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.