Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Bye, Bye Henry The Hilander

Gary bought Henry The Hilander last summer via an auction on eBay. The previous owner had begun a frame-up rebuild of him, but lost interest along the way, and decided to sell him. He was LOADED with parts from both himself and another Scotty, and that was the appeal for Gary. Unfortunately, the majority of Henry's skin was trashed, and he had gotten wet from sitting partially uncovered. All of his thin roofing wood was warped and splintered. His sides were good, and Gary will re-purpose them for other projects. Henry has been a storage shed on wheels since he arrived. Now that Gary has created a space for all of the spare parts elsewhere, Henry was just sitting here taking up space. Gary has decided to make a utility trailer out of him. It only took a couple of hours for the teardown to be completed, and that was including pauses to take pictures. The roof came off first, then the sides, then the hardwood flooring that the previous owner spent good money to install. The plywood underneath the hardwood floor is still good, so Gary is planning to fill in the drop-down floor area, and will put a coat of pressure treated plywood over the whole thing. Not sure what he has planned for wheelwells or sides yet, but he will come up with something. He always does! I'm the only Serro Scotty left standing in the Green Acres Garage. My little brother Chip, then my brother Scotty, and now my brother Henry are all just frames now. I guess I have job security, because I'm the only camper that Gary has left. When it comes to camping, I'm MORE than happy to fill the void that my brothers can no longer handle. I can't wait to get my new axle (hint-hint) and hit the road this fall. Who knows? We may be coming to a town near you!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

All Jacked Up, And Nowhere to Go

Gary has been VERY busy lately. I've seen him often, but he's been working on other things besides trailers. Things changed today though. He didn't really work on me or my brother "Scotty", but he did remove our wheels, and measured both of us for new axles. I've been wanting a new axle for SO long. I'm a little saggy on the right hand side, and it's pretty embarrassing. Scotty has a nice non-saggy axle, but since he's all the way down to his bare frame now, it's the best time to replace his 41 year old axle with a new one as well. Scotty was equipped with brakes from the factory, but I wasn't. When our new axles are installed, we'll BOTH have brakes. I can't wait! This will be the most expensive single purchase that Gary has encountered yet during the renovations of myself and Scotty, but it will be worth it. I don't care if I ever get another present again as long as I get this. It will be a couple of weeks before the new axles get here. Obviously, I'm not going anywhere for awhile, but that's alright. Gary has 13 campouts already booked for us for this fall and winter, and I'm sure he will book more. And I'll be smiling all the way as I cruise down the road atop a brand new axle. Yeah baby!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

My First Year Of Blogging

One year ago today, I posted my very first blog entry. A lot has happened since then. Gary and I have gotten much more computer savvy, (especially me), and recently, we upgraded from our old 2005 HP desktop to this new HP laptop. Gary upgraded his basic Nokia cellphone that did nothing but make phone calls, to a brand new Motorola Droid 4 with built-in mobile hot spot. We haven't been on a camping trip yet to try out how this new computer and cellphone works on the road, but it sure does work great here at home. I can't wait to blog from the road. Gary has several camping trips lined up for us in the fall and winter, and I'll be posting "LIVE" from wherever we are. It's hard to believe that little old me would know anything about blogging, but Gary has taught me as he himself has learned. Because of the blogging experience, I now have friends and fans from all around the world that never would have known about me without it. It's been SO much fun, and I am SO grateful for all the kindness and support that everyone has given me. I thank you all, and now it's on to year number two of the Adventures Of Toaster.