ON GOLDEN POND RALLY

Had an amazing weekend with a bunch of fantastic people in Branbury State Park on October 10th-13th, 2013!   Went on incredible hikes, drank way too much, and met many people who are as pathologically obsessed with their airstreams as we are.   Photos are worth 1000 words so here they are!

Our trailer nestled between the trees

Colin Hyde, master trailer restorer, and his amazing three sided awning

Gail is sweeping water off of her outdoor mat. Minutes before it had caught fire from sun's reflection on her door!!

Lots of flamingos in attendance!

Lake Elmore Vermont camping

Spent a lovely night in Lake Elmore, Vermont at the state campground there.  It was a last minute trip...the weather seemed perfect.  Peter had a light day at work, so we threw the dogs in the truck, convinced our college age daughter to come with us, and off we went.  The campground was quiet and lovely.  Except for the fact that there is ZERO cell phone coverage there, and our other daughter had no way to contact us in an emergency, it was a perfect trip.  Hiking up to the fire tower was amazing. We will absolutely be back here next year!

We love fall camping-NO BUGS

Site 37 was so level we did not even have to unhook!

Gaucho is finally done!

After much finagling around the water tank our Gaucho is almost done. Photos are sort of self explanatory but I will include captions when needed.   We had to raise the gaucho in order to get into to fit over the Vintage Supply water tank.  Frankly, it was a bit of a pain in the $$%#@ and if we had to do it all over again we probably would have put the fresh water tank under the bed on the street side.  The good news is that I always thought the gaucho sofas were too low anyway and it took an inhuman effort to get out of them!

We extended the sliders which were originally intended to make a twin size bed so that we can enlarge it to a small queen size.

Fixing the sliders to the wall

We used the old wood for a template. 

The problem with extending the bed size to almost a queen is that the "back" of the couch has to be substantially larger in order to get a large mattress to sleep on.  This meant that the front window is partially obstructed which we don't mind since we like our privacy anyway!!

Reiner girl (my sister Shelly) came up to help us with the cushions since we had ABSOLUTELY no clue on how to do it!  This is the seatback cushion being worked on.

The front of the slider was covered in a green tweed fabric to add visual interest.

The finished product! We still have to paint the tops of the drawers but it is otherwise good to go!

My sister Shelly the seamstress (how's that for alliteration) sewed the cushions.  The bottom cushion is reversible but the back cushion contains plywood so it is not.  I LOVE the green plaid...has a 50's feel to it without being over the top!

Painted all the edges with "Voyager Brown" paint from Ace Hardware.  

Converting the Humphrey Lamp to LED!

We loved the charm of the Humphrey light but disliked the idea of another propane line running through our trailer so we decided to explore the possiblility of converting that fixture to an LED one instead.  It was WAY easier than we thought.  It turns out that the non-switched puck light sold by Vintage Trailer supply fits right into the base of the Humphrey lamp.   We just added a simple toggle switch to an unobtrusive location and hooked it up to the wires we had running through our cabinet.  We also added a switched version of the puck light (also by Vintage Trailer Supply) to the kitchen cabinet underneath.   The red switch always stays lit which doubles as a night light, however please note that this also means that it has a small continuous amp draw.  Photos are below!

CAMPING CAMPING CAMPING

Went to three campgrounds in short period of time.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not smiling on us and it did rain a fair amount making sitting around a campfire next to impossible.


Grand Isle Vermont State Campground was first...

Our little Jack Russell puppy has a great view peeking out of the trailer!

Our site was in a bit of a ravine.  We actually liked Lake Carmi State campground in Vermont much more that this campground.   Even though Grand Isle State Park is right on the lake it had limited access due to the steep cliffs around it.  Recent rain had made everything a mudhole!

Next stop was a campground called Recompence Shore Campground  in Freeport Maine.  What a lovely campground and wonderful hosts.   You are situated right on an inlet with remarkable ocean views.   We stayed in West Bay which had no hook ups but a nice modern shower/bathroom building.  Even though we only stayed one night it was well worth it.   I would clearly go back to this campground.  

Finally, we went to Camden Hills State Park up in Camden Maine.  This is one of the few state parks that does have water and electric which is sort of a luxury for us.  Campground was lovely, just outside of the town of Camden.  It had lots of hikes that you could access from the campground itself.  Once again we had severe thunderstorms with lightning crackling all around us, but we were able to do a short  hike one morning.  The bathhouses were clean and spacious, however we ended up using our trailer most of the time due to the storm and the fact that lightning took out the campgrounds water heater!    Thankfully, we had unplugged our trailer before the worst of the storms so we were relatively safe.  Once again, great campground hosts, and we had a lovely (wet) time!

Heading back home to Vermont, we stopped at Stonewall Kitchens, and sampled a bunch of great jellies, mustards, and salsas.  We bought some Maine blueberry jelly.  Parking was tight at Stonewall and we ending up sharing a fictionary parking spot with a tour bus.  I swear the tour bus people thought the trailer was part of the tour!

Heading home!

Putting in the new FLOR carpet

We loved Marmoleum but since we painted the floor we were unable to use the sheet Marmoleum and unwilling to use the plank Marmoleum....too many angles in the trailer.  We decided to go radical and GASP put a rug into the trailer!  Our niece had done an internship at the FLOR company several summers ago and told us how cool their carpet was.  We checked out the site and lo and behold fell in love with it as well.  We decided to use a bright color to warm up our interior so we went with the Style MORNING COFFEE and the color DECAF. It was a snap to put in the trailer!  We used it everywhere except in the bathroom (permanent rugs in the bathroom are frankly just gross).   We have camped in it numerous times, in disgusting rainy conditions, and with dogs, and it still held up extremely well.  We have 7 squares left over so that if the entry way does get destroyed with dirt we can easily swap it out.

Before FLOR

Preplacing the tiles

Measuring and cutting the FLOR tiles

Our daughter has a knack for this stuff!

Placeing it next to the sill. We covered up the sill entrance with a piece of aluminum trim from a carpet store.  Forgot to take a photo of it!

Fun funky pattern!  Both my teenage daughters love it!