Living Life in the rig…

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. Life has been full and we have been busy. The original plan was to stay in Monterey through January, and be there to help my mom recover from knee surgery. We would continue to work on the RV as we could. An unknown neighbor complained about the RV in front of my mom’s house, so we had to move. We ended up going out to the Laguna Seca racetrack campground. It was a wonderful place to stay. Nice restrooms, beautiful views, and we got to see race cars practicing on the track! They didn’t fully charge us for the first two weeks we were there (the extra car and the dogs I think.) so we thought the pricing was much better than it actually was. Good news, when we paid for the next week, they didn’t try and charge us the difference for the two weeks before. Bad news is – instead of $35 a day, it went to $50. ACK! When you are living on unemployement, that $50 a night is painful. We could not afford to stay and pay half of our incoming funds to paying for a campsite. We couldn’t work on the RV there even if we had the funds to do so.

Daniel worked out a gig in Tucson where he would be able to work on a project in exchange for a parking spot for Winnie. It’s a super exciting idea for a truly beautiful person so I am hoping Daniel is able to bring this concept to life. Off we went, Tucson bound! Finally!

Winnie is doing really good on the road. We encountered some fierce headwinds headed East and she handled very well but sucked up the fuel. Something to keep in mind for future travel. We drove into Tucson New Year’s Day. We could have made it the night before but with all the New Year celebrations going on, we didn’t want to be on the road. We hung out at Quartzsite for the evening. Quartzsite is pretty famous for RVers. They have events there, people boondock there, and as it’s name implies it’s a great place to find some great deals on amazing rocks and minerals. We go through every couple years or so and this tiny town is just a big RV hangout.

It’s good to be back in Tucson. It’s a bit overwhelming because we felt an urgency to try and find a permanent location to park. Plus – just trying to get our lives started. Daniel had been speaking to recruiters in CA and was anxious to start interviewing for potential positions here. I was anxious to get in contact with the local homeschool groups and get back into schooling with Xan after the holidays. There was a question of travel for me as my sisters and I tried to work out how to best support our mom for her surgery. I was going and then I wasn’t and then I was and then I wasn’t and then Xan and I were going to drive out and then we weren’t and then we were and finally we weren’t. For a while I didn’t know if I was coming or going! It was crazy! Mom is doing great though and she is going to be staying in the hospital a bit longer than normal so she can do the PT there. When she is released at the end of the month, she will be OK to go home alone.

Daniel made some awesome stairs to get in and out of the rig. Much better than the step ladder we were using. We want to paint them in festive colors and have a bit of fun with them. That’s been added to our ‘To-Do’ list. Xander and I have gotten back to work and are having fun learning about early Arizona history. He is working on a report to send to gramma complete with a map of the original fort. We are learning about the desert and the animals who live here and hope to make it out to the Desert Museum soon. I keep looking for discount days but haven’t found one yet. We are slowly getting back in touch with our old Tucson friends recognizing that now that we are back, we don’t have to try and squeeze everyone into a weekend visit.

Our work on the RV has been put on hold as we focus on life. Daniel is working on the project for our host, sending out applications, speaking to recruiters, and working hard to find work. Tucson employers seem to really take their time which is super frustrating.  Once we get things back to normal, we will start working on the rig again. As it is, we are loving the additional space. The higher cab-over makes sleeping amazing! The space is so expansive. I love our cathedral ceiling in the living area and am holding the dream of what it will look like when we are done. Priorities will be getting the wiring and plumbing done and getting an air conditioner installed. The heat out here is no joke. We have great shade where we are parked now but come Spring, we will bake without an A/C. And yes, I meant Spring.

That’s our news for now. I have added some favorite pics of our drive. I haven’t yet driven out to the desert to get some neat desert shots yet but will soon. Enjoy!

This was a supermoon. It was incredible as it rose over the mountains.

 

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On the road again

Well, we have done it again. Even though Winnie is not yet comfortably habitable, we have taken off to try and find nicer (ie. warmer) climates in which to do some more work. LOL – I still have to shake my head over my we will be done in a month! We also hope to hang out with family for the holidays. This brings us to Monterey, Ca where my mom and sister live. Unlike our usual journey’s, we didn’t do a lot of playing on the trip down. We decided to head to the coast since we wanted to avoid any snow driving in Winnie if we could possibly avoid it. Weather forecasts were showing snow levels dropping over the Siskiyous so that reinforced our decision. Coast it was! We did have some fun. We stopped by the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, OR which is the location of the Spruce Goose. We managed to hit it just right on our way to the coast and got to spend a nice hour there before they closed. The Spruce Goose is HUGE and AMAZING! I highly recommend you check it out if you are in the area. They also have a space museum and a theater which we didn’t have time to see but for $5.00 per ticket, it didn’t break the budget and we felt it was well worth it.

