I looked at the cupola and I could tell it needed paint too.  I got changed and went to work.

The cupola all painted up

The south facing trim was the worst, so that is where I started, it's also the highest part of the barn.  The ladder was only good for the low ends of the trim and the rest I would have to hang over the edge from on top of the roof to get it done.  I was not to thrilled about hanging over the edge of the roof and I had visions of falling off.

After I got the south end painted and since I was already on the roof, I decided to get the cupola painted.  It was looking pretty tough, so it was nice to get it all painted back up.  It has been about 8 years since the barn was built, so it was time for some attention.  It took about two hours to get the cupola all painted up and it looked great.  The view from the roof is amazing and I actually enjoyed being up there.

The view from the roof

Back on the ground I still had about 200' of trim to paint and I could only do this by moving he ladder 6' at a time from the ground and climbing up and painting 6' and then moving on.  By sunset I was almost done, but I was running out of paint.  As it was getting dark I was about 25' short of finishing the trim and would have to wait until tomorrow, when I could pick up more paint.


It was time to move inside and I figured I could paint the wall around the front door.  This was a bigger project than I expected and I finished up around 11:45pm.  It looked great and by the time I got into bed it was a little after midnight.

Wall around the front door painted.

I also remember that I had not closed the chickens in for the night, so put on my shoes and went out and closed them in.  They had laid 4 eggs today, so they had earned their keep.

Day 418, Painting and Vintage Trailers

painting the TV wall

I got up and figured I needed to paint one more wall and this time the lighter of the two colors, which is to go on the TV wall and the west wall.  The TV cabinet wall is a lot smaller than the west wall, so I figured I would start there.

I moved the TV cabinet and nearly killed my back in doing so.  I even heard a "pop" and I wasn't sure if I popped a disked of just my back.  I didn't feel any pain, so I just kept going.  After I cut in around all the edges and the light switches and thermostat I was ready to roll.  I enjoy rolling way more then cutting in, it seems to provide more instant satisfaction when you cover more wall faster.

TV wall painted

I wasn't sure I was going to like to like the color and I almost started to get that panicked feeling that I shouldn't be changing the wall color.  I focused on finishing the wall and quickly moved everything back in place once the wall had dried.  The look was amazing and realized that the change was not going to kill me and that the new colors were awesome.  I sent a text with pictures to the decorator and she texted back "It looks fantastic".

A 1950/51 Spartanette

That was all the time I had to paint today.  I had a number of chores I needed to get done and I had to buy chicken scratch and layer feed.  I also wanted to go to the Vintage Trailer Rally at Camp Sherman.  I went to this rally last year I had just gotten my Traveleze  I had hopped to have had it ready to take to the rally but no luck.  I did learn that they were able to pull all the windows out of Traveleze on Thursday, so the process is now finally starting.

The Rally was nicely attended and there were several Spartanettes, which are my favorite.  I enjoy all the trailers but the Spartanette's are awesome.  It was last year on the drive to this rally that the AC went out on the Rolls, so I had driven it today, to see if it could make it.  The AC worked perfectly and it was HOT, mid 90's.

I left the Rally around 3:30pm and headed home.  I have a 5:30pm Oktoberfest party to go to at a friends house.

The party was fun and my friend Tracy went with me.  We stayed until about 7:30pm and then headed home. We stopped off at WalMart to buy some groceries and then home.  I was exhausted and we both commented that we must be getting old, because we were both tired on a Saturday night.

I was home by 8:30pm, locked the Chickens in for the night and called it a day.

Day 417, Friday road trip

1932 Packard

It was another busy week and today is Friday, yeaaa!  Today at 11:30am I needed to leave for a meeting in Silverton, Oregon at the Oregon Garden Resort.  I estimated that it would take about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there from Redmond, so if I left at 11:30am I would have some spare time.  It was a beautiful day and I figured I would take the BMW, since it gets the best gas milage and it was topless.

1929 Hudson

At 2pm I was about 5 minutes from reaching the Resort, so I had miss calculated the time it would take to get there.  When I pulled into the parking lot more members of the Board were just pulling in so I waited so we could all walk in together.  As it turned they were just starting and we perfect in our timing.  The meeting was exactly 2 hours and by 4pm I was ready to head back home.

Out in the parking lot there were a number of vintage cars and as I looked around I could see that there lots of them.  I walked around the parking lot and talked to several of the owners and found out it was a Rally for the Horseless Carriage Club, which I think is pre 1932.   The cars were spectacular and I was in love with a 1932 Packard roadster and a 1929 Hudson.

