The first day of demo

   The first day of demo always is nerve racking wondering what we are going to find. In Leeola's case we knew that it was NOT going to be pretty behind the bench seats someone put in her. Boy were we right. Nothing like the smell of wet rotten wood in the morning. Turns out that was just the beginning of the day. We also discovered that 100's of carpenter ants had taken up residence in the insulation behind this wall. At the end of day she did smell a lot better than then we started.

   We knew that front living room vent was leaking, and that it would need replacing. Someone had tried to stop the leak in the front vent at one time. Apparently they used about 4 or 5 tubes of silicone to permantly seal up the vent and stop the leak. It didn't work. All three of the vents are sealed that way and are pretty much junk at this point. It's a good thing that "Vintage Trailer Supply " has them in stock. I would love to put in a fantastic fan in her, but that is just not in the budget right now. I am going to run 12volt wire so if we decide in the future to put one in the wires will be there.

Leeola Coming Home

   It took a chainsaw, hand saw, a couple of friends and a few hours to free her from all the trees and grapevines that held her in place. We are sure glad that we took the time to free her from the weeds. While we were exploring the back cargo hold Scott discovered the original Vagabond metal tag hung up on a nail in the back. Score! The game plan was to get rid of the trees and pull her out into the open. After kicking the tires and finding that they still had air in them, we were good to go. Pete lifted her hitch up and pulled her foward and then set her back down on cribbing.

   A quick walk home to get the truck and the jack. Forgot to mention the Leeola has been parked behind where we live next to the recycling center for about 5 years. Yes folks Scott has been keeping an eye on her for a few years, and checking her out at least once a year. We were pleasantly surprised that the outside body was in pretty good shape for being 60 years old. The hitch and jack has not faired so well though.  Both are going to have to be replaced. Even though it's a very short drive home we were still nervous about getting her home.

  Oh happy, happy day! The 'ole girl is on the way to her new home. It's a good thing no cops are around when we got to the road. It took less that 5 minutes to get her home after hitching her up. Scott seems to be enjoying himself. I can't believe that we traded a 1960's Pathfinder for her.

Whew! Made it home and around the tree and backed into her new home for the time being. It's going to take years and thousands of dollars to get her back into shape. We love the 'ole girl already even though her windows are rotting out of her, the roof vents leak, and the curb side wall in the front in held on by gravity. Sleep well tonight Leeola. Tomorrow we start ripping into you!

"Leeola" where she sits today.

We hope that she will be brought home next week. Scott and I have been keeping an eye on her for about four years. Every summer we walk back to her and check out she faired the winter. It seems that every year she disappears a little more. We know that it is going to be a 3 or 4 year process to get her back into shape, but we are up to the challenge! Thanks Pete for letting her go to us. We promise to take good care of her. We have been through the restoration process before. Leeola's little brother "Rob" a 1953 Zollinger "Va-Ka-Shun-Ette" was a one year intensive restoration. We plan on using the Zollinger while Leeola gets a lot of TLC.

 For the most part she has faired pretty well while sitting in the weeds. Last friday night we lost our power during a storm and Scott, Ed and I fought our way back to her to see if we could see any leaks inside. We found that the front vent is starting to leak. Gonna have to do something 'bout that. I guess we are wierd we like to spend time in our trailers just to listen to rain on the roof. The three of us spent a couple of hours in her during the storm dreaming of how we are going to fix the 'ole girl up. Spent a lot of time exploring her trying to find out what is original and what is not.