I am happy to say that Winnie is driving really, really well. She is super spry and zooms right along. There doesn’t seem to be a problem with wind resistance due to our increased cab-over. We experienced side winds as well as front-on while driving and she did really well. I think her gas mileage has gotten worse but that could also be because Daniel had her cranked up to 70mph all the time. We will have to take her out on a more sedate journey where we travel our usual 60mph and see. The tag axle is pretty funny. We still don’t have enough weight in the rig to make these touch the ground all the time. Seeing them spin while we drive is funny.

We have been in Monterey now for about a week. We have been parked in front of my mother’s house where we parked for a few weeks before without a problem. Since my mother’s house is also undergoing some construction, there isn’t space for us to sleep inside, so we have been camping out in the rig. I can officially say the cab-over is AWESOME! There is so much space up there! I can stretch and my arms or legs don’t touch the roof. For some reason having all the additional space overhead makes things seem somehow wider. Even though we didn’t change Winnie’s width at all, I feel like we have another foot there as well. It’s amazing! We don’t have any ceiling, front or back wall insulation up yet so it’s cold. We make a big nest bed in the cab-over with every blanket we own and then snuggle down for sleep. It’s kind of like camping … but in a big hollow wooden box.  LOL!

We need to get more windows installed. Right now, there are only windows on the front of the rig. It looks like a mobile MRI truck instead of an RV. I joked with Daniel that we will be getting stopped by every border patrol car from here to AZ if we don’t get some stripes or paint on it soon. Right now, it looks like a great vehicle in which to smuggle some illegal aliens. LOL! But in all seriousness – we do need to do something with all that white. I keep thinking local graffiti artist is going to see all that blank canvas and just go to town. While I am not sure I would have a huge problem with that, I would like to have some say in what is being painted on the white. I think I am going to just buy some RV stripes for now from Amazon and put them on. Something to break-up the pristine arctic white.

Interesting developments; When we broke down the rig, we removed the RVIA sticker. OOPS! Without this sticker, we have been refused entry into State run RV parks. We now no longer have this sticker/seal thing and have to figure out how to get one. <Head-Desk> Keep tuned in to see how that goes. I am not going to bother with it until all our interior work is complete. There isn’t a reason to do this before then since I am sure many of the items which would potentially cause us to fail the inspection are things that will be taken care of as we finish the details.

Also fun in-an-ironic-killmenow-kind-of-way is the news that Daniel was laid-off. He is not one to sit on his hands but this is something we weren’t anticipating in any way. I can’t complain about his company laying him off. They just didn’t have enough work for the number of employees. The owner of the company treated Daniel very well and was a delight to work for. No complaints. We are just sorry it didn’t last. As I said, Daniel doesn’t sit around when he receives news like this and he is already waiting for an offer for a full-time position. Xander and I are going to hang out in the RV for several months this time while Daniel goes and gets everything setup. No longer running across the country – we are going sit tight, and wait until all the wrinkles get worked out as always happens with a new job. Then, once things have settled down a bit, Xan, the puppies and I will head out. Should make for a much more stable move than what we have typically done before. It means however, that much of the finishing work on the interior of the RV will fall to me alone. Intimidating. Do-able but intimidating. Daniel will focus on the wiring, plumbing and finishing the interior of the ceiling and walls. Then, I will get to work on the rest. If we can get some of the cupboards and cabinets up before he goes that would be huge but I am not counting on it.

The Adventure Continues!

Leavins Spokane. It was another beautiful cold day. Thank you Spokane!

One pontoon of the Spruce Goose. WOW!

You can see the line of planes all setup under one wing of the Goose. It’s HUGE!

Daniel is touching the Goose!

‘Squish!”

Good thing my mighty husband is here to hold up this elevator on the tail of the Goose!

Neat effect. Even though these propellers are well above Xander, by getting on the floor and getting to walk backwards, we got it!

Such a pretty sunset as we headed West towards the Pacific!

The museum with the moon.

Winnie and her arctic white new side with the moon.

Neat harbor somewhere in Oregon.

We have been really concerned with the new height of the cab-over and tunnels. YAY! She fits easily.

Oregon coast

Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast

Our happy AnnaBelle puppy playing on the beach.

