Tow, blow & go

Ok, so the tire/axle/rim saga plot thickens.  This chapter opens with us towing the Boles home, over the grapevine (I-5).  We had just stopped in Visalia, at Camping World, to pick up a few things.  Checked the tires, all looked good.  Within 10 miles, on the pass, we felt the right trailer tire blow out and the trailer immediately go onto the rim.  Fortunately, there was NO sway, thanks the original stabilizer bars and the new anti-sway attachment I put on.  We skidded along to a stop, and again, thankfully there was a full pull off lane.  I got the blown tire right against the asphalt curb and we had about a foot clearance to the slow lane line on the left.  Huge semi's are hauling down the hill and we are shaking as each one blew past.  I got out and saw that the tire had literally exploded, the rim was shot and while dragging on the rim, it had kicked the axle out of alignment.  Your worst nightmare.  Now, I needed the trailer to be put up on a tow vehicle, not just a tire change.  This was Saturday at 11:15 a.m.  We started making calls to AAA (sorry, you don't have trailer coverage in your roadside assistance plan) and our GMAC trailer insurer.  With our I-Pad, we found a Camping World 48 miles north in Bakersfield, which, when towed to, would get us over the grapevine and closer to home.
Now, just as a refresher, I had brand new 8 ply tires, brand new rims (the defective rim with the hole in the metal that led to the flat going down had been replaced).  So, why did this tire explode?  And, why, with my new axle and shackles, did we skid along on the rim?

I won't bore you with the details of how we got a tow vehicle to come to us (2 hours later), but they showed up and it took one and a half hours & $475 (yes, you read that correctly) to load the trailer as to avoid scrapping the aluminum rear end, which hangs low anyway.
We got to Bakersfield, unloaded (which took an hour) before they closed, and the service dept.  determined that the 10 leaf-springs (original) was some of the problem with the new axle and the how low that hangs in relationship to the rim.  So, over the course of the next week, they replaced the 10 leaves with new metal 5 leaves, put our spare on (which it turns out the replacement rim we had purchased down south didn't fit the axle, so they had to put on a cheesy new rim (another $75) with our tire).  Mike was about to pull out of the service area when he noticed the axle still looked cattywampus.  Sure enough, it was an inch out of square.  So, they had to take all of it apart and start over again.  By this time, we realized why Boles Aero categorized our trailer a "Park Model".  Ha Ha
After getting it home, we still realized that all is not fool-proof underneath.  So, it will go into the welder this week for an additional skid plate..we think.
 Anyway, note to self: never, ever tow without a spare and your tool kit.  Have trailer tow insurance up to date and card handy.  Invest in some sturdy caution lights or something to warn cars and have some blocks of wood handy.

She still attracted folks over to her like a chicken to a june bug.  All during our week in Newport, we had a steady stream of people wanting to see it, and while it was being worked on at Camping World, folks were looking in the windows.  She is a beauty.  

no problemo

Stove is back together and NO leftover screws or parts.  Plus, it works great and, best of all, it doesn't stink anymore.
We are enjoying a week or so down south, and, as usual, the trailer is a magnet.  After giving tours all afternoon, I decided to do what the museums do and put all the info on a tape with a headset, hand it out to the folks wanting to come through, and they can listen as they walk through.  Then I can relax under the awning and watch them go in the front door and out the back door.

Oh, fyi to all you trailer haulers.  Be sure you bring a spare tire.  I had a flat coming down here, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF THE TIRE.  Yup, it was a hole in the rim!  Unheard of, I know, but there I was, flatted out in a parking lot...thank goodness for that blessing.  We were right next to Camping World, who was too busy to attend to us, but inflated the tire so I could drive next door to WalMart, who, by law cannot change a tire on trailers, but were good enough to give me the tools to do it myself.  No easy task getting a tire off & out due to the design of the sides, even with the skirt off.  But, I got it done and the spare on and now must locate another 15 inch, 6 lug rim before I go back home.  Stay tuned.

