Utopia Found

December 2013

While my Utopia is in Missouri I'm not sure Missouri is utopia. Utopia is a 17 foot travel trailer made in 1970. Utopia is the brand name and it was made by a company in Elkhart, IN that went out of business in 1971. It is serial No. 35. I bought it as a project to see if I could fix it up.  It certainly could be money pit so finding a balance will be a challenge.  As I get started I'll add updates to this blog entry.

For the most part the outside shell is in good shape.

Taking it home.

The roof will need some fixing.

February 2014 Update: Dumb Ass Award

The weather has begun to improve so I've been able to get started on the trailer.  First order of business is to get the trailer water tight and road ready.  I started inspecting the outside closer and noticed that while the tires had lots of good tread on them they were dry rotted and in very bad condition.  Often on cars and trailers that don't get a lot of milage the rubber in the tires drys out before they wear down.

So I decided to get new tires and set off to get the old ones off.  I started on the drivers side and rusted is what I found.  The first bolt was tight and finally broke off.  Expecting that they hadn't been removed in a very long time I worked hard at breaking the rest of the bolts off.

All four bolts broken!

I was able to get the drum off and went over to the other side.  Expecting them to be just as tight but with not much trouble they all came out without breaking.  Now a little puzzled I started looking a little closer.  Notice anything on the end of the broken bolts below?

I didn't at first and thought the "L" was some old size or strength notation.  I checked the the passenger side bolts and they all had "R".  Here is where the dumb-ass award comes in.  The "L" is for "left".  As in left treaded.  The bolts were reversed threaded on the drivers side!  A check of the Internet confirmed that in the 70"s they thought it was necessary to have the left side reversed so the bolts wouldn't come loose from the rotation of the wheel on the road.

After driving around to the local RV shop, marine repair and auto parts store with no luck finding replacement bolts I got luck.  Another RV trailer dealer had bought out the stock of an old business and had the bolts.  I went to pick them up they had 2 coffee cans full of them.  Strange thing is they only had LEFTS. No rights.  I'm guessing I'm not the only one to not know and break them off.  In the end I bought new tires and the wheels are ready to roll.

On to the roof.

The roof is made of galvanized metal and seemed together.  It had been coated but was dried out and failing.  The previous owners said it had leaked.  It took a hour or so and I got it cleaned up.

Roof cleaned and scraped.

Three layers sealant and waterproofing should make a difference.  The white top coat should help to keep it cooler this summer.

Roof after being coated. 

 The trailer light wiring was in messed up shape.  Someone along the way had put on new tail lights but  ran new wires and hacked up the old.  The trailer does have electric breaks but the wires to one side was broken and for some reason they were wired to a regular house plug.  It took a good afternoon to trace all the wires but eventually I installed a new 7 pin plug and got the breaks working.

Crazy mess of wires.

All the lights work!

Trailer hitch painted and rewired.  Ready to roll.

Before paint.

After Paint!

It's made a good difference getting a little paint on it.  With the outside cleaned up and it ready and safe to roll on the road next it's time to get started on the inside.

Fifty Years!

Today I've turned 50!  I'm not sure I feel any different or know what fifty is supposed to feel like?  Perhaps it's just the round numbers that make you reflect as they mark a bigger passage of time.  I spent the summer in Seattle working and visiting and keeping busy.  I'm behind on my blog entries but have some drafts going and will back date them as I get caught up.

When I left for my adventure I sold my car with the intention of replacing it in the future.  I am settling in Missouri and getting back to work so it was time.  I had always wanted a Toyota pickup (just like wanting the RV) but in the past it wasn't "practical".  Living out in the country and traveling in rural areas now seemed like the perfect time.  I've been looking at the trucks all summer long and finally decided to pull the trigger.  I went to the dealer thinking I wanted a white one.  The only white one they had was a six speed manual and after test driving it decided I didn't want to spend the next 20 years shifting.  The only automatic left was the red one.  The test drive in it was great and it had all the options I wanted.  It took me awhile to contemplate the color but the more I looked at it the more I liked it.

While I believe happiness is from within we do live in a physical world and I'm happy to have a new truck :-)

For those interested in the details it's a 2013 Toyota Tacoma Access cab 4x4 TRD Sport V6 Auto w/Towing package.  Barcelona Red!

The End and A Beginning. Summer in Seattle

As it worked out I returned to Seattle for the summer of 2013.  It was a fitting journey and an end to the trip.  I'm sure it won't be an end to my travels.