Field burning

After looking at all the cars it was time to head home.  The Silverton area is beautiful rolling farm land, and the fields were all harvested for the summer.  One of the Willamette Valley traditions is to burn the field after the harvest, which is a horrible smokey mess that used to darken the sky and the smell of burnt grass was awful.  I haven't seen a field burn in years but I drove right by one on my way back to the highway.

It took me 2 and half hours to get home and the sun was had set and the sky was turning dark.  I was so glad it was the weekend.

Day 416, Shipping the Cadillac to Massachusetts

On my way to work I overnighted the title and Bill of Sale with FedEx.  At 9:30am the Horseless Carriage transport truck showed up exactly as scheduled.  The money was wired in my account and now all I needed to do was help load the car.

The 1990 Cadillac loaded to shipping to Massachusetts.

The driver was very professional and the truck was awesome.  The interior was all wood planked and high gloss.  This company is use to transporting cars well into the six figure range, so they were more than professional and capable of handling a Cadillac.  With in a 20 minutes the Cadillac was securely parked in side the 80' long semi truck's trailer.  I took several pictures to send to the new owner to let him know that his truck was now on it's way.  The estimated delivery time is over two weeks, but it is now on it's way.

At 10am, I had scheduled to meet an amazing interior decorator, who I had gotten to know at the gym to help me with my house.  I have been in my house eleven years and I know it needs help.  I have no idea how to  pick out colors, or counters, flooring, etc, but this lady is awesome.  She has designed some of the top homes in the area and I love everything she does.  She was now here to tell me what colors she had picked out and what we are going to do to my kitchen and master bath.

The colors are bold and dark, which is extreme contrast to the all off white walls that I have now.  She has two colors that I am to paint in the living room, dining room, kitchen and down the hall.  In the kitchen she has a new tile counter and back splash as well as all new tile flooring.  In the bathroom she wants to replace the shower with new tile and the tile will be on one wall and across the floor.  The counter will be lifted 6" and new tile on the counter.  She will pick out new paint for the bathroom too, once we select the tile.

New paint around the fireplace
(The walls were the same color as the ceiling)

My homework for the weekend is to get the paint and start painting in the living room.

At 2:30pm I had to run over to the church to get my photo taken for the Church directory.  I dropped off the paint chips at the paint store and would pick them up after my photo was taken.  I was very anxious to get started and see how the paint was going to look.

I got home about 6pm and was able to get started painting the darkest of the colors next to the fireplace. It was really dark, but I really like it.

Day 415, Wednesday Car inspection

Up and attem just like always, protein shake for breakfast, power bar at 10.  It was your typical busy morning and I got a call at 11am that my Cadillac was ready to be picked up.  I asked if there were any issues and the man said, no that the car was in tip top shape.  I was not surprised, so I called the guy in Boston and told him the car checked out great and that he could call the dealer and find out for himself.

I arranged to get a ride to the dealer with my Dad on my lunch hour and I picked up the car.  As I was standing in the Service Department the man from Boston called and the Service Tech, told him the car was in excellent shape.  I got the car and headed home and as I was driving I call from Boston.  He was very pleased and said the transport company should be calling me this week to possibly pick the car up.  This was the tricky part, he wanted me to send the signed title and when he received it he would wire the money.  I figured I would have the car, so I should be fine, but I was still a little nervous.  I agreed and we hung up.  Two minutes later the transport company called and he was two hours away and would be there first thing tomorrow.  This was a problem, as there was no way I could get the title to Boston by tomorrow.  The driver said he would wait until I got the money, but we were very lucky on our timing to be able to catch this truck.  I called the guy in the Boston, and said he would wire me the money first thing tomorrow moring if I would send him a signed copy of the title, which I said I would.

That evening I cleaned the car out of all my belongings and cleaned the original tires and hub caps and put them in the turnk of the car.  I was kind of sad to see the car go, but I knew it was going to a good home and the guy is crazy about the car.

Day 414, Tuesday

It was back to a normal work week, out the door to the office by 8am.  I skipped lunch due to my workout schedule at 4:15pm.  I had to leave the office at 3:30 to deliver Visitor Guides to Bend, drop off an auction item purchased by someone on Friday night and drop off my 1990 Cadillac for pre-purchase inspection at the Cadillac dealer. 

