As we progressed towards Camper Day, I convinced Pat that we should take the pickup. He was more in the "We'll-just-drive-over-and-take-a-look-and-then-decide" mode. His biggest concern was that the camper wouldn’t fit the truck or that we wouldn't be able to attach it to the pickup safely.
I, on the other hand, was feeling a time crunch. I had just a 3 hour window between celebrating our youngest's birthday, 2 recruiting trips, OHSET practice, and drama performances. There was no need drive back and forth... After all, it was MY camper!
Having always been more backpacker than RVers, we had to educate ourselves to the RV way of doing things. We watched you-tube videos of how to load camper to a truck. We were worried about camper jacks. Were they original to the '66 camper? Would they work?
Finally Sunday morning arrived. We took every tie down ratchet strap we owned. Off we went, picturing a grapes-of-wrath look to our rig.
On the drive over, I tried hard not to let my imagination and emotions take over. I needed to be practical. We had no space in our lives for another project. It had to be livable as is. Not someday after lots of work. That’s a lot to ask of from a 52 year old craigslist find.
At 10 o’clock on the dot, we pulled into the driveway of a respectable ranch on property. A large metal shop to left had its doors closed. What would we find?
You just never know what you're gonna get with craigslist. Maybe the photos were cropped just so to hide significant damage. Maybe the lister is a jerk, dishonest, or worse. There’s always a bit of uneasiness inside when answering an ad.
We introduced ourselves. And thankfully found each other to be real honest folks just trying to make life work. He opened the barn slider doors and we walked into a time capsule.
Apparently, the previous owner of the property knew it was time to move into assisted care and sold everything: house, property, farm equipment, in fell swoop. The camper had been sitting untouched since the early nineties.
I was prepared for extreme mice, water damage, broken jacks, etc. Any of that would have called off the purchase for me. What I wasn’t expecting was a well-cared for, pristine, untouched camper that was completely set up and ready to go according to 60's style camping. All we had to do was remove a small birds nest resting on a propane tank and re-glue a layer of laminate.
All the paperwork and original owners manuals were in the drawer. Lightbulbs still worked. AND it had that much sought after turquoise stove and refrigerator!
Someone had obviously loved this camper. The handmade curtains were well made of 1960's print fabric. Not even faded or crinkly. The handles for the jacks were stowed carefully in a drawer. The silverware drawer was full with kitchen gadgets covered with Saran Wrap to keep out the dust. The wood cabinetry with copper handles and hinges took me back to my carpenter Grandpa's wood shop. I was quickly falling in love. So... I walked out to await Pat's verdict on whether or not it would fit our truck.
Measurements were made and a deal was struck. The 1966 El Dorado camper was ours! We hurried to the nearest ATM to pull out the rest of the money and returned to figure out how to attached the camper to McRoy.
The driveway into the barn was tight. It was nerve- wracking to pull into someone else’s barn and figure out how to load a camper for the first time. But, my amazing husband expertly backed in between the jacks. AND the jacks worked beautifully.
Then the miracle occurred.
McRoy's former owner had told us that, at one point, he had a truck camper. The tie down anchor hardware was still attached to the body of the truck. But we didn’t have the required turnbuckles.
As we were finishing up loading the camper, the owner said, "Look around the barn. See if there is anything that looks like it belongs to the camper. I haven’t touch much of anything since we got here."
I looked up, scanning the walls, taking in the aluminum canoe, vintage bikes and fishing paraphernalia, when my eyes landed on a metal chain hanging on a nail on a post. As I looked closer, I noticed an unusual circular cutout on the end flat metal piece. Wait a minute!! It was the same shape as the anchor points on McRoy. A glimmer of hope sprung up in me as I reached forward a found 1..,2..,3...all 4 turnbuckles. All four pieces were shiny with no rust or broken spots.
"Are these the camper turnbuckles?" I asked.
I squatted down next to the bumper and sure enough! It fit exactly!
It was meant to be. McRoy and the yet-to-be-named camper were a perfect match! And a perfect match for my plans too: vintage, turquoise stove (and fridge!), fit the budget ($700!!!) and fit the truck.
Wow! What a gift.
And I had exactly 1 hour left to enjoy it before I left for my next trip to Spokane.