The Gypsy Wagon

Nobody is exactly sure why we decided to build a gypsy wagon. This was one of those accidental projects that arrived at the cottages and stayed. The official legend is that a guy from Montana brought a buckboard wagon down to Vegas to stage a marriage proposal and she said “no”.... hence he never wanted to see the wagon again.

this blog might be a bit of a rabbit hole so I’ll do my best; just know that I’m apologizing ahead of time.

Bill and I discussed the idea of making a Gypsy wagon and then I found this wagon at an auction and thought the wheels were great and so purchased it. I got a friend who has a tow truck to deliver it to the cottages. We then brought the chassis to another friends house and he helped us widen it and lengthen from 3’x 9’ to about 9’x19’ all throughout this process many people asked the same question; “ what’s a gypsy wagon?”.... the tow truck guy, the friend with the shop………… and anyone who passed by in the process.

It’s hard to imagine looking back that then.... we did not know that this project would stretch on for 12 years.

Nobody warns you that an idea might sit for 8 and a half years without a roof.... that life will happen and that this new tenant at the cottages will have to wait her turn . Any creative people reading this know and understand this intersection... ... you have started this project and taken it to a place where scrapping it would actually be harder than finishing it. So.... you tell yourself (each other in this case) to keep on going.

At one point another friend is selling a truck she purchased which had a camper on it.... called the pilgrim... she let us purchase just the camper. we then harvested anything useful and took the rest of it to a salvage yard.

At some point the next day the actual truck belonging to the camper showed up parked in front of the cottages... a man who bought the truck was heading out of town with it when it broke down in front of my house... he apologized and asked if he could leave it there until he could get it running again.

There aren’t a ton of photos of the wagon

as both Billie and I were busy with other projects but this one is during the early stages.

In the past few years work on the wagon has resumed and here is where it is today:

Most of the appliqué have been found out and about junking with friends.