The Happy Squirrel

Here she is. My home away from home. My stress free, 'should' free zone. You know...should do the laundry, should answer the emails, should mop the floor. I am free in here. I am done. I do what I want, when I want. I introduce to you....The Happy Squirrel. In the next post, I'll tell you why we call it The Happy Squirrel.

It's a great story, this one is. It's a 1971 Sprite Caravan camper. Can you believe this is supposed to sleep SIX? SIX! We sleep three in it ok.

It belonged to farmers Tom and Holly. They owned it for over 20 years, toured the entire country in it with their family. They are a GREAT couple, those two. About 20 years ago, our friends Steve and Jo borrowed it, and we all went camping in Southern Indiana to the Covered Bridge Festival. Steve and Jo stayed in it, and we (me and Glenco) tent camped. We called it Minnie Mouse's trailer. It's SO tiny. Glenco and I visited a old car museum a few years ago, and they had a vintage camper from the 1940's set up and I instantly fell in love. I just HAD to have one!

Lo and behold, Tom came into the BMV where I work, and I asked him, 'Do you still have that little old camper?'. 'Yep' he answered. 'Wanna sell it?' I asked. 'Sure! It's been sitting in the barn the last 20 years'. It was mine. Mine! All mine! We bought it and set about to fix it up. We have the inside done now, but we are still working on the outside. I want to paint it. I am making an awning for it. Now, we just don't go 'camping'. We go 'glamping' as Mary Jane Butters would say. Glamour + Camping. We eat off of real dishes, I have candles and flowers in the camper, and we eat better when we are camping, than we do at home! It's all part of the fun. We are rolling out again over Labor Day weekend. Just a little quick trip to Tippecanoe State Park.

Tomorrow I'll post the 'after' pics, and explain why we call it the Happy Squirrel.

:-)

Now dad gum it, I had this photo turned, and look at it now! This is the dining area. It folds down to sleep two.

Here you can see the top of the counter (to the left), with the old propane stove, and the 'couch' that flips up to bunk beds. You'd have to sleep like a pencil in order to stay in it!

Holy moley, another pic turned on it's side! This is the fridge and some of the cabinets. Not an easy place to take pics with a little point and shoot digital. It's SO small in there.

Here is the color palette I chose for the camper. Very fallish. I love warm colors. My home is all in warm fall tones as well, seemed natural to go this way. Friends wanted me to do it all 'retro', aqua and pink and all, but it's just not me. I did my own spin on 'retro' which you'll see tomorrow.

I LOVE to camp. For what it cost us to buy this camper, and redo it (about $1000 all together), we now have a traveling hotel room. I don't mind having to pee and shower elsewhere. I find camping a blast. Except when I freeze. Or get eaten alive by mosquitos. Or get soaked by rain. Or don't sleep. Or have to pee in the middle of the night. Sounds like a typical camping trip!