Connie the 1959 Shasta

Hello! We are Kirk and Gwen. We are close to retirement, yearn to travel the United States, and plan to live full time in a trailer. 

We bought Connie (our 1959 Shasta Airflyte) in October 2018 while traveling the Lake Michigan Loop. Our plan was to celebrate Kirk's 55th birthday with a week long tent camping trip. The weather was forecast to be beautiful when we were planning but this is the mid-west so by the time we left home there were some clouds in the sky. The following week was filled with pounding rain, gale force winds, and 40 degree weather. 

By that Friday, we were soggy, exhausted, and everything smelled of wet dog. All week we kept saying, "If we only had the Airstream." At some point that conversation turned into a Craigslist search of vintage trailers. We left messages for all of them. Most had sold within hours. Some never got back to us at all. One was in the middle of nowhere, it was still available but they had set up several viewings for the following day. Cash only. It had a title. 

We drove to the town, really a cross roads, and then it dawned on us that we were arriving at a house in a very rural part of the state, no one else around, with a known wad of cash in our pocket. When we arrived there was a burn barrel going. Growing up in Wisconsin, I am used to burn barrels in the fall, but I would be lying if it didn't cross my mind that we may end up running for our lives. Luckily, the fellow we bought the trailer from was very nice. He had painted the trailer aqua blue and wiped down the surfaces. He threw in the Welcome sign. We knew there was water damage at the vent (it was covered with paneling but the water damage was visible at the edges). But we saw that dinette, the stove, the gaucho, the magazine rack with the S and we fell in love. We told ourselves there would be a few minor repairs but it would be fun to make the trailer our own.

That night we learned some important lessons. All the state and county parks in Michigan close October 1st for hunting season. If you desperately beg an RV park person. they will keep the camp gate open long enough for you to slip in. Waking up in a warm, dry camper, even if "clean" does mean there is still some mouse poop in the drawers, when you have been pelted by rain for 5 straight days is the most lovely feeling ever. The sun was shining, literally, for the first time since we left home.

We spent the next night camping and hiking the sand dunes by Lake Michigan. Then we headed home.

We know we were lucky. We spent that fall going on several more camping trips. We were oblivious to the rot under the skins although our first hint was when the first license plate flew off somewhere in Wisconsin when the plate holder did not stay attached.

We paid way too much. We have an 8 foot wide driveway and a 1924 garage that is just big enough for our canoe, the lawn mower and the two walls of Connie. But we are determined to put her right. During disassembly we confirmed she was originally yellow. She will be yellow again. We truly want to create an heirloom for our family and have fun along the way.

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