Cleaning up pretty nicely!

The song goes:  "the ol' gray mare....she ain't what she used to be."  Truer words could never be spoken!!  Since Mark had to work on Memorial Day, I didn't want a day off work to go to waste.  I decided I was going to start washing the outside of the 'Stream.  I even convinced my mom to help!  The plan was for her to hold the ladder, but we never could find one in the barn.  Then, the hose that we were using wouldn't reach to the other side of the trailer.  (Story of my life!!)  Sooooo, we washed as far as we could reach standing on tip toes, and only got one side.  BUT.  The good news is that it looks completely different.  As we washed it, the gunk & grime just came right off.  Just a little elbow grease was all that was needed.  The top of the trailer may be a different story, but I'm so happy with how clean she looks now!!!  Here are some iphone pictures of our progress:

The most amazing transformation...right before our eyes!

As you can see, we cleaned as far up as possible!

Just look at that reflection!

Tackling the bathroom

We had a wonderful soul to help us with our continuation of removing everything this weekend.  Our dear friend, and fellow church member, Scott Huddleston actually volunteered to help us out!  No arm twisting, no begging!! But we did buy him lunch :)

Anyway, he was able to help Mark remove the stove, the tanks, the walls between the bed & bath and the entire bathroom.  The only thing left are two overhead cabinets....then the 'Stream will be completely gutted.  The tanks were a beast....as was the left side wall between the bed area and the bathroom (actually the shower wall).  But, thanks to Scott's help, it was done!  We also learned that two grown men of substantial weight can NOT be in the back of the trailer at the same time!!!!  Yikes....that was kinda scary.  Thankfully it didn't fall off the blocks and roll over.....

Stove is gone!

Scott helping out

Check out these old school fuses

Bathroom is finally out.

Refrigerator & sink removal

This weekend's accomplishment was the removal of the refrigerator and the sink & countertop.  The refrigerator section was quite difficult.  Hidden screws, hidden nails, brittle wood....you name it.  We tried desperately to remove it in one piece, but that didn't happen once things started splintering on their own.  We were able to get everything out, and we're saving it for template use at this point (hopefully).  I've also located someone in Georgia who does vintage appliance restoration. Photos of the refrigerator and stove have been sent....waiting to see how much this will cost.  Will we need to forget about restoring and just go new???  It will all depend on cost.  I'm also including a photo of the section where the gaucho was removed.
The countertop and sink weren't tooooo difficult.  We did leave the stove for next week's adventure.  Fingers crossed that next week we get the stove removed, the tanks that were under one of the twin beds, and the bathroom completely gutted.  There will be no recovery of the tank or bathroom items for sure.  They will be in the trash pile!

Refrigerator is now gone...

Missing gaucho

Sink & countertop removed

side of the rounded cabinets are now visible.

Our pile of removed parts & pieces

It's not all dirty work....

Every now and then, when I buy something cool for the trailer, I'll post it on here just to prove that you need to keep your eye on the prize.  It's not all dirty work & rat poop....
As it turns out, I bought this vintage fan from a local interior design store.  It's one of my favorite places to stop in and browse....and this fan struck me as a cool photo prop.  That was one of the things I had in mind for it, but when I was buying it, the owner asked me if that's what I planned to use it for.  I said, "Yeah....but I REALLY want an Airstream, so hopefully one day I'll put it in there!"  When we went to look at the Airstream the following day, it just so happens that the kitchen appliances and the sink are the same teal color!!!!  I'll take that as a sign that it was meant to be :)

My cool vintage fan...perfect match for the Airstream!

Making progress...

Can I just tell you how much I love this color??

Let the dirty work begin!!  As soon as I got off work on Friday afternoon, we headed to the Airstream to being removing everything.  We knew this was going to take some time.  We have different work schedules, so the weekends are going to be our only opportunities to do work.  On Friday, we were able to remove the couch (known as the gaucho), anything that wasn't nailed down (mattresses, cushions, curtain rods) then we started on some light fixtures.  And guess what?!!!  Upon removing the couch, we found a couple of mice living in the storage drawers.  Not really a surprise based on the amount of mouse poop, BUT.....we were hoping there wouldn't be any creatures still inhabiting the 'Stream.  Oh well...we threw it out and fingers crossed that it doesn't find it's way back.  We removed all the kitchen drawers, all the drawers for storage under the beds and cleared everything out from under the sink.