I have a buyer who wants to purchase the car if it checks out from the dealer.  The buyer is in Massachusetts and will be buying the car sight unseen, something I highly don't recommend.  I have sent him a tone of pictures and explained every scratch or chip that I can think of.  The car will be inspected tomorrow morning, but the timing for me to drop it off now was better than getting up at 6:30am to have there car there tomorrow morning.

My workout was great and my trainer had me run along the river for the first 15 minutes and then back to the gym for 45 minutes of torture.  My mom, got a full workout in too and she and I had both been gone from the gym for over 9 days, so we were a bit out of shape.

Back home, my folks were barbequing hamburgers so went over for a late dinner.  It had a been a very nice day and it was nice to spend time with them.

Day 413, Monday and back to work

I had one heck of a time getting out of bed and the alarm went off way too early.  I managed to drag myself out of bed and get to the shower.

This week should be so much more manageable and I'm not stressed out about it.  The office was still a bit tossled from the week before and we spent part of the morning putting things away.  The day was pretty uneventful and I went home for a late lunch around 2pm.  I let the chickens out and they were very happy birds to be running free.

I was back at work before long and the day zipped by.  I needed to find mailing tabs for a big mailing project in the morning so I planned on stopping off at the store on the way home.  I first stopped at Fred Meyer's and then to WalMart, but neither had what I was looking for.  I texted a coworker who happened to be in Bend, and he said he could get them at the office supply store there.

I got home about 6:15pm, and I was ready for a nap.  After a quick snack I was ready go and spent the evening working in the yard.  I also manage to squeeze in a 3 mile run, which felt great. I spent the evening watching TV and kicking back with the cats.  There is nothing like a 20lbs cat sleeping on your chest.

Day 412, Selling the Cadillac

I got up around 8:30am and I couldn't believe how tired I still was.  I was totally beat from the long week and still letting go all of the stress.  I did more of my weekend chores including vacuuming the house and getting ready to go to church.  I checked my email and had a few emails from the guy in Boston asking more questions and wanting more pictures of the car.  I snapped several pictures with cell phone and sent them his way.  I figured I would have more emails by the time I got back from church.

Church was great and brought along the lawn mower gas can, so I could mow the lawn when I got back home.  I picked up Doug on my way to church, and as always, we were late.  The service was really good and I took the message to heart.  After the service I got the gas, dropped off Doug and headed home to mow.

The end of a beautiful day and the
pefect time for a run.

As I got ready to mow, I received a call from the man in Boston and he wants to buy the car.  I will now take the car this week to the Cadillac dealer in Bend, for a pre-purchase inspection and make sure the car is in top shape.  The man has contacted a transport and they can ship the car across country this next week.  The man seems very honest and we both bank at the same bank, so he will wire me the funds and I will express the signed title.

I spent the day puttering in the yard, pulling weeds, spraying for weeds in the lawn and doing basic yard work.  The lawn looked great after mowing and the chickens were enjoying being free.  They don't seem to be bothered by the lawn mower and they stayed close to me.  They laid two eggs one brown and one with no shell.  Thats the third time in a month, so need to look that up and see what they are missing in their diet.
By evening I was ready for a run, so I changed into my running shorts and hit the road.  I ran about 3.5 miles and it felt great.  There is something very relaxing and soothing about a run, I seem to forget all my cares and just take in the moment.

1949 Lincoln

Now that it looks like the Cadillac is going to be going to the east coast, I thought I should look on Craigslist to see what I could find to replace it.  I still need to find something to pull the 1950 trailer so I started looking between 1949 and 1951.  I stumbled onto a 1949 Lincoln that had been restored and it look very nice.  It has a V8, so there should be plenty of power to pull a 1,400lbs trailer.  I called my friend Pete, who is a car expert and he knows Lincoln's very well.  As it turns out the car is close to where he lives and he said he would be happy to go look at it.  I had called the owner and the car seems to be just what I'm looking for and in a price range that seems very reasonable.

It was had been a nice day and restful weekend.  I'm not sure I'm ready for another week, but it can't be as busy as the last.

Day 411, A day of Rest

I woke up around 8:15am and laid in bed until 9am.  I was exhausted and so relieved that the week was over.  I got up and started doing a few chores.  I called my Dad and asked if he wanted to go to the Lincoln and Continental Owners Club Rally that was being held at Eagle Crest Resort.  He said sure, so I said I would be there around 10am. 

