You will love this trailer, my friend.

I acquired my Airstream back in August of 2009. I had decided several months before that I wanted an Airstream, and found that the only way I could afford one was to buy a vintage model. I trolled through craigslist.org postings daily. The stories behind each one were always fascinating to hear. "I traded my El Camino for this thing thinking I was gonna do somethin' with it, but I ain't got time." Or, "This is my wife's. She went to Japan. I don't think I'll ever see her again, so I'm selling the trailer." And even, "I found this thing on the side of the road. I was gonna use it for scrape metal, but then someone said I had an Airstream and that they were worth a lot of money. I don't see why." All good stories. But the story behind mine is my favorite.

The "owners" were a band of Romanian gypsies. They first told me they bought the trailer to live in on a construction site. Then they said they bought it for their daughter, and she decided she didn't want it. The final story I got was probably the closest to the truth. They got the trailer from an old man and just wanted to sell it for money.

The gypsies were a friendly bunch. They addressed me as "my friend." I started counting how many times they said it. Somewhere around 23. "There are no leaks, my friend." "It tows like a dream, my friend." "We take only cash and we take it today, my friend."

I really didn't care about who I was buying it from, as long as it was legal. This Airstream had everything I was looking for: all glass single-pane windows, no major dents, no frame damage, center bath and an L-lounge sofa area. So, I told the gypsies I would take it. I got the title signed over to me, then we signed a few bogus documents they had handwritten out on notepaper to make it seem more legit and the old Airstream was mine, my friend.

People want to know.

What's going on with the Airstream? I get asked this a lot. So, I decided to start documenting the progress in a blog. Now, all four of those interested people can check in to get the latest news about my project.

I started this crazy Airstream redo back in October. Back then I was just going to replace a sofa. Change out the flooring. Maybe paint. It was going to be a four month adventure. Five months later, the trailer is completely empty. Stripped down to the frame. How did this happen? I think I just came to the conclusion that if I was really going to renovate this thing, I wanted to do it right. Hopefully, I can still complete this project within my budget and without losing my sanity (or what little I have left.) Let's see what happens...