Moving Forward

It often seems, in the pauses between action, that I am standing still.  But then I look back and realize that in fact I've accomplished a fair bit towards my goal of getting KD the way I want her.  It's going to take time, there's no way around it.  But I'm getting there.

For the first three and a half weeks I had KD with me while I puttered around pulling out unwanted fixtures, appliances, trim and other junk, and doing various cleaning jobs.  As I mentioned before, there was a lot of dirt in there.  Dirt that had gotten into the cracks and crevices, the usual sort of grunge that accumulates over the decades.  I didn't get all the cleaning done that I wanted, but I got a lot done.  I washed down the walls with Murphy's Oil Soap, got most of the adhesive foam strips down that had been left by previous owners who used them to stick junk to the walls.  The buckets of dirty cleaning water all had a thick slurry of dirt at the bottom by the time I dumped them.  I filled in nail and screw holes and shined sections of aluminum.  This is going to be an ongoing task, but I've made a start.

I found storage for KD on a rural property with horses.  The good thing about this is that people live there, and there will never be a time when there isn't someone on the property, since the horses must have care and supervision 24/7.  Unlike a regular storage yard that is gated but not monitored during non-business hours, I feel like KD will be a little bit safer in a place that has people there all the time.  There's only one way in and out, and it would be harder for someone to get in and do vandalism or theft than in some other storage facilities.

The down side is that it is a bit of a challenge to get the trailer in and out, but so far the staff have gone out of their way to help in any way needed.  There are no official pull-through spots, but they got me positioned in what is essentially a pull-through, which was helpful when I went to get KD out of storage week before last.

I needed to go to Eyer's Hitch Center to get the brakes wired properly to the brake controller.  While I was there I decided to get a heavier set of chains welded on to replace the set that was there.  The chains she had were simply not up to the task of keeping her attached to the tow vehicle in case of accidental unhitching.  I know this because of an incident that happened.  I'm going to just draw a curtain over that incident, except to say it was quite obvious that the chains KD was equipped with were mere window dressing.

Now she has shiny new chains with proper screw on hooks!  I also had the emergency brake pull device installed, even though there is currently no battery for it.  I was going to get a small battery in order to be strictly legal, but decided it could wait until I got a coach battery installed.  Finally, I got a sway bar installed.

This involved welding a short extension to the hitch with a small ball bolted onto that.  Another small ball is bolted onto the side of the tongue, and a sway bar hooks onto both of those little balls and is held on with pins.  There is a friction mechanism inside the bar which is tightened down manually with a hand lever.  What a fabulous invention!

Some folks have told me I don't need sway bars on such a little trailer, but they are wrong.  I can get by without it, but why should I?

I certainly experienced sway coming back from Indiana whenever a big truck passed me going fast, there was a cross wind, or I hit a really bad patch of road.  It wasn't anything I couldn't handle, but I knew I would eventually want some kind of sway damping, because while I managed to keep her straight, it didn't make for a very pleasant towing experience.  Sway is especially unnerving when you are stuck in a narrow spot, like when there are k-rails during construction.  The worst example of this was on SR 152 just past Casa de Fruta, when I was sandwiched between a K rail on the right and an oncoming semi on the left.  The road had narrowed there, and I really had to struggle to hold down the oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die thoughts as I threaded that needle, bouncing on rough road, buffeted by the passing truck and trying to keep a light but firm hand on Goose to keep her from veering over the line.  Sway can be minimized by keeping the proper trailer tire inflation, having the hitch level, and making sure the correct percentage of trailer weight is on the tongue (should be about 10%).  I'd done all that, so most of the time KD was very ladylike and pulled straight.  But all trailers are subject to sway when enough outside forces act on them, and the passing trucks, bad roads, and crosswinds are going to happen sooner or later.

 It cost gas and time and hassle every time I get KD out of storage and tow her somewhere for servicing, so I decided to just go for it and have as much done as I could while I was at the hitch shop.  I'm so glad I did. 

The sway control doesn't really come into effect until you get on the highway.  Tooling around town she doesn't have sway issues, only when running at highway speeds.  I had my first chance to test the new sway control last week when I took KD to Sacramento (more on that in the next post).

The hitch shop I went to is Eyer's Hitch.  They've been around for a long time, and Cecil Eyers is very experienced at all things having to do with towing.

This picture doesn't give you much scale, but this is an absolutely enormous towing ball.  It reminded me of a Victorian garden gazing globe.  It was a thing of beauty, but I wonder what kind of monster trailer it is intended for.

