Sunday, September 20, 2015

Skipping Pictures

You've seen a few repeat pictures on the site lately, and I have only one excuse: sickness. Nothing serious, just some little virus that produces sore throats, runny noses, and a bit of a cough. But there's a funny thing about being sick: nothing anyone is doing is particularly photogenic.

We're all recovering, and there will be more visually interesting activities comings up, I assure you. As we feel better, we'll be resuming work on the trailer and the deck, and the kids will get back to sports and such. Karen and I have a few fun side trips planned for her days off while the weather is still nice.

And sometime in the near future there will be the usual pictures related to the weather.

But if you don't mind, I'd rather not think about that just yet.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Camping, With Trailer

We did it! We managed to get the trailer road-ready for the camping trip. It was an adventure getting it to that point, and it's still far from finished, but we towed it 15 miles to Milton, and 15 miles home, and it's safely back in its little shed, having slept two for two nights.

It really came down to the wire. That trailer tongue I wrote about in the last post turned out to be a much bigger deal than I thought it would be; no one in New Hampshire could get me the metal piece on time. But after I had left one fabrication shop, stopping for lunch on my way to a scrap yard, it occurred to me that there might be another way.

I headed back to the fabricator, and asked him how much he would charge to take a slightly thinner piece of stock and add flat plates to it at selected spots, and drill the holes for me. It was reasonable, and so the next day, I brought in a template for the holes.

The day after that, the piece wasn't quite ready for me to pick up, and the fabricator had to leave it outside his shop for Karen to pick up after hours. She brought it home. I slid it into the existing tongue. The holes didn't line up at all.

But it was okay; the piece isn't symmetrical, and I just had it upside-down. When I turned it the right way, it fit perfectly. I finished installing it and setting up lights and last-minute hardware at, well, the last minute.

William had a soccer game on Friday, so we towed the trailer to the site, then left to pick him up at the high school. Our fellow trailer fans were amazed that we actually came with a trailer!

We have a lot to do before the trailer goes on its next trip—all the way to southern Massachusetts—but we made it this time, and we'll be ready for the next time.

But now we just need to pack, have dinner, and collapse, because it's back to school for the kids early in the morning.

Monday, September 07, 2015

Countdown To Camping

In just a few days, we're going to an annual camping event near our home, with our fellow trailer campers. Except that, up to this point, we haven't had a trailer to bring along. But this time we are determined to make it happen.

We're so close! I little wiring, some door hardware, a few extra screws here and there, and we have a trailer. But there is one hang-up: we don't have a tongue.

Well, we do, but it's hidden under the front of the trailer, and we have to extend it. And getting the extension fabricated has turned out to be a bigger deal than we thought. It's not terribly expensive. It just seems to be really hard to find someone with access to the right piece of steel who will actually get back to us about doing it. We keep thinking we have leads, and they don't pan out.

This time, though, I think we've got it. A good friend of mine from the theater has a drill press, and I have several places I can look for the steel stock. If I have to drive all over New Hampshire tomorrow, I'm going to get that piece of steel. (Does that make me a steel-driving man? Never mind.)

Once I have that in hand and get the holes drilled, it's just a matter of sliding it into place and installing four bolts and some washers, and then we can tow the trailer.

If I don't get it, we'll never hear the end of it, and I'll be sleeping in a tent. Again.