How NOT to Buy a Camper!

Even though I have a perfectly good Shasta LoFlyte (decorated even), I've always been in love with the little canned ham shaped campers from the 50s.  I've drooled over pictures and have broken the 10th commandment multiple times but they're just so darn cute, I can't help myself.

Anyway, I digress.  We decided yesterday to go prom dress shopping which naturally meant a trip to the "Big City."  Since the main highway was closed due to water over the road, we had to take a meandering secondary path to get there.  Now honestly, usually I'm bored to tears and have my eyes closed because there really isn't anything to see around here especially in the winter.  All of a sudden, my husband said "did you see that little camper back there?"  I quickly sat up in my seat, turned my head to see it and missed it.  So we decided to go back for a drive by.  There is was ... THE camper!  The only one I've ever seen around here ... the one I want ... the "cheese to my macaroni" as my daughter would say, sitting there in an overgrown yard filled with abandoned cars, other trailers and assorted junk and a boarded up house.

So we stopped at the neighbor's house to ask about it.  She said the house wasn't inhabited and the guy just left all his junk there.  She also gave us his son's name because she said no one was ever around and that would be our best bet.  We thanked her and I decided it wouldn't hurt to go take a peek at this little darling just to make sure she wasn't destroyed before we bothered some strange guy on a weekend.  After traipsing through mud (and almost falling on my butt a few times) we found a rutted path near a cornfield and walked down it to take a quick look at the camper.  It was adorable ... 50's birch interior, 99.9% intact windows, some water damage but looked like it had potential.  The "I wants" quickly multiplied in my head and so we decided to go back to the car and call the guy when we could find a phone book for the area.

In order to avoid the mud, we decided to walk along the highway.  Meanwhile, some guy is trailing us which kind of creeped me out but figured we were close to the car so could easily make a run for it if he was up to no good.  Well he stopped and yelled at my husband to "get the f**k out."  My husband calmly went over to talk to him and explain that we were just interested in looking at the little camper and had gotten the information from the neighbor about who to call.  Turns out, it was the long-lost owner of the property (cue Deliverance music here) who just happened to be driving by and was itching for a fight.  He cussed, he yelled, and bottom line told my husband "if the *$%&$ camper was for sale, it would be out front with a for sign on it."

Now maybe, just maybe, we were wrong to wander onto some obviously abandoned property to take a quick look at an abandoned camper ... but honestly, people do this all the time.  I just was interested but the guy obviously would rather see this little darling sit and rot rather than making some money and seeing her restored to her full potential.

I'm still looking ... anyone know of an inexpensive canned ham camper for sale?  Cheap?