How to bake a mouse

Turn oven to 350.  Wait ten minutes.  Smell cooked mouse.

It seems when we were using the oven, we indeed smelled mouse, because (no surprise here) the insulation was chuck-a-block filled with dead mice and poop.  So, the Preway stove/oven is apart in many, many pieces, the disgusting mouse-nest filled insulation has been removed from around the oven and you'd think it would be an easy thing to find oven insulation to purchase....like at the big box home improvement stores, or an appliance store or even the local woodstove dealer.  Nope.   Not even close.  Seems, like the Hudson car, this little item is rare and costly.  So, onto the internet and found a place in the midwest who will graciously send us a small piece for another C note (are you kidding me?)  So, I sucked it up, ordered it, and hopefully will remember where all the parts and screws go to put this thing back together.  I decided NOT to take a pix as I was disassembling it, so hope my aging brain can put this puzzle back together...stay tuned.

Open House

Seems our trailer was a hit with all the visitors we had.  In fact, we were overwhelmed with the response.  We so appreciated all the comments and oohs and aahs, not so much for our benefit, but for the fact, we all get to see and enjoy a trailer in it's "just off the 1955 sales lot" glory.  Our deep appreciation to D.N., who so graciously allowed us to take this beauty out of his barn and clean it up and take it on the road.
We sure enjoyed meeting new folks and re-connecting with our Pismo rally friends, and are looking forward to the next get together.  Thanks to Margaret Martan for putting together this rally.

A few of the tweeks that we will be doing:
1.  replaced all the light bulbs with cool, low watt "curly-que" style bulbs.  That should save some juice running through the old wiring.
2.  Leaky gaskets seemed to fix themselves!  No more drippy anything, so debating on whether to mess with them.
3.  Pull apart stove and look for more petrified mice.
4.  Reverse hall closet door so it opens toward the kitchen. Since we don't need it as a closet (that is why it faced the bedroom), but as a pantry, it makes sense.
5.  Add another piece of wood to the bottom of the magazine racks so the old mags don't slide out.
6.  Hmm, well actually that is all.  Not too bad for it's first run out in 38 years!

The Mousemobile

So, we pulled the Boles to Meek's Bay RV Resort for 5 nights to work out any bugs before the rally on the 15th.  We were pleasantly surprised that we had no big surprises....well almost none.  Darn, if we don't still find a few dried mouse poops that fall from who-knows-where on counters or the floor.  But, after using the oven, which, by the way holds the set temperature absolutely on the nose, we smelled MOUSE.  We can both smell mouse at 100 yards, so the hunt was on.  It seems, when we took the stove and oven apart to clean it we neglected one area..the insulated space between the top of the oven and the bottom floor of the burners.  We tucked a mirror alongside the space there, and we could see insulation, and we think we saw some petrified somethings, but we won't know until we get home and take it apart...again.


We have a drippy shower head, which I can fix with a petcock arrangement installed after the shower head, which will actually help taking navy showers easier.  The hot water side of the bathroom sink is also drippy, so we turned off the hot water side of that faucet.  That shouldn't be too bad to fix.  Our new 5 gallon hot water heater seems to be the perfect size.  The 3 gallon porcelain flush toilet works great, the old Marvel fridge is amazing.  Not only does it not ice up too fast in the ice cube area, but it keeps everything perfectly cold, and the shelving arrangement allows for lots of food that is easy to access.  We are cozy at night, albeit with lots of blankets.  Those old wool twin size blankets folded in half sure are warm.  We found that a small portable heater takes the chill off very quickly.  


The one thing you have to watch in these old trailers though is how many things are plugged in at one time.  We turn off the water heater, which of course is electric, to use the microwave or the heater or a blow dryer.  So we try not to have two big heat producing appliances going at once.  If you keep that in mind, you won't trip the breaker.  


