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The Story ....

Started by birol, May 27, 2004, 09:49 AM

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birol

Here is how it went .....

After working both Saturday night and Sunday night I went to bed at 10 pm ..... Expecting a good healthy 6 hours of sleep until 4 am. Well, DD's friend who was staying for a sleep over had a bad headache at 2 am, so we got woken up, contacted her mom, gave her mortil and went back to bed. I could not sleep till 3 am  4 am came way too soon for me. I contemplated leaving late or next day, but I was too excited and felt in reasonably good shape. besides I do not get too tired driving (I still enjoy driving) and havea  relaxed style ...

So, I eat two soft boiled eggs with toasted bread and cheese (yeah details are good :) ) and take off at 4:45. I kiss wifey but can't kiss DD as her friend is in her room. 5 am I am on highway 401 going north-east to the border. Few coffee stops ..... Needed decaf caffeine ! Around 7:30 or so I hit the border, the agent was good, even asked me how I was doing, he opened a package I was taking with me to mail to a purchaser .... That was ok, he soon sent me on my way.

Kept driving, Syracuse, and soon Albany around noon ! I went, wooow ! That is good, I was planning to stay somewhere on the way as well, but Boston was only 180 miles ! So hardly 140 miles or so to Millis (where the PU is). I pushed on ! Around 3 pm I checked into a Holiday in which was providing free wireless internet ! Yummy !

4 pm I was at the dealer but they did not want to do the paper work as they were expecting me the next day, and they were busy with other stuff, they promised to take care of it next day.  I said fine and went to the wallmart to get the ball, drawbar (3.5" rise required). I have a 2X2 hitch receiver.

All the drawbars which were 2x2 inches had a 1" shank and all the 1-7/8" balls required a 3/4" shank :( I rushed back to them, they took the drawbar and the 2" ball and said they would fix it (they did and charged me 20 bucks for it, they returned the 2" ball)

So I said ok, went back to walmart and returned all the extra stuff I had purchased to make the hitch work. And hit the road to go to the hotel, well I got lost, so I came back to Walmart, reoriented myself, got lost again ! Can't find the darned hotel ! By then it was around 8 pm. Saw a Mcdonalds and ate a meal with no salt fries. I got a double cheeseburger as take way in case I got hungry again. Mind you I had nothing to eat after the slices of pizza I had with me at 9 am :)

Anyways, I got lost again but found the hotel !!!! And then I got online :)

I was so excited I woke up at 6:30 am all by myself :) Went to the dealer in the morning, paper work was all done (even notarized ! ) Paid them, and hitched up ! I could not bring the PU to their lot as it was in a  narrow place, they did that and they also aired the tires and sent me way way !

Woow, what a feeling ! I was towing a PU ! It was long and wide ! I could barely see over it ! It is high ! Anyways, I had to stop at a USPS office to ship that item I had. Right across it was a strip mall, I conveniently occupied a double parking space :) Then went to Lee's  house ! He wasn't home, so we yapped away with Andrea, Such a  nice friend she is :) I had to take the PU out as I had entered their driveway TV first, and back it in ! Woowsers, what an experience. I took 5 minutes backing it into their driveway but I did it ! and more or less on their driveway ! hehehhe. We yapped away some more till lee came, I should have tasted some of those yummy looking cookies ! I was so stupid !!!I was so excited and tired I completely forgot to indulge myself in them :) Fresh cookies ! Stupid me ! Oh well, The wrap for lunch was yummy :)

Lee came and we checked it out, I saw all the problems with the canvass and felt little bit cheated :( I was thinking that it would not need new canvass :( A lot of patched and torn areas. The roof is fixable ! Veneer the cabinets ! Throw away the matresses, we will use the air beds. and redo the cushions ! Some rust on the frame but it looks like surface rust and it can be sanded off and black paing will create wonders. Lee checked the wood underneath and reported it to be in good shape.

Next we did the bearing, so much fun had been had by all :) I love greasy stuff, I did not touch grease but watched him do it, it is something I can do very easily. We put the wheels back in and it was 4 pm already !Just before I left, he asked about the lights and turns out the left light was not working. He fixed it in no time, Thanks Lee :) I was good to go !

OF course I had to pass by walmart after leaving tghem and I met Andrea there :) Small world :) Soon I took off.

