Trailer Rehab Follow Up

We finished up the trailer last night.  After getting it back to Ohio we still needed to get a few things done.  We cut out the rusted-out section of the rear frame, replaced the wheel bearings, and primed and painted.  Here are a few pictures.

The newly reconstructed rear frame.

Just a quick, down and dirty paint job.  At least she's all one color now!

With the quad all loaded.

Towed it for the first time with the quad loaded, and I couldn't be happier.  Towed straight and true.  Just one final bit of work to do.  I need to wire brush the rust off of the bottom of the trailer, and prime and paint.  Then, on to the next project!

Talk to you all soon!

Trailer Rehab

We just back from a quick trip up.  This visit was something of a last minute decision, as we had thought that we wouldn't make it up at all in October.  What prompted this trip was the need for a trailer.  The small utility trailer we have, which we use for hauling our quad to band competitions, has a bent axle.  I got to thinking about the trailer that was left up on the property, which is larger and far sturdier...though in need of a good deal of TLC.  With several band competitions coming in the next few weeks we needed to get one of the trailers in shape, and I opted for the one at Shangri La.  Here is a picture of it from a previous trip.

The Obligatory "Before" Shot

As you can see, she's looking a bit rough.  The tires are shot, the tongue is bent where somebody jack knifed it, the bearings are in serious question, the frame at the rear is nearly rusted through, and the lights and wiring are shot. 

This was looking like a solo trip, until our youngest son Kyle agreed to join me.  Shelly had committed to a job for the weekend and Michael was scheduled to work, so it would be just the two of us.  I picked him up from school around 2:00 PM Friday and we immediately hit the road.  I was grateful for his company, as I was going to be needing the help.  The conversation on the drive to and from was also very welcome.  We arrived at the house around 9:30 PM.  We put the trailer into the barn so that we could start work on it first thing the next morning.  We then started a fire to warm the place up, and called it a night.

Bright and early the next morning we started in on the trailer.  Here's what we were dealing with.

Bald and Dry Rotted Tires

Destroyed Lights and Broken Wiring.  Bearings needing inspection and packing.

Somebody jack knifed the trailer at some point, and bent it all to heck.

I put together the shopping list and headed in to Cheboygan to buy what we needed.  We had checked out the Wal Mart here in Ohio first to see if they'd have the tires and hitch supplies, and to price things out.  I had already picked up the lights from Harbor Freight.  We had a nice surprise at the Wal Mart in Cheboygan.  The tires were$13 less each than they were in Ohio, and with needing to buy three with the spare that saved us a nice little handful of green.  Whatever I wasn't able to get at Wal Mart I picked up between Advance Auto Parts and Ace Hardware.

After working pretty much from sun up to sundown, less stopping for lunch and dinner and to run out for more parts, this is what we were able to accomplish.

New Hitch

New Lights and New Wiring

New Tires / Freshly Greased Wheel Bearings

All of Shelly's hard work on clearing out the barn really paid off big for us this weekend.  We were able to work on the trailer inside and out of the elements.  We made some good progress, but there's still some more work to do.  I need to replace the frame at the rear of the trailer where it's rusted out.  I already have the angle iron, and there's enough good metal left on the trailer to bolt it on to.  The outer bearings are a bit sloppy, so I'll be replacing those.  She's also in need of a thorough scraping, priming, and painting.  I'll take care of all that here in Ohio this week so that we can use it to haul the quad this weekend..  One other thing we were able to do was to seal the wood.  I found a gallon of Thompson's in the basement, so we slapped that onto the rails and decking.  Here's the result of our day's work.

Our "New" Quad Trailer

With this being a quick trip we didn't have much time to relax or play.  I did take the time to take a few pictures.

While on the drive back from Cheboygan, which had me on 23 running along Lake Huron, I stopped to take these few pictures at a roadside pull off.

Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Here are a few shots around the house and property, showing the fall colors beginning to turn.

Shangri La

Shangri La

The drive, looking back toward the road.

Shangri La in the Fall

Kyle and I had a good time.  We talked and laughed a ton during the drives and during the time at the house.  We now have the trailer back here in Ohio, and she proudly tracked straight as an arrow the whole way down the freeway.  We're not sure when we'll be heading up next.  It might be at the end of the month.

Take care,and we'll talk to you all soon!

A Lights Out Good Time!

