The Winnebago Man

 

We spotted a documentary in Netflix called the Winnebago Man. The story of an industrial commercial made by the good people of Winnebago industries. These are the outtakes from their production. Cover your ears if you do not want to hear profanity and the defamation of flies.

Our First Road Trip

April and I arrange to drive to Topanga Canyon to check out a $1,500 73 Winnebago Brave. I talked with a really nice guy named Hawk that grew up in Topanga, went to college in Boston and frequented Colorado. He was selling his 73 Brave and wanted to make sure we cut the mustard before he handed his baby over to just anyone. We passed the test and now it was our turn; drive to Topanga and get a look at what might be the sweetest investment we've ever made. We meet Teddy's dad who is very nice and has an old hot rod hidden under a tarp in his drive way; already a good sign. We agree upon a price and he shows us the trick to gettin the lovely lady going, which includes the mystery pedal, starting fluid, and the 10 minute warm-up. I drive her out of the winding roads we fill up for gas and we're on our way. Not ten feet out of the gas station a couple of guys in a van next to me yell out their window and ask if we want to sell our sweet ride. "Not today sir, we just bought her!" We're beaming with pride. Steering the 5 ton rv is no easy task, the power steering needs power, and stiff breezes push me dangerously close to passing Honda Civics. The fear in their eyes tells me I'm running out of lane; people generally give you a wider birth in relation to either your driving skills or the size of your vehicle. In our case it's both.

About an hour into drive along the 5 Freeway I'm awoken from my daze by a gunshot that forces me to swerve and pump adrenaline into my steering muscles. A blow out at 60 miles per hour along the 5 is enough to make you rethink going to church more often. We pull off the road and luckily we park in a pull-out along a sod farm in Castaic. As traffic flies by and we wait for Triple A to arrive I realize I'm in a room bigger than my first apartment and life isn't that bad. A couple hours later, and several prayers directed at the tread life of a tire that came off of the assembly line in 1995, we're off. I've hit every button and switch on the dash until I locate the high beams and now I know that the interior lights work, the wipers work, and there are about 9 switches that don't have any discernible effect whatsoever. We make it to Porterville and park at April's mom's house to show off the goods. We're already day dreaming about the wonderful ways in which we can fix her up and customize the 70's interior decorum. Next step is a bath and find out where the urine smell is coming from.