Getting to the Real Work, subtitled, 'Bout Damn Time

Well, after my last blast about the Bossman, he decided to take away my computer privledges for awhile. Now that the ban has been lifted, I decided it was time to try and get a post up and get up to speed on what's been going on with the Tiki Trash Shasta.

But first, Halloween has come and gone yet again, but just had to put up a photo of my great costume I wore this year. Let me tell ya, kids act like they have never seen Jason in a camper before. Who knew?

 Ok, moving along, back to the saga of Bossman and The Real Boss. Or as I like to call it,  The Eve of Destruction, to steal a song title from days past. Once you see the pictures, you'll get the idea why this just so happened to pop in my multi colored head. Bossman decided it was time to finally do some work on the little camper I call home. I've been involved in some remodeling so I didn't feel the need to be too concerned about a little dust, dirt, and inconvience. What a damn mistake that was! Bossman has completely destroyed what was once a nice little camper. He tells me, "TikiMan, this is just like restoring an old car. Once you get started taking pieces off, you find it hard to draw the line on what is a good point to say stop". I'm guessing that it hard to draw a line on the floor when a good chunk of it is in the back on the pickup truck.

                                

But once again, I find myself getting ahead of the story. Where was I, oh yeah, Bossman had finally decided to get off his lazy, football watching, youtube video playing(more on this later) ass and get some work done to the Tiki Trash Shasta.

'Bout Damn Time

Bossman started with taking out the dinette, the bunk bed, basically everything that wasn't literally bolted down or screwed in. "Room to move around" he says. He's a few pictures to show the damage was a bit more than Bossman expected. He tells me he's up to the task. If I had real eyes they'd be rolled into the back of my wooden head already. "Yea of little faith" I hear The Real Boss saying in the background...........

When I got a look after Bossman brought the Shasta home, I looked at him and asked him, Are you blind?

 Bossman spent a whole weekend bascially gutting the dinette/entry area of the Tiki Trash Shasta. I think I have some pictures of what he found, he didn't seem very pleased. He's not pleased? Hell, I'm the one sleeping in a camper with no floor. Jerk!

Pretty I say, pretty damn rotten!

Note the missing framing on the corners? Yeah, me too. Bossman has possibly bitten off more then even he can chew.

I can hear the Bossman upstairs saying to get off the computer. I have a feeling he has the need to watch some youtube videos from "his glorious youth". Last time I caught the fool, he was blasting some really bad 80's hair band videos and telling me how great it was. I caught a glimpse of one video. Some awful water effects and tons of gratuitous fist clinching it looked like to me.

Till next time, Keep it Tiki

The Pickup and Initial Impressions

Well, Bossman let me in the house tonight so I could get a little 'puter time. He said, "Tikiman, why don't you come in from the cold for a little bit tonight. Stay in the basement though, keep out of my beer, and don't be surfing websites of questionable nature". More on Bossman's choice of brew at a later time.

The Recovery, Return to Base, and First Impressions.

The Bossman and The Real Boss made the deal, bought the Shasta, and arranged for pickup at a later date. Bossman isn't the brightest, he thinks otherwise though. Here's a prime example: buy a camper, ok, that's good, don't have a vehicle to tow it with, not so good. This is where Bossman would beg to differ, he has an old pickup, pretty cool truck actually, 1965 Ford F-100 Custom Cab longbed. Problem is, it doesn't have a hitch. Well, it didn't, he finally got off his can and installed a receiver hitch after the recovery of the Tiki Trash Shasta. Below is picture of above mentioned truck. Why does Bossman always has some goofy grin on his face?

