Saturday I went shopping for a new trailer. They all look good online. I can’t buy one without looking it over in person. I drove Shauna’s car to TrailersPlus in Lakeside. Many of you might try to save money by shopping for a used trailer, but cargo trailers hold their value well. Used trailers in good shape are only a few hundred dollars less than buying new. I would rather buy new and have a warranty, new tires and no worries about how it may have been abused.

TrailersPlus is an Interstate trailer dealer. They have four lines of cargo trailers that I would say are value (cheap), good, better and best. The lowest priced is the Patriot line. These are lightweight, rather flimsy with lauan interior walls and .024 aluminum skin. I don’t think it would be durable enough for our intended use. Next up is the Victory line. This trailer has 3/8″ ply interior walls and heavier frame construction. They cut a few corners on this model – the aluminum exterior is .024″ thick and the diamond plate stone guard is only a few inches high. Their better line is the Loadrunner. This trailer is well-built with 3/4″ plywood floor, 3/8″ plywood walls, .030 aluminum exterior, one-piece roof skin, 500lb-rated roof bows, radial tires, LED lights, four floor tie downs and four wall tie downs. The top of the Interstate trailer line is the Pro series. These have all the bells and whistles. It’s basically the same construction as the Loadrunner, but has a different axle. It sits lower on a torsion axle instead of the Dexter spring axle found on the Loadrunner.

I spent about an hour looking at these trailers and comparing their features and prices.  I was planning to look and get an idea of what I wanted. I ended up finding a trailer I liked and bought it. It’s a 6 x 12 Loadrunner with a champagne beige exterior. They will deliver it to us on Tuesday.

Our new 6 x 12 Interstate Loadrunner trailer

I spent the rest of the afternoon listing the contents of the stolen trailer. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. I started with my tool chests. I tried to mentally go through each drawer and remember what I had in it. The insurance form requires me to list the item, where I bought it, when I bought it, original price and replacement cost. So, for each item I had to search online, find something comparable and look up the price. I couldn’t finish it on Saturday.

Saturday night, Donna made Parmesan-Pesto Tilapia and green beans and I grilled sweet potato slices to serve with it. Food fit for a king! We finished the day by watching an old movie – Platoon starring a young Charlie Sheen.

Tilapia with grilled sweet potato and green beans

Sunday morning, Donna went kayaking with our neighbor, Mona, and her friend, Vanessa. Actually, Donna and Vanessa kayaked and Mona took her stand-up paddleboard out on the bay. They started in De Anza Cove and paddled around the point to Campland, then came back to the west side of the RV park. While they were doing that, I continued to look up items online and work on my list of stolen trailer contents.

At 10am, I tuned in to the Chargers game and became a couch potato. They lost to Washington in overtime. The Charger defense couldn’t stop a Washington drive. It’s too bad. They went 12 consecutive quarters without giving up a touchdown, but didn’t have an answer for Washington.

I worked on the list of trailer items again in the afternoon. I need to finish it this morning. Today we’ll drive to the Progressive insurance office in Kearney Mesa and submit our paperwork. I hope it goes smoothly and we can get our claim settled.