1947 Lincoln Convertible

I figured I needed to drive the Packard, since I was going to classic car event.  I picked up my parents and drove over to the event.  My friend Peter also had been there and was leaving when he saw me pull up, so he turned his 1949 Buick Roadmaster around and came back to say hello. Many people stopped to look at Pete's Buick and took pictures of my Packard too.  There were about 50 cars at the show and some were pretty spectacular.  I was particularly interested in a yellow 1947 Lincoln convertible.  The car was flawless and restored to better than new condition.  We walked around looked at them all and enjoyed the morning.  

After the show I dropped my parents back off at home and then I headed downtown, to run to the office to use the computer and then to the bank.  Yesterday I had a phone call from a gentleman in Boston who is very interested in buying my 1990 Cadillac Brougham.  I needed to send him some pictures and my office computer is much faster.  After depositing my paycheck at the bank I drove the Packard to another car show, this one was in Prineville about 20 miles away.

1936 DeSoto Airflow, Prineville, Oregon, September 17, 2011

The Prineville show had a lot of cars including the 1936 DeSoto Airflow that won all the awards at the Redmond show.  It was nice to see it again and to talk to the own about it.  I saw a few people I know and had a nice chat.  I also realized I hadn't eaten so grabbed two hot dogs from one of the vendors.

After Prineville I headed to Bend and made a Costco run.  I stocked up on several supplies and then headed home.  The Packard drove great and it was good to drive it on a long run.

Back home I was still feeling a bit worn out from the long week, so I just kicked back and enjoyed the evening.

Day 410, The Big Day, the Dinner, Dance and Auction

Here it is Friday, I was up at 6:45 and out the door by 7:30am.  I was feeling pretty good about the day and I knew it was going to be a long one.

It would be an understatement to say the day was busy and everyone was working as fast as possible. I went out to the event site around 2pm and they decorating was coming along well, but we  had a ton of work to do.  I had recruited my father to help any free relative or friend from the office was called to help out.  By 4pm it had all come together and we could all run home and change into something that fits our gameshow theme.

I was back the convention center at 5pm wearing a Ricky Ricardo Tropicana shirt and feeling pretty stupid, but I figured it would be worth a few laughs, I hoped.  The guest started arriving at 5:54pm and the event was in full swing by 6:15pm.

Let's Make A DEAL Game show theme

The event was a great success and I think everyone had a great time.  The food was good, the entertainment was good...including the appearance of a live NUBIAN GOAT.  By 10pm it was over and we could start breaking the decorations down.  What took several days to create, came down in an hour and we were ready to head back to the office.  I had to drop off a live 12 foot tree that was an auction item to a co-workers mother and take another one home to my house for pick up tomorrow.  We unloaded everything at the office and I was heading home at 11:30pm.  It was a 16+ day and I was exhausted.

When I got home I went and locked the chickens up.  I was so tired, but I was to wound up from the event that I could not sleep.  I sat on the couch and watched some TV and finally crashed at 12:30am.

The week was over and I survived 5 very long days.  Tomorrow I'm sleeping in.

Day 409, Leadership

Today is the first day of Leadership and I left the house at 7:15am to go buy donuts and get ice for the cooler.  The class was going to be held across the street from office at City Hall.  With 20 people in the class I had a buy a lot of food to last through the day and plenty of breakfast snacks to start the day off right.

This is my 8th time facilitating the program, so I have it down to a science.  The class went very smoothly and all participants enjoyed the first class.  We finished up about 4:45pm and I was back to the office.

Tomorrow is our Dinner Dance and Auction, so the office was really busy.  I jumped in helping with auction items and then helped paint a sign.  The longest and most tedious project is the hand writing of the bid sheets, which I got started on.  By 10:15pm I was exhausted and said enough.  Other staff members were still busy and they ended up calling it a night around 10:30pm.

I got home at 10:30pm and went to check on the chickens.  There 4 eggs in the nesting box, which is the first in a long time.  I refilled the food supply and gave them fresh water.  I'll be super busy tomorrow, so they will need to be locked up all day again tomorrow.

I went in and went to bed, four down, one to go.

Day 408, Hump day

Today was far less stressful than yesterday.  The office was slammed and the phone rang non-stop.  We all had our tasks to do and we worked seamlessly.  I was very proud of everyone calmly and happily working on projects.  It was also one our office workers 28th Birthday, so we had to celebrate with breakfast ordered in.

