Speaking of Bubba AC riggings

In the mid 1980s I had a older Dodge pickup. It was black with a black interior. It would get hotter than heck inside. It was our "Better" vehicle. The car we had then was limited to going to town and back.

We wanted to go on vacation down to Louisiana. MY wife has family down there so the only cost we had was fuel and food down. Money was tight. I did look at aftermarket AC for the truck but it was over our budget. What I did find was a REAL small 110 volt window AC unit that would fit in the sliding back window. It was real small I think it was only like 1000 watts. So I put it in the sliding window and borrowed a small generator. So we went trucking along cool as heck with a AC unit run off a gas generator in the bed. The pickup was an extended cab one. That little AC unit would just about freeze you out in the front. The kids in the back complained about being cold the whole trip. LOL

We where talking about that just last week when it got so hot here for a few days. The kids still remember that trip.

I looked for a picture of it but we did not take many picture other than the kids back than as it cost too much to get film developed.

Funny thing I noticed too. Was that there are very few pictures of my first wife then either. She always was taking the pictures. She loved photography. She got to take a few classes before she passed on.

Reminds me of a trip we took in 1991, I think it was. 2 weeks, to Mt. Rushmore and bunch of other parks and attractions, from western Washington. 1976 Ford Supercab pickup, with a lot of miles, pulling a vacation trailer. I took a full set of tools, and they came in handy- had to replace the water pump in Rapid City, and the alternator at West Yellowstone (just before the fireworks on the 4th).

Air conditioning had never worked, so I had it recharged before leaving, hoping for the best. Worked for a couple of days, then nothing. So we just sweated it out.

Low point of the trip was the expiration of our pet rat, Floyd, in southeastern Idaho on our way home. It was about 100 degrees, kids were trying to keep him cool by spritzing him and giving him water with an eyedropper in the back seat, but the whole thing was just too much for him. I think he had COPD- had always had a breathing problem. We wrapped him in a plastic bag, put him in the freezer in the refer in the trailer, and a good burial when we got home.

Of all the tens of thousands of miles in our later years in more modern RV's, the trip that brings back the most memories was our very first newly married "RV" trip around 1970. I had a 1964 Ford F 250 4X4 and all we could afford and found (around $50) was a home made plywood topper camper for the back of the Ford. I put a piece of 3/4 plywood sideways to lay a mattress on and our food and coolers and coleman catalytic heater and our dog were all loaded up and we headed to Florida in January. We got to Georgia where it was still cold and fired up the Coleman Catalytic Heater and the wife sort of accidentally sat on it OUCH lol

NO AC of course but it wasnt needed then.

Billy Bob and Bubba was I combined in those days in the home made plywood RV

John T

That's just the way we did it, Homemade truck cap and a tent for the two older kids. We enjoyed that a lot more than the popup tent camper that seem to draw rain wherever it went.

JD, that would be a real Bubba Kodak moment. All I had in my old Dodge was small round 12v fan.
George

Like the song by Hank Williams Jr, A Country Boy Can Survive....Ron

I know a guy who added air conditioning to his track hoe that way. Replaced the rear cab window wish plywood and inserted a window AC unit. Used a small generator bungee corded to the top of the hoe"s engine to run it.