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Originally From
Garland, TX
, United States
Current Home Base
Richardson, TX
, United States
More about pixeldust
Originally posted March 2007
THE IDEA
Back in 2002, we were on our way to Minnesota to visit Elizabeth's family.As
we made our way, we kept noticing several RV's on the road.
Eventually, our conversation turned to the thought of us getting a
travel trailer and travelling the back roads of the United States.Charles
Kurault once said that 'our interstates make it very easy to get from
one side of the country to the other without seeing anything.' We agree
with that statement and hoped to avoid the interstates as much as
possible. Instead, we wanted to take the two lane highways and visit
the side of the road attractions, old diners, and small towns that are
reminiscent of Americana at its best. THE DREAM
In
keeping with this theme of a 'vintage voyage', we decided that, when we
ready to purchase a travel trailer, we would make sure to get one from
the same era. There were no motor homes like the ones that we see on
the roads today.
However, there were several styles of travel trailers -
each with it's own distinct design.One of the most
popular was the Airstream travel trailer. Have you ever seen what
looked like a giant twinkie wrapped in aluminum foil cruising down the
road? Chances are it was an Airstream travel trailer. They've been
around since the thirties and they are still made today!Although
we liked the Airstreams, we decided that we wanted something a little
more unique. There were the Boles Aeros, the Shastas, the Scottys,
Airfloats, and Yellowstones. Travel trailers became quite popular in
the fifties and came with a lot of the amenities of home. There were
many other manufacturers of trailers in the fifties, many of which made
trailers that were soon called 'canned hams' because of the 'corrugated'
metal siding that was used.Given the unique style, the
vintage feel, and the amenities of home (shower, stove, and fridge), we
decided that this was the type that we wanted. And so, our search
began...
THE SEARCH
We started searching for a vintage
trailer by searching on Ebay, craigslist, vintagetraveltrailers.com,
birchwood beauties, and several other sites. There were many old
trailers to be had for less than $1,000. We decided early on that we
did not want to 'be had' nor were we just looking for the one, we were
looking for the 'one for us'.THE FIND
Then,
in November of 2006, I was surfing Ebay late one night and found it. I
was so sure that I found it, that I had to wake Elizabeth up and show
her. It had birchwood interiors, a shower, a toilet, fridge, kitchen,
stove, heater, electric hookups - the works! Add to that the fact that
it was a Yellowstone Travel Trailer in pristine condition from 1958!After reading the description and seeing all of the pictures, we decided that it was just what we were wanting.We placed a bid and hoped for the best.It
wasn't long before we were outbid BUT the reserve price had not been
met. I decided to try a different strategy. I contacted the owner and
told them that if it didn't sell, then to please contact me so that I
might make an offer.A few days later, he called me and
told me that it had not sold. As it turns out, he lived in Topeka,
Kansas and had the trailer there. Lucky for me, I had worked in Topeka
for a couple of years and had a friend (Scott) who could go take a look
at it in person and tell me what sort of offer I should make. We
arranged a meeting between the parties.LOST
The
seller cancelled the day of, and then sub sequentially cancelled two
more "showings". I told Scott to forget about it and we decided that we
should keep looking for a more reliable seller. It was very hard to
pass this one up.THE TWIST OF FATE
Two
months later, as we were having the lucky black eyed peas for New
Years Day, the phone rang. It was the seller from Topeka. It turns out
that he had sold the trailer to someone and had taken it to deliver
it. The buyer decided they did not want it after all. So the seller
called me and said that he had driven the trailer all the way to Texas
to deliver it and did not want to take it back to Kansas - "make me an
offer". I put him on hold and asked Elizabeth if she still wanted that
trailer. She was excited that it was so close by and that we could go
see it.We pre-discussed a code phrase for her to say if
she wanted me to buy it. If she really liked it and wanted me to get
it, she was to say, "I think Johnathan would like this trailer." No
sooner than we stepped inside she said, "I think Johnathan would like
this trailer!"I was so surprised by how quick it came
that my immediate (and unrehearsed) response was "Really?!". That was
my cue to make an offer. The seller and I negotiated for a little bit
and settled in on a fair offer for both of us.He even delivered it to us! We had our trailer!After kicking around a few names, we decided on the name 'Pixeldust'.And so, the story begins...