projectmidge

It’s been 7 months since I have updated my blog :-/. I meant to post several times, but we were BUSY! Finishing this little beast of a trailer took quite a long time, but it was worth it! We’ve already been on the maiden voyage to our favorite campground in Grand Lake – Elk Creek Campground. It’s the best! As well as exhibiting at the Denver Modernism Show in August – guess who won the “Best Vintage Trailer” category???? Your looking at him! Private Idaho! Our 1961 Holiday House!

We’ve, also, taken the 57 Silver Streak to the Royal Gorge for Memorial Day (for shits sake – it was SO. DAMN. HOT.) and to Devils Tower, WY/Deadwood, SD. Midge, our 67 Airstream Globetrotter, got to go to Glenwood Springs and Estes Park for Scotfest! We didn’t get as many trips in this season because of the Holiday House project, but still had some great adventures :-).

We sold our sweet little 1965 Holiday Rambler last spring :-(. It was a tough decision, but a vintage trailer needs to be used and loved, and unfortunately, the HR was always the last to get a trip. We sold it to a nice couple in Cheyenne, WY. They promised to attend one of our FAC rallies so we could check on the trailer – haven’t seen it yet…GRRRRR. I may have to take a road trip to Wyoming to make sure they are taking care of her.

I know you are here for the pictures, so settle in. It’s been so long since I’ve posted that I’m going to load this page with pics! Sorry if it takes forever and a day to load. I’ll start with the Holiday House restoration pics then I will post a few pics of our other trailers and travels at the end.

Ready? Here comes Private Idaho:

The stainless stove top is in horrible condition – it is stained and pitted. We’ve been all over Denver trying to find someone to fix it, but no one is willing to help. Dear Husband made me an awesome stove cover out of the starburst laminate, which is a fantastic solution until I find a different stove top or find someone that is willing to fix this one.

Some Notes: The turquoise metal kitchen cabinet came from our garage! We have a whole set installed out there for storage. They are the coolest cabinets and I’m so glad we could use them in the Holiday House :-). The bottom section with the glass doors even light up! I know!!!!!!!! The little square cabinets are from IKEA. They are small, but great storage for coffee and dog treats! They were white, so I just spray painted one of them yellow.

The counter top laminate is a custom design. I made the design based on Franciscan Starburst and WilsonArt printed it for me. It was expensive, but I saved much $$$ on fabric and upholstery. It was my splurge. Dear Husband’s splurge was installing roof top AC. During the hottest camping trip in the world to Hades, er….I mean Canon City, he was scarred for life.

Have I told you how much I adore vintage sewing machines??? I think I have 10 now. I had 11, but gave one to my sister in Chicago. She does costuming for theater productions and needed a good work horse. At any given time I had 3 vintage machines going: my gorgeously handsome Singer Rocketeer 500A, my beautiful lavender/beige Kenmore 158.904, and not pictured here my atomic turquoise and white White 804. It makes sewing projects so easy when you have multiple machines with different threads ready to rock and roll! These babies knocked out all the cushion upholstery, throw pillows, curtains and awning with ease. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! Scout out Goodwill and ARC. I usually find them for $20 – $30 :-). They are all metal and amazingly easy to work on.

I can stare at this picture for hours. Not even kidding.

George had quite a time rebuilding this door. It was so rotten! It turned out great, though :-).

This was probably the most fun you can have while rebuilding a trailer (with your clothes on anyway). It’s almost as satisfying as peeling your skin after a sunburn. I know that’s gross, but the only analogy I could come up with.

Next up – MAIDEN VOYAGE!!!! Elk Creek Campground in Grand Lake, CO. Seriously, one of our most favorite places. I highly recommend it :-).

You don’t even know how excited I was. I don’t know how George got us to Grand Lake without driving off the road. I spent the entire trip looking in the side view mirror. Not sure how he kept his eyes on the road ;-).

We stopped at Berthoud Falls to get some pictures. I had to pee really bad, so George said just use the bathroom in the trailer. Well – ok. I was the first to pee in there! It was an interesting experience, and all I can say is it’s like peeing in a coffin. That space is TINY. Works in a pinch, though.  I know, I know … TMI.

We had some laminate left over, spray paint, and an old bar cart that needed some love – voila!

