Lu Lu (part 1)

Wow...while the majority of the blogs I read continue to gain followers, I seem to be hemorrhaging them left and right. I suppose, it helps if you post regular updates or maybe my sporadic, boring posts are just too much to take. Oh, well...c'est la vie!

For those of you that have stuck around, patiently waiting on something from me here and there, I just want to say: Thank you, Friends.

I actually have (had) plans for this blog. Sadly, my busy life just keeps getting in the way. I even read a great post (I'll add the link when I find it) about blog post organization and I thought I would give it a shot at some point, maybe do something with a little routine for once. I love making goal lists. I suck at keeping goals.

OK, enough of that... Today at work I was looking for an old file and, instead, found some great old photos. Those of you here that read my old blog know I am one D short of having ADHD. I am constantly being turned on to new things. Maybe I just am obsessive. Either way, I have fell in love with different things in the past and found myself submersed in a subject before giving it up for something new. Photographs, fortunately for those of us that have a...um...difficult focus, are great records of our adventures. I thought I would share some of my past (and hopefully some I will take up again) hobbies.

I'll start with Lu Lu.

Back in 2008, purely by luck of a closed road, I drove by an RV dealer on my way to work. At 6:30 in the morning in a dark lot, I first laid my eyes on the item that would soon become one of my many projects: A 1956 Trotwood Cub camper. I pulled in and much to my surprise the camper was unlocked. I went inside. I was in love.

It just so happens I had just received a monetary award at work that week. I called up my husband and the camper was sitting in our driveway later that day. Meanwhile, through the magic of blogging and internet, I discovered words like 'glamping' and found groups called Sisters on the Fly. I devoured blogs and websites and even discovered I was only about 30 miles from a vintage camper museum! Turns out, I am not so unique in my eccentricities.

As you can see from the photos, Miss Lu Lu was a horrible shade of green and yellow M & M’s on the inside and a horrible shade of forest green on the outside. Additionally, someone had ripped out the dining area for bunkbeds (it’s last use had been as a playhouse). So, my first task was scraping paint off the gorgeous birchwood paneling. Sadly, we are still scraping paint off the lovely birchwood.* Simultaneously, we ripped out the bunk beds. Fortunately, the previous owners saved the original table and I found it under the master bed. Eventually, I hope we can build back the dining chairs (still not done as of May 2012).

The third major chore: ripping out the black and white cheapo vinyl tiles placed over the original linoleum faux wood flooring using terrible glue. I couldn’t save the floor. By this time, I realized I better get over my purist attitude or I was never going to be glamping in my lovely little trailer. So, I ended up putting down vinyl wood-like flooring similar to the 1950’s stuff. I also realized I wasn’t going to be able to save the sweet, original countertops (once again lost to horrible glue; I bought replacement. I painted the cabinets a light aqua blue…

Ok, I’m getting ahead of myself. I am posting part two this weekend when I remove the winter tarps. For now, I encourage you to explore a little about vintage campers on the Web. I will warn you, though, especially you vintage lovers, this will surely open up all new cans of obsession.

*I ended up buying vintage modern wallpaper to cover part of the dining area because the paint just does not want to budge.