About the Wayzalot

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About the "Wayzalot"

Hardy Speaks

In 1981, a local Waukegan Towing Company noticed my 1930 unrestored "dead" AA Ford one ton Flat bed truck in our yard and he thought it would make a nice parade vehicle for his business. Thus, he made me a deal- my truck for your truck - how could I refuse? Appropriately, he towed his truck my house and I was amazed to find that it was in as bad of shape as my AA Ford. Who wouldn't love an ol' truck?
Our new un-restored truck was a 1946 International K B-6, earlier abused as a nursery utility truck. The frame had been chopped off about two inches behind the rear springs, but it had two really gorgeous rear fenders fabricated of 1/8" diamond plate. Both front springs were badly broken; it had no brakes, broken glass, etc, etc, etc. I had no idea how to start or what to do-so the International sat outside and moved only when my family moved.

Since 1970, when we first saw a "Rolling Home", my wife, Terry and I had thought it would be fun someday to build our own rolling home on an old truck. Could this International be the truck? (I have always owned an antique truck of some kind, my very first in 1962 was a model A ford.) I pondered the idea of building a rolling home. Before I made any rash decisions, (it turned out to be many years of pondering), I needed just the right truck for the task. There was always the concern of what to do if our old truck broke down in some remote area and we ended up with a rolling home on a disabled antique truck where parts were not available. But then... an antique car buddy, Tom Risley, made an obvious suggestion-re-build the truck to have a fifth wheel hitch and build a "detachable rolling home".

With that idea, the reliability of the truck wasn't a stumbling block and it was now time for action. The truck quickly became a money pit, but as all old car lovers understand, I jumped in with both feet, and I loved it.
Dale's Auto Body in Winthrop Harbor was presented with a KB6 cab and body parts for painting. Armstrong Upholstery reupholstered the seat; Acme Truck Brake supplied the hardware, brakes, and springs. With the purchase of six 820x20" Cooper tires, and wheels, chrome and stainless steel nuts and bolts, the bills just kept getting worse and "worser", but the truck was looking "cool". What else could you want?

I started scraping and unscrewing on that International truck in September '94 and in August of 1997, Master Hitch was installed the fifth wheel hitch. As all car buffs know, our truck will always be a work in progress, it will never be "all done", it will not be a prize winning show truck, but it will be one we can use, enjoy and not worry about getting the tires dirty

P.S. Take my advice, if you ever restore an old truck never add up you receipts unless you enjoy abuse, and NEVER tell you wife.
Hardy Evans

Terry's Turn

Hardy spent three years restoring his International, and then...we had to build a garage...so we would have space to build our 1970's "rolling home", in 1997.

First, we traveled to Elkhart Indiana and toured a RV factory to see how they construct their units, where the tanks are located, how the walls and roof were supported, you know all that kind of important stuff. Next we ordered a heavy-duty 29' Rockwood steel fifth wheel frame with 7000# Tor-Flex axles from Wee Shape Frames in Elkhart, Indiana. Now we had the frame, axles and wheels, a frame that could support 15,000 pounds of home-made trailer. Next, we drew up our blueprints. It was now August 1997, and we were finally ready to start our own "rolling home". The thinking and planning was over; it was now time for hard labor. Little did we realize in 1970 that it would be 28 years later when we would be able to start. Of course, during those 28 years, we had to restore a couple of homes to live in, work jobs , raise two daughters, get them through school, plan a couple weddings and "get those girls off our car insurance!"...then we could build our "rolling home".

During construction, the first thing out of our friend’s mouth was, "what this thing going to weigh?”" Hardy would reply, "it's going to weigh a lot!!" thus the Wayzalot kind of named itself.

The Wayzalot's sidewalls are 2"x3" wooden studs with 1" Styrofoam in the walls with exterior cedar shakes. The roof is tin with three skylights. For the cabin look, it has interior cedar paneling, with cross beams for support. It has a 24' x 8' interior because we used 5' for a back porch. It has knob and spool exposed wiring for the interior lights originating from a fuse panel from the 1900's.



