I recently learned that revelry is much more valuable than things. I have an intense new preference to revel in more things than I’ve ever presented myself with the opportunity before. I returned home after a disastrous trip to the UK for a long verbal exchange with my wife, and made the decision that it was time to integrate at least seven from our collection of 10 cars as well as home. It’s time for a change. Specifically, it’s time to make several primary changes. However, we bought something new. This is my escape pod of what could have been a life of pedestrian normality: a fiberglass egg trailer from the 1970s.
All because, and there’s no easy way to put it, I almost die.
About two hours after a 10-hour flight from San Francisco to London, drinks had been served and I ordered a rum and a Coke to calm the nerves that had tormented me all day. Although I fly every two weeks in this business, I’m still not a particularly quiet traveler.
No faster I finished my drink and moved into my only awkward chair to finish the folder movie I had decided, The Hate U Give, I presented, when the first symptoms of caution appeared. Sweat sprouts from each and every pore. My head started spinning. My arms, now much heavier than they looked a moment ago, came to the screen to pause the film. I started looking for the button to call a flight attendant. “Maybe I just want a bottle of water, ” I think.
I never discovered this button. My vision closed like the door of an air-cooled Porsche; fast, forged and with a little ping at the end.
When I landed at Heathrow, I looked and felt pretty good, albeit a little tired. As a precaution, the paramedics at the airport took me to Hillingdon Hospital for further investigation. I had been almost solid once I was put on alert, and after turning my clothes now stained with vomit (I asked the airline to incinerate them), I gained natural oxygen and a flat bed. Honestly, Virgin Atlantic FLIGHT VS42 took great care of me.
My friends alerted my wife that I had become ill, but without much data to continue, she was very nervous that first night. I didn’t hear his voicemail sobbing before I went home a week later. There was something when I heard his voice shaking, even once I physically recovered, that broke my heart.
I had taken antibiotics for an infection in my chest and sinuses last week, and the theory at the time that my lung infection had turned into full-blown pneumonia. That’s the case, but there’s a bigger challenge lurking. Chest x-rays showed minor problems in my lungs, so I won an antibiotic and was admitted for further observation.
At 11:00 p.m. That night, I expelled giant amounts of blood orally and rushed to intensive care. By the time the surgical team drove a camera down my throat to notice 3 giant peptic ulcers that spread red directly into my stomach, many veins in my limbs had collapsed. I went in and out of consciousness for the next few hours.
Stress, ibuprofen, highly seasoned foods, poor diet, coffee, alcohol. Unknowingly, I killed myself.
I don’t know exactly how many blood games I received, but at least five. The average human body comprises between 8 and 12 pints, and five sets are considered a “massive” blood transfusion. I know that locomotives complain a little when you leave them partially low in oil, and I’ve learned the hard way that the hot meat robot I use to transport my brain from one room to another complains just as seriously when I do it partially. .
When I went from extensive attention to a popular bed, I had already turned 48 hours after I entered. I spent Saturday, Sunday, Monday and the first part of the following Tuesday with an intravenous infusion in each arm, one keeping low the acidity levels of my abdomen and the other keeping me hydrated as doctors were looking for my digestive tract to be empty to facilitate recovery. . Do not eat or drink for 4 days.
I just turned 32 and if some small things had been slightly different, I might not have retired. If the blood dam had broken my flight over the Atlantic. If the paramedics had allowed me to do my vacation without taking me to the hospital. If the hospital had given me the antibiotics and sent me on my way. God, I spend most of my painting days alone in my house. Even if he were home, he might not have had the ability or the means to call an ambulance.
I spent days in bed without distractions. I was alone with my mind for the first time maybe in years. If I ever get out of here, the change will change, it was the consistent chorus floating in my mental space. I had time to think about my wife and how I wanted to spend our long way together. I learned I was wasting my limited time with her. Or we like to travel and notice new things, but having to constantly deal with the normal maintenance that this requires prevents us from going where and when we want.
Just a few days before we left for these unfortunate holidays to the British Isles, we traded several green US dollars for a small caravan. My wife had been looking for one for a while to use as a hard-walled tent on weekends. As I lay there, in moments since I had almost moved away from the disaster, the trailer became the lifeboat I needed to escape the titanic inscription of my daily work. I dreamed of all the options I was looking for to go, all the things I was looking to see and the only user I was looking for through my look for all this.
