Impossible Dream

My goal with the trailer was to be like I was in college, when everything I owned would fit in my car.

I was hoping to get rid of everything that wouldn't fit into the trailer. But at 16 feet x 80 inches, the trailer is really small !

Like, today I put my four cold-weather coats (parka, shearling, dress coat, and leather jacket) into the closet--and that was it! There's no more space in the closet!

Here's the closet when it's empty:


I looks a lot bigger in the photo than it is in real life.

So I guess I'll have to rent a storage unit somewhere for my excess junk.

(BTW, as I was looking up the song below on YouTube, I found that it was once recorded by Elvis! My favorite is the version by Richard Kiley--probably because I met him when I was a teenager and he came into a store where I worked. He seemed a bit perplexed that I didn't know who he was. He was using his AmEx card to buy something, and I asked to see ID! I was, like, seventeen and clueless. He was nice enough, though. When he died in 1999, the lights on Broadway were turned off in his honor. The version below is sung by someone other than him, however, because I couldn't find his rendition on YouTube.)

Satellite TV

Speaking of satellite TV, a while back my dad's cousin Naomi recounted her efforts to explain satellite TV to her 93-year-old mother:

Naomi: See, there's these satellites . . .
Mother: Wha-a-a-t?
Naomi: In space, there's these satellites . . .
Mother: In space? Like with the moon and the planets and the stars?
Naomi: Well, yes, but not that far out, I don't think. You know, like Sputnik, kind of. So the satellites, they send . . .
Mother: Send? Who sends? Dogs or monkeys or whatever in the Sputniks?
Naomi: There are no dogs or monkeys in the satellites.
Mother: Astronauts?
Naomi: No astronauts.
Mother (suspiciously): Robots, then?
Naomi: (pause) Well, okay, robots. Sort of. I mean, not C3PO, of course!
Mother: (blank stare)
Naomi: So anyway, these satellites send signals.
Mother: What kind of signals?
Naomi: You know, signals.
Mother: Morse code or something?
Naomi (getting frustrated): Not Morse code.
Mother: What, then?
Naomi: If you'll be quiet and listen, you'll understand.
Mother: There's no need to get snippy with me, young lady.
(Naomi is 72.)
Naomi: The satellites send signals to the dishes on the earth.
Mother: Dishes? (stands up, preparing to leave the room)
Naomi: Yes, the satellite dishes. The dishes pick up the signal, and that's satellite TV.
Mother: (shakes her head slightly, pats Naomi on the shoulder) That's a nice story, dear. I think I'll go lie down for a while.

Life Is Complicated

I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide which satellite service to get for the trailer--Dish Network or Direct TV. There are so many variables! And should I use one of them for my Internet connection, or go with Verizon's Internet service?

Once upon a time, life was simple. They had ABC, NBC, and CBS. They had tethered landline phones from Ma Bell. Instead of computer games they had decks of cards (and maybe Scrabble or Monopoly).

They didn't have to weigh the pros and cons of a million different plans and options and features and functions, or worry about whether the sales reps are clueless or even lying.

But these are good problems to have. When you think about it, I'm really saying, "Waaaaaa! I can't decide which Internet connection to get for my laptop computer. Waaaaaa! I can't decide how to hook up my TV."

In a lot of developing countries, there are people who would love to have these so-called "problems"!

So I'll stop complaining now.

Quantum of Solace

Now that my other blog is SNAFU'ed and I'm combining them, I guess I'll do the movie reviews over here from now on.

Okay, so today it's . . . .

Quantum of Solace (4 Broomsticks)

I was thinking as the opening credits rolled that what you want in a Bond film is predictability. But now I'm not sure that's true.

This flick had all the expected action--more than the expected amount actually. I would have liked a bit more explanation and backstory. And of course it had the Bond girls, and the exotic locales. But a lot was missing.

First of all, what happened to Q? Second, is the humor gone forever?

I read a reference to the new Daniel Craig Bond films as "Bond Rebooted"--in other words, Bond films without some of the familiar predictable elements--and I think this is true. I like Daniel Craig in the Bond role, but the feel of this film is really different. It's almost a "BINO"--a BondFilm in name only.

