Throughout this project, I had no thoughts of selling the camper, but as we all know, things have a way of changing.  I'm sad to say that the camper has been sold---not because I wasn't satisfied with it, but because another Avion truck camper came into my life, and keeping both of them was not an option (at least that's what my wife said!).  The latest acquisition is another 1969 dinette model and a 1973 Ford F350 Camper Special to go with it---both are one-owners.  Here is a photo of the rig taken as it appeared when I first saw it:

The story of this latest camper (and the truck, if I decide to keep it) will be documented on another web site to be started in the near future.  I'll link it to this site, so check back later.

Now to the details of of the departure of the restored camper:
The early October morning dawned balmy with a threat of rain---just what we didn't want while we tried to load the camper onto Dave's truck for the first time.  I had met Dave (the new owner) in person for the first time just the night before, after he and his two friends, Ross and Jeff, had driven straight from Colorado to Indiana.  Dave and I had previously spent many hours in conversation and many e-mails trying to determine how to best fit the camper onto a truck it was not meant to fit.  Everything had been measured and remeasured, and the plan was in place, with contingencies in case something didn't work out as we had planned.  Dave's truck is a Dodge one-ton dually 4x4---it's long, wide, and high.  The original jacks were not designed to raise the camper high enough to mount it on Dave's monster truck and the brackets were not wide enough to fit the dually fenders between them.  The solution was new brackets and dually box-type extenders to spread the jacks wide enough, and leg extensions for the jack legs to provide another eight inches of lift.  It would need to go 44 inches up in the air to provide adequate clearance to get the truck under the camper!  It's a good thing Dave brought some good help.  I pulled the camper (on my trailer) into the middle of the cul-de-sac in front of my house and the 'show' for my neighbors began.  Here is a photo of the camper being raised off the trailer, with Ross stacking wood blocking between the camper and the trailer, just in case something went wrong.  Notice that the trailer was backed onto blocks in order to get it as high as possible before starting to raise the camper on the jacks.

Here is another photo of the camper going up in the air.

After we got it high enough, it was a matter of quickly pulling out the trailer and backing the truck under the camper.  It was a close fit, and Dave seemed as cool as could be, even though I was sure he was a little nervous since he hadn't done this before.  The operation turned out to be a piece of cake, with only a couple of minor adjustments.  Here is a photo of Jeff looking on while Dave adjusts a tie down (or is Dave kneeling to offer a short prayer of thanks for our success at getting the camper loaded without incident?).

Here is a photo of the truck/camper combination ready to go home to Colorado.  It's quite a handsome rig, in my opinion.

Here are the tres amigos (Ross, Jeff, Dave) looking very pleased with themselves.  They should---it was a job well done by three friends who seemed to work well together.

This one photo tells the whole story---the camper headed home with it's new owner.

 Enjoy, Dave.

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