We wanted all the comforts of home, tub, shower, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, air conditioner, refrigerator, full size sleeper couch and queen size bed. Let's not forget the television, stereo and electric blanket, battery backup and generator. Hardy just logically figured out how to make it all work and still keep the unique look..

My sister, Pat rebuilt and reinforced the stained glass windows to withstand the moving vibrations. The windows are another feature which add to the overall "collage" look of the Wayzalot.

The bathroom sink was from an old train car on the North Shore electric line that ran from Chicago to Milwaukee. It was installed in a dining room buffet that was cut long ways in half so it would fit in the hallway. Four of the light fixtures were old church fixtures; the rest were put together with bulbs, sockets, silk covered wire, pull chains and dimmers, all pre 1925, all "important stuff" we have collected over the years just in case we really did build our "Rolling Home".






The brass bladed fan in the dining area is from the 1940's and works like new.

The TV is a 1951 Philco with a new TV and a VCR built into the old cabinet. (Of course, we only play old black and white movies on the VCR).
The boxes on the walls that hold "stuff" are treadle sewing machine drawers. You have to just look around as we have added lots of touches to make our "rolling home" unique.

October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way happy" with the weight, and I could put anything I wanted inside!!

We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.

October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way happy" with the weight,
And I could put anything I wanted inside!!

We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.



Terry's Continues

After the first two years out with the 1946 International and the Wayzalot, we decided to venture farther away from home and we wanted to travel faster on the big roads. The 1946 International could travel at 45 mph at top speed and five mph up the inclines. After looking at the large RV "pull vehicles", we decided to buy a used 1994 International tractor, a small one with no frills. We bought it and then made it a little more frilly. We added fenders, replaced the big semi hitch with a fifth wheel hitch and added air ride seats inside. We did some touch up on the paint, replaced a leaky fuel tank and bought new tires. A trip to the international dealer for a tune up and we were all set to go. Hardy then built boxes on the sided for all the tools, lawn furniture, grill, canopy and other miscellaneous stuff that we have to haul with us so we can enjoy the great life of "roughing it" while we travel.

Now we were able to travel on the interstates, driving at 55 mph. We went south to Tupelo, Mississippi. We just had to visit the hardware store where Gladys bought her son his first guitar. (Elvis wanted a bb gun but his mom thought a guitar was safer.) Another summer of traveling in our surrounding states and we headed west for the winter of 2003. We did Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California.

For one of my birthdays, my sister gave me a book titled "Fantasy Worlds" which features unique art work people have created on their property. We have marked our atlas and as we travel, we have been stopping to see the unusual art pieces and meet the artist. Our first stop was the "Forevertron" in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Tom Every, now known, as Dr. Evermore, worked in industrial salvage for years . Well, he started using these huge scrap pieces to build his "Forevertron" which is huge, unique, one of a kind and amazing!!! We try to visit them a couple times a year. (Look up the Forevertron on the internet, fun reading)

Another fun stop was at Salvation Mountain in Nyland, California. Leonard Knight has been painting a mountain with colored paints and bible verses for decades. We spent the afternoon with Leonard and saw the entire mountain and all his projects. He is a exocentric but that's what is so much fun about meeting these artists. I guess we can identify with them in their outsider art projects. And they in turn enjoy seeing our exocentric one of a kind house on wheels.

We then moved on down the road to "The Slabs", an abandoned military base with only the cement slabs remaining, no water, no plumbing, no electricity, no costs, no nothing, but people who live there in their campers, and many have lived at "the slabs" for years. Since there is nothing there but desert and cement slabs, it is free to stay there. How many people live there, did you ask? I was told as many as five thousand people have resided there, and they are not the usual campers you meet at the KOAs. We had a great time meeting the people of the slabs. Another group of non-conformists.