TEN – If you count the photographer! ELEVEN – if you count Ranger, the best yellow lab in the whole world 🙂

The trailer was great! We were happily surprised that the cushions are actually comfortable to sleep on. The bed is a pain in the a$$ to make. I just need to do it a few more times. I don’t have a system down yet, so it’s very frustrating. Once I’m accustomed to doing it, it won’t be so bad. Also – not a good idea to try to do it for the first time after having several cocktails. That could be part of the problem I was having :-/. I neglected to take a picture of the bed made. Next time we take it out, I’ll snap a few pics. We had an electrical issue the 2nd day. Evidently a wire nut had come loose in the wall, so we didn’t have lights in the front 1/2 of the trailer. Unfortunately, Dear Husband had to cut into the paneling above the stove to fix the issue :-(. It was fairly devastating for him – he loves that paneling! We ended up putting a piece of stainless over the hole, and it actually looks like a very intentional backsplash behind the stove. No biggie.

Finally – our awesome trailer group, Friendly Average Campers of Colorado (FAC) exhibited 17 trailers at the Denver Modernism Show in August. As always, it was an absolute blast! It’s an exhausting few days, but my gosh – we are a fun group! My sister came out from Chicago to attend, which was a treat for me! And, look! Midge got to go to the big dance, too! This her first time attending the Modernism Show :-). Don’t they look amazing together?!

So, there is my Holiday House update!  We still need to add some paint to the exterior – not the entire thing, just in some specific areas – primarily the back top 1/4 of each side and a stripe from the back to the front point.  It’s gorgeous as is, and we’ve had people lose their mind when we mention it.  I’m leaving that up to Dear Husband.  I will love it either way :-).

So on to our travels with Miss Behavin’ (1957 Silverstreak) and Midge (1967 Airstream Globetrotter):

Memorial Day Weekend was the FAC kick off to summer event at the KOA at the Royal Gorge near Canon City.  It was fun – but good lord it was hot.  EVERY. DAMN. Day.  Of course, we took the Silver Streak which doesn’t have AC.  It was so brutal I ended up renting a KOA cabin for a couple days because it had a window air conditioner.  We called it the “dog cooler” and at one point had 8 dogs and their humans inside.  We have changed the location for next years kick off to summer gathering:  It will be in beautiful (and shaded) Salida, CO!  Can’t wait!

Next up – We took Midge to the Glenwood Canyon Resort in beautiful Glenwood Springs!  It was another FAC gathering, although not as big.  We camped right on the Colorado River and it was gorgeous!  And – COOL!

Last, but not least – we took the 57 Silver Streak to Devils Tower, WY, then on to Deadwood, SD.  We stayed at the Devils Tower KOA – which was so nice!  Our site had the best view of Devil’s Tower!  It was so cool!  Every night the campground shows the movie “Close Encounters” on an outdoor screen.  It is one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve been to :-).  It was over 100 degrees when we got there, but not to fear!  My amazing husband rigged up a red neck window air conditioner and it worked flawlessly!  We went on to Deadwood to meet up with some FAC members at the Fish N Fry Campground in Deadwood, SD.  This is another one of our favorite campgrounds!  The people are so nice and the area is so much fun to explore!

We said goodbye to our beautiful little Holiday Rambler last spring.  It was so sad!  Even Dear Husband got a bit misty eyed as she pulled away.  We adore that little birch beauty!

One final thing – I will be astonished if anybody gets this far – this has been a marathon post!  Once again, I have sad news to share.  We lost another of our beloved doxies last spring.  That is 2 of our loves gone in 3 months.  Our beautiful 13 year old, Nellie, put up a brave battle with congestive heart failure for over a year, but it finally got the better of her.  She was George’s rig dog when we had our drilling company and was his right hand girl for everything else.  She was a beautiful, bossy, and loving little girl.  She was royalty!  A few years ago, she was crowned QUEEN of Dachtoberfest in Denver!  And, boy did she love that! Our hearts were crushed into a million pieces.  I never wanted another dog – just didn’t think my heart could take another loss.  George had other plans – as usual.  In May we brought home a 9 week old long haired mini-doxie!  His name is Georgie (I know, I know), and he is the sweetest and funnest little boy!!  I still miss my girls, Lucy and Nellie, but it is fun to have a little pup around again.  I’m hoping my future blog posts won’t have to end with sad news.  I think this is the 3rd in a row :-(.   I envision Lucy and Nellie running free with no pain or sickness and it makes me happy knowing they are together again.

Posted in 1961 Holiday House, 1967 Airstream, Airstream Globetrotter, dachshund, Denver Modernism Show, Holiday House, Holiday house trailer, Silver Streak Clipper, vintage silver streak, Vintage Trailer

Tags: Denver Modernism Show, Elk Creek Campground, Friendly average campers, globetrotter, Holiday House, Vintage Airstream, vintage camper, Vintage Trailer, vintage trailer restoration

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