Just back from another good and productive weekend at Shangri La.  This trip was mainly geared towards making preparations for the soon to be coming cold weather.  I made this trip up without Shelly or the boys, but I did have company.  I invited an old friend, Tom, for his first visit up to the place.  Tom and his wife, Jenny, and us go way back...to high school and beyond.  We were each others' best man for our weddings.  We also have quite a few stories from "back in the day" which...well....I'm not going to go into here.  ;)

Typically I have been heading up after work on Fridays, but this is football season and the band is playing.  Kyle plays in the marching band, so I waited until Saturday to head out so that I wouldn't miss out on the half time and post game shows.  As an added bonus, the football team won.  :)  I left Grove City at 6:00 AM Saturday and headed up to Taylor, MI to pick up Tom.  On the way to the Shangri La we made a small detour in Mio so that Tom could see his grandfather's old property.  It brought back a lot of fond memories for him, and it was pretty cool to hear him tell some of the stories.

When we arrived at Shangri La we had a pretty rude surprise waiting for us.  There was a bright pink tag on the door announcing that the electricity had been turned off.  With it being Saturday the only number to call was the emergency number, and they weren't able/willing to do anything for us since it wasn't an "emergency".  They said that we would have to call the office during regular business hours, and the office wasn't going to be open until Monday.  So, getting things straightened out would have to wait until then.  An electricity free weekend!  No big deal.  I'm a camper, right?  :)  No power meant no lights, but it also meant that the well pump wouldn't run.  Fortunately there was still pressure in the holding tank, so we did have some water.  It turned out that with rationing we were able to make it last the whole weekend.  All it took was a good plan.

The Plan:  ration the water, buy beer to drink, cook on the grill, light at night with an oil lamp and candles, no showers, number "one" outside, and number "two" inside and flush with a half bucket of water.

We got ourselves settled in.  With rain threatening we weren't planning on tackling anything big.  I showed Tom around the house and property, then we grabbed a couple of cans of spray paint.  Last fall I waited too long to mark the dead trees for cutting, so when the leaves fell I couldn't tell the dead from the alive trees.  We marked quite a few, and on a future trip we'll be cutting down our own firewood.

The rain started not long after.  We took a short drive to show Tom around, heading over to Lake Huron and to the boat launch at the mouth of the Ocqueoc River.  It was getting dark, so we headed back to the house.  Huh...pretty dark inside with no lights.  We lit a hurricane lamp and some candles, cracked open a few beers, and played Scrabble.  That's right...we played Scrabble by lamp light.

Sunday morning we woke to clear blue skies and a nice breeze.  A picture perfect fall day.  We headed in to Onaway for coffee and breakfast at the Wood Winds restaurant.  We have yet to have a bad meal here, and this meal was no exception.  After getting back to the house we picked apples, separating the good from the bad...or the people food from the deer food.  We ended up with about a milk crate of each.  Once we're up there full time we'll be able to tend the trees, so we should be able to see a better harvest in years to come.  I'm looking forward to whatever Shelly plans on making with these!

With that done I fired up the tractor and Tom fired up the weed whacker.  It feels pretty good, knowing this will be our last time doing this for the season. :)

With the lawn looking good we got to work on getting the tractor ready for winter.  We removed the mowing deck, attached the snow thrower, and installed the chains on the tires.  After the work on the mowing deck and carburetor the old girl is really running strong.  We had to fight a bit with the snow thrower, until we learned the trick of it.  Hopefully I'll be able remember the trick for next year.

After that we headed into the house to rid the kitchen of the old stove.  This behemoth is a 70's vintage, chocolate brown, LP fired monster, which anybody in their right mind would be afraid to use.

We had to remove the top oven from the stove just to make it light enough to get it out to the barn.  Even then the darn thing was heavy.  They don't make them like this anymore...thankfully.  It didn't come apart easily, and it won't be going back together.

Fortunately for us we had an overage on stoves.  A newer and less scary model was installed in the basement, so we disconnected it and moved it into the kitchen.  With its smaller profile it opened up the kitchen a bit.  And...we're not afraid to use it.  We didn't have the right fittings to get it hooked up, and with it being late on a Sunday nothing was opened.  We did try it downstairs before moving it, and all is in good working order.  We just need to buy parts and take them with us the next trip up.  Then we'll be cooking with gas!  Yeah...I know.  Sometimes I just can't help myself.

That's pretty much it for this trip up.  Other than the work above I spent a lot of time day dreaming and planning on all of the renovations we'll be doing in the coming years.  Tom had some really good ideas.  We've decided that the first major renovation will be finishing the basement.  I'm going to need a home office, and once done we'll have a ton more living space.  It was really great having Tom along for this trip.  It's been a very long time since we've hung out together, and it felt an awful lot like old times.  :)

Just in case you're wondering what the inside of a house in northern Michigan looks like at night with no electricity, here's a picture.

Talk to you all next time!  :)