Guess another introduction is needed at this point of the story. Enter one of Bossman's best friends, Awesome. Yeah, that's what he likes to call himself, as Awesome likes to tell it, "One man, One name". I'm thinking Bossman had better get some new friends. Anyway, Bossman calls up his bud, they make arrangements with previous owners, set a time and head off east on a nice, sunny, hot, July morning. I will give Bossman some credit. He picked up some tow lights, "just in case" he says, wrenches, screwdrivers, a jack and a set of rims and tires.. He tells me later, "I picked up a set of 15" rims and had some decent rubber mounted on them, the tires on the ole gal looked like the tread was 100% but were suffering from a severe case of dry rot". I'm thinking Bossman has a case of dry rot in the brain at times. Prime example: Bossman forgot to mention to Awesome that Tiki Trash Shasta was located at the top of a street that had a slope of approximately 30 to 35 degrees, and no place to swap out the tires. Problem solved, they hooked up, pulled it down the hill, which ended in a T intersection. Of course the road they were on was the one that had to stop, AT THE BOTTOM of this steep road. Nothing like a little adventure to start the journey back to Topeka. These clowns found a nice place to stop and swap out the tires, nice being, about having a foot from the edge of the road. Good thing Farley is a sleepy little place. I heard Awesome recount the story, "we hopped out, unloaded the jack and new tires, swapped them out in about 20 minutes, we looked like a Nascar pit crew". More like pitiful crew I'm sure. Their trip home was uneventful actually, no burnt bearings, flat tires, or anything else worthy of mentioning. The Real Boss and Bossman did a quick policing of the little gem and took the obligatory "new camper" pictures to post on that social networking website. Let me dig around the hard drive and see if I can't find some of the initial pictures.

Obviously some water damage to the corners, little does Bossman know what he is getting into!

Note the super cool Kraco 8-track player

Bossman told me he hasn't decided what to do about the AC, The Real Boss says it stays, somehow.

About time to wrap this up, Bossman is yelling downstairs, telling me it's time to take my Island shirt loving self back out to the Tiki Trash Shasta. Bossman has really started to dig into the ole gal, of course, bonehead waits until it's Fall and getting pretty cold in this part of the world to really get after it. I've been documenting the progress and will do my best to get this, possible disaster in the making, to the masses. Until next time, Keep it Tiki

Introductions, first order of business

Guessing an introduction of myself is in order, I'm Tikiman. That's me in the window. My owner, (that's what he thinks, but I let him go along blindly with that notion) is the owner of the 1964 Shasta Airflyte that I'm hanging out in currently. I will be trying to document his attempt to rehabilitate this 'rolling piece of history', his words, not mine. But wait, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. First intros are needed to give everyone an idea of the people I'm dealing with here. He's The Bossman, his real name, I have no idea, but I think he calls himself this because it gives him a feeling of being in control. Once again, I'll let him meander down his path of blissful ignorance. Next we have Lori, or as I like to call her, The Real Boss. Of course, I wouldn't use this name in front of Bossman so as not to knock his feelings of being in control down a few notches, along with him evicting me from the Shasta. There are a few other characters running around this place and I'll introduce you to them as needed.

How this Shasta found it's way to Middle America Kansas

The Bossman had an itch I guess, at least that is what he says, to own a vintage camper. For as long as I've known Bossman, he's always been into vintage cars, trucks, music,...etc., etc. Doesn't matter, if it's old, Bossman seems to be into it. So naturally a camper was next on the list. He tells me he has been doing some research surfing the web for campers and comes across some pretty 'neat', his word, blogs tracing the restoration of Shastas. This really gets him excited about finding his next toy. He finds some sites to start his search. Of course, he starts with Ebay and finds nothing close enough and he tells me, he wouldn't buy an antique car without actually inspecting it, so same rules apply to campers. For once, I can agree with him. Craigslist, a big nada also. One day, he tells me he's found a site that has nothing but vintage campers for sale on it, TinCanTourists. Of course, he says it's disappointing that it seems most of the campers are too far away to even consider. They all seem to be in the Great Lakes or the Southwest.

By this time, Bossman has his heart set on a Shasta, The Canned Ham. One day early in July 2010, he's perusing the classifieds and sees an ad for a 1964 Shasta Canned Ham with Wings. This ad peaked his interest. He tells me later on while recounting the initial excitement of the find, he figured this little gem would be too far away also. So he scrolls downs to find the location of the camper…... KANSAS CITY, MO. I can see him bounding around as excited as Ralphy the day he got his Red Rider BB gun. Bossman stated, "a call was made, information exchanged, a date was set to go and view the ole gal a couple days later, with the promise the seller wouldn't sell before I got there" Bossman and The Real Boss made the short hour trip to Farley, MO and had made a deal before heading back home. To cap off the evening and ticking me off royally, they stopped and had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise, at Legends, KCK. Here's a picture I found of the proud new owner after he handed over the dough Hard to see, but it looks like a Cheshire grin to me.

More to follow, I'm sure this will be an interesting adventure for Bossman and The Real Boss. Some work has already been done, which I'll post. More work has been found once doing a little digging he tells me. Til next time, Keep it Tiki