Cities started to fly away...... Soon I was at Albany ! Hardly felt the PU back there .... except on hills, I hit the hills with OD off, otherwise I towed in OD. Can't afford the fuel bill with OD off :( No way ! I started to tow at 60 mp, and as that felt comfortable, I went up to 65. I do not think I went over 68 MPH ever ..... Used cruise control all the way, didn't give the transmissoon chance to hunt for gears, OD came off pretty quickly .... I feel how the car is doing pretty good.

I was looking for a hotel with internet access again, but it wasn't mant to be :(

I kept pushing and driving ....... it started to get dark before Syracuse. then it got dark ! it was around 10 pm or so and I was getting sleepy ..... Time to crush somewhere, and then IT HAPPENED !!!!!!! SUCH A WEIRD FEELIGN SEEING THOSE LIGHTS IN YOUR REAR VIEW MIRROR !

I said to myself, probably he want to pas, I will just keep going, hehehe that though lasted 1 microsecond. I took it to neutral, gave my right signal and started to coast looking for a good spot to stop. Right should was very narrow, so I coasted maybe 700 feet while braking slightly. I Wanted to impress the cop with my driving abilities while thinking why the heck he pulled me over. I was never pulled over ever in my life before ....

I stopped, put it in park and put my hands on the steering wheel and started to wait. After 10 second I got bored and turned off the engine, and headlights (parks were on). Then he turned on his Spot light ! Man, it is bright !!!! I couldn't help but look at it when he turned it on, and I regretted it, soo bright ! Floodlight ! Anyways I looked forward waiting for him, mirror had a dark spot coming my way and soon he was on my side. it went like this :

O : Good evening sir, how are you doing

B : Good thanks, how are you

O : I have been following you for quite some time (I start to shiver) your trailer lights are off ! They came on when I pulld you over, you want to check your cables, there is something wrong with them.

B : I checked them jsut half an hour ago ...

O : Excuse me ?

B: I just purchased the PU, and checked them half an hour ago (I am mumbling eh :))


O : yeah, you want to check your cables.

B : OF course officer, I will do that right now.

O : have a good night

B : You too and I get out of the car

He zooms off , I check the ligths they are on, I wiggle they cables they are on .... I take off, but now I know I ahvea  problem and can get a ticket ...

Soon it starts to rain, and I turn north on I-81 .. and it is 11 o'clock, rains really hard and I am more tgired, and I said to myself, in this stinky weather if the trailer has no lights, I am a real hazard ! I pulled over to a Holiday Inn (they were expensive) but I decided that rather than be a casualtyh and take people with me, I would spend the money ! Of cousre the trailer had no ligths on when I pulled to the hotel. I watched a movie till12:30 am :) and relaxed ...

Woke up at 7 am, watched tv, ate breakfast, and checked the lights on the PU to see if it was an easy fix ..... Nope, off I went to the closeset walmart ...

Bought some clips, wire and realized that the ground was not working ... If I grounded the chassis of the PU all was well. So I rigged a ground to the ground of one of the lights. While I was tacking away the cables underneath the PU one broke off :( bloweing another fuse. Another run to WM. Put the fuse in, yeah that cable had to stay conencted ! It was broken  half an inch out from the chassis ! So I had to fix that now !  Back to WM (Third trip ) no idea how I could fix that as the lead was sooo short ! Bought a splicer connecter with insulation and a crimper ! Worked wonders ! All was well ! Lights on ! Time checked into WM : 9 am. Time after repairs done : NOON !

Kept driving ... ate chinise food for lunch filled up the tank and hit the border ! Pleasant lady, paid 30 us bucks, 30 minutes later I was in Canada, at 3 PM. I was home at 5:45 pm !

At first DW didn't want to even get in because it was stinking ! I had to persuade her to get in and look ! Described to her the stuff we could do with it ... She still didn't like it of course ...... Kids were thrilled ! they did not liek the condition it was in, but could at least imagine how beautiful it would look when we are finished with it. I told DWthat for this kind of money, it is solid, it is workable, and it is big that if we wanted it would be the last PU ever ! She started to show some enthiusasm later on, and started to make plans by the morning.

We will go to Home depot this afternoon to look at panels for the roof, and material for the couch seats. matresses are gone, we will use air beds :)

So looks like we are going to shape this baby up all together ! I feel bad aboutt he canvass but, sigh, what can I do. A pu with good canvass would cost at least a thousand bucks ..... When and if I have money we will just get new canvass froma canvass place.

it is sitting in front of the house right now ! We need to empty the junk from the garage and take our new baby in !

