It didn’t take me long before I grew tired of my accommodations. The Shag wagon and the inflated condom were good, but I needed something more.
Confused? See my other stories first.
A friend of the family knew of someone upgrading their own camping experience and I became the owner of a used late 1960’s Sears tent trailer.
I couldn’t find any pictures of it for this story. Back then pictures were a bit more of an effort. Life before cell phones and digital cameras – simpler times.
However I did find a Sears catalogue listing. Sears catalogue? Think Amazon before the internet came along.
The trailer was pretty basic but did have room to sleep 4 comfortably.
I really knew absolutely nothing at all about trailers. It was a ‘Hail Mary’ moment. Thankfully it came well maintained with newer canvas and mattresses and never let me down.
I put a hitch on the Shag Wagon. Good thing The trailer only weighed 250 pounds as the wagon was a bit under powered at its best. I pulled that trailer to highland games all over Southern Ontario.
It had a massive insulated metal storage box attached to the trailer frame.
Insulated locking box!
It took about 30 seconds to envision it as the best beer cooler ever. Added a drain to the bottom and we were set.
From that day forward we had a routine. Collect money from everyone to buy a load of beer and ice. Fill the cooler and let it sit for the day and you have party central. We did have to carefully mange access to thwart the beer thieves.
There were some issues that came with a massive cooler attached to the front of your bedroom. The unwritten rule was along the lines of ‘if the trailer is rocking’ don’t come looking for the key.
The trailer sat unused for a few years in my Mom’s backyard after I moved to Calgary for what was to be a summer job. It became infested with wasps and eventually sold for scrap.
When I moved back to Ontario, I was surprised to find the insulated box still sitting in the yard. It had been used for storage.
I donated it to an environmental center Mom was managing.
I believe it is still there to this day.