I worked through lunch and had a leftover sandwich from yesterdays Board meeting.  The day passed pretty quickly and soon it was 5pm and it was time for me to head to my 5:30pm Airport Commission meeting.  The meeting lasted just about an hour and I was home by 6:50pm.  As always, my first thing to do was let the chickens out and collect my two eggs.  The hens are really getting fun and they do a little dance and talk up a storm in anticipation of me opening the door.  The minute the door is open they fly the coop.

Out for a run

There had been a rain shower when I was in my meeting and the ground was wet and it had that fresh summer rain shower smell.  It was nice to be home before dark and I had plenty of time to go for a run.  I changed clothes and headed out to run my loop through the country side.  It's an amazing neighborhood and I can't help but feel so blessed to live here.  My favorite part of my run is short section of a country gravel lane, along the pasture and horses.  In the fall when the leaves turn and start to fall, it's picture out of a Norman Rockwell book.

I can't help but notice that my running is getting so much stronger and my lungs are in the best shape ever they have ever been.  My asthma is all but gone and I can't remember the last time I had an attack.  My lungs can last as long as I want to run, my legs are stronger and they too seem to have no limits.  With my earphones plugged into my iphone I can escape the issues of work and enjoy the moment.

Returning from my run it was starting to get dark and the chickens had turned in for the night.  I gave them food and fresh water for tomorrow and called it a night. 

I was feeling a little restless before bed and I still had some energy, so went out in the garage and worked out on the universal gym for 30 minutes.  It was a great day, and troubled week seemed to be turning out okay.  Three down two to go.

Day 407, Lord grant me strength

I was out the door by 6:20am and was at the Council workshop meeting by 6:45am.  I was very glad to have the support of three of my Board members and luckily the meeting seemed to go pretty well.  The real decision will be made at the evening meeting at 7pm, so I would have to wait and see what happens until then.

The Board meeting was next at noon and all seemed to go well there, which was a nice.  My Board is very encouraging and always has positive things to say.

The Traveleze starts the restoration process.

At around 2pm I received a text from Justin at Flyte Camp Vintage Trailer Restorations with a picture of my trailer moved inside and the message of "first the windows then the skin".  The restoration has begun!!!!!  This was the one bright spot in my day and it lifted my spirits.

By 5pm I was once again exhausted.  I went home, let the chickens out, again collected two eggs and went inside and crashed.  I had about an hour and half before I had to go to the City Council meeting.  I texted Justin and thanked him for the email about my trailer, it had made my day.  I quickly received a text back and he told me about an amazing opportunity unfolding for him and his company.  I was very excited to hear about it and I had some ideas that might with the project.  I hope to be able to report more about this in the future, stay tuned.

At 6:40pm I got back in my car  and drove to the City Council meeting.  It was a long agenda and we were pretty much last on the list.  At 9:10pm they started talking about us and it was over in about 15 minutes.  The result was workable and I was exhausted.

I went back home and went to lock the chickens in for the night.  When I got to the coop the door was closed.  It was totally dark out and all the chickens were sleeping under the coop outside.  They were sound asleep and I picked each one up and put them in the coop.  Sleeping chickens are like a sleeping 3 year old kid, you can pick them up move them around and they hardly wake up.

With the chicken safely locked in the coop, I went inside and went to bed; two down 3 to go.

Day 406, The start of a very busy week

This is going to be a very busy week, with way to many things happening.  I got to the office at 8am and opened my email and the day pretty much went down hill from there.  I kept telling myself this to shall pass and I breathed deeply a few times and got to work.

I had no time for lunch and ate a granola bar at my desk and a handful of M&M's. I spent the day preparing for tomorrows 6:45am City Council workshop, our monthly Board meeting at noon and then the 7pm evening Council meeting all happening tomorrow.  I also managed to reconfirmed all of my Leadership speakers for Thursdays class and prepared all the paperwork.

At 4pm I had a meeting in my office that went until 6pm and by then I was dragging.  The lack of food and just mental exhaustion was starting wear me down.

I got home at 6:15pm, let the chickens out, collected the 2 eggs and then crashed on the couch.  I was done for the day and I couldn't help but think one day down and 4 to go.

Day 405, Church and kayaking

Tracy texted me and wanted to know if I wad up for kayaking today and said sure! I was willing to go after church which gave me some time to do a few chores in the morning.