So, the rally begins and we are looking forward to meeting like-minded old-trailer enthusiasts and swapping stories.

pastures full of trailers

My husband and I drive a lot, and I do mean a lot.  We have 2 children in Oregon, 1 in CA,  a cabin in WA and we like to spend winters in the Newport beach area of CA, so we know all the back roads up and down the whole west coast.  Plus, we love to camp.  We could pull our teardrop off-road, so off we'd go.  Since becoming a canned ham owner a year ago, and then obtaining the Boles in February of this year, we keep our eyes peeled for those forlorn trailers parked in pastures, next to barns or old houses.  There are HUNDREDS.  I'm sure the owners would be glad to get rid of them for free or just a few pennies.  We see real classics, collector's dreams for sure.

 I could never figure out why many of these farm families would buy a trailer in the first place.  They work on their equipment most of the winter, the kids are in school, and in the summers they put in long days harvesting, so exactly when did they use these things?  The answer I think, is, they didn't.  Maybe once.  Then it got parked and forgotten...just like our Boles.  Or, just like this Aero Flight shown here.

The trailer ads in the magazines were too tempting, and after all, if you had a nine to five job in suburbia, and the kids are off for the summer having a trailer was a dream.  But, not if you are a farmer.  So, I'm not sure how to go about starting a trailer adoption business, but it would be easy to gps the location of all these diamonds in the rough as we drive along, post it and hope that all the restorers and collectors would go out and gather them in.  Just think how the trailer rallies would grow!  Not to mention how the many companies, like VTS who supply the missing parts, would benefit.  A real stimulus package if you ask me!

p.s.  Hwy. 395 north of Reno to the OR border is full of them.  Look to your right driving north.  

Reflections on 1955

Reflections on the year 1955:

The year our Boles Aero was built, I was 5, my husband was 10.  The American culture, in ten years,  had shifted from the high energy, gritty determination and angst of WWII to a calm, mellow and “cool” suburban lifestyle.  Gone was the fast beat and rat-a-tat-tat of the swing era music, in its place stepped Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como and Andy Williams crooning to our parents while they had their 5 p.m. martini, lounging in their Eames style chairs in the livingroom listening to the hi-fi.  Some of the chart toppers included "Mr. Sandman", "Sincerely" by the McGuire Sisters, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" by Mitch Miller and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing".  Had my husband and I been a bit older, we would have been spinning "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Halley and the Comets.  Lawrence Welk and champagne bubbles were prime time t.v. fare as was "The Honeymooners", "The $64,000 Question" and the Johnny Carson show.  As kids, Mike and I were watching the Mickey Mouse Club, and Commando Cody.  

.  

Home life was modernizing quickly, and housewives had more time to take trips to the beauty parlor, cook recipes using the newest ingredients on the store shelves like Velveeta cheese,  and decorating their homes in the new modern look.  No more victory gardens, give me a new t.v. dinner, served on modern t.v. trays in front of the t.v. for an extra treat.

  

The aircraft industry of the war had matured into the rocket industry and the space age was becoming the wave of the future.   The “House of Tomorrow” at Disneyland propelled us away from the overstuffed, dark, clunky furnishings of our grandparents and into the sleek and modern.  Even the cars sported fins that gave them a look of going fast just sitting in the driveway.  I lived in a house in Palo Alto that was an "Eichler" clone.  If you don't know what an Eichler was, google it.  It had a flat roof, floor to ceiling windows to bring in lots of light, a quarry tile floor (no more heavy Persian rugs), a big patio for outside summer living and an outside BBQ.  This style of home was tantalizingly chic.  No more Craftsman style for us!  Our furniture was Danish modern, lots of teak and sleek.  Plastic and Formica were introduced, and kitchen appliances were now available in pink, yellow or turquoise.  (Have you seen these colors in the stoves in the old "canned ham" trailers?