We also worked on Sunday afternoon & we were able to remove both of the twin bed frames and figured out how the refrigerator is attached.  We also started removing the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Mark was able to remove the air conditioning unit and huge heating system.  These were quite time consuming!!  Now I have a whole new reason to look forward to weekends.  Getting to work on the 'Stream!!!  Stay tuned for next week's adventures :)

A mouse in the house!

Doing work!

The tanks underneath one of the beds

Furnace gone....

Video of the ride home

Here's a little video that I made of our ride home.  My brother-in-law is towing, we were the safety car behind...just in case something fell off :)

our home video

*this video may not be available on mobile devices*

A 1957 Overlander--bringing her home

My love affair with Airstreams began with flipping channels.  One Saturday morning, while waiting on my husband to get out of bed, I began perusing the channel guide.  On HGTV (notably, one of my favorite channels), I saw a show called "Junk Gypsies."  Intriguing enough, I clicked select.  There, on my glorious flat screen tv, was the coolest renovation project I think I'd ever laid eyes on. They were upgrading country-singer Miranda Lambert's Airstream.  Outfitting it with cool paint colors, velvet chairs, lots of fringe, and lots of chic styling, I was hooked.  Turns out, after a little more investigation, the Junk Gypsies had also renovated country-singer Dierks Bentley's monster of an Airstream as well.  I thought to myself....I can DO that!!!!  Surely an old Airstream couldn't be toooo much money, right?!

And so the search began.  I started googling more vintage camper and Airstream information than I ever dreamed possible.  As it so happens, this vintage camper restoration idea isn't such a new concept.  In fact, this is a growing movement and more and more folks are getting into it.  And so would I.

Airstreams (new and old) are not that cheap.  The new ones are quite pricey, but for good reason.  They are still one of the best made travel trailers on the planet.  Production for Airstreams increases every year.  Finding an old one that wasn't a heap of junk would prove to be quite a challenge.  I needed to find one that would work with our current tow vehicle, a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  The weight limit with the Jeep is 5000 pounds.  The older the Airstream, the lighter the trailer.  They were even towed by family cars back in the good ol' days.  So I knew I needed to keep it vintage, so that I wasn't putting myself in the predicament of needing another tow vehicle.  I started emailing family & friends that lived in other states to start keeping an eye out for me.  It's not uncommon for folks to travel many miles, and cover many states, to find THE perfect Airstream.  One night, I decided I would post a request on Craigslist for anyone wanting to get rid of an old one.  I was contacted not too much later by someone who had one on the family farm that had been abandoned in a field for several years. I was told it was not in the greatest of shape, but it would be a renovation project for sure.  Our schedules didn't really match up until almost two months from our first email conversation.  We went and checked out a 1957 Airstream Overlander on Saturday, April 27.  After much investigation, research, and talking with an Airstream owner/renovator, I decided this would be a good purchase. On Saturday, May 4, we brought her home.

Split rims--danger, danger!

New wheels (thanks Out of Doors Mart!) and tires

However, some work needed to be done to get her moving.  One of the tires was completely flat, and she was riding on split rims, which are actually outlawed today.  I spent an entire Friday afternoon trying to find wheels that matched the lug pattern, along with trailer tires.  Luckily, my brother-in-law knows how to do everything under the sun...and he also owns a Ford F-350, which I think can tow a million pounds, and he was willing to go with us that morning and change the tires and tow her home for us.

Now begins the long road to renovation.  I hope you guys will follow along with us and help keep us motivated!!!!

Check out those ghost numbers!!  Proof of WBCCI membership.

Derek's proud of his parking job :)

Pulling her into the driveway

Safe and sound and ready for restoration!