Craigslist, but it had a few issues. One, it
was EXPENSIVE. And two, at thirteen feet
it was bigger than I had wanted. But, I
always say: “God thunks you on the head
lightly, then a little harder before he kicks
you in the behind!”, He was thunking, so
finally I listened. In June, I sent the owner
a text, he sent me some interior shots,
and I pretty much agreed to buy it sight
unseen. He met me halfway, both by
accepting my lower price offer, and by
agreeing to bring it halfway to me from
Conroe, Texas.
I jumped in my son’s Jeep and headed
south! Upon finally seeing her, she
was pretty much as I expected... full of
previous leaks. But I was prepared! I had
spent HOURS on my layovers watching
YouTube on how to rebuild a derelict
trailer! I had never done anything like this
before, but heck, I got this! I handed him
the cash, he hooked her up to the Jeep
and off I went. An hour and a half later
when I drove up to the house, I jumped
out, screamed at my son to: “Park it in
the driveway, I have to catch a flight from
DFW!”
While waiting for my flight to board, I
asked my son to send me some pictures,
so I could see just exactly what I had
bought. Not only did he send me the
pictures, but stated first: “Holy crap Mom,
it sleeps five!” My response was, “no, it
sleeps ONE!”. His second statement was,
“You are lucky to be ALIVE!” (Because she
had really bad tires, and I was driving
WAY too fast on the way home). This time,
my response was: “It was meant to be!”
This is how The Hive got her name! She
was meant to BEE!
Finally in August 2014, I began her
restoration. I gave myself the “luxury” of a
year to complete her re-birth, and it took
every bit of it! She was held together by
dirt dauber mud and spiderwebs! It truly
was a miracle that we made it home in
one piece. Before starting each next step,
I would watch Larry’s (Mobiltec) videos on
Youtube. He was my instruction manual.
As I took things off, I would photograph it
so I could put it back the same way. She
was a learning process, but I would do it
again in a heartbeat!
The first thing to go was the portable
airconditioner from the front window
which was probably put in about 1970. It
Before...
8 | vintagetrailermagazine