Last month Mark and I took a trip to South Carolina to pick up our 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion. One week from today we'll take a trip to Mississippi to pick up another 1950 Royal Mansion that will be used as a donor trailer. Since picking up the Spartan we have been busy collecting parts and supplies, prepping if you will for the rebuild of the trailer. As of now we have all of the 1/8" birch for the interior as well as most of the window and vent seals. We located a missing step for the rear door and have replacement cranks for the rear windows. Rivet gun and rivets have been purchased, 12V and 120 wiring has been stock piled. The Nuvite polish has been replenished as well. Two new door handles, 3 gear sets for the roof vents are on hand. Wish I could say that we have all necessary parts and supplies but that wouldn't be true. We do have a good start but many more supplies and materials will have to be purchased. For now we have enough to get started and weather proof the trailer. This is a project that the two of us are looking forward to and we're both anxious to get started.
Camping season is quickly approaching and even though I made a resolution last fall to NOT attend as many rallies as the past few years, our schedule is full once again. Just can't bring myself to turn down the opportunity to take the trailers out and spend quality time with good friends and family. The reason I mention this is that we'll be taking the '72 Shasta out for the first trip of the season. We're meeting 10 couples in SW Indiana for a weekend get-together and it will be the first time the Shasta will be out, sporting her new "original" rear window and step. After years of keeping my eyes open I finally found a window last fall and we'll be installing it in the next few weeks. As much as we love our Shasta, and we really do..we have found that it is just a tad too small to spend more than a weekend in. She's our first love and we'll never get rid of her. If not for her then we wouldn't have found our passion for vintage trailers and she'll always be our "baby". Once again we'll be towing her with our '72 F100 (just love taking these two out together) and touring the Indiana covered bridges while in the area. It should be a great weekend and a great photo opportunity. For the rest of our camping season we'll be using the Fan. She's bigger, capable of carrying her own water and much more comfortable than our Shasta. Having the separate sleeping makes a huge difference. I'm an early riser and Mark enjoys sleeping late, the Fan just works better for us.
Speaking of the Shasta and the Fan. Each have found their own use and function in our vintage trailer family. Mark and I are blessed to have them going into the rebuild of the Spartan. We have no reason to be rushed or to feel any type of anxiety or pressure in regard to the Spartan project. So why do we both feel that we have to get it done NOW? When we decided to purchase the Spartan we both agreed that it would be at least a two year project. Well, that lasted until we pulled her onto the property. Heck, I thought we'd wait till warmer weather, not be obsessed with getting started, not be busting our butts on getting 'er done! Maybe after the newness wears off Mark will settle down. Maybe after the anticipation to see how well she'll shine up then I'll not be rushing the weather to warm up just enough to polish her. We shall see!
