The Cherokee Rally – Day 2

Our campsite

The Egg Parade today was fantastic!  It is hard to believe how people can take such similar trailer interiors and turn them into unique, creative, living spaces perfectly suited to their way of camping, traveling and living. We ended up having about 30 trailers show up.

The campground’s mountain background

One thing I definitely plan to copy is Jean’s battery drawer mod which allows the battery to slide out to be serviced instead of having to manhandle the battery to the ground — and back — to check the water levels.

And, after sitting at the dinettes in 3 different trailers, I realized how much I miss a dedicated dinette.  I will keep our twin beds, but I will always probably feel a twinge of envy at others who have a place to sit, prop their elbows, and visit over.  My little table works fine for us, but it’s not quite the same.

The legendary Shorty!

Right before dinnertime, a very nice young couple with two small children and two dogs pulled in and parked next to us — with a new Parkliner!  They had picked it up at the factory today and driven directly to the rally.  Needless to say, they were swamped with visitors before they could even set up.  I heard someone say there have only been 15 Parkliners built so far.  I’ll try to get some good photos of them tomorrow morning.

We enjoyed the potluck this evening.  I would have liked to stay for the music afterwards, but today was a big day for me and I was exhausted.  So we walked the dogs and I propped up in bed with my puter by 8:30 this evening.  Feels so good to begin to unwind!

Steve and Jean

We would like to leave for Lake Allatoona early tomorrow morning, but I doubt we will get out as early as we’d like.

The potluck

A couple of cute 13 footers

The fresh-from-the-factory Parkliner

 

 

Our First Rally — Cherokee, NC

A few of the little fiberglass eggs at the rally

It is so much fun to be camping with so many other little fiberglass trailers.  I’m not sure how many are here, but I would guess a couple of dozen.

The little stream behind our trailer

I finally got to meet several people who I had known as just usernames on the fiberglass boards.  Lynne, whose blog I love following, and her husband David.  Jean, who travels with her two small dogs and has done so many fantastic mods, Wilco (Steve) who is as much fun in person as he is on the boards, along with lots of others whose names kind of run together for me right now.  I’ll try to get them straight tomorrow.  🙂

Joe fishing for trout

Tomorrow is the Egg Parade, where we get to see the interiors of everyone else’s trailers.  I got a sneak peek inside Lynne’s beautiful little 16′ Casita today (which made me realize how much I really miss a dedicated dinette), a gorgeous Scamp 13 Deluxe and a 13′ UHaul with a fireplace today.   So I can’t wait to see inside the others!

…and three trout

There’s a crystal clear, bubbling stream running a few feet behind our trailer.  It’s a happy, peaceful background sound.  I wish it was warm enough to sleep with our windows open so we could listen to it at night when we are inside.

The high point of our day was following Lynne and David to a nearby waterfall.  I had Sheba pull me up the steep steps to the short trail to the waterfall, which made the climb a lot easier. 🙂

Our biggest problem has been controlling Sheba when she is around other people.  She insists on lunging toward — and jumping on — every person who gets within leash range.  Holding her back is a major job.  It will be a relief when she outgrows puppyhood!

The waterfall

Lynne and David

… and Sunny and I

Looking Brighter

I’ve been able to sell several things on Craigslist, including a glass kiln and accessories, so will have more to spend on a camper.  Maybe even a decent Casita!

I have another WTB ad up on Craigslist.  And am busy photographing my solar panel, controller, hydroponics reflector and ballast to sell to put into the new camper fund.

This is exciting!  Our little fiberglass travel trailer is really going to happen!  🙂

Looking for a Scamp

I posted a Want to Buy ad a couple of places, so am seriously looking for our Scamp now.

I hesitate to post on Craigslist due to the large population of scammers one encounters there.  But if I don’t get any results from my ads at the fiberglass RV boards, I will have to get brave and post there, too.

If all else fails, I’ll have to order a new Scamp next spring.

Will let you know when there is any news to report.  🙂

No Camping for a While

Searing temperatures for the foreseeable future.

 

Several things have converged to paint this summer as a disappointing non-camping event.

One is the searing heat.  It’s the beginning of June and already we are experiencing the worst of midsummer temperatures.

Secondly is that the floor in the Aliner has completely  rotted out again.  I can stand in the shower and the floor dips toward the edge of the trailer.  We have to step over an 8 inch rotted area inside the door.  And the floor under the water heater and refrigerator is mushy.

What makes this seem like an impossible hurdle to me is that I gutted the trailer a couple of years ago and treated the floor with PC Petrifier, which is supposed to plasticize rotten wood and keep it from further deterioration.  Too late I learned that I should have used clear penetrating epoxy sealer funneled into the wood.  Or better yet, I should just have replaced the whole floor at that point.

Also, I thought I had the leaks fixed, but very obviously I didn’t.

Additionally, the trailer is 4-1/2 years old and the edges of the skylights are cracking from UV damage.  I have some of the cracks fixed with epoxy, but the Georgia sun has done a number on the Lexan.  Those bubble skylights are expensive to replace, and I would need 3 of them.

So I’ve decided to cut my losses on the trailer.  I’m not dumping any more money into it.  Hopefully I can replace it in a few months with a molded fiberglass trailer that has a reputation for quality, like Casita or Scamp.

If not, our camping days are over.

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to Tinycamper's blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 962 other subscribers
  • Cool Stuff!

  • My Blog Topic Categories

  • Blog Stats

    • 1,029,300 hits
%d bloggers like this: