The addiction begins

1969 Shasta 16SC

It is almost as much fun, and just as frustrating, figuring this "blog" thing out as it was to find out what we had.  We had purchased our camper way back in the Way-Back Machine, in around 1999 or so.  We'd stumbled onto this ole girl that belonged to a co-worker of the wife.  He had used it to go fishing with and had decided they were going to set up a seasonal camp.  We bought this one from him for $300, not even knowing what we really had. 

Camped at Gannett Hill Park.

The cabin measured 14 feet long, and had been gutted of most of its original appointments. There was a full-sized bed in the rear of the cabin, with a heavy steel frame.  Not pretty, and did not even sleep very well.  It was supposed to have a bathroom in it, but it was emptied and a piece of thick plywood covered the original floor.  It had a wardrobe and a few handy cupboards, and even had what I found out later was the original awning.

All we had on it for ID was the "Shasta" logo on the side in front of the door.  There wasn't any other marking on it as to what model it might be.  It was a summer of cleaning before we went out with it at all, but finally got the chance to spend a night in it on a campsite.

The next time it went out of the driveway would be its last time out. We hooked up and pulled it to the southern tier on the weekend of my Daughter's graduation, in June of 2003.  We shuffled it around the yard and even set it up in a spot I carved out of the brush in back of the pond.  After all the work that went into that project, we spent a total of zero complete nights in it, as the mosquitoes proved to be too many and too big.  It sat uncovered and unattended till a year ago.  Last winter had given us lots of unusual warm weather, and I spent a good deal of time moving things around till I could put the camper inside to work on it.

After a long process of trying to de-construct this unit, it became obvious that all of the missing utilities and furnishings, as well as the cracked and actually broken steel framework, would add to far too large a cost factor.  There was a substantial amount of rusted-out frame, bad tires, two broken supports in the steel,  missing water and water heater, bath facilities, stove, etc, etc.  The list grew longer as the deconstruction went on.  In the mean time, two other units had become available and shown up in the driveway.  The rebuild of any others would be impossible as long as the 16-footer was in the shop.  The decision was not really all that hard to scrap the idea of rebuilding, and it was torn down.  The wooden framing, paneling and flooring has been taken away, but the windows, and the aluminum skin is still on the premises, awaiting re-purposing.

Caution! New blogger blogging!

Well this is new.  I have never bothered to write a blog before since I do not know anyone who gives a good gottdam about what I do.  I am fairly certain once I do start, there will be even fewer that care.

Last year, we bought a pickup truck.  Full-sized Chevy Silverado 1500.  Z71 package with the towing options no less.  It is the first full-sized I have ever owned.  Also, it's the first truck we have had in over 5 years.  It got me thinking that we may be able to haul the old camper around and actually use it during the summer months.  This is the beginnings of the addiction to these Shasta campers.....

We started with this Chevy, and got caught in the addiction!