I've had good work done here in the past.  This time they were very busy when I arrived for my appointment, and it was obvious they were getting a little stressed out.  I was perfectly willing to be patient and let them juggle things as necessary, but I was disappointed by the feeling that they thought they were doing me a favor to take my business.  I went there to get the benefit of their expertise and to pay them for their good work.  I think the work was fine, but there were a couple of moments when I almost hitched the trailer back up and left because of what can only be described as downright rudeness.  I decided to cut them some slack because they were obviously feeling pressured, but I've made a few calls to other hitch places for future work I may want done.  The fact is, I'm a lady and a customer, and I deserve to be treated as such. 

I don't usually play the lady card, but I think some times it's warranted.  I have a friend who says that once you hit the age of 50, you stop tolerating certain varieties of crap that you may have always put up with.  I think she's right.  I haven't hit 50 quite yet, which might explain why I didn't stop the person helping me unhitch and give him a lesson on the proper way to speak to a customer when he snapped at me.

I think Eyers is a good place to have hitch work done.  But be prepared for some churlish attitude if you happen to be there during the busy time, and decide for yourself if it's worth it.  YMMV.

Well some folks say, "She must be a Cadillac"

But I say, "She got to be a T-model Ford"

You know some folks say, "She must be a Cadillac"

I say, "She got to be a T-model Ford"

Yes she got the shape all right but she can't carry no heavy load

--Katie Mae, Lightnin' Hopkins

Update:  This post was created on June 25th as a draft and never got published.  Now that I've finally hit the publish button, it has date stamped it with today's date, which isn't correct.

KD needs a really good cleaning.  I swept and mopped while I was still on the road, and when I stopped after the next hard drive, there was fresh dirt and dead bugs everywhere.  It's in the cracks and crevices, 40 years of grunge that sifts out with the hammering of the road.   Maybe if I just keep cleaning, she'll shake it all out eventually.

This weekend I got a bunch of stuff out of there that I've been itching to pitch out for more than a year.  There was an electric can opener mounted under the kitchen cabinet (?), and an old "Space Saver" radio.  I just don't get the electric can opener.  Of all the useless electric appliances to haul along with you on a camping trip, that one would not be on the top of my list (and everybody that knows me well knows my list is a long one, LOL!).  Anyway, after a bit of struggle getting the screws undone, it's gone.  Likewise the old radio.  The radio probably made a kind of sense at one time, but there are much better options for tunes that run on batteries these days.  It's 'outta there!

I'll also want to replace the paper towel holder, which is a cheapie plastic one.  But it at least serves a purpose, so I'll leave it for now until I get the one I'm going to replace it with.  I think I may put the wooden one in there that was once in my little cabin in the woods in Boulder Creek, and most recently in another little house I loved and couldn't save.  There's a kind of magical quality to that thing now.  It travels to houses I love, and KD is a little house, albeit on wheels.

On to less savory items.  Like the toilet.

 

It's loose on its moorings, isn't hooked up to the water, and I don't want it anyway.  Anyone still reading this blog will sooner or later be treated to my views on the best potty arrangement for camping and RV'ing.   The fancy way to refer to my method is to call it a "dry toilet system."  The down-home term is "bucket toilet".  I'll explain later.  Suffice it to say, that toilet has gotta go.

 

I managed to get it out, and discovered the reason for the loose, rocking action.  One side of the plate it bolts to is broken.  Doesn't matter, I don't want it. 

 

Another little item was this charming tiny corner sink. 

 

 

Yuck.  Ghastly, pus-yellow color so beloved of the seventies.  It's stained and in poor repair, and it's pointless.  The whole bathroom will need rebuilding, and when it is done it won't have a sink.  So I got it out.  Here it is out of the trailer.

 

 

I thought I'd clean it up a little, because it's always possible that somebody would want it if they were trying to restore their Shasta 16SC to original spec.  I spent quite a lot of time scrubbing it and working at the stains, and then thought I'd remove some of the stupid white muck somebody had used to try and stop it leaking around the waste pipe flange.  That's when I discovered the crack at the drain that was covered up by sloppily-applied compound of some sort.  Fortunately, it doesn't matter much to me, since I don't plan on using the sink.  And in fact it could be repaired fairly easily with some fiberglass patching.  The outlet pipe flange looks like it is a little too small, and with a properly sized one you would not see the repair.   I'll see if anyone wants it on one of the vintage trailer forums. 

Go For Gate

It's almost time.  Out under the late afternoon sun, gate staff are tightening up their belts, hitting the lip balm, cracking their knuckles, checking radios, stretching out to ready for the task of climbing into a thousand trailers, truck beds and RV's, and taking that last swig of water.  I'm choosing to mentally gaze into the hazy, dusty distance, past all bullshit and heartbreak, and raise a toast to those hard working badass motherfuckers manning the gate.  Theme music is "Go For Gate" by Shannanigans.  You can listen or download it for free by going to this link.  You have to scroll to the very end of the gallery pics, and then you'll find the download link and lyrics.  If you are one of us, it will make you smile.

http://gate.burningman.com/gallery.php