Waterfall at Hosmer Lake

Church was at 11am and Doug pulled into the parking lot the same time I did. I drive right by him on the way to church so usually we car pool. I had texted him, but he never responded. When he got out of his truck I said "thanks for responding to my text" and he checked his phone and there were no messages from me. We guessed my texts were lost in space.

After church I asked Doug if he wanted to go kayaking with us, but he was busy working on his bathroom remodel project. I stopped by his house on the way home checked out the remodel and then picked up his ex-wife's kayak so Tracy could use it.

Tracy was over in just a few minutes of my return home and we had the truck loaded in no time. Our lake of choice today was Hosmer Lake, which is 7 miles past Sparks or 50 minutes from home.

We got to the lake unloaded the boats and headed out. Homer has lots of reeds, Lilly pads, fish and a huge assortment of birds. One of my favorite aspects of the lake is the river that flows into it and paddling up stream until you get to the waterfall. We paddled up the creek and got to the waterfall and then beached our kayaks. It was a perfect to get out and to have a snack and enjoy the river.

Moonrise over the 40 acres

After a shot rest we were back in the kayaks and heading down stream. We paddled for nearly 3 hours by the time we got back to the truck.

We had a fun day and the weekend was drawing to a close. It was a very warm day for September 11th with the highs still in the 90's. As the sun started to set I put on some running shorts and went for a short 3 mile run. The moon was nearly full and started to come up over the 40 acres and it was beautiful.

It had been a great day.

Day 404, The High Desert Swap Meet

Today is Saturday and this the day of the High Desert Swap Meet.  I texted Tracy around 8am and said Good Morning.  Around 9:15am, she texted what's the plan for the day.  I told her I wanted to go to the Swap Meet and she wanted to go too.  About an hour later she was on her way over and headed to the meet.

The Shasta and matching pickup.

The swap meet is always fun and has more than just cars and includes antiques and other wierd stuff.  I was so surprised to see 3 vintag trailers there, including the 1964 Shasta that I watched be restored at Flyte Camp.  I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever get to bring my trailer to a show.  We walked around and I found a few things I couldn't live without including a  1950 folding all-in-one picnic table.  It will be great with the trailer.

Tracy and I walked around for about 3 hours and then headed home.  Once back home we talked about what should we do.  We both needed to wash our cars, so I said lets just wash them.  Tracy was thrilled to get her SUV washed and we spent well over an hour just cleaning and detailing it.  My truck about 30 minutes and we were done. 

We decided to go see the movie "How does she do it?" which played at 7pm in Bend.  We stopped off for dinner first and walked into the theater just as the lights dimmed for the movie.  Our timing was perfect and the movie was entertaining.

Day 403, Friday

I couldn't be happier to see a friday come around.  We had our regular scheduled coffee event from 8:30am to 9:30am and we were back to the office by 9:45am. 

Next week is going to be very busy, insanely busy infact.  We had made a logistical goof and scheduled our biggest fundraiser for next Friday.  Thursday is our first full day of Leadership, Tuesday is our Board meeting, it is also or night to give a presentation to City Council for our funding and Wednesday night is my airport commission meeting.  If I can just make it through the week all will be fine.

I was very happy to see 5 o'clock roll around and I left the office at 5:30pm.  My folks called and asked if I would like to come over for dinner and I said sure!  I stopped off at home and let the chickens out; they laid 3 eggs today.

Dinner at my folks was very tasty and I always enjoy spending time with them.  I left their house around 8pm and thought maybe I could get the lawn mowed.  By the time I got home it was really getting dark, but I figured I could mow with the headlights on. 

I finished mowing the lawn at 9pm and it was totally dark with the exception of beautiful moon.  I could now cross this chore off my list and I was ready to crash.

Day 402, Thursday and Leadership

Another hot beautiful day in Central Oregon.  I was non-stop with tasks trying to get ready for the ice breaker event for Leadership Redmond.  Notebooks had to be assembled, attendance list created and all the small details completed.

I worked through lunch and stayed at my desk all day.  My lunch consisted of a handful of peanut M&M's, hardly a balanced meal.

At 5pm I was all ready for the Leadership event and I headed over to the hosting restaurant.  Out of the 20 participants 16 were able to make it.  We spent an hour getting to know each other and shared a little about what they can expect out of the program.

I was home by 7:30pm and had just enough time to let the chickens out.  They were very happy to be out for the remaining minutes of day light.

