Vintage Camping

One thing my husband and I enjoy doing together is camping. There is nothing like getting out and enjoying God's amazing creation without modern distractions. Last year we had a pop-up camper that we used on a several-day trip with a bunch of friends, but it ended up pouring rain a night or two... and we discovered it leaked pretty bad. We had quite the night as we constantly woke looking for higher ground on the mattress. Later that summer we ended up selling it while it was still worth a little bit. Our dream was to find a vintage-style camper one day. Within the year, opportunity struck!

Tucked back on a side road in a neighboring town, there it was. A 1969 Franklin. It wasn't the most beautiful thing you've seen, but it had some potential, and we didn't have the wallet for one that was ready for use tomorrow. We knew we'd probably have to do some restoring to a fixer-upper. But with Frank's price tag and an eager, adventuresome couple, he captured our heart and became part of the family.

...yeah. It needed some help. Ugly cushions, big sloppy painting on the side wall. It looked more like an art project than a homey little camping space!

Normally we go on a camping trip every June, but with everyone's extra-busy schedules, it got cancelled until further notice. That gave us a little time to work on it! When the weather got nice enough this spring, my handy, experienced husband set to work getting the outside shell all nice, fixing any leakage, painting, and sealing the roof. Every now and then when it was a nice free day, he was out repairing.

Then the camping trip got rescheduled for August, and we realized we really needed to get to work if we wanted to use it. The inside walls needed torn out, wood replaced, insulation redone, everything repainted... as well as a number of other smaller projects that just added up to a lot of time! As we got to crunch time, he was given the last two weeks before the trip off work so we could get everything finished. It was a chore, and he worked SO hard from morning 'til night, but we made it. Everything was done two days before we were scheduled to leave! What a vacation we were planning on. Rest, sleep, relaxation....

Isn't it a beaut?!