Vintage Rally at Copake, NY KOA

     We went to another Rally!   This has been a great First Year!  This time we ventured to Copake,  NY from Rhode Island.  We took the back roads and the scenery was AMAZING! Very relaxing easy ride. We left home at 6 am to assure we would beat the morning rush hour on Route 95, we exited the highway in CT at exit 69.
     This was the first rally for Copake, NY and Cathy Reinard did a great job! The bathrooms were spotless, the staff was friendly and went out of their way to make us comfortable.  They are already booking for next year and the slots are filling up very fast!   Yes, we already booked and are so excited to go back.  The towns surrounding are picturesque. You can go "junking," "antiquing," and to "tag sales" in NY, CT, or MA all in one day.  Several little diners are near the campground and VERY reasonably priced.  We ate breakfast twice at Dad's Diner.  A little farm has fresh made Ice-Cream about 3 miles from the campground--and it was D-lish!
     The Vintage Campers were on display Saturday from 1-3:30 and we had such a great turnout!  It was a lot of fun to entertain the people from the "Big Rigs," they were all so kind and I received great feedback for my hard work!  Prizes were awarded by vote for 1st, 2nd & 3rd.  Click on Photos for a larger View!
     JJ's Cosmic Star --   Star  was decked out in her Elephants this trip. 

This little Beauty won First Place!  A Shasta owned by Ed & Denise Enea.  I just loved, loved, loved this camper!!  A 1957 pulled by a 1957 Bel-Air, they had the total package

 This little Scotty won 2nd Place!  Owned by Clete and Erica LaMere.  She is a 1959 called Miss Daisy restored by her awesome owners.

This is a Boat & Camper Combo and he won 3rd Place.  This was lovingly restored by the owner when the owner was a mere 17 years old!  Wow, what a vision he had as a young man.  The paint is pristine!

 Tracy and Arthur N own this gorgeous Garway.  They are vintage enthusiasts who give it their all!  Arthur can always find the perfect vintage accessories at the best prices.  They recently purchased their paneled wagon to pull the camper.

     Who doesn't love an Airstream?  We had several, very different themes.  I just love the sleek body of the airstream.  The first one has a Black/White Coffee Theme.  They might be naming him Joe

  This Airstream is owned by a Sister-On-The-Fly, named Gail.

Both of the campers below are painted on the inside.  I look at these and want to run home and paint the inside of Star to be so bright and fresh.... I am sooooooo torn between painting and freshening up the wood with Shellac.  I decided at the beginning of my Reno to give myself a year or so to really think about it.

Many of us are in our first year Vintage Camping, and for Nicole Christensen, this was her first Rally! She is an awesome blogger at http://www.farmgirlbloggers.com - Check her out ! This little beauty is a Nomad 1966 and her camper name was still pending. I must have missed the inside pics.

This camper is called Plain Jane but she certainly is not!  I just LOVE the fresh, sweet, cute, comfy, cozy look of this camper!

 I didn't have time to talk with all the owners, and not all are pictured, here are some more for your enjoyment!

 *First Timer- Erica and her Shasta

 

*First Timers: Winnebago 

Moon and my Mistake

     Ok, first my mistake.  I locked my keys in Star last night!!  I couldn't remember if we had gotten two keys or one with the new lockset, hubby said one.  I thought "oh shit" I need to pack for the Rally and finish making the curtains and redo the bed and on and on...  I looked for quite a while for the keys while two ladies D & S were looking at Moon.
     After they left I decided to look for a spare and Thank you God!! There was a spare key.  I saw the tag with my name on it and immediately knew it had to be Star's! I opened her up and sure enough under the cushions and pile of crap on the table the keys were there.  I will make 2 more copies tonight and put one in each of the vehicles glove boxes for emergencies!  An extra key at home when you are at a campground will not help.  :)

Moon--  Happy Face/Sad Face
     After a little less than a month Moon will be leaving us.  But the only good part is the new owner is going to keep doing the reno and would like some help!  So I will still get to play and watch the transformation! D & S are super nice ladies and I know they will have a blast on their reno journey! Hubby will deliver him Wednesday when he gets home from Pittsburgh.
     I know it is for the best, I really can't work on three at a time.  I keep dividing my time and that just means no one project is getting finished but I saw the most opportunity for customization and change in Moon compared to the other smaller units.

Just like that my solar system got a little smaller.  I doubt there will be another "Moon" for a while.  Unless I take out a loan to buy that Trolley!!  (My dream camper!)

Sunny Side of Life 7-30-2017

   Wow-- it seems CrAzY to me that I have gone from one to THREE campers.  But I love each and every one of them.
     This is Sunny......he was a STEAL!  Sometimes things happen at the right time and you just happen to be there.
     We had been watching this little camper for a while.  As a matter of fact had this camper been for sale before Moon, we never would have bought Moon because the point was to have one camper with a bathroom for when Bernie went camping.  This is why he wants to sell Moon -- because we can only use One camper at a time.... yeah, I get that.