Imminent death will have to replace the chemistry of your brain, because once we got the house, we had a verbal exreplace between the spouses that claimed that it was actually going to replace it. Instead of storing cars, I started promoting or giving them away without delay. And after a long verbal review, we agreed that space would be coming soon. Yes, God forbid, your house stuck the chimney this afternoon, what would you save? We downgraded it to the nudes in need and vagrants.
Physically I recovered well. Surgery and medicine replaced my mind. I take medications to decrease heartburn, as well as a probiotic to keep the cultures buzzing. I completely killed my habit of drinking coffee because six days in the hospital without the stuff allowed me to eliminate my caffeine addiction. My nutrition has replaced to decrease acidity and itching, and I’m running to eliminate my intake of soft drinks. I’ve reduced my occasional alcohol intake in the past to zero. I went back to 100%.
However, mentally I will be the same again.
There is a small team of artisans in Backus, Minnesota, between Brainerd and Bemidji, who have been building the same fiberglass caravans for decades. These trailers are available in models with 13- and 16-foot bumpers, as well as models with a 19-foot harness. The one we buy technically is not a “Scamp” but an “Acorn” that a short-lived call replaced in the 1970s. I searched for answers and discovered this on Scamp’s Facebook page:
Statement from Scamp Trailers: “Well, we had records of how many had been made … However, in 2006 we had a fireplace and lost our entire factory, adding all the casual records. We made the trailers with the Acorn call for a year, part of 78 and part of 79. I don’t have an accurate figure for you, however, after talking to the founder and the current owner, they had an estimate of a few hundred! It has a rare Bellota/Bribón! “
We’ve been looking for something light and compact to bring our Buick Regal TourX for about a year. I was pretty sure we were going to end up with a tear, but my wife was determined to do anything she could get up on. He looked at the trailers for fiberglass eggs [Scamps, Bolers, Donkeys, Play-Mors, Casitas, and the like] that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s, or the Shasta, Cardinals, Holiday Ramblers and other canned ones.
This fiberglass marvel gave the impression on the Facebook Marketplace, north of Lake Tahoe, about forty-five minutes away. I showed it to her and she fell instantly, deeply and madly in love.
At first I thought it was a fun way to spend more time together. Now you have an essential component of the itinerant lifestyle I imagined.
When we arrived to take a look at the thing, I knew right away that she had had better days, but that she would eventually stay home anyway. The steel trailer frame and wood floors are solid, but the fiberglass hull wants help. The thing had been on the road for the last time in 2012 and the interior smelled. Still, the value is on the back of what you can get. We pay the dealer $4,000 ($5,890) and plug it in.
As they say in those ridiculous house renovation exhibits on HGTV, he’s got smart bones.
Anticipating the day that, despite everything, we picked up a trailer, we ordered a factory accessory hitch from our local Buick dealer. Our TourX is technically evaluated to tow only 454 kg, which is approximately what the Scamp / Acorn weighs. That said, the same car sold with an Opel badge in Europe is intended to carry around 1588 kg. The 190 horsepower Vauxhall edition with decreasing specifications is valued at 4,850 pounds. (It’s based on how the U.S. regulates the trailer safely, waiting for maximum speeds on the road)..
According to our distributor, we would possibly be the only TourX owners in the United States to have ordered this accessory hitch. They had to order the portions in Germany, and they hadn’t settled in the moment we discovered the trailer. Luckily, my father from Georgia, so he helped me get the trailer while the TourX was still waiting for portions.
Once at home, I drove it and followed it, finding only a few things on the “needs” list. In terms of functionality, all this trailer really needed was a new ceiling vent, because the old one had supposedly come into contact with a low branch that ed out or something like that. Everything else worked, from the attached refrigerator to the manual pump water tank. It is usually water resistant. The two rear circular lights worked pretty well as flashing lights and brake lights, only the one on the left worked as a traffic light.
It’s perfectly legal and functional to use it as it is, but I’m a normal handyman and I’m not going to leave it well enough alone.
