"My wife and I this week agreed we want to see more of the back roads of Oregon. We are going to buy a small trailer to tow … within Oregon's boundaries, we have great people and great earth to ground ourselves in."
Although I didn't know it when I bought it, our Aljo turned out to be a "fixer upper". In fact, it had so much dry rot in the floors and walls, I briefly considered changing it's name from "Aljo" to "Phoenix". However, the silver lining in all of the work I had to do to repair and restore office accessories babies kids travel our little Aljo was that I got to reconstruct the interior and exterior in a way that made much better use of its limited space, in addition to using quality materials such as real wood paneling.
Suffice it to say, our cheap little Aljo with a fold down bed is now a comfortable haven comprised of a Queen bed, 72" couch that also folds down into a double bed, a stove, oven, double sink, microwave, am/fm/cd player (including outside speakers to enjoy my favorite 60's and 70's Rock and Roll), a built in 15 inch plasma TV with a built in DVD player, reading lamps, air conditioning, an ac/propane hot water heater, a full bathroom with toilet, sink and shower and more storage space than we have stuff to store. I also added a solar panel on the roof so that we could sit in a remote location without electricity office accessories babies kids travel and exist solely off the two 12 volt batteries for days on end.
Although I can no longer claim it was cheap (a not insignificant life crisis for a Virgo), office accessories babies kids travel our Aljo was transformed into a comfortable retreat that has been rebuilt with convenience and quality in mind, albeit within a fairly tight space (and budget). Wanting to store our increasingly valuable little home away from home out of the elements, I had one of our garage doors made larger (and before you ask, yes, duly permitted and inspected by the City of Portland) so I could back the Aljo into the garage and keep it safe, sound and, most importantly, dry.
So, all total, I have about $13,000 invested office accessories babies kids travel in the trailer and garage modifications. Not as cheap as I had hoped, but "bargains" have a way of rarely turning out to be a "bargain" ( no tram jokes, Jack, please ).
Now for the fun part. First, although I wrote in my piece last year that Julie and I would travel the back roads of Oregon, I have to make a confession. I have always found confined boundaries overly restrictive. Thus, our resurrected Aljo is, I am proud to say, truly an international traveler. Just last month I pulled the Aljo to visit my son and daughter-in-law in Calgary, Canada (790 miles) .
Along the way, I am proud to say, I slept in a parking lot just outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. I had at first pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot, but, imagining Sam Adam's look of disappointment , I quickly beat feet across the street to the much more respectable Home Depot parking lot. The Aljo and I slept like babies knowing the employees that toiled within were paid family wages. In my first ever trailer camping endorsement, I heartily recommend Home Depot's parking lots over Wal-Mart's... without reservation.
The next day I made it to Fairmont Hot Springs located in the British Columbia Canadian Rockies. Fairmont has a great lodge, cabins, motel, restaurant and first class RV park. I got the Aljo settled into her spot and headed for the pool that is filled with the healing hot springs that gives Fairmont its name. The night sky was crystal office accessories babies kids travel clear, cold and beautiful. At barely more than 10 hours driving time from Portland, office accessories babies kids travel I recommend Fairmont as a destination office accessories babies kids travel spot to vacation without breaking the bank. Let it be noted that at Fairmont one can bring an RV or rent a nice, clean and reasonably priced motel room or cabin.
On one of our first Aljo trips last spring, Julie and I headed up to the Olympic Peninsula . In Brinnon, Washington we found this great spot . Pleasant Harbor RV Park is huge and boasts its own oyster bed. We stayed virtually alone in the entire 220 acre park and I gathered oysters that I shucked and we ate for two nights in a row. We sat high atop a hill overlooking the water below safe and sound in the Aljo.
Another cool find, and this time in Oregon, is this hidden gem . Sea Perch RV Park is not fancy…it doesn't have to be. It is literally right on the beach. If you are looking for ocean front camping and you do not fear sneaker Tsunami's, go no further. This is the place.
A little office accessories babies kids travel further south on 101 is Florence, Oregon. Florence is a fairly large size coastal town that has a little something for everyone. Its "old town" consists of many of the same buildings office accessories babies kids travel my Great-Great Grandmother saw when she immigrated there from the Kingdom Of Saxony in the 19th century. Up and down the streets of Old Town Florence, there are waterfront restaurants with fabulous food (yes...there is even a Mo's ). With a contented appetite you can meander office accessories babies kids travel through the many shops that make up Old Town Florence. As much as I like Newport, Florence is not as hectic and is more suited for what the overly stimulated/urbanized brain requires to regain its balance.
If you want to be able to take a short one block walk to old town, stay at the Port of Siuslaw's RV Park . It is located office accessories babies kids travel right on the Siuslaw River and is quiet and clean. We prefer office accessories babies kids travel walking to driving and the Port of Siuslaw RV Park is our haven of choice when in Florence.
However, we did drive through a great Lane County RV park located right on the ocean. Although you will need to drive to old town Florence from here, Harbor Vista County Park is located right on the Pacific Ocean. If you plan to stay there, reserve sites 11, 12 or 13. They are the closest to the beach.
About 3 miles south and 15 miles east of Florence office accessories babies kids travel is Ada Fishing Resort . My grandson Cole and I headed there last fall for his first ever fishing trip. We stayed right on the lake and were able to rent a boat to get out into the place we needed to be for Cole to catch his first fish. It is run by a young husband and wife team who are first rate hosts. We opened the door of the Aljo every morning to a beautiful lake that was teeming with more kinds of fish than I have room to name here. They also have cabins and motel rooms for the RV-less.
If you have stuck with me this long into this post, you too are a"traveling on the cheap" junkie. I have a quite a few spots, including this intriguing looking office accessories babies kids travel hot springs , we will be heading to soon. If you are interested in this kind of post, I am happy to update you with our latest "back roads" finds.
I with allehseya. In fact, I got a 1956 (no typo) all silver Aloha 13-footer that needs a complete rebuffing and some reworking of the wood paneling inside (though I must say, it's is one of the nicest trailer interiors I've been in). So if you have some spare time...
When down in southern Oregon, there's a great Josephine County RV campground on the Rogue, office accessories babies kids travel outside of Galice. Believe it is called Alameda. It's the furthest one out. A couple of nearer ones are too crowded, but this one is small and pleasant.
Caveat Emptor rang through my head as I discovered that the trailer had been leaking for years. So much so that over half of the walls and a little over half of the floor needed replacing. That also required me to remove a lot of the aluminum skin. To make it match, I ended up removing all of the windows, the door and replacing nearly all of the aluminum siding.
The only thing I am sorry about is that I did not set out to buy a trailer in this condition. Thus, I paid more than I should have. However, I learned that although time intensive, a travel trailer remodel, even as extensive as mine was, is not really that expensive.
So, Gil, you might consider leaving the interior and stripping the exterior and replacing it with new siding. There is a company located in Milwaukee, Oregon, Interstate Metals, that manufactures office accessories babies kids travel aluminum siding for travel trailers. They sell on line and you can pick your style from their on line catalog.
With the exterior stripped, you can update your wiring and any other updates you may want with complete access to the interior of the walls. I found that buiding from scratch allwoed me to put the bracing in the wall to hold up the plasma TV. The cost of the TV was $250 but its design and location office accessories babies kids travel makes it virtually out of the way. That's important where space is at a premium.
I must admit to being pleased with how the Aljo turned out. We could never have afforded a trailer with the amenities and features the reborn Aljo now has. I ended up with virtually a brand new trailer for a fraction of what it would cost to buy new. Of course, when computed on an hourly basis, the amount of time I spent on the remodel was equivalent to me making about $1.50 per hour.
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