Wednesday, November 16, 2011

You're gonna get what you wish for


Blowing out the candles
I feel that it might be pertinent to explain how we came to the decision to travel in the way we've chosen. About a month and a half ago, we finally decided that this whole cross country venture was something we could pull off time wise and financially. With the cold months impending in the East and most other parts of the country, we decided that car camping and tenting would be a little bit more difficult since lots of campgrounds are seasonal, and we've come to the end of that season in most places!
     I realize that there are folks who tent camp or squat on private lands, people who hop trains, hitch hike, backpack, couch surf, you name it. I believe everything is an adventure depending on your attitude, and each mode of transportation has its good points and it's drawbacks and will deliver a different experience. So for various reasons we decided to go with a camper this time around. We're both pretty big on tent camping so this was a long debate! How posh it seems to have a trailer with a stove we don't have to set up, and a bed that folds out that we don't have to blow up.

Wave formation
Our acquisition of our small little travel trailer is sort of a funny one. This idea to get a trailer was finally solidified and we were just looking around on Craigslist for different options of what we might like, as well as trailers for sale. Up popped a Scamp. A Scamp you say? I had heard of teardrop style campers and others but never these. Scamp began as a company in Minnesota in the early seventies where they built small fiber glass trailers, which they do to this day. You can read their whole story here. We both thought they were lovely, towable by compact car, just the right size, but seemingly out of our price range. Even models from the late seventies were priced pretty high. We found a few different options of Scamps and campers all too expensive, far away. or needing way too much work for us to purchase. We made a few calls about other camp trailers we liked, all fixer uppers. We had a few leads (Craigslist really is like fishing) all of which didn't turn out to be what we wanted.
 
Our new rolling home
Over a camping trip with my family over my birthday weekend up at the Cape I made a wish. Many wishes in fact. Wishes on stones thrown in the ocean, wishes on sunsets and blown out birthday candles. I wished for our trip to come to fruition and for everything to come together to make it possible for us to have a grand adventure. Patrick and I stayed for an extra day hoping to catch some surf (the cape had the flattest sea's some local surfers said, was the flattest they'd seen in ten years so we caught it naught!) and we got a phone call from my mother. On their way home a day ahead of us, pulling onto our road home as the sun was setting she had seen a small trailer, and  she made my father turn around to look and see what it was, knowing that we'd been looking for a trailer. In the fast encroaching dark he read the little sign " FOR SALE 1978 Scamp". We made some quick decision making as we've heard these little trailers fly fast when they come up for sale. So we made some phone calls and it was ours! Talk about getting what you wish for and the power of intention. When we came home we got to meet the seller who graciously towed it a few miles up the road to our home, handed us the keys and the old manual. The key chain has the name "Beatrice" inscribed in the leather pendant that will travel with us. Just as every good old truck or motorcycle deserves a name so does the camper so we have settled upon Beatrice. It's old fashioned like she is, and still beautiful.

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