Meet My Trailer. Her name is…

I know many of you have been wondering what I’m going to name my trailer.  I’ve been hoping the perfect name would come to me like a divine message.  Perhaps during my drive, a beautiful and unusually bold bird would daringly swoop in front of my car and I’d be so inspired I’d name her “turkey.”  While I did see a hawk struggling gallantly against the Kansas wind, that wasn’t quite the inspiration I was looking for.

Being left to my own analytic devices I began my research.  I started with explorers, particularly female badass explorers who bucked the system and paved their own way, like Amelia Earhart.

While she was amazing, neither Amelia, or Earhart felt like the right name for my little trailer, so I, naturally, moved on to pirates. 

Maybe Mary Read or Anne Boony, both of whom donned men’s attire, sailed the seven seas and led crews who terrorized unsuspecting oceanic travelers.

Since I don’t generally think of myself of a pillager or terrorizer, it didn’t seem like quite the right fit either, so I moved on.

I researched migratory animals like whales and birds, functional characters from books and movies, and even types of weather patterns like squalls and tornados.  Nothing seemed befitting of my new little addition.  

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The Selection:

Then, like a flash, it came to me!  A name that is a double entendre, in which both meanings align nicely with my new little beauty.

One meaning invokes boldness and intelligence, while being understated.  A personality that isn’t about intimidating size to make a point, but about being principled and thoughtful.  Knowing how to navigate the world with a subtle demeanor, but with conviction.

The other name describes something that is small and agile.  Intelligent and beautiful.  That, while objectively petite and can fit into tight crevices, has an exploratory nature and is best suited to live in wide open spaces.

So, without further ado, please meet my trailer…

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Meet Finch:

Named after the noble Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and the small but mighty bird.

For those of you, like me, who didn’t previously know this little fact, there’s actually a breed of finch called the Blue Gouldian.  I have to say the resemblance is uncanny.

Here are some fun Finch facts:

• The Finch is one of the smallest birds on earth, averaging 9cm in length.  Conveniently enough, my trailer is 9 ft in length.  Coincidence?  

• Despite their small size, the finch requires a lot of room to fly around so they actually require more space than larger birds like parrots.

• Finches primarily inhabit deciduous and evergreen forests, tropical and subarctic areas, mountains and desert.  That pretty much covers the landscapes I intend to visit on my adventures.

• Most importantly, finches are adorable, and, as you can see, my trailer is also adorable.

As for Atticus Finch, I feel that the similarities are primarily two-fold.

• First, being understated. Atticus didn’t take up space like some meat-head picking fights using physical strength or intimidating size.  He was understated in his demeanor, but powerful in his language. His strength was in the unimpeachability of his convictions and his willingness to stand by them when faced with what seemed to be an uphill battle.  This little trailer doesn’t need to be a 5^th wheel, taking up the same footprint as a semi-truck.  It’s understated and subtle.  It’s dependable, thoughtful and dignified.  Despite its unassuming size, this little teardrop makes a big impact wherever it goes.

• Second, being intelligent. Atticus was able to win an argument with reasoning and thoughtfulness.  This trailer is very thoughtfully designed.  The use of space, the balanced weight, the type of materials.  It’s all very smart.  So even for this novice hauler, I was able to drive it across the country,  through different terrain and weather conditions, squeezing it into small spaces and organizing it to meet my needs without any issue.  The thought that went into the little details of this trailer makes its minimalistic size perfectly adequate without sacrificing comfort, control or function.

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Finch’s Features:

Now that I’m home and have had some time to unload and give Finch a little bath, I wanted to show you some of her features.

Exterior:

Finch has a spare tire on one side of her and a rack to hold two large water containers on the other side.  The water containers aren’t in the picture because I needed to clean them out, but they lock onto the side of the trailer.  This not only looks cool and is space saving, it additionally allows me to no longer have to deal with the frequent mess caused by storing water in my car during my travels. 

She has four windows, all of which open and all of which have screens.  There are two air vents to help air circulate that are also screened.  These screens are vital as my blood is the perfect vintage for mosquitos and I will stay up all night long hunting a mosquito rather than let it hunt me.

Mounted to the top of the trailer is a Rhino Rack.  I hope to mount my Tepui roof top tent to the rack which would allow this trailer to actually sleep four.  It would also make it the perfect tree-house height, satisfying another long standing dream of mine to have a tree house I can sleep in.

On the front there is a large, water tight Better Built storage container.  As a connoisseur of rugged tools, this badass heavy duty storage containers makes me feel extra butch.

Mounted on top of the storage container is a solar panel that charges the battery that’s stored in the back.  The solar panel is small but works perfectly for my needs.  It charges all my techie gadgets, and powers the lights.  I’m a pretty low maintenance lady, so that’s all I need.

The Kitchen Galley:

The galley includes a removable and mountable table that’s very sturdy.  There is a separate sliding drawer that comes out where I can store and use my stove.  The light mounted to the top allows for either red or white light and runs off the battery.  

I intend to put my woodworking skills to good use in this area of the trailer, perfectly organizing it for all my culinary needs.

The battery lives in the kitchen galley and is charged by the solar panel.  This small but mighty little battery runs all of the interior lights and charging ports.

Beside the battery is a strip of outlets that run off of an exterior plug.  Using that plug, I can connect the trailer to an exterior power source and run equipment off of this set of outlets.  

The Interior:

There are two USB ports and one “cigarette lighter” port for charging.  I use the USB ports for my electronics, and plug the heating pad into the cigarette lighter port.  All of these charging ports run off of the battery.

The voltage meter shows how much power is left in the battery and how much power I’m pulling based on what’s plugged into the ports.  So far I’ve only drained the battery once on a particularly freezing night when I had the heating pad cranked up to 5.

There are two large storage cabinets, perfect for organizing clothes and electronics.  In this picture you can also see the heating pad that covers roughly 3/4 of the queen size bed.

In front of the bed, there’s also space for storage.  This is where I put my camping shoes (in a plastic bag) so they didn’t get dirty outside and were out of the way.

Of course we’re all very familiar with the infamous heating pad dial:

The interior dome light, like the exterior light, runs off the battery.  It has a Red or White light option.

That pretty much covers it.  Everything a girl could want!  

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour and the name announcement.  I love little Finch and am so excited to customize some of the shelving to meet my specific needs.  I’m always looking for a good woodworking project, and Finch is the gift that keeps on giving!

I’ll be undertaking that woodworking project this winter while I wait for the weather to warm up.  Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing my handiwork on this blog so you can watch the progress.