    I did not get pictures of the inside before we tore out the "modifications" the second owner made to him.  But I did get some after we pulled it out.  The original owner bought him in 1982 and owned him up until Jan 2017 when the second owner bought him. He lived in the camper at his brother's house (right down the road from me) for 6 months.  Since he was living in the camper he tore out the back gaucho to make it a larger table and used the dinette for his bed. ** Luckily he kept the piece he cut out that matches the other side!!  Woot Woot.

    The outside is in great shape except......... YUP ........ another broken jack!!  Again we had to use the spare tire jack to get it on the car.  LOL.  It is just my luck.  He has a chunk out of his hitch that needs soldered, 4 broken lights, a busted toilet pipe and a little bit of water damage at the front door.  It looks like he pulled away from the electric still plugged in and ripped the plug holder and part of the aluminum.  Next year I will take off the bottom piece of aluminum and then remove the busted piece and replace with new.
     Ready for a shocker!  ALL of the cushions are in Excellent shape!  WOW.  The original owner took excellent care of them and he did not use them so he stored them in his brothers basement.  No smell, no stains and they all have zippers to remove the covers. They will all be going to the laundromat this weekend.
      I set off a bug bomb (just in case) did not see anything in it at all.  And tonight will go home and continue cleaning up.  Since mostly cosmetic-- and a small rebuild for the back gaucho will hopefully be done in a few weeks!
      He was using the shower daily and the seals look great on the walls.  No water damage can be seen on the floor, and no soft or soggy spots (other than 3 inches by front door probably from sink).  He showed us all of the systems were working-- sink, shower, heater, stove.  The toilet was pulled out because the pipe broke.  We are going to fix the pipe for the toilet and he has the toilet still, we are picking that up today.  Going to soak it in a trashcan of bleach water!  So Exciting!!  Follow Sunny's makeover!  I need to decide whether to keep original or glam him up.

 He even came with an Awning!! 

  The stuff we pulled out of camper! 

........Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment and follow! 

   

My Fleet of Vintage & Almost Vintage Campers

     When I was looking for a Vintage Camper I came across my 1966 WhiteStar and knew it was the camper for me because of the name!  My favorite earrings are my Moon & Stars.  I guess the Solar System was just begging me to pick up another Camper.... or Two.

     We have a Trio:
  On the Left in the Garage: Jupiter's 33rd Moon (Moon)
   In the Middle we have: Sunny Side of Life (Sunny)
  On the Right we have : J's Cosmic Star (Star)

Moon is a complete tear down/ rebuild and will be out of commission for a long time.  I doubt I will get my half of the garage back any time in the next year!

My Husband found this Prowler

     I came home from work and my husband told me to get into the car we were going to go look at "something."  He proudly showed me his "find."  A rather needy looking camper with a great floorpan to recreate any way we wanted.  They didn't have the keys that night so we had to go back the next evening.  We settled on a price and brought him home.  Has to be male right?  I mean look at the color.
     We have done a ton of the "nasty work" pulling out the furniture that was basically destroyed.  We are about to start on removing the water, propane and sewer lines to get the rest of the inside emptied out.  I am pretty sure at this point my garbage men dislike me!
     I have named him Moon. He has a fancy longer name, but I will post that later after the remodel.  It seems my husband has slacked off on remodeling Moon and has even asked me to post him for sale.  😳😞 I get that he is "older" and he has been in a lot of pain from all the bending over and pulling out furniture and such...BUT we are almost done with the hard part.  I did post him for sale-- but whether or not anyone buys him is a different story.  Most people are afraid of projects like Moon.  So I keep working on him each night.  We planned on a one year time frame for the reno being just the two of us (not young) folks.  We will see how it all works out!

How We Found Him:

The paint is coming off with Citristrip Paint
Stripper.  It is actually easier than I thought.
Right now I am concentrating on getting the hardware off the windows so I can pull them out.


The bottom front of the camper will be replaced
with Diamond Plate like I did on Star.  Once the paint is stripped and then sanded we will decide on a color.  Probably going to do something that matches the Jeep with a shiny finish.  I am not a fan of this matte look.


We had to use a car jack to get him on the car.  Every camper I get has a broken jack!!

   The cabinets were all sticky and really dirty.
   The "Dinette" was cut down for them to add a wood stove.
 
   I am going to move the Dinette to the Front with all the
   windows and a nice U shaped seating area.  The table will
    fold down to make a very large bed in the front for two
   adults.  It will seat 6 adults to play games/cards when weather
   is crappy.

    Where the dinette is now will be a couch (gaucho bed) with
   overhead cabinets. This will function for seating and another
   bed.

