Movin' On Up To The East Side

As the CFO of Booth 366, the company co-owned by Gary and I, I am pleased to announce our expansion to a larger booth within the Southern Crossing Antique Mall in Jacksonville Florida. We just completed our second month in the antiques and collectibles business, and things have been going REALLY well. The dealer that was previously in our new booth outgrew it, and moved to a larger booth herself. That left her booth available at just the right moment when we were thinking of moving to somewhere larger, so we decided to go for it. The new booth is just a few feet east of our old booth, and yes, we will retain our Booth 366 name. That will stay with us no matter where we go. Our original booth was great, but we simply needed more room, especially floor space. Although our new booth isn't as large as many within the mall, it's the next progressive step as we learn the ropes. We went from one shelf unit to two, at least 6 times more floor space, and we've got a wall large enough to accommodate a full 4x8 sheet of pegboard. This move was sudden, so Gary still has to take the pegboard up and anchor it to the wall. But once it's up, that will give us more room on the shelves for more items. Now all we have to do is sell even more than we have previously to cover the additional cost of the larger booth. Being the Chief Financial Officer, I guess I am more concerned with the money aspect of the business than Gary is, but we will work closely together to make this a success. Neither of us can complain with how things have gone so far. This is SO much fun! We will no doubt stay where we're at for quite some time, but if anything changes, I'll let you know. Stop by Booth 366, and BUY BUY BUY!!!

The Spartan Imperial Mansion

While at an estate sale last weekend, Gary discovered this 1955 43ft Spartan Imperial Mansion travel trailer in the back yard of the house that was having the sale. He took these pictures, and then inquired about it. The trailer is owned by someone other than the family that owns the house. After repeated attempts by them to reach the trailer's owner, he has not responded. The house will be going back to the bank that holds the mortgage on it, so the Spartan's future may be in peril. As you know, Gary is a sucker for old travel trailers. He's never paid much attention to large trailers before, but this one has really caught his interest. He is hoping to acquire it, but due to the circumstances, it may be difficult. The Spartan is currently being used for storage. It is packed full from front to back with junk of all kinds. During a second visit to look it over, Gary managed to get inside. The interior of the Spartan apparently is pretty pathetic. While the kitchen remains intact, minus the refrigerator, the bathroom no longer exists. Various leaks have taken their toll on the once beautiful birch plywood ceilings and walls. Gary tells me that the smell of rat urine is overwhelming. I'll take his word on that, as I don't care to ever experience anything so gross. The cigarette and dog smells and nicotine covered walls inside of me was bad enough. Gary wouldn't touch anything inside my interior when he first brought me home without latex gloves. If he gets this Spartan, he will probably be investing in a haz-mat suit. The exterior of the Spartan is pretty decent, with the exception of a large dent in the right front corner. One door has some damage in the door lock area, and there are a few broken or missing windows. All of that is fixable. The trailers is most definitely restorable, but it would cost a fortune to do so. If, and that's a BIG if, it is brought here to Green Acres, Gary plans to park it and use it for storage. A lot of cleaning and weatherproofing will be necessary first, of course. It's possible that Gary may someday restore the Spartan. But, with all he has to do, and a bunch of Scotty trailers already here and waiting for rebuilds or renovations, the Spartan would have a VERY long wait. Just getting the 8,000 pound Spartan here would be a MAJOR job. There's a lot to consider, and I hope that Gary thinks things over carefully before he jumps into this. At this point, it's hard to say what will happen. Time will tell, and I will update you on this subject as things progress. That's the latest news.

Seven Years!

Hello! There is plenty of activity here at the Green Acres Garage, but I'm not involved in much of it. As usual, my buddy Gary is as busy as he can possibly be, while I sit idly by and watch. I occasionally make suggestions, but beyond that, I watch TV all day and take naps. Such a life! While Gary has been too busy to acknowledge the occasion, I just had to post about my 7th year anniversary as an adopted member of Gary's family. On June 8th 2009, Gary bought me. I'm still not sure why he did, but I will be forever grateful. When I thought about creating this post, I was going to include a few pictures from each year of my life here in St. Augustine. But you've already seen WAY too many pictures of me, so I decided to just include a copy of the original Craigslist ad where Gary found me, and one of me (the way I look now) and the Green Acres Garage, my home sweet home. Sometimes lesser is better. Vintage travel trailers like myself have gotten more and more expensive since Gary bought me. I was quite a deal for $250, if I do say so myself. And the fact that I can talk, well heck, that makes me PRICELESS!!! Many thanks to Gary for finding me and saving my life, to my buddy "Dodge" for towing me everywhere I've needed to go, and for all the great things that have come my way since I've been living here. And a special thank you to all of my blog readers who have suffered through my endless babbling, yet keep on coming back for more. You're AWESOME!!!