Still, it's good entertainment. You get to see a lot of exciting chase scenes, shootings, and things blowing up (gee, I hope I'm not giving away too much here!), and it's definitely worth seeing--but I wouldn't go back for a second look.

Thoreau, Part Two

I want to clarify something I just said--well, something I just quoted Thoreau as saying: “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

I have nothing against "luxuries," "comforts of life," nice things, etc. In fact, nobody appreciates beautiful objects more than I do.

But like I said earlier (Time Is Running Out!), I've been moving boxes of stuff (aka junk) around the country, from coast to coast, for years, and it's gotten to the point where it feels like I don't own my stuff, it owns me.

Case in point: my baby plate.

My mother had lovingly preserved my baby food plate (pictured above). (You put hot water in it and it keeps the food warm during long feeding sessions.)

So I dutifully kept it wrapped carefully in bubble wrap and packed in a box. I've been hauling it around from home to home with me for my entire adult life.

For what?

I don't need a fricking baby plate. It's not like it was on display and I was enjoying it.

So I sold it on eBay last week for twenty bucks.

If other people want to own a bunch of nice stuff, good for them, but in my current state of mind, most of the stuff I have just seems like a huge burden.

Good-bye baby chicks!

Thoreau

Anticipation of trailer living is making me think about Thoreau.

Here's a reconstruction of his cabin:

Here's the inside:

I don't know the dimensions, but my trailer is 16 feet by 80 inches, and Thoreau's cabin looks like it's not too much bigger.

This is funny--I just had to go back and make a correction--instead of "dimensions" I wrote "dementia"! Talk about a Freudian slip!

There are gazillions of great quotes from Thoreau, but here's a nice one:

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

Trailer Trash

After visiting the RV park yesterday, I checked to see if there was a listing for trailer trash in Wikipedia. Of course there is. I think "RV trash" is on a lower rung that doesn't even merit a definition!

Btw, if you're looking to insult someone, Wikipedia also has a whole directory of pejorative terms for people with a bunch of words I've never heard of, like "FNG syndrome" and "fresa."

Anyway, here's the photo used in Wikipedia to illustrate "trailer trash."

I looked at it and thought, geez, it looks like where I lived in college. Is that the worst they could find?

RV Park

I have to be out of my house between mid and late July, and I can't leave for Montana until late July or early August, so in case there's a stretch of homelessness in there, I'll be doing a stint in a local RV park this summer.

Today I went and looked at the RV park. I've driven past it lots of times and it always looked innoculous enough--except that it has the word "Beaver" in its name--but it had gotten bad reviews at one web site, so I was reticent.

It looks fine. A bit rustic, but this is, after all, RV camping, so it's not supposed to be anything but rustic.

I feel reassured!

Limbo

I'm really hating this interim "limbo" period between living in my house and moving into the trailer. I would be farther along in the moving process, but a sprained ankle has slowed me down.

Here's a painting called Christ in Limbo by a fifteenth-century Austrian artist named Friedrich Pacher. Notice the souls begging him to get them out, and the menacing demon up above them? This picture captures how I feel!

Blogging

I put this cartoon in my other blog, but it's so funny IMHO that I want to repost it here!

Shout Out Number 3

I have to give a shout to the artist who did the painting in the last entry.

I don't know her personally, but I like her work.

Her name is Paige Bridges and her website is Vintage Travel Trailer Art.

Not only does she have a whole series of fabulous paintings of old trailers in various settings, she does commissions!

I'm saving up to have her do one of the Turquoise Trailer.

Sisters on the Fly

As long as I'm doing shout-outs, I'd like to do one to Sisters on the Fly.

This group sponsors numerous activities that include: outdoor adventures with trailer caravans, fly fishing, and horseback riding. (Sorry boys, it's girls only!)

They also help with vintage trailer sales, restoration, and customization.

Check them out!

Vintage Trailer Restoration

Today I want to give a shout out to the place that's going to do the modifications (adding a shower, hot water, awning, spare-tire mount, etc.) to my trailer.

