Visit our Popular Forums

Loeber · 07-24-2012, 11:56 PM

My name is Dan and I have an aluminum addiction. I thought I could handle it, RV shows, the odd Caravan that would drive by, the few cigar tubes parked in driveways I'd drive by. I was doing good, I was in control. I didn't even notice it happening. We had been looking to replace the '64 travelair we rescued from the dumpster (that's another story) for a few years, we would look and look and never find what we wanted, what would work for our family (11 & 7 year old boys) everything was a compromise. I realized what. I had to do at this years RV show. I couldn't tell the difference between one white box and the next. They all ran together! The only feature on the only trailer we liked even remotely was the ALUMINUM framing used on the folding beds on a Koala trailer. That night I dreamt me some tremulous dreams of the aluminum bat hitting home runs out of the park, smashing windows out of white box tailgating machines, Dominos (white rectangles) being toppled. I awoke and knew that I had a dragon to catch!

I have spent the last several months looking, searching, researching, asking, inquiring NO!! I've been QUESTING FOR ALUMINUM. I wanted 2 beds that would work for my boys, not just this year and maybe next but until they are grown and can buy their own aluminum bats. I wanted a bed that I could sleep comfortably in without having to crawl over my wife to clear my head if I get besieged by those dreams again. I wanted a kitchen that I could cook in, not just cook in but COOK IN. I found a lot of tempting harlots and beauty queens beckoned me from afar. When you live in Alberta, Georgia is too far to drive in a weekend to look at a trailer. Kijiji would have things promising "partial restoration" and "just some minor body creases" none of these ladies fit my bill. I had all but given up, I was gonna kick. My troubled slep was going to pass, I would settle. I would buy a shoe box...

BUT LIKE ALL ADDICTION. I was just going to take one more quick look on Airforums classifieds then never return... FOOL!!!!! There she was! Rear bath! Double full size beds! A kitchen that worked! A bed for my wife and I to share! And SOOOOO MUCH SHINY!!!!!!! It is 15 years newer than the trailer we are now using! It was a '79 Sovereign Of The Road International Land Yacht. The ad said it was in Alberta! But in order to contact the poster I had to register for the site. That's what junkies do, and I was in control now.... So I checked kijiji and she was listed there too.
Like a junkie looking for a fix I sent an email. Still available, I could go and see it on the weekend! Come Sunday night at dinner time and no location I was pretty shaky, I was THIS CLOSE to the score and no call back to go see the trailer.

The phone rings.
An angel is on the other end.
she can meet me.
It is close.
Very close.
4 blocks close.
My vision blurs and I start to sweat...

To be continued.......

Scott J-24 · 07-25-2012, 12:10 AM

More... MORE... Please don' leave us hanging!

Loeber · 07-26-2012, 12:21 AM

I knew it was coming. I just didn't know how hard it would hit me. I met my "pusher" in the alley and she opened the gate, letting me into the yard where she kept it stashed.

I remember it like it was this afternoon, (it was) the sun was trying to shine just to tease me with the trailers promise of future polishing, there were kids in the yard next door, playing with the innocence of youth, not knowing what darkness we were dealing on the trailer pad next door. A police helicopter was circling a block over. No doubt chasing some other poor sous, tweaked out on their own drug of choice. Didn't matter to me. They were keeping the eyes away from me and my awakening needs and desires.

I handed over an envelope stuffed with cash.
She gave me a clear plastic Baggie full of the stuff I needed and some of her own personal stash. (sales slip, manuals, custom wiring diagrams,)
I broke into a sweat, anticipating my first taste of the contents of that bag.
I just wanted to be left alone to do what I HAD to do.
As she drove out of the alley, her taillights still visible through the settling dust, I tore into the bag, dumping the contents out and just letting my hands run over it all...

MINE! MINE! It was all mine!

And for the next few hours it was mine alone.
I didn't have kids, a wife, a job, nothing. Just me and my aluminum addiction.
.
.
.
*****THE ABOVE IS A WORK OF FICTION (MOSTLY)*****

My name is Dan and I live in Calgary Alberta. We had been looking for a trailer to replacing the trailer that has been doing double duty for our family of 4 for 10 years. We got it when our neighbors moved and were going to toss it. We got it for a dollar ($0.85 usd). We have taken it all over Western Canada and the northwestern states as a family and we open up the holes in the floor to go ice fishing with it in the winter. We pulled the windows out to fit our kayaks inside one year. The kids have free run with markers and paint to "express" themselves on it. But at 48 years old it was time to find a new trailer. So we began our search a couple of years ago.

Jump ahead and you get this.

I brought home our '79 International 31' trailer this afternoon. I spent 4 hours figuring out the load spread hitch and how to manually work the electronic jack, locating the tire iron to raise the trailer jacks and get hooked up.

I always thought Airstreams were cool and attracted attention..... I HAD NO IDEA!!

One of the tires was a little low so I drove to the nearest gas station to check them all. In the 5 minutes I was there, no less that 3 people stopped to talk to me.

"what year is that trailer."
"can you pull it with only an F-150?"
"we had this exact trailer when I was a kid, I didn't know there were any around"

People walking dogs, we're overheard saying " that's a sweet trailer"

I have had 3 different neighbors knock on the door to see it, only one asked how long I planned to leave this one on the street.

Like getting a new lover, I am giddy about it. I can't see the stained carpets, the missing tambours, the cracked wood grained plastic or the missing gaucho.

Thanks for listening... Pics to come...