Bringing Home Baby--07/05/15

 
Maybe it's the whole 'turning sixty this summer' thing, or maybe it's just because my hubby and I love a good project, but whatever the reason, we've done it! We purchased a 'canned ham', 1961 Mobile Scout 15' travel trailer from a lovely couple in Hutchinson, KS and now we're knee deep in a restoration.

You can see by this pic just how lonely our baby has been--she's been sitting all alone, waiting for us to come help her.

So, we pulled the weeds out of her vents, aired up her long-flat tires and towed her home to our backyard, weaving and wobbling a bit along the way.  

Here are a few pics of her neglected insides. She (her name is Sweet Melissa, by the way, after my favorite Allman Bros song) has great bones, as they say, but has suffered some leakage. As all good vintage campers do, she's sheathed on her ceilings and walls with 1/8" birch, giving her a homey, happy interior glow. The downside is that we'll be pulling and replacing quite a bit of that due to water damage.

Why, you may be asking, would folks our age dive into such an extensive rebuild? Because there's something magical about stepping up from the wooded campsite into your own softly lit travel trailer, complete with copper-tone oven and fridge, a comfy bed under the curve of the roof and a sweet dinette just waiting to be transformed into a guest bed. Simply looking out our patio door at Sweet Melissa, aglow in our driveway from a trouble light, got me fired up to be out on the road in search of campsites.

And so, we're doing it. We've scrubbed away the first layer of moss and mud, hauled away her trash and spent a whole lot of elbow grease uncovering her grimy Formica. What's next? We're researching paint techniques, where to buy the best 1/8" birch paneling and how to finish the partial rewire she needs to be whole.

Bringing home our new baby was the first step of a new season of life. Wonder where she'll be leading us?

Follow the rebuild process on Pinterest!