Goldwing Shelter or Fiasco?

Her townhouse was entirely her domain and organized to her comfort. The garage had room for her Cherokee. Scraping frost and brushing snow off simply didn't happen. Even after I invaded the Cherokee spent winter evenings tucked snuggly away in the garage. That is until the Goldwing which occupied that space for the last two winters. Well this spring Janice made it understood her Cherokee was going to reclaim the garage at least for the colder months. So it became a summer long quest to find a movable shelter large enough to store and work on the bike during the winter months.

We started out looking at portable sheds at Lowes, Menards, Home Depot and a number of other places. The problems with each was the same: the ones of a size that would work either had too low a doorway or too large a price tag for my fixed income. We struck on the idea of finding a thoroughly used (beat up but serviceable in other words) travel trailer or construction office trailer. We found one office trailer that was too large for the space we have and one travel trailer that was too nice and required far more alteration than there was time or money for. Time was running out and I was feeling a bit discouraged. Then I walked into the local Mills Fleet Farm store and they had a storage tent on display. After examining closely I believed it would work and the basic frame could be used in the future to secure pole barn siding to which made it an even better concept. A plan began to gel. We returned several times and shopped other places. The local Harbor Freight store had a similar one on sale at over $100 less. The frame is a bit less sturdy but will work equally well.

The construction project should have went smoothly and been completed while weather was still mild and before fall was more than a couple weeks old. Well I said “should have”. The first day of autumn brought the death of my niece and twelve days later mom passed on. All projects got shoved back by at least a month and by then the weather had turned wet making the clay soil of the back yard greasy and. messy It's most unpleasant working when footwear grows in both size and weight with each step. Much as I may wish to do a major gripe campaign here I have to consider it has been far less problem for me than for many farmers still trying to harvest crops as temperatures go consistently below freezing. My problems are few by comparison. Anyway the shelter is up and has withstood enough North Dakota winds (Chicago has nothing on us) to bolster confidence it will endure the winter (fingers, toes, eyes, arms and legs crossed). There are a few details still to be dealt with but I save them for future posts.

Goldwing shelter or fiasco? Time will tell.