Bit by the bug

I never really gave old trailers a thought before. I knew I liked RV's and homes on the road. But it wasn'tuntil we planned our first RV trip with a rented van conversion in August 2009. We chose a van conversion because it got the best gas mileage. It was just me and my boyfriend, and we don't need much. Once we booked the RV I remember constantly going to the website so I could view it and looking at RV's on You Tube. I'm especially fascinated by the interior layouts.

Our RV trip took us from southern California, up thru Yosemite, over to Mono Lake, looped around Lassen National Park, and then down the coast from Eureka and south. All in a weeks time. There was s

o many amazing things to see and experience, I'll have to follow up with some photos of the trip.

When we settled home I couldn't stop thinking about RV's and trailers. I decided we should spend $2000 and pick up an old '70's trailer. Something cheap we could just go have a good time in. After looking at 70's trailer after trailer that had mold and rotting floors we realized what a piece of crap these trailers were! Poorly made for the masses out of particle board and dark laminates, and falling apart after (only) 40 years.

I give full credit to Pete for locating our beloved Jewel. After seeing old trailers falling apart I seriously doubted an even older trailer would be in any better condition. But turns out the 50's and early 60's trailers were actually made with quality materials and built for the upper class, not the masses. Pete spotted a 1956 trailer on Craigslist for $3000.

More than I had anticipated spending on a fun little trailer, but we both had a good feeling about this one.

Let me start by saying that the picture posted in the Craigslist ad didn't do the trailer justice. We drove almost 3 hours to see it in Hesperia, CA. Having never really seen a 50's trailer before, I was absolutely shaking with excitement! We stepped inside and I was speechless. It had the most beautifully crafted cabinets with curved corners, and the craftmanship was unbelievable! I fell in love. Here are the pics that were posted on Craigslist. I think these photos are from when the guy I bought it from bought the trailer. It didn't look like this when we went to see it. It had been towed from Ohio over a decade ago and had no papers to even tell us what kind of trailer it was.