Oh yeah, she mentioned that maybe we shoulg go to thousand islands as our first outing :):):)

Miss-Teri

Sounds like you're winning her over!!!  Hooray!

Now that it's home, do you walk outside just to stare at it and think, "It's mine!"?  We sure did that with our PU.  I think everyone who buys their first, new or used, has all kinds of plans for "fixing it up" so we can all relate!

Very glad you're safely home (and that you didn't get a ticket because of the lights!)!

birol

I bet he stopped me to give me a ticket, but when he saw the lights come on when he stopped me, he decided that it was an intermittent problem and let me go.

And yeah we keep looking at it ! I can't believe it is mine :)

NightOwl

Birol, this is a marvelous report! :# :#   I love every single detail of it! :!  And how wonderful of Lee and Andrea to get your popup ownership started in such a kind and  re-assuring way.   You sound very competent and certainly  will be able to transform the pu into something very usable and happy to stay in.  The things wrong with it mainly seem to be  cosmetic--just like some houses that are old and neglected and can use some TLC to realize their potential as a cozy home again.


I fully believe that you have the imagination and skills to make this thing into a little palace with some time and money.  And with that transformation, Babette will eventually come to enjoy it as much as you and the children.  Just give her a little time to adjust  and she will realize it has the potential for great family fun.  And in a world gone mad, family closeness is the only real earthly security any of us have.

One thing about the trailer  is that right NOW, to your DW it is an old, used, slightly scuzzy popup.  It does not have any "history" that makes it important to her.  And this is probably true of the kids rioght now, too.  But soon, with your own bedding, and new cushions and covers, it will  reflect, not its old life, but its new one with YOUR FAMILY and it will become "OUR TRAILER."   It wont happen overnight, but it will happen!

Your children will soon be too  old and  "cool" to do things like camp with Mom and Dad, so these are important opportunities for all of you to build priceless memories on.  We were lucky, ours camped willingly  with us until after  high school and we all still laugh over some of the goofy, fun times we shared (and this was 20 years ago!)

I am SO HAPPY for you.  And I look forward to reading your posts as you share with all of us the joys (and the frustrations) of making the Starcraft into a much-loved and warm and cozy Turtle Shell Home.  It will truly become your Magic CArpet! :-()  :-()  :-()

Civil_War_Buff

Quote from: birolI bet he stopped me to give me a ticket, but when he saw the lights come on when he stopped me, he decided that it was an intermittent problem and let me go.

And yeah we keep looking at it ! I can't believe it is mine :)

I think the bigger reason he "let you go" was because the lights out was/is not a revenue generating infraction (meaning, no fine associated with it).  These are what they refer to as  "fix-it" tickets.  In order to get a fix it ticket satisfied, you would have to have the lights checked and the ticket signed off by a policeman, my guess is that he KNEW that a fine man like you  (even tho Canadian) was not likely to be around long enough to get a fix-it ticket signed off.  Therefore, a friendly warning that you have them checked and a "have a nice night", "drive safely" and you are on your way to the border was the best he could have hoped for.  Now had you been a local....he probably would have issued a fix-it ticket.

Glad the trip went well, and that you are home, safe and sound.

Trust me, B will come around after the first night in "Chez Birol" if not before that!!

Larry

angelsmom10

Glad DW is coming around.  You have a dream.. the first part has come thru.. you have the PU, now is some of the fun stuff of getting it to where you want it to be.
 
Not sure what is on the ceiling now, but if you haven't thought about it, go for white as it won't be so gloomy inside.  That'll brighten it up a lot.
 
I have not priced it, but our fabric stores carry a 4" foam that you can purchase, cover, and use as a mattress also.
 
Great news that you're home and everything is looking up.
 
Now start with beginning pics and keep taking them as you progress thru all the changes you do.

MommaMia

Quote from: NightOwlOne thing about the trailer  is that right NOW, to your DW it is an old, used, slightly scuzzy popup.  It does not have any "history" that makes it important to her.  And this is probably true of the kids rioght now, too.  But soon, with your own bedding, and new cushions and covers, it will  reflect, not its old life, but its new one with YOUR FAMILY and it will become "OUR TRAILER."   It wont happen overnight, but it will happen!


