It seems like just about everything I've done with this trailer has been some kind of experiment or learning process or teachable moment.What kind of trailer am I going to build? What kinds of plans are available? Will I have the needed skills? How will I handle the mistakes? Where will I get the materials?  Are two people and a dog going to manage living in this thing?

Well, some answers have come along, and others are yet to come. I don't even know what some of the questions are, yet.

In any case, my retirement is anything but dull or boring. I was pretty sure of that, anyway. My dear wife has been supportive and even enthusiastic about this project, and that has made a world of difference. It is by no means done, and I have no idea when I will be able to say that it is.

As I get things organized, I'll have a list of sources for the stuff that went into the trailer, some things I could have done better or differently, and I'll include some of the mistakes I have become aware of.

I like messin' around in the kitchen and so I make a lot of the meals for us. It will be different, working with the galley in this trailer, but I'll learn. More experiments.

One experiment I'm looking forward to is bannock - a kind of camp bread. I went looking for recipes on the internet, and found a few I liked, and so have slightly modified one in particular.

combine the dry ingredients, then mix in the oil

add the egg and the water, stirring well to make a soft dough. It is too sticky to knead with your hands, so give the spoon a brief workout to knead the dough.

Let the dough sit for about 10 minutes.

Oil your skillet and then flour it.

Heat up the skillet with a medium heat. When it is too hot for the bare hand, put about a quarter of your dough in the skillet. With a couple of spoons, poke and pat and prod the dough around until it is more or less a kind of broad flat patty.

When the bread has turned a light golden brown, flip it over and let it cook for maybe 8 or 10 minutes, or until it has turned a nice light brown.

During this time it should be plumping up slightly and holding its own shape when you flip it around with your spatula.

When you think it is done, give the rest of your dough the same treatment. Micky and I thought it was very good, and I am looking forward to seeing how I'll do with the gas camp stove in the trailer galley.

This is what was left when I got the idea to take a snapshot for the website. The "loaves" are about seven inches across and maybe an inch thick. The bread has a very nice texture and slightly sweet taste. I think I'll experiment with raisins or maybe maple syrup or a mixture of flour and corn meal.

The trailer and our '05 Matrix in the Two Harbors municipal parking lot. Lake Superior off to the right, downtown off to the left, and the old depot in the background.

Well, this is about as good as I get.
I'm in my little basement shop and you can see snow outside the window.

This is a Southco draw latch, medium size. I had a hard time finding someone who would sell me one of these. I found plenty of hardware suppliers, but they were all wholesalers. They could sell me a gross of these, but not one. I finally found an online retail hardware merchant who had these. This is a very strong latch, and it is adjustable. I bought some forged ring bolts in my local hardware store here in town. One is bolted to the trailer frame, below the galley lid. The other two are bolted through the galley lid and serve as a means of locking the latch.

There's more to come, and if you have questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me. My address is on the first page. If I am slow in replying, I'm likely on a jaunt somewhere. Hey... every day is Saturday, now.

Thanks for your interest.

Tom

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