Parents had time off from work now for actual vacations.  The plethora of travel trailers made the camping and trailer experience one that every family wanted to try.  But, they wanted to take along their new, modern house, albeit in smaller form, to the lake.  Hence, the Boles Aero Ensenada.  You could still have your formica kitchen and table, upholstered sofas, twin beds, and flush toilet....all in a rustic setting.  What a deal!

Pictures from the 1950’s of travel trailers and the families that pulled them hither and yon with the Nomad station wagon, or Ford “woodie”,  showed mom, decked out in pedal pushers, an ironed blouse, a smart bandana tied around her neck, earrings and a nice hairdo.  Dad had on pleated trousers, an ironed shirt (a tad more casual than a business shirt, but not by much) and a hat.  Usually he had a pipe in his mouth, to look really suburban and more like “Father knows Best”.  They sat in nice camping chairs alongside the trailer, while junior and little Debbie played contentedly nearby.  A fishing pole was usually propped against the tree.  No wonder trailers were flying off the trailer lots.  Who wouldn’t want to live like that for 2 weeks or so. 

And so today, our generation, who were junior and little Debbie, want to re-live that magical time, when life was simpler, more predictable and our parent’s choices of coffee in the percolator were either Maxwell or Folgers (not a soy, skinny, double shot, de-caf latte, with a shot of caramel), our bread was wheat or white, our lettuce was iceberg, our cereal was Wheaties, our milk was always whole and homogenized and delivered by the milkman.  We lived for a tootsie roll and a Marvel comic to read.  We played outdoors and made forts or played with dolls, and dreamed of being a fireman or a nurse.  

So, if you see us now, daydreaming in our vintage lawn chairs, under the vintage awning of our vintage trailer, cooking in our vintage kitchen, eating on our vintage formica table, you will know why.  We are livng the good life once again.

Here is the finished project

Project completed

Yup, it is all done.  It sat at the truck shop for a few days, got the axle raised, new rims, hubcaps and tires, a new jack hitch, an anti-sway bar, heavier hook up chains, and when I pulled it home to the body shop the hitch got painted black, and I painted the propane tanks a nice grey.
We are looking forward to our first trip with it to the vintage trailer rally at Lake Tahoe in Sept.

All in all, it wasn't too bad of a project.  There may be a few things we will decide to do later....Lori is really thinking she can't live without a water holding tank under the kitchen sink, and we may decide to polish out the window frames to get rid of the black pitting.

After staying in it for a few days, there are always things you find that you want to tweek, so my next posts will probably be about that.  Until then, the trailer is tucked away in a covered storage area, safe and sound.

A free trailer?

Well, free is not really free.  Actually the $ started flowing into the aluminum piggy bank before it even left the barn.  Right now I'm at 8 clicks and some C notes.  Mostly in the tires/rims/hitch/welding/upgrade stuff.
The new mattresses and awning were a click in themselves.  Now, I'm thinking of getting a restored, big engine 1955 Chevy or Ford p.u. to pull the piggy bank with.  Lots for sale.  Red would be nice...("feed the pig" as the ad on the radio encouraging us to SAVE our money says...ha ha.)

Like chickens on a junebug

Well, the Boles has been down at a truck/r.v. business for a few days getting the axle work done, the new steps welded on, and I am replacing the split rims with new ones and running the tires I bought on the new ones,but I will change them out to tubeless.  I will use one of the split rims for a spare.  While the trailer was down there, next to the busy thoroughfare, so many people stopped in to look at it, the poor guy could hardly get any work done.  Thankfully, I had locked it up and had the curtains all down, or it would have been worse.  They were just hanging out looking at the OUTSIDE.  He had to relate the barn find story to all the lookie loos.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm chomping at the bit waiting to get the trailer back so I can haul it to the body shop and have the hitch painted.  It definitely attracts attention.
Trying to get our "business" cards done with a pix of the Boles on it, but they photo-shopped off the hitch in the pix, so it looks like it will tip forward.  I told them to re-do them.
Found CHEAP insurance thru the Good Sam club's affiliation with GMAC.  Anyone out there had any experience with them?  They couldn't give me a $ value on the trailer (neither could I) or what they would pay me if it got smashed up.  Said they'd check 5 states to see what other ones were worth (yeah, right...good luck with that!).  But, for $55/yr. I guess I'm not out too much.
The wife is still shopping for 50's patio furniture....I can envision getting hauled into every farm sale from here to WA.  Geez, what have I gotten myself into?