We joined the Tin Can Tourists, a group that promotes the restoration and use of RV's twenty five years or older. Like the antique car and truck clubs which we have belonged for years, this new group of collectors have camping weekends and everyone gets to show off their campers, how they restored or decorated it with an interesting story to go with it. It is a great group of people and they were kind enough to let us join. The Wayzalot is not twenty five years old but it has lots of the stuff inside that's old enough so they make us feel like we belong.

In our five years of traveling in the Wayzalot, we have seen only four hand-built rolling homes. In the future, we would like to travel up Hwy 101 in California and continue up to Washington. We believe we will run into a few more units in those states, but homemade campers are few and far between.
Another fun thing that has happened with the Wayzalot is that it has been included in two different books, one on rolling homes, called "Some Turtle have Nice Shells" by Roger Beck. The second is is titled "Ready to Roll" by Dough Keister, a nationally known photographer from California. Along with being in the books, we made it on the Travel Channel, in a special titled RV CRAZY. It was first shown in January 2004 and has been shown at least twice a month since. Thus, we have been seen by an awfully lot of people and our fifteen minutes of fame just keeps happening over and over and over. So now, people stop us, just so they can tell us they have seen us on TV. Since people are always looking while we are driving, I have decided that I can not pick my nose anymore, while I am riding in the truck.

We camped at Aqualand in Door County, Wisconsin with many friends who live there in the summer. One evening sitting on the porch with Jan Harlow, a couple walked by and Jan said to them "come on in, and see their camper". They replied that they didn't want to bother or inconvenience us. Jan said, "oh they don't mind. Do you think they built this, with the idea that no one would be interested in seeing it?" We had a good laugh but it is true. We enjoy the interest and friendliness, we find, everywhere we go. By using the Wayzalot as an icebreaker we have made new friends all over the country. God has been good to us and we hope to continue traveling in the Wayzalot as long as we are able.

Hardy Speaks
In 1981, a local Waukegan Towing Company noticed my 1930 unrestored "dead" AA Ford one ton Flat bed truck in our yard and he thought it would make a nice parade vehicle for his business. Thus, he made me a deal- my truck for your truck - how could I refuse? Appropriately, he towed his truck my house and I was amazed to find that it was in as bad of shape as my AA Ford. Who wouldn't love an ol' truck? Our new un-restored truck was a 1946 International K B-6, earlier abused as a nursery utility truck. The frame had been chopped off about two inches behind the rear springs, but it had two really gorgeous rear fenders fabricated of 1/8" diamond plate. Both front springs were badly broken; it had no brakes, broken glass, etc, etc, etc. I had no idea how to start or what to do-so the International sat outside and moved only when my family moved.
Since 1970, when we first saw a "Rolling Home", my wife, Terry and I had thought it would be fun someday to build our own rolling home on an old truck. Could this International be the truck? (I have always owned an antique truck of some kind, my very first in 1962 was a model A ford.) I pondered the idea of building a rolling home. Before I made any rash decisions, (it turned out to be many years of pondering), I needed just the right truck for the task. There was always the concern of what to do if our old truck broke down in some remote area and we ended up with a rolling home on a disabled antique truck where parts were not available. But then... an antique car buddy, Tom Risley, made an obvious suggestion-re-build the truck to have a fifth wheel hitch and build a "detachable rolling home".
With that idea, the reliability of the truck wasn't a stumbling block and it was now time for action. The truck quickly became a money pit, but as all old car lovers understand, I jumped in with both feet, and I loved it. Dale's Auto Body in Winthrop Harbor was presented with a KB6 cab and body parts for painting. Armstrong Upholstery reupholstered the seat; Acme Truck Brake supplied the hardware, brakes, and springs. With the purchase of six 820x20" Cooper tires, and wheels, chrome and stainless steel nuts and bolts, the bills just kept getting worse and "worser", but the truck was looking "cool". What else could you want?
I started scraping and unscrewing on that International truck in September '94 and in August of 1997, Master Hitch was installed the fifth wheel hitch. As all car buffs know, our truck will always be a work in progress, it will never be "all done", it will not be a prize winning show truck, but it will be one we can use, enjoy and not worry about getting the tires dirty P.S. Take my advice, if you ever restore an old truck never add up you receipts unless you enjoy abuse, and NEVER tell you wife. Hardy Evans