    Changing the configuration will allow for a Flatscreen TV
    to be mounted and visible from couch and new dinette area.
    I am going to do a ceiling mount drop down/swivel.

After Furniture removed: 

   Oh the possibilities!!

The Bathroom:     I am going to take the shower out.  I really don't think I would ever shower in a camper.  This will make the bathroom roomier and give me space to add a small closet for towels and toiletries.  

.......... Thanks for Reading!! Please comment and follow!

New Facebook Group!

If you love Glamping, Vintage Camping or Vintage Collecting join my group!
It is place to share your newest or oldest finds!  Share you camping setup!  Get inspired or learn a new skill from others.

Pop-Ups, Tent Campers are welcome as well.  I tent camped for many years and have had many Pop-Ups!  Love them all.

Do you collect Pyrex, Fire King, Mid-Century Modern (just to name a few)? Come share your love and maybe inspire someone else to collect as well.

Selling, Buying, Trading is allowed. Use the "Sell Something" option under ...More.

Hope to see you do a Facebook search  "Vintage Campers Glampers Collecting"

Rally Time ! Peppermint Park

We went to our first Vintage Rally!  Peppermint Park, Plainfield, CT.  Beautiful large camping sites, small family run campground.  Nice clean pool. Had a great time and met some wonderful people.  The weather was not the best, but not the worst it has been this year either.

I don't have an awning yet <have to pay off the current repairs bill first>.  Still trying to decide on material and colors also.  It is such an overwhelming process to get the "perfect" awning!  Isn't the Diamond Plate amazing!  Changed out the side seams from black to white in the chrome.  Love the bright white over the previous black!

    This Rally I went with the Elephant curtains and Bedspread....

Original atomic star wall mount light was given a brand new socket and the crack repaired the best I could.








Of course vintage handmade tablecloth and matching cloth napkins.  Vintage pyrex, Bean pots on windowsill...

Love the Backsplash!  (SpeedTiles Home Depot)  Found the copper canisters at GoodWill.

Love my cute little alarm clock.  Painted it to match.   Still so sad over the refrigerator.  I'm just going to hold off this year and figure that out next year.

Bernie is looking at a little larger camper this Friday (fingers crossed) but it needs a ton of work.  The underbelly looks good--but they painted it <gasp> with house paint and did not do even a decent job. They painted the lights, the levels, gobs and gobs of paint all over it.  So sad.

She is Legal

                WOO HOO

   We are Finally Legal!  The same lady that turned me away twice (rudely) and refused to help
had to give me my tags Friday.

    Rhode Island has a few branches shut so I was at the DMV from 10 am till 5:30 pm!  As she was waiting on my I answered her with yes m'am, no m'am.  She is probably mid 20's and I know by the look on her face she was pissed I was calling her m'am (since we are not in the South where it is polite to say m'am).

    Just need to get the call from Paul that she is ready to roll!  Fingers Crossed-- Peppermint Park will be out first destination for camping with the New England and Beyond Vintage Camping group.

.......Oh and I thought this was a "next year" project.  But Bernie said he would pay for the diamond plate! (Side seams are still off in this photo) Doesn't she look spiffy!!!

Got a Little Surprise

Well... long story short have been having issues getting Star registered so she went to NH to have her Serial Number verified.  And while she was back up in NH I dropped her off to have her roof and side seams sealed so she will be ready to venture out of my garage to her parking spot next to the house.

So I got a pic from Big Daddy's with her new bumper! We had talked about having the old bumper removed and a new one attached.  I want to be able to attach a hitch mount receiver on it so I can put a hitch mount bike rack or extension rack to carry items.  

What a difference the new bumper makes!  The old one was crumpled, crusty, rusty and very unattractive!  They had attached "stabilizers" to the bumper.  

I'm getting down to the outside needing the front hitch sandblasted and rubber coated, front crumpled aluminum will be replaced with diamond plate and then a paint job--- but two of those are "next year" jobs.

Inside I need to decide if I am going to ever put the stove back in...If I do run propane lines I will add a catalytic heater at the same time.  And I need to decide if I'm going to set up the water.  I am leaning towards only setting up the water to work when attached to a hose.  I don't feel the need to carry potable water. I do want to redo the closet wood and kitchen cabinets with the same wood I used on the inside of my door at some point.  

          BEFORE                                                                                      AFTER

Dinette Spare Bed

Set up my Dinette to see how it works as a bed. The table is a little higher on left causing a hump. I will need to take off the wood bar and lower it. :)

Isn't it so nice and cozy!! Not the easiest beds to make!! Need a TwinXL Matrress covwr.  I bought a waterproof, padded twin.

I also installed a backsplash this week, I had been holding off to find the "right" one.  I came across the new Speed Tiles at Home Depot and fell in Love!! I haven't finished the decorative wood frame to go around it yet to pretty it up.  So easy to install!!