Friday, February 27, 2009

No Airstream Work










Well, we're all moved in, mostly.. just a few more miscellaneous items left at our old house. So, the demolition has started on the room that will become our new kitchen. We are removing a load bearing wall (framing it out with a 5X10 beam) to punch out into part of the porch to make a eat in sun room / breakfast nook. This will make the kitchen 23' wide at that part of the room x 22' the other way. We've removed the old wall (ribbon construction) and put in a temporary support system while we wait for the beam to arrive. The new sheetrock will go in next week, then the oak flooring will be finished off and then Zoe's appliance will go in. I'm waiting on 4 large double pane'd windows (2 - awning style and 2 sliders ) to replace the 4 picture windows in that room.. these were ordered 2 days ago and will take approximately 2 weeks to come in.... it's coming along! I've got to get Sophia up here so I can work on the heating and get her wheels over to my Powder coater!! Here are a few pictures of the progress.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Wednesday - 18 Feb 09 - RECOVERY

This past Wednesday morning, I was taking care of errands, when my cell phone rang - Zoe' called and said that the our friends Dick and Ethyl were having issues near Binghamton with their Airstream. I gave Dick a call, and he said when he pulled into the gas station they always stop at, he could smell something and the manager said he saw flames in the wheel well - a couple blasts to the wheel well with his fire extinguisher ( a must for future recovery efforts!) and when Dick jacked up his trailer, the wheel and hub fell off - on his single axle late 50s Globetrotter. Dick and Ethyl were lucky the tire hadn't fallen off while going down the road - another 20 feet and it would have for sure! How it did not, I'll never know. So, Dick asked - you know anyone with a flatbed... so I began the quest for a suitable flatbed that could fit an Airstream on it - my Uncle Don at ChevyAve@gmail.com has a nice long flatbed and so I went over, hooked on, and was on my way to recover Dick and Ethyl's trailer... and when I backed up, I seriously did not think it would fit - but fit it did - it took us about 1.5 hours to load it, taking our time to ensure we did not hurt the trailer. Here are some photos of our efforts - and now, the Perkin's trailer is safe at home!





Arriving with Flatbed for the Recovery


Will it fit? Dick and my dad checking things out.





Dick's trailer sitting out of commission.




Nut remains, but wheel and hub are free - a new axle is in Dicks trailer's future.

I'm glad I brought my boards to use as ramps and to get the rear of the trailer up with a less angle of approach while loading. I wish I had more!

Hoping my loading ramps hold!


Rear wheels are on! Whew!






Notice we doubled up the boards once she was loaded! Needed the clearance for the fenders of the trailer to clear the belly pan.


Now to get the tongue onto the trailer - thank god I brought the come-a-long!



All loaded. Now to cinch her down. 40 miles to home! The owner makes some last minute checks! This put my 84 3/4 ton Suburban to the test - complete with sirens and lights. She did just fine!

Monday, February 16, 2009

By By Luna







Sorry for the long delay on posting to the blog... we've been JUST a little busy with my work, travel for it, and trying to get things in order to help purchase the farm. So, now we are closing on the farm tomorrow - yippee! By tomorrow at this time it'll be ours and we can begin the moving. We did some packing and some friends helped us move a few small items up into the barn. One friend, Frank Yensan and his daughter Ava, drove up from Baltimore, Maryland yesterday morning and arrived around 11am. They helped me load some things onto our little trailer, and then I gave them a tour.. unfortunately - I was a little under the weather with a stomach bug that put me out of comission in the afternoon... I'm slowly coming back around today... Frank's other pursuit for the weekend was to pick up his new Airstream named Luna - our 1954 front kitchen Safari that he's going to just love! Frank's Trailer Works will restore her to her former glory we hope - not for us - but for Frank and his lovely wife Beth... they just departed for Baltimore with Luna in tow! Here's a few pictures of Luna from a few weeks ago when my boy Stanton was helping dig her out. Good luck on the tow home Frank!!