Oregon coast

Winnie going over one of the many Oregon coast bridges

AnnaBelle and Gelert at the beach

Somewhere …

Excited/Exhausted – not sure which…

Sorry for not posting more sooner. We have been working hard on the rig. We keep thinking the tasks will take an afternoon, and then we discover that we were only able to get maybe a quarter done of what we thought we would. It’s been somewhat disheartening. We are so excited to be buttoning her up, and for it to be taking this long is painful. We are all antsy. We have all been frustrated. I had been working on the topline, standing on top of ladders to get the trim completely caulked. I hadn’t gotten to the underside of the cab-over yet because on inspection, it looked like no water was getting in there. Water looked like it was beading on the trim. Imagine our panic when we saw a wet spot on the interior bottom right of the cab-over! All hands on deck and we finished up the caulking job. A space heater was setup and placed in the cab-over by that corner to dry it out for about 24 hours. Every appears to be OK now but talk about freaking out! We did not just go through this summer to have water damage the second we are putting her together!

Daniel and Greg installed four windows. These have been placed more or less in their original locations – a bit higher than they used to be but that’s about it. Two high narrow windows will be installed in the bathroom when we get that built out, and one in Daniel’s office.

We have a temporary door on the back of the rig right now – it makes it easier to get things in and out vrs coming through the narrow RV door that is installed.

The bookcases are in and the rest of our stuff we are putting all over the floor. With no cabinets, closets or other storage built yet, it all is in bins, and our clothes in duffles. It will be nice when we can actually start putting things away!

Here are some recent pictures! Enjoy!

With November has come super cold weather and rain. Lots of rain.

The sky was so pretty as I was on the ladder caulking, I had to snap a few shots.

Daniel checking out his new window cut.

My son indulging me as I played with the fog and light and his silhouette.

And here we are!

Windows!

It’s all about the roof

Daniel has been outside in sun and rain and blistering cold. Ok, maybe not blistering but really, really cold! We installed the roof skin and are putting on the trim today. She is starting to really look like an RV. Probably even more so when we install the door. LOL!

The latest pics:

Daniel installing the rivets.

I climbed up to see how he was doing. Nice!

I just wanted to get the reflection of the clouds in our shiny new trim.

Here is the front before we trimmed it. I need to go out and get a picture of the trim and the trimmed skin.

Walls are up! Working on the roof.

Hi All –

We have been busy and I have just been lax about updating the site. Seem like we have been running-running-running to get this thing boxed up so we can drive out of here. We had our first snow this past week which put about 3″ on the ground. The temperature plummeted to a mere 15 at one point. Daniel was outside working and the screws were literally breaking. Obviously he had to stop for a while till it warmed up again.

We discovered that there are challenges to building a straight wall when the RV is actually not quite straight. That was exciting. All is good but we ended up having to give the rig a chiropractic adjustment to get the walls on the chassis. Friends from a local homeschool community came and helped us lift the 31′ long walls and put them on the rig. While we were waiting for everyone to get there, I had the kids build a wall section with some of our scrap materials. Every kid had to cut their luan wood, glue the wood to the insulation, and then install the skin. I also handed out a bunch of sharpies and had them decorate the sub-floor with drawings, games, song lyrics – whatever they wanted as long as it was positive and kind. One kid actually wrote out the entire phrase that we all know so well from Mary Poppins. I am not even going to try and spell it – LOL! Love it!

We ordered our new door from Dyers RV – turns out they have the same door as Camping World at the same price but don’t have us pay for shipping. SWEET! Camping World wanted $144 in shipping! Dyers and Camping World had the door with window and screen for about $200 less than all other competitors though. The shipping from Dyers was super fast – 3 to 5 business days. The first door arrived damaged so we had to refuse delivery but they were super prompt about the replacement door. It arrived just fine earlier this week.

We want to have a bit more flexibility with the roof and what it supports so keeping weight in mind, we added an aluminum brace every two feet connecting wall-to-wall. Then we used 1/2″ wood instead of the luan so the roof would be a bit more substantial. We aren’t going to store anything up there, but it sure is nice to know we can stand up there and not fall through if we want. Plus – the braces going across the top make the rig more stable.

I know you all really just want to see the pictures so here ya go!

Time to drive Winnie to the construction location to get our new walls!

It was surreal driving behind the rig – she’s naked!

Our homeschool friends came over to help up lift these up. Couldn’t have done it without them! Here we are having some trouble getting the walls to sit in the channel properly.

Daniel and a kid were on the inside trying to direct and help.

Our pretty new wall! We haven’t taken the plastic off the filon yet – someone remind me to do that!

Daniel was getting some braces up STAT so we could drive back to our friends place.

YAY! We have walls! There was a bit of flexing as we were carrying it but the walls did OK. The area where the door will go in on the side looks weird but that’s OK. That is where the door is going. It’s hollow there – we didn’t construct that the same as the rest of the wall. So the alumium door frame is just wood.

We got back to our friends place where we started this project. and Daniel is fixing the cab-over.