This will be a smooth recovery task from the beginning. The interior is old-fashioned and ugly. The outside is faded and ugly. The electrical formula is a combination of end-to-end spears, vampire connectors, old electrical tape and wire bands. The tongue shooter has noticed bigger days. The seals around the door and some windows are a little shattered. And the sensible thing about that, there’s not even a fan to circulate the hot air from summer.
Once I spent a few days in the hospital to think again about what I was looking for in this caravan, my concepts went from a small review of the caravan to a complete remedy in a small house. I dreamed of more delicious interior materials, a full photovoltaic solar panel, a large refrigerator. I needed it to be good.
It’s a little tricky to visualize the grounding of this trailer with only photos, because it’s too small to put it all into pictures. Fortunately, the Scamps are still new today with the same shots.
It’s small. Especially for two American adults and two large bassets. I’m 6 feet 2 inches and I can stand in this trailer, but alone. The length of the bed is not bad, because I can also lie down without problem, however, the width of the sleep domain is complicated because the more curved of our two dogs asks to sleep among us.
In my thirties, I’m on my way to “having it all,” as they say. Married, two dogs, a one-story space in the suburbs, plenty of European sports cars on the way in the driveway, minimal credit card debt and a satisfying run. Why isn’t that enough? From my new point of view, it’s too much.
A few days after we returned to Reno, we celebrated the story of my whole life today by taking the trailer for an inaugural camping trip. While I was also busy at an operating table 8,047 km from my house, the trailer hitch had arrived and had been installed in the Buick. The following Saturday, after returning home for 4 full days, we took the Bellota on a night trip to the lake.
We knew the trailer needed a review before we could be our home in the long run, however, we needed a review of what it painted and what it didn’t paint for the way we sought to use space. Pyramid Lake in northern Nevada was thought to be the ideal place for control because it is only a 30-minute drive from our home and we didn’t need to go too far with untested equipment.
In the end, we didn’t have to worry. The trailer worked perfectly. It will take some time to get used to its small length and the artistic garage methods will want to be used. He even towed the Buick to the point and true. Our fuel economy has suffered a bit, but we still had figures in the 1920s.
On the day of our return from our nightly stay on the lake, I perform the counting process. We had a vision in the brain and the courage to make it happen.
After sanding and repairing and sanding the fiberglass, joining and sanding enough, you will be able to receive a new coat of paint. I chose an excellent self-adhesive base to apply as a base layer, and the new look will feature a two-tone cream trend in khaki, encouraged through an impressive Land Cruiser FJ62 that we saw once. My wife will be aware of the specifications from the inside. And help me sand.
Of course, while everything is cleaned, I will weld a new reed jack, roll up the exposed parts of the frame and photograph it in black. Both propane tanks will be replaced through a giant tongue box to contain our batteries and tools.
Once clean and beautiful again, this small cell home will be stressed with the new outdoor LED lighting, and I need to charge a raised central protector on the rear bezel, as well as high-height intermittent lighting fixtures in appearance. The installation of these brilliant high-height appeasement LED devices was expected to ensure that they are noticed through high-rise pickup trucks and SUVs, not to mention the giant platforms.
A separate 12-volt electrical formula will be added to the Scamp/Acorn, forced through a pair of 100 watt rooftop solar panels that force a pair of 100 amp aGM batteries per hour deep. This formula will be used to force air extraction fans, interior lighting, a small 12-volt refrigerator, the new water pump and a stereo formula, as if to rate laptops and mobile phones.
It will be a labor-intensive project, but because it’s so small, we’ll be on our way in no time. I can’t wait to live where our whims and winds take us.
So we’re passing to raise the stakes and move on to exploring. I can’t stand the thought of sitting on this desk anymore, this desk, those things. Why hide in a dark gray-walled room when I can send those missives from the edge of a remote lake while my dog hunts pelicans, or a camp in a forest 80 km in the desert of the nearest city? It’s time to see how global we’ve been missing for years.
I’m excited about our long-term trailer. I would like to spend more minutes chasing pelicans with my dogs, more hours in the sun, more days traveling the country with the woman I love. This trailer is my escape pod, so I think it’s time to escape.
This article has been updated since its original publication.