Old Faithful the 1959 Yellowstone Travel Trailer Restoration

[Prospector's Paradise]

Hello everyone! We are at it again, trying to save one more old travel trailer from the scrap yard and hopefully making it desirable to someone who will enjoy it for years to come. This time it is a 1959 Yellowstone we are calling "Old Faithful". I started a blog and here is a portion of it. To follow along in the coming weeks please go to this link and become a follower or just check back every so often http://1959yellowstonetraveltrailer.blogspot.com/ . We also love any feedback or advice you guys want to give. It is truly helpful to hear what others are thinking or what they have done. There are so many mistakes we have avoided or could have avoided but not without other lovers of travel trailers guiding our way!

Here is an excerpt from the blog...hope you like it!

Hello all you people out there in blogger land! My name is Elmer the Frog and I am about to weave you up a story about my good ole friend Old Faithful. I see some bright things in our future and I'd like you to come on along for the ride!

For some time now Old Faithful and I have been living, if that is what you can call it, in the Adirondacks in New York. Some kid left me in this travel travel when he got tired of me and I have been sitting here ever since. But the story is not about me, it's about Old Faithful the forgotten 1959 Yellowstone travel trailer who lets me live in him. I guess we have both been pretty much forgotten and I gotta tell ya Old Faithful is pretty forlorn about the whole thing. Well, you know what they say about frogs being lucky and I kept telling Old Faithful that things would turn around as long as we stuck together. I am an optimist and my good buddy here is the king of pessimism.

A few days ago these people came and walked inside with flashlights. Next thing we knew Old Faithful's lights were being hooked up and we were cruising down the mountain roads! Here is us before we left, you can't see me cause I am hiding inside!

We went to three gas stations before the people found a place to put air in Old Faithful's tires. I told Old Faithful that air in the tires is the beginning of better things to come and I think he felt better afterward too. Of course the ole geezer would never admit it. Then we were on the road for almost 5 hours. It was windy and rainy and dark and for a while there I wasn't quite sure Old Faithful was up to the task so I told him the story about the little engine that could and told him to just keep repeating "I think I can, I think I can". He told me to go find some lily pad to hang out on and I told him he was my lil lily pad. He did perk up though about the last mile or two. And then we sat in another driveway for the night. Didn't sleep a wink though. We stayed up all night arguing about what was going to happen when the sun came up! Old Faithful, the pessimist that he is, said the sun probably wouldn't come up.

Well, come up it did! Mind you it wasn't all sunshine and happiness though. The people that brought us home walked right on in the next morning. Not sure I am gonna like them too much. They spent all this time putting Old Faithful down! Picking out flaws and blemishes and even when they talked about things giving him character it was in a negative way. Sheesh! All the work I been doing on Old Faithful's self esteem and they crushed it in about 7 minutes flat.

Old Faithful just a shivered when they talked about ripping out this back wall!

The last guy who cared put these bunks in and they talked about ripping those out too!

The lady said the curtains and the table just had to go and they both said they were gonna rip out the front wall also!

They were glad to see that Old Faithful still had his Dixie stove.

The man liked Old Faithful's cool screens but said the door needs work.

And the bathroom...we don't even want to go there! (No pun intended)

Now mind you, these people did say some nice things. They said Old Faithful hardly had any dents in his aluminum skin and that the floor and underbelly and wheel wells were pretty amazing. They liked Old Faithfuls original "but dirty" light fixtures and the original "but in need of polishing" hardware. "He is solid" they said and "that is what counts" they said.

Last night the handsome gentleman camper we were parked next to told us the lady and man were pretty cool. He also told us a story about a 1963 Shasta Airflyte, named Old Glory, that took off about a week ago to go live with a family in Massachusetts. Said she was the ugliest thing when she got here and turned out so fine when they were through! I think I saw Old Faithful's Aluminum start to twinkle a bit when he said that. Of course, Old Faithful will never admit to it.

So I checked out Old Glory's story on blogspot and hopped right back home to Old Faithful to tell him all about the amazing transformation. (There is a link on this blog if you want to check it out for yourself.)

Old Faithful told me to stop spinning stories.

You'll see I said!

Prove it he said.

That's when I told him I would but he was too BIG to fit in the door to the house where the computer is and then Old Faithful proceeded to give me the silent treatment.

Couldn't take any more put downs I guess.

Now if you have read this far that means you are interested in what happens to us, er, I mean Old Faithful. If you want to hop along on this adventure with me and my friend Old Faithful become a follower! From what I have heard there is a major transformation that is about to happen and I will report all the details to each and every one of you. I will report back to Old Faithful and let him know how many fans he has. He probably won't believe me. Just like he doesn't believe that his future is going to be bright. He thinks he will never go camping again, no one will ever love him enough to hitch him up and take him for a summer ride. He says he will never hear laughter over a card game or smell bacon and eggs in the morning. I keep telling him he just has to have faith! It will happen and when it does he will be the coolest travel trailer in any of the many campgrounds he is going to visit real soon.

What's in it for me you ask? I am just looking forward to the day when I can say "I told you so!" Ahhh..I will be contently croaking that line!

Well, I have to get back inside of my friend Old Faithful. He has been so lonely since the day I met him and we need to stick together you know. I heard the lady talking about working on the kitchenette. I will tell you all about it the next time I hop on in to the computer. Until then, like my buddy Billy Joel says, tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems, yeah yeah yeah I'm keeping the faith!

If you enjoyed this, check out the blog link and follow along! http://1959yellowstonetraveltrailer.blogspot.com/