Glamping Dreams

1965 Arrow Camper

I am brand new to this "blogging" thing......so please be patient with me!  

On April 13th, 2012 I had my 50th birthday.....I am an empty nester and was looking to try new things.....so my oldest daughter introduced me to Pinterest.com!  Well, needless to say.....I am addicted!  I began looking at pins.....and pinned many things that I loved. I started out pinning photography, kitchen ideas and DIY decorating and cleaning products.  Then I stumbled upon a pin for a Vintage Camper......then found more pins for Vintage Campers......everything from Airstreams to Shastas!  Almost instantly I was hooked!  Two of my dearest friends think that I have totally lost my mind!   You see, I have always loved the outdoors......and we already owned a "vintage"1985 Scamper pop up..........but the problem was that I didn't realize that it was "vintage", I thought it was just OLD.  It leaked badly, every Spring when we would open it up to get it ready for the season......it was always home to thousands.....no, millions!.......(no exaggeration here) of ANTS!  I dreaded opening our pop up each Spring because I knew that we would have this to battle.  Of course with the ants came their larvae........ick, is all I can say.  We would take a broom and sweep out what we could, then put Terro out to kill the remaining critters......but seems they were always around.....I truly believe there was a huge nest in the ceiling of our pop up due to the leak........they were following the water.  Along with the ants, came mildew on the canvas and vinyl in the interior of the pop up, so I would need to wash down all the vinyl with a bleach solution......and the canvas, well.....there's not much one can do to clean canvas, so we just dealt with the smell and appearance.  The pop up had it's other problems also.....one summer while my hubbie was climbing into the bunk for the night, he accidentally bumped the rail with his knee while I was sleeping......that was all it took to knock the whole bunk off the end of the camper!  Thank goodness my brother-in-law was still awake.....he heard our screams and came to our rescue.......we were very fortunate that the two of us and our daughter, who was asleep in the bunk on the opposite end of the camper, were not severely injured or killed. Our homemade safety poles that we had zip tied to the riser poles had held.......Praise the Lord!

So, needless to say........our 1985 Pop Up Scamper.......has served us well, but it's time to retire "Clay-tucky".........this is what I had named it several years ago, it looked like a camper that a backwoods redneck would have.......and we live in Clay County, IN.   I've always said that I needed a sign so everyone would know it's name!

This is one of the few pics that we have of "Clay-Tucky"

minus the 15 foot tarp that usually covers the whole shebang!

So.........now onto my GLAMPING DREAMS!  

What is Glamping?   It's Glamorous Camping........search Google and you will find thousands of links!

When I discovered the Glamping category on Pinterest.com I had made up my mind that I would make the best of things and Glamp up our pop up camper.......after all, surely it would LOOK better!

Then.......it happened........

A dear friend of mine had sent me a link on my 50th birthday for a 1965 Arrow Travel Trailer that had been completely renovated and it was only 10 miles from where we lived!  My heart was pounding when I opened the pictures!  I showed them to my husband and he said, "Uh huh..."  He really didn't have the enthusiasm that I did......kinda disappointing, you know?  I kept coming back to the link throughout the day.....I just had to drool over this little camper! 

 I had pinned this to my Glamping Inspirations page on Pinterest a couple of months previous........

Having a different camper was always in the back of my thoughts but I had never prayed for one......gee, it would be nice to not have to deal with setting up the pop up, killing the ants, and removing the mold.         The Lord gave me my desire and so much more!  

I was looking at the pictures of the Arrow once again when my husband came over to see what I was doing....I was looking at the pics, when I said......"Can I make an appointment to go and just look at it?"  He said we could go to look at it. (a little sign of hope)  That evening on the way to the seller's home, he asked me how I would pay for it......I suggested that I can take a small loan from my 401K retirement fund.  He said "yeah, you could do that". (another little sign of hope!)  We arrived at the seller's home, we chatted, then we entered the camper.......the seller began to explain to us everything that he had done to renovate this little gem of a camper.  Within 5 minutes I knew I wanted it!  He had done such loving work to the Arrow.......it was everything that I had dreamed of! While his back was turned...I looked at my husband and he new instantly that I wanted it badly!  So we wrote a check to the seller, and 3 days later (on a Monday) after the check cleared the bank, we picked up our "new" Vintage Camper!   I was soooo excited that I could hardly contain myself!  

Below, are the pictures in the order that they were listed in the ad.........

Driver's side

Curb side

Loft full/queen bed........dinette was removed
Not a problem for us, we eat at the picnic table anyway!

Furnace closet and microwave

Kitchen area (minus running water, that we will install soon)

Sofa seating area that makes into a full size bed

So........

this is just the beginning of my Glamping Dream!

Future plans for our Little Vintage Camper are:

- Add running cold and hot water......we will recycle our water tank and water pump from our pop up          camper and install them into our new one, we will be purchasing an LP instant hot water heater too

- Paint the LP tanks so they will look better

- Maybe add a stripe to the exterior

- Polish and buff the raw aluminum on the exterior

- Glamp up the interior!  My colors will be.....red, sage green, cream and a small amount of brown

- and lastly......she needs a name!  

I had pinned this a few weeks ago......and fell in love with it!

Kohler's Pig

I thought he looked as if he wanted to fly,

but didn't have the wings to,

so it was an impossibility!

Then I found this!

I was in Love!

I pinned this too.....

Call it my mid-life crisis if you will,

but this is how I feel.......

(I love the little wings!)

I'm not Lost........I'm just Wandering 

into a new chapter of my life!

And, Lovin' Every Minute!

So -

won't you follow along with me

while I Glamp my Vintage Camper? 

Oh, one last picture........

I found this and thought it was perfect....

Penelope

(may just be the perfect name, if I can convince my hubbie!)

I did promise him, that since he will be camping in her also,

that I wouldn't make the glamping too girly!  

After all, Penelope is a much better name than "Clay-Tucky", don't you think?