I was exausted and went to bed at 11pm.

Day 401, Wednesday

We are experience the perfect September days that are so common for Central Oregon.  The day time temperatures are in the 90's so slightly warmer than usual, but the mornings are perfect in the mid 50's.

Today at work it was full steam ahead with the Leadership Redmond program and getting everything ready for the first day of class next week and the 'ice breaker' event tomorrow.  Today is also the last concert of the season and we set the tent up one last time.  Tonight's concert is the Hokulea Dancer and they will say good bye to summer for us in true Hawaiian fashion.

I took an extremely late lunch and let the chickens out at 3pm.  I then picked up a EZ-Up side wall from my neighbor to use at the concert (for a dressing room tent).  The concert started at 6pm and went until 7:30pm.  We estimated that there were about 1,500 people in attendance based on the fact that we handed out nearly 1,400 leis. 

By the time we had packed up the tent and had everything unloaded it was 8:30 and it was already dark.  Where did our summer go?  I went home and put the chickens to bed and crashed out on the couch.

Day 400, Back to work and 400 days of bloging

I am so amazed that it has been 400 days since I started blogging about my trailer.  My trailer is sitting in a parking lot waiting to be restored.   I need to stop in and see if there is any hope of the work actually getting started.  The camping season will now be long passed by the time the work can be completed, so the rush to push for the restoration seems a bit moot.  Hurry up so I can park it!?  My dreams will now have to look towards Spring and my I'm afraid I will come unglued if there is no progress made shortly. 

As for my day I was up and back to work right on schedule and my vacation was now just a memory.  Today is Tuesday and I had so much work to get done for the Leadership program that the day flew by.  It was also a workout day and I skipped lunch so I could go to the gym and work off some of my 5 extra pounds of Oklahoma over eating.

After the gym my folks took me out to dinner and I ate light so I didn't lose my momentum to lose the OKC pounds. 

Day 399, Flying home

Labor Day was a nice lazy day morning.  We all got up at our own pace and stumbled out of bed about 7:45am.  For breakfast we scrambled up some of Ann's farm fresh chicken eggs and cooked up some pepper bacon.

Somewhere over Colorado

After breakfast we went for a walk around the neighborhood and worked off some of breakfast.  Robin and Brad lead such an amazingly busy life that they have a huge list of "honey do's" around the house and I'm always happy to help them out.  The gate to the back yard needed to have about an inch trimmed off the bottom, so I removed the pin from the hinges and took the gate off.  Surprisingly Robin and Brad do have tools and I was able to use a scroll saw to trim and inch off the bottom of the gate and then re-install it. 

At 3pm it was time for me to get ready to head for the airport and fly home.  I had such a great time and was a bit sad to head home.  I could seriously move to Oklahoma because the people are so amazing.  The can do, pro-business attitude is refreshing.

Waiting in Salt Lake

I arrived at the airport about hour and half ahead of schedule which gave me plenty of time to switch my seat assignments to all exit rows and more leg room.  My flight to Salt Lake was smooth and I had two hours to kill before boarding my flight to Redmond.  I watched a James Bond movie Casino Royal on my iPhone and the time passed quickly.

I arrived in Redmond 20 minutes ahead of scheduled and I called my parents to come get me.  They were at my house and were just putting the chickens in for the night.

It was nice to be home.

Day 398, Church and a party

Today is dramatically cooler that the rest of my visit in Oklahoma, and this is their first day thay have not been over 100 in nearly 70 days (this number keeps changing but its been a long time).  The morning low was in the 70's and todays high was supposed to be in the mid 80's.  The temerature was the talk of State, just behind the OU football win yesterday.  OU football is a big deal for all Oklahomians.

Church was at 9:15am, and the Methodist church Brad and Robin go to is HUGE.  The service was from Exodus and really hit home.  I'm always amazed how a sermon can be broad, yet seem like it was be spoken and directed at me.  Anyway, I really enjoyed the message and being able to go to church with my friends, Brad, Robin, Dr Nick and Ann.

After church we went out for brunch and then did some major shopping for a party that Brad and Robin were hosting at 4pm.  We got home about noon and spent the next 4 hours preparing for the party. The guest started arriving on time and in total there were about 30 people in attendance.  Brad barbecued Beef Tenderloin and it was fantactic.  The food was abundent and for desert Robin had me make an English Trifle, which seemed to be a hit.