My wife is going overboard

Yup, it was only a matter of time.  First it was collecting the 50's stuff from antique stores and thrift stores to "decorate" the trailer with.  Then having me make an "easel" shaped coffee table for our outside patio area when parked at vintage trailer rallies (as in..."all the other trailers have full patios furnished with year-appropriate stuff, so we are going to do it too") That is only the  FIRST item of many needed for the patio "decor" (you can see where this is heading).  Then, I hear her in there sewing up 50's outfits.  I put my foot down though.  I WILL NOT, I repeat WILL NOT be caught dead wearing suit slacks, a white button shirt and skinny tie and 50's hat to these things (remind you of your grand dad?) I guess because the trailer was already complete inside, with the upholstery and curtains all original, she was feeling a little cheated on doing up the inside in a big way.

By the way, the awning we ordered from Vintage Trailer Supply, (my new best friend), fit great, looks great and other than being way more than I had hoped to invest in such a thing (how about one lousy umbrella and call it good?) will look nice and packs up small enough to fit in the hatch under the beds.

So folks, if you see me wandering around the next rally, dressed like your dad or granddad, just offer me a really stiff martini.

a little ingenuity

Well, today started out as a futile attempt to find replacement rims (to get rid of the split rims that I stupidly had powdercoated and put tubed tires on).  After running around to several tires stores and a pick'n pull, no luck.  I can order them from an internet site, which may be the way to go.  I will try one more pick'n pull in the valley.  I'd rather have new ones, then I just have to paint them myself.  If I go used, I will have to have them sandblasted before I can paint them grey.  I want to switch to tubeless tires and use one of the split rims for a spare.
The guy who was going to do the undercarriage work (shackles etc) dislocated his shoulder, so that job was delayed.  I have de-rusted the stabilizer bars and wheel and painted them, along with the new propane tanks.  Came out great.  The hitch is all de-rusted (thank you naval jelly) and ready for the body shop to paint after getting a few more tweeks on the hitch.  I decided to have the trailer raised 1 and 1/2 in. when they do the work underneath.  That will give me more clearance in the back, when backing up on an incline.

My big success today came when the window parts arrived from Vintage Trailer supply.  The Hehr cranks had failed on the front side window, the pot metal gave out.  I had NO luck finding the same part, anywhere.  I searched from N.Y. to Canada.  I ended up taking a chance and ordering Hehr awning cranks that I converted to casement window type cranks.  If any of you reading this need to know how to do this, email me.  Anyway, the windows now operated perfectly, and shut tight.  I had to pat myself on the back over this one.  I was THIS close [...] to putting a screw thru the window to keep them from flopping open during travel.  Whew.  glad I held back.

We attend our first vintage trailer rally

May 19-22 at Pismo Beach, CA.  Over 275 trailers, teardrops and rolling thing-a-majigs that were more fun to go through and look at than can be imagined.  What talented folks!  Some of the interiors were stunning, lots of fun at the "yard sales" and night music jams too.

We were able to talk to other Boles' owners, one couple has a 1954 Ensenda, that was in bad shape when they got it, another Miramar, which is shorter than ours, that sat unused for 57 years in Yosemite that had an original interior.   Some 10 footers, some 60's vintage.  All in all, a very productive weekend, with making contacts and learning about aluminum and other factoids, and basic where-to-find-stuff info.

