The Great Trailer Adventure

Teeny gray trailer.

So, I have been looking for a trailer to fit my giraffe. I have the teeniest tiniest two horse straight load that all of the others fit in. But not Bacon. Husband wanted a gooseneck four horse. He settled for a three, because really, I plan on hauling one in there most of the time. We had a couple of other requirements and then stuff that would make the trailer extra desirable if it had them.

Teeny gray trailer behind giraffe.

I had been searching and searching and came across a facebook group for selling trailers in the Northwest. I found that most trailers were cheaper on there. I posed an ad, and someone responded. I really really liked the trailer. It was a North Star Double R 3H gooseneck trailer, created in 2007. Aluminum skin with a steel frame, extra large tack room and even came with a mini fridge and microwave. She sent pictures, it had some wear of course but all looked great.

Picture I got from trailer lady.

We chatted for a few weeks and finally got the loan settled and a day settled (Friday). Fortunately, I have cool friends who have a truck to pull it and will donate a whole day to helping me. Redheadlin's red haired racehorse husband fairy man was one volunteer, while his racing partner (who we call Chili Dewop) was another. We were to drive from Boise, Idaho to Pendelton, Oregon to meet and swap. The trailer was coming from Spokane.

I bribed Chili and Fairy with donuts, fancy cupcakes and cake to start the journey off on a good note. It should take about 3 hours to get there. I had a feeling trailer lady would be late, so we doddled and said hi to baby Blakers (named after my husband because he was born on my birthday!) and had many pee breaks.

Baby racehorse Blakers!

About 10 minutes away from my destination I get a text from trailer lady asking how far away we were. I told her, and her response was that she was at least 1.5 hours away. She then became trailer ho. Seriously, you didn't think to let me know that you were going to be incredibly late? We were already tired and frustrated, and now had to keep ourselves entertained for a while. We ended up at Hamley's, which is a super cool western tack store full of expensive beautiful things. I don't know why I didn't take pictures. And we went to Walmart. A little over two hours later, she arrived.

My trailer's butt.

I was star struck because I could finally touch and see my trailer. There were a few things she never mentioned to me on facebook though. Like two of the tires need replaced. And there was some rust I could not see in the pictures. Superficial rust, but still. And that one of the windows has some trouble shutting, the dividers were extremely hard to adjust in length, and so on. All little things, but still annoying. I just wanted my trailer though and wanted to leave, so we made the switch and back home we started.

Mini fridge. Hell yeah.

We stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and eventually ended up back home in the dark, which made it especially fun to try and get the trailer backed into the correct spot behind our house. We sent Chili on his way back home, as he still had two more hours of driving to get there (it was already 10:30pm) and drove Fairy to his house and then drove to the racetrack to get my truck and drive it home. I think it was 12:30am when all was said and done, and we had left at 10:45am the morning before.

Inside.

Inside when dogs are loaded up. With shipping boots.

Needless to say, I am still happy with our purchase. It will fit our giraffe, and the others, and do the job greatly. Husband is peeved about the rust, but now I realize why trailers are cheaper from Oregon and Washington (always wet and salty). Whoops. Lesson learned. We already took the padded deviders out too, because a family member can redo them. There were only two with some chew marks, but hubs wanted them all to match. Anyways, I got my trailer! And now, I need a truck to pull it.

How good would this look... 

...being pulled by this. Yes.