When"they" made Gage, they must have thrown away the mold. He was absolutely one of a kind. My first encounter with this controversial fellow, was right in my own driveway in Lake Elsinore, 14 years ago. Prior to our meeting, I knew very little about the wonders and joys of teardrop trailer designing, building and camping. Getting my feet wet on the TD board, put me in contact with this fellow, way out in Palmdale, CA where he was in the middle of designing and building his signature teardrop. By reading on the board, I found that he intended to head down the freeway nearby, and I asked him if he could swing by and give me some pointers.
This promped him to contact 2 other nearby, friendly TDers, who joined him one Sat morning, as they parked by the curb right at my house. Wow, 3 teardrops, all different and with owners full of helpful information. Now, having been a full-timer motorhomer, on the road for about 8 years, I had never had other big rig folks remotely interested in the many custom interior changes I had made on my Class A rig. Wow, here were 3 guys, checking out my first-time woody TD, which was only partially finished, giving me info on how to do this and install that. Gage, knowing that I was a lifetime woodworker, told me that I had to make all kinds of stuff on my trailer .....entirely out of wood! Who was this guy, a skilled auto restorer, computer whiz and TD designer/builder, instructing me on how I should proceed. Wooden fenders, wooden wheels, doors, windows, etc. Should I listen to him, or just struggle on, kind of using other's designs, or actually follow his suggestions and just DO IT? Time think again on my stool with wine in hand at 11 PM!
Thanks Gage, you really had me fired up. "First, you gotta have wooden Model A tail lights. (I didn't even know what they looked like) The next week end, he was back, with an actual Model A tail light, for me to reproduce in wood! So you see, if it hadn't been for my new-found friend, my build would have just continued, haphazardly, with no actual clue what the outcome would be like. Therefore, thanks to him, it took almost 6 months, plugging along almost every day, trying to follow his all-wood suggestion. My maiden voyage, was to an hour away, with Gage and Tanya guiding the way with our partially finished teardrops in tow, and helping me get me settled among many other friendly teardroppers, with beautiful, completed trailers.
We all will miss Gage's deeply-founded information about teardrop makes, styles, shapes, year of manufacture and such, which I am sure many of us have taken advantage of. Since both of us were almost Octogenarians, I guess we had a different bond. That doesn't mean that he gently made observations regarding how he thought things should be, but I respected his experience and advice. I will miss his wiskered, kind-of smiling face, tooling along in his electric scooter with oxygen properly being administered. We never had a cross word, but many "better do it this way" kind of comments, guided my happy life into the teardrop world. Thanks Gage, we'll miss you, more than you could have ever known. Now, if your heavenly build takes 20 years or so, I'll be there to give you a hand! All of our thoughts and love go out to Tanya, his loving companion, a new life awaits her and I wish her the best.
Roly ~~
by nrody » Tue Jul 05, 2016 3:31 pm 