Once back home, we kept working thru the punch list.  Re-caulked all the roof seams.  Started polishing some of the window frames after pulling off the old thin window gasket.  The gasket was actually in good shape, it was the old plasti-coat that had been sprayed on them that caused them to look so bad.  We used several brands of aluminum polish with a buffer wheel on the drill.  What we got was shiny windows with the pitted, oxidized areas now showing up black.  Could NOT get the blackened polish out of the pits.  We finally decided, (after a lively discussion) that we would leave the remaining windows as is.  With the new grey gaskets installed, they look very passable.  Tried washing some exterior siding with good car wash soap and distilled water....didn't make any difference.  So, the siding issue is back on hold again.  One yahoo groupie said he ended up painting his whole trailer out with grey Dodge paint and followed up with a clear coat and it looks great....very tempting at this point.  When we take it to the body shop next week to get the tongue and hitch painted we will ask to see the paint chip and get a price, just for the heck of it.

While I was under the trailer putting copper plates over the open holes left from the old plumbing, I saw that the new axle was rubbing against the frame.  Hauled the trailer down to a truck and trailer guy who will lengthen the shackles on the new axle.  Also getting the trailer raised up an inch and a half and a new hitch attachment welded on.  Ordered new steps for the 2 doors, as the original ones are a bear to pull out. Of course, they are welded on, so will have them cut off and new ones installed when the axle work is getting done.  Geez, this FREE trailer is starting to cost some bucks!

We are getting eager to take this baby out and USE it somewhere.  Nice just to sit in it after a long day of working on the little projects with a nice cold beer.  Just wish the view out the window wasn't our pasture, but a nice mountain lake somewhere!

The trip home.

After a short overnight at Les Schwab again for a new axle, and then to an RV place to have trailer brakes installed (it had old hydraulic brakes which don't work with new ABS braking systems) we were ready for the 700 miles down I-5 to home.  It weighed in at 4100 lbs on the truck scales, and our car was rated for being able to haul up to 10,000 lbs, so no problems there.  It hauled very well and the single axle makes turning and backing up easy.  I could feel when the big rigs were coming up behind me, and so will order a sway bar and install that for the future, just to be on the safe side.

The only minor issues we discovered once home were that one of the glass ceiling light covers had come loose and fallen and broken and sadly, the perfect porcelain toilet lid had wiggled loose of its screwdown and bounced off and miraculously only chipped two front edges.  The 2 chips were laying there, so were glued back on.  We found an identical light cover, so all is well, but we learned a valuable lesson....take down all glass ceiling fixtures, take off the toilet lid (and be sure to drain all the water out of the toilet bowl and tank...it holds 3 gallons).

Once home, we got on the internet and began looking for products and items to replace/fix/restore on the list we had made up:
1.  exterior thin window gaskets
2.  remove peeling plasti-coat from aluminum siding
3.  re-plumb...including new water heater.
4.  order awning (couldn't find the original in the barn)
5.  order hubcabs (one was missing, one was too rusted to use)
6.  deal with oxidized areas on exterior siding

Fortunately, the web is full of vintage trailer sites, Boles Aero sites and so it just took time to sift through all of it.  The big question, was to polish out or not polish out the aluminum.  Because a mirror finish is not what we want, as it was not like that originally, we are trying to find products to minimize the white blobs of oxidation, and so far, none have worked.  We don't want to acid wash the siding, as the whitish tone you are left with doesn't look right (we saw one done this way at a trailer rally).  That issue is on hold for now.

Vintage Trailer Supply had the gaskets, the plasti-coat remover, the awning and other fun goodies.  Hubcab Mike in the city of Orange, CA. has a million hubs and so that was easy.  Our plumber worked with me and we re-did the toilet tank innards, put in a 6 gal. water heater (bought at Lowes) and put ABS underneath.  I opted not to add a holding tank, we will just have to look for RV parks with a sewer connection.