I had posted the above picture of the memorial at Fisherman's Terminal in Ballard taken in December 2012 and mentioned how grey it was.

To right a wrong is is the same place on a glorious Seattle summer day!

Here are the overall (rounded off) numbers:

Trip  ( May 2012 - July 2013)

Miles driven: 30,000

Gallons of gas: 3511

States: 42 
(6 states I've been to before but not on this trip Louisiana, California, Oregon,Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada)
(2 states I've yet to visit Wisconsin and Michigan)

Months away: 14

Campsites: 100

Days worked: 6 (as a PA)

Days missing work: 0

Time under water: 9 hours 36 minutes

Times crossed the continental divide:  4

Road kill: 0
Bugs killed on the wind shield:  2,000,000 (I actually counted a few times and multiplied up)

Total $ spent: $50,000

Cost of gas: $15,000

Propane: $500

Food / Dining: $10,000

RV parts/repair:  $8,000

Camping fees: $4,000

Health insurance:  $3,000

Cell phone / Internet : $1,500

Other travel:  $2,500

Everything else: $3,500

Time

10,000 hours (418 days)
600 hours driving
3,500 hours sleeping
1,250 hours eating
50 hours working
600 hours on ADL's
4,000 HOURS HAVING FUN!

A few more photos:

Columbia River, Eastern Washington

Snoqualmie Pass May 21, 2012 heading east on the first day.

Snoqualmie Pass heading west return trip July 2013.

After driving 2000 miles from Missouri the first traffic jam I hit was I-90 through Mercer Island.

A nice day at Golden Gardens Park.

My house in Ballard of 15 years as I left it.

This is what they did.  (Notice the big red building in the back yard? )

I had fun living out my "This Old House" dream and saving a 112 year old original Seattle house.  It was in good enough shape when I left that they could't knock it down.  But there was enough room in the back yard to build.  Seattle's plan to slow urban sprawl by increasing the density in the city.

Road Warriors.

Not really in trouble.  Just having fun with the Sheriff.

Snoqualmie Falls.

So many beautiful places to see.  Denny Creek.

Sun setting over Seattle and my time there.

Rail Trail Tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass.

There is a light an the end of the tunnel ;-)

Sights along I-94

My return journey continues along I-94 (and I-90) as I make my way back to Seattle.  It's been easy driving on the freeway, the roads have been in good shape and it's been nice weather.  With the things I noticed I'm not sure if it's a reflection of my state of mind or lack of noticeable things in these states.  Like most things it's probably a mixture of both.

THE "Wood Chipper" from the movie Fargo.  I wanted to put my Five Fingers shoe on the foot but I didn't think they'd like me messing with it.

I was surprised that while there was lots of open space in North Dakota it wasn't all the same.  Say like Nebraska or Kansas.

Some hills and grassland in ND.

Painted Canyon Overlook Teddy Roosevelt National Park ND

A truck load of Bee hives going down the freeway.

After being on the farm in Missouri I noticed farm "stuff".  This is a fence "H" brace I built.  But now I'm always checking out the fences along the road.

It was nice to see that the grass along the road isn't just mowed down.  It's cut and used as hay.

This is the headwater/start of the Missouri river.  Three river forks (Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin) come together and the Missouri begins.  The travels of Lewis and Clark have been a recurring theme as I traveled around. 

 All journeys have a beginning and an end.

RV Birth. Canned Meat. Retail Overlode

The beginning of the return has started towards the end.  Yesterday I left Missouri and aimed towards Seattle.  As I had come east on I-90 I decided to head west on I-94 (and go north to get out of the heat).  I made my way up through Iowa and into Minnesota.  When I looked up the camp ground it mentioned some near by attractions.

The first was Winnebago Industries factory!  I had looked it up before but forgot it was here.  The factory started and is still in Forest City, Iowa.  In 1986 this is the place my RV was born!  It felt like coming home again after 26 years.  In 1986 I was still in college and had just bought my first new car.  It was a Toyota 4-Runner and I kept it for 20 years and put enough miles on it to drive to the moon (230,000)

A 1967 Motorhome.  Looks a lot like mine.

The factory tour was interesting.  It covers a huge area with many buildings.  There are about 2400 employees (down from over 4000 a few years ago).  Winnebago makes most all of its own parts.  From the pillows and covers to metal frames and plastic formed body parts and wood cabinets (most all from raw materials).  They buy the chassis from different manufactures but do all the motorhome assembly.  They take about 6-10 weeks from start to finish to put together the 3000 parts.

