Stalkers
Exactly two years ago tomorrow my husband and I were camping at Stewart Stubbs Park in Vernonia, OR. On a whim we decided to do a drive-by at the storage place on the way into town to see if the AS we'd been stalking had survived the terrible flood the winter before. As we drove by we were initially sad to see that it wasn't in the usual spot; however, sadness turned to joy as we realized it had survived and was just stored in a different spot. Previous inquiries as to whether the owner was interested in selling had gone unanswered but, what the heck, we stopped and tried again....needless to say we were thrilled when we learned she was indeed interested in selling the AS to us. 
Mold...Mold...and more Mold
When we did a walk-thru early the next week, our first instinct was to run and not look back...we were greeted with dried mud, a tub full of standing water from the flood oh, eight months prior...did I mention MOLD? Amazingly, the marine battery still had a charge so when I turned on one of the overhead lights and it actually worked it seemed to be an omen...$3200 later she became our first AS!!!
Can Finally Smell the Elephant Burgers
Many times throughout the summer as we gutted the trailer I could swear my husband wanted to push it right back into the Vernonia River and wave goodbye as it floated away....in my silly Pollyanna way I encouraged him to take tackle this in small "bites", hence the elephant analogy. About three months ago he said "I can finally smell those elephant burgers"....hard to believe we made it past the overwhelming to the anticipation of being near to completion