I took apart the Duo-Therm diesel furnance, cleaned out the old gas/oil that had turned to sludge, scrubbed out all the mouse yuk and re-assembled.  Added new diesel, fired it up....worked great.  I even had the original booklet from the company for the furnace that came with the trailer, which was a big help.  The company is STILL IN BUSINESS.  Called them, but a big joke trying to talk to anyone there who knew a thing about one of their products from the 50's.  Ha Ha.

Meanwhile...back at the ranch-------

Lori was working on some interior issues.  The first was sanding, sealing and varnishing the interior of the mouse damaged cabinets and drawers.  Thank goodness we own a powerful air hose.  I'll let her tell the story:

Just when I thought I had found every last nook, crevice and cranny that had mouse poop or old wheat packed into it, I would still smell "mouse".  So the hunt was on.  After, what I thought was a job finished, namely, the upper kitchen cabinets, I discovered a whole cache of more poop and wheat behind the back bottom 1x1 in the cabinets.  The air hose came in for the job.  There would have been NO way to get that out without a blast of air.  Plus, the mice had packed the kitchen drain and pipes under the sink with nests and the interior of the toilet bowl that you can't get to. I had to run a hose down the bowl to help get to it all.

My biggest challenge was the 2 dinette couches.  The original upholstery was in perfect condition, but the mice had pulled out quite a bit of the old cotton batting that was used back then, plus had nested underneath and urinated on the burlap cover over the springs.  Because these couches are free standing, moveable and have hinges that allow them to lay flat to make another bed, we took them outside and I had to manipulate them  (and me) to get my arms through the springs and vacuum and cut away the burlap.  The air hose was my best friend, as was my grandmother's old rug beater.  It was beat, beat, beat, vac, vac, and shoot with air from underneath.  Clouds of dust would poof out, and I would continue the drill until it was clean.  I used a foam type upholstery cleaner on the fabric.  I restuffed the underneath with poly batting (boy was that a job!  Working my hands in and around the springs was no fun)  and re-stapled fabric to cover up the springs.  I won't tell you how many dead mouse carcasses I found in there.
The original drapes and sheer curtains had been removed in 1974 and stored in a box in the trailer, but smelled of mice.  Hardly any mice damage to them.  I didn't think they'd survive the dry cleaners, so I washed them in cold water, in Woolite in the hand wash cycle IN MY WASHER, hung out to dry, pressed them and voila....clean drapes and curtains....no shrinkage, no damage, no fading.  Gotta love it!  They all went back up on the windows and look just great, as you will see in future pix posts.
The rest of the interior was just standard housecleaning type work, a quick floor finish on the perfect asbestos tile (12x12 squares, not sheet goods) and presto, the interior is back to 1955 perfection.

Mice-Busters!

The start of the 700 mile journey to CA.

what were they thinking?

Pictures of the "barn find"...the beginning of the story

The dirty work begins

My son and I began the work of clearing the personal belongs left in the trailer (sitting in there since 1974) before we could begin assessing what we had.  The owner said to just burn everything, he had no interest in going through any of it.  There were boxes and boxes of clothes and fabric (his wife was a seamstress), carpet covering the original flooring, old slipcovers on the dinette couches, food (yes, old petrified food) and hundreds and hundreds of mice nests in the cupboards.  It was smelly, nasty work.  It took 3 days.  But, the more stuff we pulled out and discarded, the more the beauty of the original trailer came through.  There were no spiders or other bugs, just mice.  The dry climate up there kept the inside in great condition, no mildew or other issues that damp climate can cause.

After emptying it all out, we had a jewel!  There were no chips, dings, scrapes or any visible damage at all to the floor, woodwork, appliances, formica, porcelain toilet, porcelain sink, walk-in shower, or furniture.  We were just amazed.  The windows all worked fine, the screens were perfect, as were the beautiful seafoam green venetian blinds.

