From Trash to Treasure, Part 3

“EVERY MAN LIVES BY EXCHANGING - Adam Smith ”

The list seemed simple in my mind - in hindsight too simple.

1. buy the trailer 2. remodel the trailer - 6 days to

2 weeks

3. tow the trailer to Winthrop and sell out of merchandise (at this point I had never towed anything)

4. Celebrate!

As the trailer project continued, our list of "to-dos" got longer and longer. How are we ever going to finish in time, I thought to myself. It's been 6 weeks and we haven't even started to put the trailer back together. I ignored the voices that told me I was in over my head. All I could do was to keep going, every day, so that's what we did.

I wanted the trailer to have an open-air feeling when it was finished. I imagined a single 20+ foot roll-up door, preferably glass along one side. (eye roll as I write this) After long discussions with anyone who would listen to me I learned more about the importance of weight distribution while it's being towed, security concerns once the trailer is closed for the night and real-time price points for a glass roll-up door this size, I quickly realized a glass door was stupid.

Instead, I settled for a 10-foot aluminum roll-up door and a 12-foot fold-down window. The best part was the roll-up door was a $50.00 highway 9 front-yard find. It was ugly, but the price was right. It was drug home.

I couldn't weld and I had no first-hand experience with metal fabrication, but my friends did. I made phone call after phone call with most conversations starting with, "PLEASE HELP ME!"

My friends and family answered my call one by one, day after day. Their skill sets varied from metalworker, welder, carpenter, electrician, builder, and one hitch hiker I picked up at the freeway entrance near 41st street who was making his way towards the pacific crest trail.

Looking back I realize how much we need community and how important it is to share our skill sets. I may have had the idea for a trailer, but my friends had the talent to build it.