The man who made Winnebago it's name.  He had his customers figured out.

This is the inside of a new RV.  Bigger then apartments I've had.

I stopped at a Jiffy Lube the other day for an oil change.  There were a couple of younger guys helping with the service.  One told me the brake lights on the top back of the RV didn't work.  I don't think they'd seen a vehicle without a center break light.  Those were just running lights.  The other kid tried to start the RV after they finished.  It kept turning over and the older guy finally yelled at him to step on the gas.  I don't think he had every started a car with a carburetor instead of electronic fuel injection.  Another thing I noticed was that my RV model is a "Chieftain". Winnebago is from the local indians and in 1986 it was still okay to use indian names.  I guess I'm getting old along with the RV.


The next big attraction was the SPAM museum!  Hormel Foods, the maker of spam started in Austin, Minnesota.  Here's what I learnd.  Spam is pork, ham, salt, water,modified potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite.  It's all mixed up raw and put in the can.  It's sealed under a vacuum and then cooked in the can.  They have 11 varities now.  At the two plants in the US they can produce 44,000 cans an hour.  The process 19,000 hogs a day.  It take 45 miles of labels to cover a days production.  So far they have made 8.6 billion cans of Spam.

Who's the SPAM?

Where SPAM comes from on the pig.

SPAM delivery guy.

I will have to say it made me think about processed food after coming off the farm.  On the farm all the meat is from animals with names raised on site.  One pig one bacon.  Who knows how many different pigs are in one can of Spam.

On a slightly different note I listened to a radio program during the drive.  It was talking about the german scientist Haber who invented the process to "fix" nitrogen from the air for fertilizer.  Before this all the fertilized came from natural sources like manure and guano.  One disturbing thing was that they have estimated that 50% of the nitrogen in our bodies is from man made fertilizer.


The last stop for the day was the Mall of America.  It's the second largest retail space in the county with 530 shops.  It is over 4,000,000 square feet with an amusement park in the middle complete with a roller coaster and aquarium.  It employees 12,000 people with 40 million visitors annually.  The mall would cover two 40 acre farms.  It could hold 7 Yankee stadiums.

The park in the center of the mall.

It's hard to tell from the photo but that's a two story Lego transformer and 1/2 size helicopter.  All made of Legos.

I didn't buy anything.

June by the Numbers

This is Walter. He was rescued from a Walmart parking lot. Seems he came shopping underneath someone's car and made a break for it. He now lives on the farm. 

June brought a quick trip to the east coast. I made a quick road trip to New York for my mothers 75th birthday party. She was surprised and happy to see me. Family and friends came and it was a nice little reunion. 

Along the way I stopped in Ohio and dropped off the rocks I picked up in Utah. I won't make it to see them planted in Key Largo but I do hope to get down there to see them in the water. 

Time on the farm has been a rewarding, challenging, eventful experience.  I'm taking a break and heading back to Seattle.  Time to work, build up the savings account and catch up with Seattle. 

With the miles driven this month I have now done enough in one year to drive around the earth!

June:

Miles Driven: 2579

Gallons of gas: 367

Cost of Gas: $1377

Camping Fees: $170

Food: $135

Rocks: 1000 lbs delivered to Ohio!

Trip to Date ( May - June)

Miles driven: 25,914

Gallons of gas: 3511

Cost of gas: $13,434

Camping fees: $4,140

States: 39

Days worked: 6 (as a PA)

Days missing work: 0

Time under water: 9 hours 36 minutes

Times crossed the continental divide:  3

earth circumstance: 24,901 miles

May by the Numbers

When I was recently traveling out west I came across an old Indian Site. I may have mentioned this before but one of the trail side signs talked about "Persistance Place".  A location that the people would return to frequently or occupy regularly. It was usually a location that had many of the resources that met their needs. It would seem I've found some persistance here on the farm and no need to move around this month. 

May:

Miles Driven: 0

Gallons of gas: 0

Cost of Gas: $0

Camping Fees: $0

Food: $184

Rocks: A whole lot picked out of the garden.

Trip to Date ( May - May)

Miles driven: 22,011

Gallons of gas: 2,935

Cost of gas: $11,313

Camping fees: $3,912

States: 38 

Days worked: 6 (as a PA)

Days missing work: 0

Time under water: 9 hours 36 minutes

Times across the continental divide:  3

Always some interesting clouds and weather. The farm is on a hill facing SW and oncoming storms. While its relatively hilly it's not to far to Oklahoma, Nebraska and tornado ally so lots of thunder storms rolling through.