No amount of rain, snow, sleet or heat is gonna keep me down!

Hello out there, and a special hello to YOU, the reader who will take me home one day to build lots of wonderful memories together. I promised all of you I would show you the process of my transformation, so lets get back on that journey, shall we?

 I was taken all the way to my frame. This was a little scary for me because I didn't look like a trailer anymore. Just a boney old piece of metal. I was even more nervous when my wheels were taken off. Kind of worried I would never see the road again, but I kept my faith and was assured this was just temporary. I started to feel a little better when 99 ground and sanded my frame down until it was smooth and then painted it with Rustoleum black. Can you say purdy? Sure does beat the way it looked when all that surface rust was on there. Oh, and that red bumper...that was in honor of 99's friend Toaster.

At this point my frame needed more grinding and sanding but 99 is a bit impatient and she had to at least paint a few spots to give her the inspiration to go on...

The floor was then cut with holes for the wheel wells. While it sat upside down it was sprayed with several coats of rubberized undercoating to protect it from moisture for when I hit the road. 99 never used that stuff before but a Florida friend, also named Gary, mentioned it to her. You can never have too many Gary's in your life. We were both amazed one morning after it rained and the water just puddled on top. It did not soak into the wood.

Here it is with the first coat on. The edges weren't done yet when this photo was taken but they sure are now!

I told you about my tires being taken off. My rims were ground down until smooth and painted in rustoleum red. 99 did one. She hates that grinder! But she talked her friend Blaine into doing the other one on one of his visits. He was a pro! He did it in all of a few minutes. 99 was amazed he didn't stop even once to have a panic attack like she does! 99 even found two baby moons to fit! She shined them all up nice and said this would make me really handsome! Nothing better than sporting some baby moons. I will need new tires but 99 wants to do so many other things to me this might not be in the budget. I am sure my new owner won't mind putting a set of new ones on me so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Before...

After the undercoating dried the floor was flipped over, set into place and attached to the steel frame.

My newly painted wheel wells were also attached. One of my wheel wells had a damaged spot and Gary repaired it for me! 99 almost lost a finger putting in the wheel wells. Lesson learned: If two people are trying to jam a wheel well into place...one person should not put their finger where that sharp metal is being jammed! She's a tough cookie though. Didn't even stop the process! I guess it wasn't as bad as the time she fell off the ladder in the dead of winter smacking her frozen hands against the ice cold asphalt when she landed. She said she picked herself up, and marched back into the house where she patiently waited for the rage inside of her subside and for her best friend Murphy to go bug someone else.

Damaged area repaired with stainless.

What a difference!

Can't forget the butyl rubber putty tape!

 Then, it was time to lay the tile! black and white! Boy does it look sharp!

The frames for my walls were built. Gary developed a plan to do this. Here is a photo.

Blocks set into place following curve tracing.

The curved top parts are solid oak so they are nice and strong! The skin was traced onto the piece of plywood to mark the curve. The oak was attached following that tracing and bent into place attaching it between blocks of wood and then clamped in place. The wood was wet down from time to time on the outside to swell the outside of the piece and help it along with force bending. Then it was left over night and when taken out the next day it had a nice curve to it. After that, the framework was built. The old pattern was followed as much as possible to make sure each piece would be where it needed to be.

That's Gary! It's about 90 degrees out, but he never complains. He has been doing carpentry a lot longer than 99 and she probably owes him a fortune for the knowlege he shares not to mention the help. He's a gem, just like me!

The oak paneling was cut to fit the framework. It was glued and stapled in place and then painted with minwax clear polyeurathane. This took several coats and lots of sanding so that my wood would shine and be smooth. In the end I had a streetside wall and a curbside wall! Yippee!

After the walls were all attached to the frames, four foot eleven and three quarters of an inch tall 99 had a little trouble trying to get them back into the garage to protect them from mother nature. So, supports were attached to the back frame to keep it sturdy, she put on her extra heavy duty cape and was then able to lift them and carry them to safety. 

Cloth was put on the ground in order to protect the oak paneling.

Once it was all laid out under the frame 99 traced it and cut it to fit.

There is Mr. Jigsaw. He is one of 99's best friends!

Half coated. Very pretty I think!

My walls waiting to go up! I am bursting with excitement at this point!

Check me out! I have walls! Can't even describe what this moment felt like!

 A friend named Blaine stopped to see me shortly after this time and walked up the driveway, took a look, and said "WOW". 99 and I thought he was wowing the mess because everything was just everywhere. So 99 said, "wow, what?" To this he responded...."Wow, it's starting to look like a trailer again"! I was so happy when I heard that I almost wished I was a human with a set of legs and arms so I could run out into the street and start doing cartwheels! 99 was pleased too. I could tell by her smile.

And last but not least....we said goodbye to Walter this week. He has been a loyal helper and has been a part of taking apart and putting back together every trailer 99 has put some love into. Near the end his battery had to be held in place with tape and a small bungee. It's heart (battery) finally gave out. Walter put his heart and soul into these trailers just like 99 does. He will be sadly missed but always remembered oh so fondly!

I am sure you realize that a lot of things were done that weren't mentioned and there were a lot of obstacles to overcome to get me to this point. It hasn't been easy. It rained consistently for a while and 99 has to drag everything in and out of the garage over and over. This past week we had a heat wave. Holy guacamole is it hot! Does 99 give up....H.E. double hockey sticks NO! She's a big whiner, don't get me wrong, but she is not a quitter! Seems that when the quitting mood starts to set in, something happens or someone comes along (you know who you are) and things seem brighter again. It's hard to do things with only two hands, but help or a great idea always seems to surface and prove that nothing is impossible. 99 even has a good egg engineer friend named John who offers up solutions, helps to problem solve, sometimes feeds 99 and sometimes makes her want to sign herself into the looney bin. In the words of a very wise woman (his mama), arguing with this particular engineer is sort of like trying to argue with God! As a rule carpenters and engineers don't usually get along you know. Kind of like cats and dogs, but in my case, it's happening. We like to break rules over here. Things always have a way of working out in the end. You just have to hold on until you get there and keep on believing! In life, you can meet a lot of bad people. They are everywhere. That is why it is so important to love the people who are good to you. Even the simplest, smallest gestures make all the difference, so don't ever overlook them. Lots of times 99 can't figure out why she has so many wonderful people in her life or what she has done to deserve it. Someday she hopes to be able to give back properly to those who have helped her along. Lucky for me, I got some pretty cool friends now too! I would still be a heap of junk if not for 99 and all the people who in one way or another have played a role in my rebuild. For that, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my axle! I am really happy and if there is one thing you can't put a price tag on it's happiness. In fact, there isn't even a tape measure out there long enough to measure my particular degree of happiness!

That's about it for now my friends, and YOU, the reader who by the next blog entry will start to realize you just have to have me as your own. I will be back to tell you more about my rebuild. I'm starting to look pretty dang good and it's only going to get better from here....you'll see! It's time to get to work though. Heat wave is gone, but the rain is back. That's okay, me and 99 figured out a way to beat mother nature at her own game. I kind of look like an ark now. Bet the neighbors are a little scared...

Thanks for stopping by. Tune in next time for some more amazing progress updates!

XO,
Edgar the Itty Bitty Baby June Bugg Gem Travel Trailer.

P.S. Please leave me a comment. I would really like that! I wrote all this for you, ya' know!