My son dropped off the team and my wife joined the clean up phase.  She is a CLEANER.  We went to Home Depot and loaded up with haz-mat suits, masks, gloves, disinfectant, mice traps, rags, scrapers, and brushes.  I will not minimize the mice infestation in this trailer, but fortunately, it was all hidden in the cupboards, no visible chewing or damage.  They had so much nesting material and food from the barn and cotton batting under the couches, they just happily nested without having to chew wood.  We did find out though, that mouse urine works like paint remover.  The areas where they had been needed to be touched up.

While my wife cleaned and scraped up inches of mouse poop from the inside of the cupboards, I removed the tires and took them to Les Schwab.  They were split rims, and had I given it much thought, I would have swapped those out for legal rims.  In haste, and wanting to keep it all original, I had them powdercoated and new tires put on.

About day 6 or so, we decided to plug the trailer in to see if the wiring was all intact.  We both expected a big POP, FIZZ, KABOOM, figuring the mice had decimated the wiring inside, but to our amazement, the lights came right on, the fridge started humming away (light in the fridge worked too) the clock on the stove started moving and the lights glowing against the beautiful wood interior made slogging thru the mice poop all worth it.  The smiles on our faces would have made a great photo.

Once things were cleaned up as good as we could get them in a cold barn, with cold water hauled in from the spring down the road, we made a few decisions on some original stuff in and on the trailer.  The first to go was the original twin bed mattresses and boxsprings.  Even though they were in good condition, they were heavy and smelled OLD.  Out to the burn pile.  We found a local mattress store that has mattresses made in Portland, so we ordered new ones (no box springs) and I decided to shorten the platform of the bed that jutted into the back door opening.  The three inches would make a big difference with the door, and not a big difference in the length of the bed.  Five days later, we had new mattresses.  The next to go, was the 250 lbs. of cast iron and brass plumbing from underneath the trailer. The trailer was a "park model" so it has no holding tank.  We would get it re-plumbed back in CA.

After cleaning up and removing all the stuff in the way of the trailer's exit from the barn, moving day came.  It rolled out without a groan or squeak.  We were on our way!  I'll be posting pictures soon.

Let me tell you about our barn-find!

Let me begin by a bit of history.   My wife, Lori, and I  have enjoyed camping for our entire married life. Our honeymoon was a week of camping, and our latest camp"mobile" was a teardrop trailer, manufactured in Oakridge, OR.  After six or so years of taking that all over, we decided to bump up to a larger trailer.  I was inclined to buy a new Airstream, but my wife was really wanting a vintage trailer.  We both like classic cars, and so at Hot August Nights in Reno in 2010, we found a 12 ft. "canned ham" for sale....cheap.  It only needed heavy lipstick, so we brought it home and did the work.  Then winter came, we headed up to OR for two months.
 Last summer  our son, who helps cut wheat for a farm in eastern OR, saw an old trailer in the back of one of the barns on the ranch.  He had sent us a pix of it, but we couldn't identify what make it was from the photo.  While we were up in OR, we went out to the ranch, went into the barn, and saw it was a Boles Aero.  We had heard the name before, but really didn't know much about them.  It was aluminum sided, it said the model was an Ensenada.  It looked to be over 20 ft. long.  We opened the door and peeked inside. The beautiful birch interior was in perfect condition, no evidence of water damage, or any other damage for that matter.  The body was in excellent shape, no dings or damage.  I WANTED IT.  The owner, actually the son of the original buyer, told us it was bought by his folks in 1955 and he would be glad to get it out of the barn, if we cleared out the stuff (big stuff) that surrounded it in the back corner.  We would be in charge of getting it out, he'd sign over the pink slip.  He had all the original paperwork too.  He and his wife had lived in it briefly while he attended a trade school in 1974, but it had sat, unopened since then.
We went home, got on the internet and learned about Boles Aeros, the model we had, etc. etc.  The more we read, the more excited we became about such a perfect 1955 time capsule.  It turned out to be 24 ft. long, and it would need new tires to get it to roll out.  We figured having 2 trailers in our family would work out just fine.  Stay tuned for part 2 of the story.