Skip to main content

Altar of the Atlases

Yes, I'm turning into a rhapsode of "profound satisfactions" about converting a cargo trailer into a livable travel trailer. I built a symmetric rack for my cherished (and half-worn-out) Benchmark and DeLorme atlases. There was something altar-like in their position at the new "command-and-control" center.



This was hardly a great engineering feat. It was a trivial project compared to the kitchen or the solar equipment. And yet I just loved it. Now how could such a small project offer such satisfaction?

It must be the maps.  There is, in any endeavor, a delightful sophomoric phase when you realize you are no longer a mere member of the general public, but are becoming one of the cognoscenti. 

With an RV traveler that phase might happen when you stop thinking in terms of Rand-McNally interstate highway maps, which gas stations and restaurants are at which exits, or which over-crowded, over-priced RV park you are going to spend the night. And this corresponds to you loading up with Benchmark and DeLorme atlases.

By making an altar at the front of the church I get to be reminded of that sophomoric phase every day. 

And speaking of honoring the semi-holy, what better example could you find than the Henschel Australian Breezer, 3.5" brim. To store it with the honor it is due, you must use a spring-loaded hat mousetrap:

Anybody who takes hats seriously -- and in the Southwest, you'd be wise to do so -- stores their hat with a spring-loaded mousetrap.

Comments

Yes Boonie you are becoming the cognoscenti of simple trailer living, but don't you really need to just get down to a simple shopping cart before Mobile Kodger can get your detailed life story / interview for his blog ? Better hurry and get to that stage as Randy in not getting any younger - even though his teeth are coming back one by one.
P.S. say are the shirts in the middle hand-me-down from the Mobile Kodger or are your tastes becoming the same ? It worries me because your trailer is starting to look more and more like his last model ?
I benefited from others' experiences, including the Kodger and the posters on tnttt.com . But there is only a partial overlap. My trailer is meant for full-time living and it is non-stealth. I usually find when somebody posts about stealth camping, the stealth issue robs the oxygen from all other issues, and those are what I care about.