by Roly Nelson » Mon May 09, 2011 5:16 pm
My story is a bit different. After full-timing in a 28 ft motorhome for almost 8 years, the sweet wife loved it, but could no longer manage the steps to enter our rig due to health issues. When we sold the RV and I tacked up a full-size, cardboard teardrop profile on the garage wall, complete with taped on door and wheel, her first comment was, "you don't expect me to sleep in that thing, do you?"
So, being a bit of a designer and woodworker, I began my 4 x 8 woody project. I could hear her on the phone saying, "You ought to see the dumb trailer he's buillding now!" After a few weeks, and a few coats of varnish, she changed her tune to........"You gotta see the cute little wooden teardfrop he is building!"
Next came the question....."What are those 'trailer people' like anyway?"
"I don't know", says I, "lets walk around at one of their gatherings and see, maybe they are a bunch of drunks". We both attended their next event, and I was admonished by a TD guy, about standing out on the asphalt, hoping to get a glimps of some of their galleys. "Hey, you don't stand out there and sneak a peek, you walk right down through our galley areas and ask questions and take pics" Wow, no motor-homer would ever allow that, but still fearing a confrontation, we began our search for design and cabinet ideas from some of 'those trailer people'.
At the second rig we visited, the wife was invited to streach out inside of a swanky TD and I was offered a cup of coffee. GREAT. After a dozen or more encounters, a young couple invited us to stay for dinner, since they had four steaks cooking and welcomed us to their table..........Again, never in our MH experience, did that ever happen. As we drove back home, I asked what her impression of teardrop folks were, now. Her responce, in so many words or less , is carved on a step stool that I use to this day,land it says: COME TRAVEL WITH ME AND I WILL SHOW YOU THE USA.
She loved our little woody TD and all she had to do was open the door, put her butt on the mattress and swing her legs in and she was in bed! So, dispite a bit of spousal negativity, she changed her mind when she found out that the TD owners were kind of like family. She was always amazed that we could walk away from our rig with both doors and the hatchlid wide open, and not be concerned about being ripped off.
She is no longer with me, since I lost her 2 years ago, and I want to thank my new-found teardrop friends for helping me get my much needed, daily "PEOPLE FIX".
Roly, "going to the nearest campground to visit with some friends that I haven't met yet!"
