Knotty Nelly

Our renovated 1969 Tagalong Camper
& Shop/Boutique on Wheels!

Knotty Nelly’s Story

September 2019 we rescued this beauty from a landfill. That’s right, she was going to go into a landfill and we could not imagine seeing her go out like that, so, we decided to give her new life!

When we first got her, we had dreams of making her into a family camper. She originally had a tiny kitchenette, a toilet in what could only be described as a closet, one bed and a table that could then be used as another bed. For our triangle family, this would work just fine. Although Mr. Knotty is a home remodeling expert, it was a little different for him figuring out remodeling a kitchen and bathroom in a tiny space on wheels. We know so many who do this, but it held us up on starting the project right away. We wanted to figure it all out first.

December 2019, we had a few Holiday shows we were getting ready for. While moving items around our shop and packing them up for one of the shows, we placed some items against the camper for a quick moment to try to make room. As we were about the grab the items that were against the camper, we stopped and looked at it all for a moment. This is the moment Knotty Nelly was born.

We said, “What if… we take out everything inside, create a shell almost… and this becomes a BOUTIQUE ON WHEELS?! What if… we take it across country selling our signs while also being able to camp in it (we can throw down an air mattress and use the facilities at camp grounds)?!” January/February 2020 we started and were on a mission!! Mrs. Knotty started reaching out to fairs, markets & shows and got us scheduled for some big markets in the summer of 2020. We were going to have a PACKED summer of shows with the camper! WE WERE THRILLED, and the excitement was out of this world.

Then, the world was shut down March 2020. Almost all our shows got canceled.

We were a quarter of the way through our renovation. We didn’t know what this meant for our camper, since we didn’t know what this meant for the world. But, we think a big part of what got us through those hard times in March, April and May of 2020 was Knotty Nelly. We focused our energies on renovating her, whether or not we would ever be able to go to shows or not.

We found out one show was still on, a farmers market at Timberyard Brewery. So, we jumped at the chance to get the camper done by the first market in June. It was a race, and it was a LOT of work, but we are so proud of it.

The camper needed a name before it’s premier, and so she was named Knotty Nelly.

See Knotty Nelly BEFORE:

And the inside after (complete with fireplace)!