This is it! Something to go camping in. Finally something I can go wandering around the countryside with, that provides shelter besides a leaky old tent that I bought years ago that has seen its better days.
I live in Lousiana and tent camping is not the way to go down here because of all the rain we get. I have tried putting tarps down under my tent, digging trenches around it and anything else you can imagine but always got wet when it rained during my camping trips.
One day I was sitting around the house bored, trying to think of how I was going to go camping even though it was raining cats and dogs outside when I came up with the idea that there just had to be a camper out there somewhere that would fit my budget and I wouldn't have to auction off the furniture to pay the notes on. So, I got on the internet and was looking around at all the nice campers people were selling and it didn't take long to realize that it was going to be a while before this puppy did any camper camping. Then I noticed my cousin from Illinois was on line and even though we rarely speak, I decided to ask her to let me know if she ran up on a camper that was reasonably priced. She said she would and within a few minutes she had found one in the newspaper in Chicago for $499. I told her, I doubt that it was what I was looking for. I could just see it...a worn out old rust bucket with no tags and no way to get any. But being the optimist, she decided to call the guy and get the scoop. She wrote me back and said that he had told her it was in good shape and left his phone number for me to call. I thanked her and called the guy up. He sent a few pictures of it through the computer and at once, I knew it was what I had been looking for (and for $500..It couldn't be real!). He told me he had just placed the ad in the newspaper and had a few calls already but no one had come by yet, but he was expecting someone later that evening. Well, that just wasn't going to work for me, I couldn't let some other guy just come and buy MY camper NOOOOOOOOOOO. Not going to happen. So I told the guy, "You hold that camper right there and I'll be there first thing in the morning to pick it up" (nevermind that all I had seen were a few badly taken pictures from who knows when)..I wanted that camper! He said he would.
This all took place around 11a.m. on Friday morning and by 6p.m. I was on the road with the hammer down. At 8a.m. the next morning I was sitting in his driveway waiting for him to wake up!(Us Ex-truck drivers can do that.) He finally awoke at 10AM and looked out the door with a surprised look on his face and said "I thought you were going to be here this evening. I didn't think there was any way you could get here that quick". Well, he just doesn't know me well enough to know that when I make up my mind to do something, it gets done or I die trying. OK! So I tooted my own horn, It's my web page!
We looked the camper over and I was surprised at how good it looked and was well taken care of. He showed me how to lift and lower the top and all the little in's and out's of a popup. The only thing I had forgotten was that I had never put a wiring harness on my truck for the trailer, so off to the local Walmart I went, which in Chicago is an hour drive each way not counting the "getting lost" time involved. I made it there and back in one piece and all was well until I tried to get the lights to work. The turn signals would come on, the brake lights would work, but no running lights! I tried everything, at least I thought I had. I decided I didn't need running lights during the day so I would just drive the rest of the day and stop in a rest area that night.
Well, right about sunset, I started thinking and calculating and decided that I could rig up some lights to get me through the night. At the next truck stop, I bought a few side marker lights and some 14 gauge wire, electrical tape, a screw driver, a pair of pliers, a pkg of bolts w/nuts, a three light light bar for the back, fuses, and a pepsi......total cost..$49. All because I was too hard headed to just sleep in a rest area or motel, which would have most likely cost about $49. But where there is a will there is a way and two hours after dark, I was on the road with lights. I arrived home at about 10a.m. and started unhooking the trailer when I saw this white wire wrapped around the tongue and BAM!!! it hit me.."You ignorant doof" the white wire is the ground wire! So I hooked it up, popped on the lights and there they are, all shinning brightly along with the other five that I had installed. Looked like some sort of ride at the fair but it worked. Did I mention, I'm no electrician? But here it is, my new, used camper.....
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