Update Since Finding & Buying Our Shasta

Basically, just a couple of days after we pulled the trailer from the sellers' back yard, I/we left for Oregon to visit my folks for three weeks so didn't have much time to update this blog.  All the photos are in my Photobucket album.

The day we went to pick her up, I had to coordinate having Dave (who is doing the restoration labor) tow it straight over to AAA so they could do a VIN verification on the tongue of the hitch.  Since there was no license plate (it was 'stolen') and the title was not in the DMV system because it had been so many years not registered, it had fallen out of the system.  I had gotten all the forms ahead of time, printed out a bill of sale for the seller and I to complete, and purchased a one-time trip pass - you can see I taped it in the rear window.

Dave pulling her out of the seller's back yard.
He had to get her over the dirt pile and around the corner of the house.

This is the first time I got to see her unobstructed.  She's got a nice rear end!

Dave got it out of the backyard no problem and I followed him to the nearest AAA office.  I tellya, that membership is worth it just for the ability to not have to deal with a DMV office.  Of course I got the most uptight AAA clerk there was, she was a real peach.  When she came out to look at the VIN, you could tell she didn't really know what she was doing because I had to point it out to her.  When she saw that the number was only five characters long she then asked How OLD is this trailer?  Uh, I already told you it was a 1958 trailer.  For a moment she acted almost like it wasn't a legitimate VIN number and that I was wanking her chain.  So finally, after a bunch of forms that she filled out we were done.  Phew.

Then I left for Oregon a couple days after that.  But before I left, I needed to make a copy of the only door and baggage storage key that we had.  Ah, but Lowes nor Ace Hardware could make a copy because they are not standard.  So I searched online and purchased some blanks.  Hubster had to take them to a real locksmith dude and have them made.  They were so small the locksmith dude didn't even charge him.  Yay.

I have a button maker and can make key chains.
Perfect use for the trailer keys!

During my absence, Dave and I would correspond over the phone but where my folks live there is really bad cell coverage so I would literally have to stand out in the middle of the field to talk to him.  And he would forward photos of the de-construction of the trailer to keep me updated.  For the first phase, he said after removing the skin on the rear and the kitchen side it revealed wood damage (wow, what a shocker) on the lower half portions.

As soon as I got back to OC, we met at Ganahl Lumber to pick out the birch plywood.  He wanted me to be there to help choose which panels I wanted for the grain and color.  At first I was like, Oh I trust you to pick them out (because I had vacation road trip hangover and didn't want to drive up to Anaheim).  But he insisted.  I'm glad I did because there was obvious variables in each panel and in color, and being a perfectionist with color some of them had a buff tone and some had a yellowish tone.  We found seven nice panels with pretty grain flow.

We looked at several panels before selecting seven of them.

Those small pieces on top are scraps from the trailer.

Dave cuts these down for the framing.

So now I am ordering window seals, backframe gasket seals, and a new Fan-Tastic Fan vent from Vintage Trailer Supply. We will also be replacing the front side windows since they are not tempered.  It's not exactly something I want to spend MORE money on since the existing and original glass is in great condition....but for my kids' safety sake and ours, it is worth the insurance.

While I was up in Oregon, I procured some great thrift store finds that I will show in another post.

Well, this is the nut shell version.  There has been a lot more details and headache that I have not included only because I didn't want to bore my only two followers....