A Long Winters Sleep...

A long day of rearranging, cleaning, repairing and getting Loila ready for her long Winter Nap.  I have been procrastinating getting it done and I haven't wanted to see the end to summer fun.  But life marches on.....ready or not.  I am resolved that the fun isn't done, just summer.

You may recall that the end of August we had a freak accident where the spare tire dropped out of it's place under the truck bed and spun up and damaged the rear passenger corner of Loila.   We were lucky that my little truck and trailer didn't flip!   The damage went up the corner for about 5 feet where the corner had pulled away.  Of course I was heart sick!!
 

Here is a pic of the damage that was done. 

The corner was dry rotted so more than the apparent damage needed to be done. 

I took it into have an estimate for damage repair.  The estimate came in at $2700.  Needless to say, that wasn't an option.




So in desperation I took it out to my neighbor to gather idea's as to what could be done.  He thought that we might be able to repair the damage.... maybe not perfect but safe and watertight.  Ryan has great tools and know-how and he puts up with my feeble attempts at learning, so it looked like it was a go for repairs.  We had a game plan.

There is a trailer repair and salvage business about 35 miles away.  I was able to order the metal corner pieces and gather all the odds and ends needed for the repairs.   While we were at it, we took apart the opposite corner to check for dry rot (it was fine) but decided to replace the corner metal trim so that both corners would match.  I was in charge of scraping all the old caulking and appyling the new waterproof caulking.  A very messy job an I was covered to my elbows in the yucky sticky stuff!! Very little money for the update.

TA DA......

Luckily the kitty door wasn't damaged.  (the cost for the materials were $87).  After tossing money back and forth I was able to get Ryan to accept $100 for his help and expertise.  His help was worth far more to me than the money and I am grateful beyond words that with his help and after about Humpty Dumpty is back together again.

Now, there is no more delaying it.... it is off to storage for a long winters nap.  

Procrastination aside, I was also worried about getting Loita into her narrow little bed.  I was lucky, Lolita's roomate behind her wasn't put to bed yet, so I was able to squeeze her into her spot between the support beams with 6 inches to spare on each side.

  I would never been able to back her in there....

Loita is safely under cover on a fenced storage lot with managers living on site.  I can't wait for the camping adventures to begin next spring.  I will miss you, Loila, but I can still come and play!!

Never fear, tho.... The adventures will continue...

 We'll be day trippin... as much as weather will allow.

~Happy Trails ~