Terry's Turn
Hardy spent three years restoring his International, and then...we had to build a garage...so we would have space to build our 1970's "rolling home", in 1997. First, we traveled to Elkhart Indiana and toured a RV factory to see how they construct their units, where the tanks are located, how the walls and roof were supported, you know all that kind of important stuff. Next we ordered a heavy-duty 29' Rockwood steel fifth wheel frame with 7000# Tor-Flex axles from Wee Shape Frames in Elkhart, Indiana. Now we had the frame, axles and wheels, a frame that could support 15,000 pounds of home-made trailer. Next, we drew up our blueprints. It was now August 1997, and we were finally ready to start our own "rolling home". The thinking and planning was over; it was now time for hard labor. Little did we realize in 1970 that it would be 28 years later when we would be able to start. Of course, during those 28 years, we had to restore a couple of homes to live in, work jobs , raise two daughters, get them through school, plan a couple weddings and "get those girls off our car insurance!"...then we could build our "rolling home".
During construction, the first thing out of our friend’s mouth was, "what this thing going to weigh?”" Hardy would reply, "it's going to weigh a lot!!" thus the Wayzalot kind of named itself. The Wayzalot's sidewalls are 2"x3" wooden studs with 1" Styrofoam in the walls with exterior cedar shakes. The roof is tin with three skylights. For the cabin look, it has interior cedar paneling, with cross beams for support. It has a 24' x 8' interior because we used 5' for a back porch. It has knob and spool exposed wiring for the interior lights originating from a fuse panel from the 1900's.
We wanted all the comforts of home, tub, shower, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, air conditioner, refrigerator, full size sleeper couch and queen size bed. Let's not forget the television, stereo and electric blanket, battery backup and generator. Hardy just logically figured out how to make it all work and still keep the unique look.. My sister, Pat rebuilt and reinforced the stained glass windows to withstand the moving vibrations. The windows are another feature which add to the overall "collage" look of the Wayzalot. The bathroom sink was from an old train car on the North Shore electric line that ran from Chicago to Milwaukee. It was installed in a dining room buffet that was cut long ways in half so it would fit in the hallway. Four of the light fixtures were old church fixtures; the rest were put together with bulbs, sockets, silk covered wire, pull chains and dimmers, all pre 1925, all "important stuff" we have collected over the years just in case we really did build our "Rolling Home".
The brass bladed fan in the dining area is from the 1940's and works like new. The TV is a 1951 Philco with a new TV and a VCR built into the old cabinet. (Of course, we only play old black and white movies on the VCR). The boxes on the walls that hold "stuff" are treadle sewing machine drawers. You have to just look around as we have added lots of touches to make our "rolling home" unique. October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way happy" with the weight, and I could put anything I wanted inside!! We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.
October 1999, we took the Wayzalot out for it's maiden voyage. The Wayzalot weighed in at 9,800 pounds, way under the 15,000-pound frame limit. Our 7,500 pound axles had 3,700 lbs. on each one...we were "way happy" with the weight, And I could put anything I wanted inside!! We soon discovered that we create lots of attention on the road and...in the campgrounds and...at the gas stations and...at the rest stops, etc, etc. People stop to take pictures whenever we are on the road. We spent a lot of time, effort, and money on the Wayzalot, but it's a piece of our very own folk art we created and we are really having a good time with it.
Terry's Continues
After the first two years out with the 1946 International and the Wayzalot, we decided to venture farther away from home and we wanted to travel faster on the big roads. The 1946 International could travel at 45 mph at top speed and five mph up the inclines. After looking at the large RV "pull vehicles", we decided to buy a used 1994 International tractor, a small one with no frills. We bought it and then made it a little more frilly. We added fenders, replaced the big semi hitch with a fifth wheel hitch and added air ride seats inside. We did some touch up on the paint, replaced a leaky fuel tank and bought new tires. A trip to the international dealer for a tune up and we were all set to go. Hardy then built boxes on the sided for all the tools, lawn furniture, grill, canopy and other miscellaneous stuff that we have to haul with us so we can enjoy the great life of "roughing it" while we travel. Now we were able to travel on the interstates, driving at 55 mph. We went south to Tupelo, Mississippi. We just had to visit the hardware store where Gladys bought her son his first guitar. (Elvis wanted a bb gun but his mom thought a guitar was safer.) Another summer of traveling in our surrounding states and we headed west for the winter of 2003. We did Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California.