Montana Camps and Cabins sounds like the name of a resort, but actually it's "a full-service repair and restoration facility dedicated to preserving and enhancing the timeless beauty of vintage travel trailers."

I've been in touch with them and they are so-o-o-o-o nice, plus they were recommended to me by Sisters on the Fly, an organization that sponsors caravan trips around the country in vintage trailers.

Their website has some cool photos of restored trailers and a link to the "vintage trailer web ring." Check them out!

I'm Googled!!!

I've had a few blogs before this, and I've tried to get them into the Google search engine, but could never manage it.

There's a set of complicated (for me, anyway) directions somewhere on BlogSpot about this, but I couldn't figure them out.

But just now when I typed "The Turquoise Trailer" into the Google search bar, my blog popped right up!

My other blog doesn't show, for some reason, but one out of two ain't bad. Not sure what I did right, though!

Thanks, Google!

Tires

It drives me crazy that no one around here gets the vintage trailer concept.

Everytime I try to do something related to fixing the trailer, the "trailer experts" tell me just to junk it and buy a new one.

Case in Point: Getting a Spare Tire

My friend who went with me when I picked it up suggested having a spare tire in case of a flat.

So when I left it for three days at the service department of the new trailer dealer place to have it checked out for problems (which is another story for another post), I specifically said I wanted to get a spare tire.

Last week I went to the tire dealership, and the nice guy there said that in order to get the correct spare tire, I needed to give him some special measurements that can only be obtained by taking off one of the tires and looking at it.

Okay, so I called the dealer place, because they'd had the trailer there for several days and knew I wanted a spare. Surely, I thought, they had taken the tire off and gotten those required measurements.

Nope.

The dealer said that to get a tire I'd have to try to find one at a junk yard (and he hinted that while I was there, I should just leave the trailer behind and spend $25,000 to buy a new one from him).

So now I had the huge hassle of having the nice guy at the tire place come to the trailer storage lot, jack up the trailer (difficult because it's parked on gravel), take off a wheel, and measure it.

I finally managed to contact the guy who sold it to me. He gave me all the measurements and said the tires are a very standard type, the same as those for a vintage 1960s Ford Fairlane.

I called the tire guy, and guess what? No waiting, no special orders, it's easy, and they have the tire in stock!

I guess some people just love to make things complicated!

Bed

I'm wondering how confortable the bed in the trailer will be. It's not a true mattress, just a set of three long cushions that together can convert into a sofa. One is about the width of a sofa seat, and the other two are about a foot wide, or less, to make the back of the sofa.

I tested it, of course, but you can't really tell about a bed until you sleep on it for several nights in a row. An uncomfortable bed would be okay for a weekend trip, but because I'm going to live in "ma caravane," I need to be able to get a good night's sleep.

Because the dinette converts into a second bed, I'm putting lots of bedding in the trailer--so I can have a guest sleep over! Also it will, I hope, be enough to keep me warm on cold nights. I told my brother I wanted one of those little foil emergency blankets as a birthday present--with one of those, I probably won't freeze to death if it gets really cold. I might buy a new sleeping bag, too, because the only one I have is a very lightweight thing for summer camping.

Instead of my ratty old blankets, I wanted something nice for the bed, because it's such a big part of the trailer and I'll have to look at it every day, so I got the bedding set you see below. It's got a retro look, plus it's turquoise, so it matches the trailer nicely!

Time Is Running Out!

I have to be out of my house by mid-July, which means I have only about six weeks to sell or give away all of my stuff and start living in the trailer.

Yikes!

Instead of putting stuff into storage, which I done too many times in the past, I want to just get rid of everything! I'm even selling old family photos on eBay. Some of my friends think I'm nuts (what else is new), but these things are just material objects, and I no longer feel the need to keep boxing them up in cardboard cartons, moving them around the country, or putting them into storage.

Plus, a storage unit will cost about $100 a month. For $1200 a year, I can buy whatever I need if I decide I don't like "la vie en caravane."

BTW, as I was looking for clock photos to use in this blog entry, I found this one:
It's a life clock. You set it to your age, and watch as your life slowly ticks away.

Time really is running out!!!