Our New 1969 Yellowstone Trailer

[Note, I have since sold the Yellowstone in favor of a 1969 Dodge Travco Motorhome. I’m leaving this here for posterity, but if you’re interested in Yellowstones, alas, luxagraf turns out to be a poor resource.]

There was very little under our Christmas tree this year. Of course the girls got some gifts (balance bikes from us, plus the grandparents’ gifts), but my wife and I didn’t exchange gifts. Or rather we gave ourselves some things that didn’t belong under the Christmas tree. The big one was our son, who was born a few days before.

The other was a new (well, new to us) 1969 Yellowstone travel trailer.

It’s 16ft long, single axle and in desperate need of some restoration. Still, thanks to some friends, we managed to tow it home without too much trouble. It’s currently at my in-laws’ house since we need to sell off our 1969 truck before we have room at the side of our house.

The plan is to gut the trailer, reframe, re-wire and re-plumb everything. I plan to keep the stove, the light fixtures and the drawer and cabinet handles. That’s about it from what I’ve seen so far. It would be cool to try building it back as close to the original as possible, but I’ve yet to find another like this model, which has a rear door. I’m also not so concerned with authenticity as practicality and comfort.

Plus I plan to get rid of the extraneous unnecessaries like the air conditioning and heater and instead install some solar panels and batteries so we don’t need shore power. We like to avoid campgrounds full of RVs and trailers packed like sardines in a tin. We’re more drawn to BLM and National Forest land where the camping is (often) free, the amenities few and the people fewer.

That’s the plan anyway. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it seems a little overwhelming at times. I saw a quote somewhere, I think it was on one of the Dodge Travco forums, but it was something to the effect of, there’s no camper more expensive than the one you get for free. This one wasn’t free, but it wasn’t much either.

I’ve never restored anything before, but I know I’ll figure out. I also have a lot of very skilled friends who have already volunteered to help with some of the stuff I’m not as knowledgable about, like 12V wiring. And yes, I know what I’m getting into, thanks. That doesn’t make it any less daunting though.

Still, it’s like any long journey, you just put one foot in front of the other. Unscrew the drawer handles one day, rip out the carpet another, pry out the interior paneling, gut the cabinets and so on until next thing you know the bones of the thing are there in front of you. Then you slowly put it all back together again, one foot in front of the other, back up the mountain.

In the mean time, in the evenings, after the kids are in bed, I cover the kitchen table in old maps and plot routes through the cities and into the dark expanses of green, brown and white unknowns. There are no real blank parts of the map anymore, to misquote Joseph Conrad, but there sure are a lot of empty spaces left. And miles to go before I sleep.

[If there’s interest, I’ll post up some restoration photos once we get rolling on the project.]