Sunday, September 23, 2012

On Losing a Longtime Friend

     Yesterday I said goodbye to a friend of forty years. The parting had been coming for a few years and finally it happened. Yes, I sold my old travel trailer yesterday!

     I bought my 16 ft travel trailer in 1969. It was the same day that I picked up my new son from the adoption agency. So as the saying goes if walls could talk this little trailer had a million stories to tell.

    We had been campers as a couple. We wanted to keep on camping but with little kids we needed something that had more protection and conveniences. In the trailer we would be dry, warm and have all kinds of space to bring along necessities. So supplies and clothing were much easier to handle. 

    We didn't travel extensively but did get far from home once and made many short local hops. Mostly the trailer sheltered us at a lake lot that we bought. The lot, development, lake and beach provided the kids with all kinds of places to play and explore. We have many stories to share. When my daughter was six , she accidentally stepped on a wasp ground nest. As the wasps came up and started stinging her she froze and howled. We could hear her from 400 m away. It wasn't a funny story but just one of the many adventures. Most adventures were of the happy type. Many hours were spent sitting at the table playing games. When we cleaned the trailer out we found the old games and left them there.
  
     We advertised the trailer for several months. There were many inquiries and some people seemed really interested. The last caller seemed really interested. He came to look at it and I'm sure had made up his mind before he came as he had the money in his pocket. What's more he had two boys who were five and six. These little guys were just bug eyed over the trailer. They took it home and slept in it the first night.
"Out of the garage the old girl's easin."
"Out to the road she bounces"
Out of the gate so slowly
"The last time ever I saw her." I get tears looking at this shot!

    So it was with some mixed feelings that I parted with my old friend. But the writing was on the wall. I had not used it for seven years and I was not ever going to use it again.

    So goodbye old friend with some sadness and a lot of happy times.