Happy Campers

The ad in the Bulletin Board said "1976 camper, good condition, $800." We called the number listed and took off down the road, following Fuzzy's hastily scribbled directions. We spend a good amount of time just driving the back roads of our area, but I'd never been down this particular road before. It was wet and rutted, just barely above the level of the creek that flowed orange (due to mine drainage) to our right and a pasture just beginning to green up rose to oak woods on our left.

We passed a large dogtrot cabin with it's little clutch of outbuildings and turned off the road through an open metal gate, down a steep trail took us down to an old trailer perched by the side of an unpolluted creek. We could see the camper, white with an orange and red stripe, sitting down a mud path past the trailer. A big chow mix dog greeted us, followed by a smallish man of indeterminate age. He could have been anywhere between 35 and 60, with leathery skin and long, dark hair. After shaking our hands and pointing out a tree stump he'd just scared a black bear off, he showed up back to the camper.

Mildew streaked down the metal sides and the front had a slightly, um, crushed appearance. Inside, though, it was snug and dry, and while there was a definite excess of wood panelling, I really like the layout of the interior. So, with a $200 deposit and the promise to come retrieve the camper the next day, we were one step closer to living at PineTop!