Elisa is so right!  When we first got our old Skamper, we opened it up for the first time after we got home... in the dark.  Mice flew out of it from every hole and opening!  It stunk soooo bad!  DH said "I am going to have to sleep in that thing?!?!?!  But after it was all fixed up... painted interior, new flooring, cushions, and in our case a new canvas was mandatory, it was such a great little camper.  Yours is, by far, way better than ours was!  You have a lot of potential there!

About the canvas... Is it mostly the bunk ends that need help?  MAybe instead of replacing the whole canvas, you can get away with just one section at a time. Save money and only replace the worst first.  Nothing really wrong with patches... as long as they keep the water out.


I'm Soooo happy for you B!

oldmoose

Congratulations on your new popup project. I know all of us on the board are glad you finally have your camper. Enjoy it and keep us posted.
Moose

wiininkwe

B, I can't even begin to explain how happy it makes me to know that you have your 'baby' home and are going to be able to start doing all the things you can to make good times for your family in it.  And I do believe that Babette will look forward to being part of the adventure too, especially after she has a chance to give some input and help in it's upgrades.  Once she gets to pack her own stuff in the cupboards and drawers, it will be hers as much as it is yours.   (yes, you've all heard me talk about the nasty old camper we got as our first PU, and how much I hated it, but even while hating it, I was using the experience in it as a springboard to what we would do next.)   Does Babette ever come and read the board??  Maybe you could ask her if she would like to 'meet' some of us?  Let her read the posts about how much fun everyone has with their families in their PUs.   Lets all invite Babette to be part of the group.
Babette, I would love to meet you, and get a chance to hear your perspective on all this 'hullabaloo"
T
;)

NightOwl

Quote from: wiininkweAnd I do believe that Babette will look forward to being part of the adventure too, especially after she has a chance to give some input and help in it's upgrades.  Once she gets to pack her own stuff in the cupboards and drawers, it will be hers as much as it is yours... Maybe you could ask her if she would like to 'meet' some of us?  Let her read the posts about how much fun everyone has with their families in their PUs.   Lets all invite Babette to be part of the group.
Babette, I would love to meet you, and get a chance to hear your perspective on all this 'hullabaloo"
T
;)


YEAH,  WHAT SHE SAID! :# :! :-()  :-()

griffsmom

Birol,

I feel like I've been reading a mystery/adventure story fr the last couple of weeks, and now, finally, the hero has returned triumphantly home with the girl, or in this case, the camper!  Even better!!! :D
 
I am so happy for you finally getting your camper.  In a way it's so weird, and yet awesome at the same time, to be so happy for someone I've never even met, and yet that's the beauty of these boards.  Congratulations and I can't wait until you are able to go camping with your family in eanest!  
 
PS hang in there with Babette.  She will come around, especially if she is able to meet all the wonderful friends you have made here at PUT.  :)

K-man

Congrats Birol!  

One suggestion, next time make two posts, one with details for the ladys, and one without details for the guys.  The one without should go something like, Bought popup, met up with dude to go over it and did some manly repair work. on the way home, I had an electrical issue that I fixed on the side of the highway, in the pooring rain, with cars going 90 right by me.  Hauled her home for the fam to enjoy.

Firefyter-Emt

Ahhh. I knew it was the lights!! I didn't like they way they looked. The wire harness from about 3" in front of the frame all the way back is very nice, It would be very easy to just run all new wires believe it or not. I have a write up oon my web site about wiring codes.. So, are you going to think about those crown mouldings?

birol

I am also thinking that I will simply rewire ...... I want my lights bright ond on :) I will check your web page and surely will check Tim's !!! The thing is wiring goes into the PU walls, how do I route the new cables there ???


As for crown mouldings, We went to Home Depor with Babbette, checked the panels, nice ones and cheap too ! I told her about the crown moulding idea and she liked it !!! We will see how we wrap the roof up after changing the panels ! probably two sheets will be enough, at 7 bucks, that is nothing. The thing is, those panels we saw at home depot is like 1/4" thick, do we need thicker ones ? I guess I will need to take the existing ones out and see what they used, I do not want to make the roof heavier !

Gone-Camping

Birol, glad everything worked out. Do you have a digital camera? I'm itching to get a look at the inside of this trailer, I'm sure it has to be the same thing as my "Old Barge" was/is....