By 8pm everyone was gone and we had the house cleaned up in no time.  I think we were all pretty exhausted and we called it a night around 10pm.

It was a fun day, and tomorrow I head home in the late afternoon.

Day 397, Looking at houses and the OU football game

Robin was out the door at 7am for a morning of being pampered and Brad had his Saturday morning breakfast with a good friend.  I was left to fend for myself I slept in until 7:45am.  I got up and went for a swim in the pook and started to hose off the patio and furniture in preperation for their party tomorrow.



The Devon Energy tower under construction



Today Brad had also arranged for us to go looking homes for sale in the historic Herritage Hills area of Oklahoma City.  These homes were all built in the early 1900's to 1920's and are large stately homes ranging from 3,800 to 6,000 square feet.  Some of the home had been completely renovated and others need some major work.  The prices ranged from $680,000 to $1.6 million.  It was a lot of fun to see these home, but I wasn't so sure any of them would be right for Robin and Brad.

After house hunting we had some quality pool time and then got ready to go to the opening Oklahoma University game against Tulsa.  We headed out around 4:15pm and headed to downtown Oklahoma City to pick up a friend of Robin and Brad's who just bought an entire floor of a historic building downtown that was converted to a beautiful appartment.  We were given a tour of the empty apartment and it was spectacular.  The view was amazing and the space was awesome.  When it is all furnished it will be a truly one of a kind home.

Oklahoma also has a new skyscraper being built, the 50 story, $700 million, Devon Energy building.  The skyline of OKC has a new landmark and the tower is going to be spectacular.

We got to the OU game with  no problems and there was very little traffic.  Brad could not believe there were no issues and how fast we got there.  We had VIP parking and would be watching the game from a suite. OU games are a lot of fun to watch and the support from the community and the entire state is very evident.  You can't help but feel the energy and you want to cheer.  OU, was playing Tulsa and they won the game.  We snuck out just before the end so we could beat the traffic.

We got home about 11:30pm and we all commented on what a fun day it had been. The heatwave was finally over and the temperature had dropped to the low 70's and a thunder storm was blowing through. 

It is going to be a nice night for sleeping and fun to watch the storm.

Day 396, Shopping in Guthrie, OK



Guthrie, Oklahoma

 Robin and I were out the door by 9am and had plans to pick up Ann at 9:30am and then drive to Guthrie, OK just 30 miles North of OKC.

Guthrie is a very old city with a fantastic old restored downtown distric. We spent lost of the day there shopping and checking out the town. We even had authentic Oklahoma barbeque for lunch and I should not have had the onion rings, but they were just so good.

After Guthrie we headed back to OKC and hit a few antique stores on the way in. Ann and Robin had been a shopping machine and I had bought one small gift and Robins birthday gift, which I gave to her.

We dropped Ann off and then went to meet Robin's husband Brad for dinner. We had dinner at Gillardia Country Club. The food was excellent and the view spectacular.

Back home we kicked back and watched a movie. About half way through the movie Brad and I got hungry for ice cream so we paused the movie and ran to Brahms to get some.

It was a great older movie "A time to kill" and the ice cream was excellent. It's a good life!

Day 395, Hanging out in Oklahoma

I must admit I didn't have the best of nights sleep, as my back and leg were killing me. I tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable and I know it was from sitting in an airplane and hanging out in an airport for 6 hours.



The New 2012, $162,000, Mercedes S600

 Robin was up buy 7:30 am and syumbled out of bed around 8am. Robin had a big day planned so we were out the door by 9:15am. Out first outing was to run some errands but the "check engine" light came on her car, so we made an appointment to take the car in and went back to get her other car. The car with the problem is actually my old CLK 430 which I sold her 5 years ago and just has 40k miles. We dropped the car off and of course I had to look at the showroom.

After several more errands it was back to the house for some quality pool time. Oklahoma has been in a drought and heatwave, with over 69 days of over 100. Today was 102, so the pool was going to feel great.

After an hour of pool time it was time to get ready for dinner at Dr Nick and Anns. We arrived about 5:30pm and had a great time. Ann took me out to see her chickens and their new bird dog puppies.

Dr nick fired up the barbecue and we had tri-tip and okra from the garden. Ann even had a birthday gift for me and one for Robin. Mine consisted of a chicken hand towel, hot pad and labels which say "laid in the USA". It was s great gift. I had brought Assortment of Oregon jams as gift to Nick and Ann from Oregon.

It had been a great first day in OKC.