The Gypsy Wagon

A man named Ray and his home-made RV pulled into the campground yesterday, and of course, it caught my eye.  I think it looks just like a Gypsy wagon with the rear outside kitchen, outside lighting on the side, and the door and windows, etc.

Katie and I stopped on our afternoon walk and talked to him.  He didn't mind at all giving me a tour of the whole thing, and said it was okay to take as many photos as I wanted for a blog post.  He didn't want to be photographed, so I tried to crop him out of the pictures.  He said this is the maiden voyage of this homemade trailer which he built in his garage. 

 

Note the little solar lights on the roof. He has holes up there to fit the lights into, and they collect all the sun's rays during the day, then at night he can bring them inside the trailer to light up the space. He also has a bag of stuffed animals and puts a couple on the roof, switching them out from time to time. The two in the photo above are his favorites.

You can see his bed through the open door, above.

He made covers that he uses to safeguard the windows when on the road - to protect the glass from rocks, etc.  When he is camping, he opens the covers and holds them in place with chains to let in the light.  The top covers act as small awnings on both sides, and if he wants to put his chair outside near the window by the entry door, he can use that window's bottom cover as a table.  The chains are white, but he plans to replace them with black chains so they will match the trim.

See the little pipe sticking out the side?  It's there to pull cords through when he's in an electric site.

Ray said the first time he saw a teardrop trailer, he really liked it, and started planning.   When he started building it, his girlfriend said she wouldn't travel in a trailer unless it was Five Star Trailer, so....

The back panels come off to access the kitchen area, where he has a two element gas cook top and storage for food, drinks, plates, etc.  He installed an electrical outlet panel on the top right side to use if he needed to plug in electrical items.   Note the shelf above the electrical outlet.  A lot of thought went into planning this little homemade trailer.  :)

The little RV detaches from the the flat top trailer in case he needs it to haul his motorcycle, but otherwise, the RV is attached securely to the trailer and towed by his truck.  He uses his truck for storage of his clothes and other things that won't fit in the trailer.

Right inside the entry door, if you look up, there is a wine rack installed on the ceiling:

I talked to Ray briefly this morning on the way over to the showers and he was packed up and ready to move on to Percha Dam State Park.  I asked how he slept last night, his first time sleeping in the little trailer, and he expressed fake horror at the night he spent.  Then he said, "Of course, it might have been from too much wine!"  He said there are a lot of changes he's going to make when he gets back home in a week or so.

It's a super cute little trailer, and Ray is very proud of it.  He did a nice job building it and all the little touches really make it special.  But when I walked back to The Palms, I was feeling fortunate to have so much room, air conditioning, heat, lots of windows, all the things I have in The Palms that allow me to live so safely and comfortably.

From Me and Katie, have a great Wednesday, everyone!  :)