For one of my birthdays, my sister gave me a book titled "Fantasy Worlds" which features unique art work people have created on their property. We have marked our atlas and as we travel, we have been stopping to see the unusual art pieces and meet the artist. Our first stop was the "Forevertron" in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Tom Every, now known, as Dr. Evermore, worked in industrial salvage for years . Well, he started using these huge scrap pieces to build his "Forevertron" which is huge, unique, one of a kind and amazing!!! We try to visit them a couple times a year. (Look up the Forevertron on the internet, fun reading) Another fun stop was at Salvation Mountain in Nyland, California. Leonard Knight has been painting a mountain with colored paints and bible verses for decades. We spent the afternoon with Leonard and saw the entire mountain and all his projects. He is a exocentric but that's what is so much fun about meeting these artists. I guess we can identify with them in their outsider art projects. And they in turn enjoy seeing our exocentric one of a kind house on wheels.
We then moved on down the road to "The Slabs", an abandoned military base with only the cement slabs remaining, no water, no plumbing, no electricity, no costs, no nothing, but people who live there in their campers, and many have lived at "the slabs" for years. Since there is nothing there but desert and cement slabs, it is free to stay there. How many people live there, did you ask? I was told as many as five thousand people have resided there, and they are not the usual campers you meet at the KOAs. We had a great time meeting the people of the slabs. Another group of non-conformists. We joined the Tin Can Tourists, a group that promotes the restoration and use of RV's twenty five years or older. Like the antique car and truck clubs which we have belonged for years, this new group of collectors have camping weekends and everyone gets to show off their campers, how they restored or decorated it with an interesting story to go with it. It is a great group of people and they were kind enough to let us join. The Wayzalot is not twenty five years old but it has lots of the stuff inside that's old enough so they make us feel like we belong.
In our five years of traveling in the Wayzalot, we have seen only four hand-built rolling homes. In the future, we would like to travel up Hwy 101 in California and continue up to Washington. We believe we will run into a few more units in those states, but homemade campers are few and far between. Another fun thing that has happened with the Wayzalot is that it has been included in two different books, one on rolling homes, called "Some Turtle have Nice Shells" by Roger Beck. The second is is titled "Ready to Roll" by Dough Keister, a nationally known photographer from California. Along with being in the books, we made it on the Travel Channel, in a special titled RV CRAZY. It was first shown in January 2004 and has been shown at least twice a month since. Thus, we have been seen by an awfully lot of people and our fifteen minutes of fame just keeps happening over and over and over. So now, people stop us, just so they can tell us they have seen us on TV. Since people are always looking while we are driving, I have decided that I can not pick my nose anymore, while I am riding in the truck.
We camped at Aqualand in Door County, Wisconsin with many friends who live there in the summer. One evening sitting on the porch with Jan Harlow, a couple walked by and Jan said to them "come on in, and see their camper". They replied that they didn't want to bother or inconvenience us. Jan said, "oh they don't mind. Do you think they built this, with the idea that no one would be interested in seeing it?" We had a good laugh but it is true. We enjoy the interest and friendliness, we find, everywhere we go. By using the Wayzalot as an icebreaker we have made new friends all over the country. God has been good to us and we hope to continue traveling in the Wayzalot as long as we are able.