Prototype

Yes sir, you can have your house and take it with you.

I'm not talking motor homes or campers here - I'm referring to an honest to goodness house.

It was during my drive home the other evening that I noticed a log cabin on the shoulder of the road. The little home, no more than eight feet by six feet, was permanently affixed to a trailer attached to the back end of a pickup truck.

The home was built of rough cut logs fit together in much the same way as the Lincoln Logs that kids use to build replicas of the Cartwright's Ponderosa homestead. The mobile cabin had a cedar shake roof, wooden shutters on the two windows, iron strap hinges on the one door, and a gleaming stainless steel chimney protruding through the roof.

I could picture the inside - a sturdy wooden bunk set against one wall, a compact pot belly stove at the base of the chimney, and a custom designed table anchored into one corner along with a ladder back chair hanging from a set of pegs on the wall.

I couldn't help but wonder if this home had first started rolling a couple generations back and if it might not be the original prototype for today's gleaming quarter million dollar coaches that have as much square footage as a Manhattan town house.

The only drawback I saw to the quaint little cabin was the lack of an outhouse.