There – looks better. With the walls up, there was a bit of a curve.

Door’s Here! 😀

See how pretty?

Then it snowed. We got the tarp carport back up and tied down really well. Winnie is parked under that fortunately. I can’t believe we have been here since July!

Daniel started putting in the aluminum ceiling braces.

They are every 2′.

Our son got in on the action and helped to keep a side in place while Daniel screwed them in.

Some of the ceiling pieces are in place. Daniel was able to get the walls in the channel and they are now fully and correctly bolted down to the chassis.

Here is the front,

And the back. Daniel framed in a large door for the back wall. We will seal that up as soon as we get the door installed on the side. Eventually, we will also have a door back there for our deck.

The cab-over. The nemesis of every RV owner. Daniel and Greg fussed with this for a while. Daniel made some these forms.

Spaced across the cab-over, they will give us something to curve the wood over and attach to.

Voila!

They made the wood a bit damp to bend it without it breaking and then used the blow torch to dry it off quickly once it got to the shape they wanted.

Two layers of filon to match the width of the rest of the roof.

All the final roof pieces have been dry fitted into place. You can see Daniel’s hand hanging through the ceiling as he attaches the wood to the frame.

Here you can see the interior of the front part of the RV. The cathedral ceiling is so cool! I can’t touch the ceiling! 🙂

Hi honey!

This last piece is just a bit too wide so they are sanding it down to size.

Greg waiting for the all clear from Daniel on the roof.

Daniel sanding on the right. You can kind-of see the roof line under the tarp.

We dropped the board. AAH!

And some more sanding…

Looks like we have it!

Looks pretty cool. We already have the piece for the front so once in, that’s it! We are all closed in! 🙂

Yup, I cried like a girl. TWICE!

What a week! When last we left our intrepid builders, we were busy assembling  a wall. Well, SUCCESS! We did it. We finished it off on Saturday. Our intention was to flip the wall over and start construction of the next wall on-top, thus providing the pressure needed to create a nice bond between filon and luan. Ya – no. The wall is 31′ long made of insulation, luan, and filon. Shouldn’t be too heavy right? It’s heavy. We needed to move the wall – I can’t even remember why and it was just the three of us. Our friend Greg, Daniel and I.

Usually I am the crazy strong one of the group, but after a day of inhaling glue fumes, I got sick on Thursday and could not stop throwing-up. I was out for a full 24-hours. I guess that took more out of me than I thought. On Friday, Daniel tried getting more luan glued down and went out and bought me a respirator to wear like the one he wears. Xan stays outside while we’ve been gluing. Saturday Greg, Daniel and I all went out and finished the wall and moved it. I can’t even remember why. Only that we moved it, and then I sat down and cried like a girl. It was heavy. I have zero upper body strength. I generally lift with my legs and core. This wall requires good grip strength and arms which I don’t have. With more people it wouldn’t have been a big deal but with just the three of us – ouch.

Today, we got the second wall completely done. We got in pretty early and worked until 8:00pm. And yes, we had to lift the wall again. This time to get it on-top of the other wall to weight it down. After a day of working, I just had nothing. I could hold it for maybe a few seconds in my hands and then just felt it slipping. I would have to yell, “Down!” Poor Daniel and Greg! Finally we got some cardboard under one side and Greg lifted on the other and he pushed the darn thing into place. I think he is actually superman in hiding. Daniel and I rushed to help but, it was mostly Greg who got it in place. We went through cases of glue, layers of insulation and wood. We’ve all spent the day on our knees applying glue and then pressing down the layers but we did it. And ya, the second time we moved the wall – I cried like a girl. I think perhaps this building thing and all the challenges we have overcome are perhaps getting to me. That and I probably am not 100% from being sick.

I am so excited that we got these done. Snow is on the forecast and we have to close this rig up! Daniel is going to put the exterior back wall and ceiling up but we are not going to build them out like we did the walls. It will be a shell basically to what it should be, just to get the rig closed. We can finish both from inside the rig once it’s sealed.

The next step is to actually lift the walls onto the rig. I have made some amazing friends here in Eastern Wa and I put out the call for help as soon as we finished the second wall. These awesome families will be meeting us as the build site to help us get these walls installed. YAY! WOW! That is so cool! Since we all are homeschoolers, I am putting together a little construction activity for them with some of our scrap. They can construct a mini RV wall. 🙂 Should be fun and the glue that we will use is the low ROV stuff, not the glue that made me sick. It’ll be a fun lesson AND we will have the help we so desperately need.

Here are some of the latest pictures. We haven’t trimmed the new wall yet, so you won’t see the correct shape but you get the idea. It’s a wall. It’ll look like its neighbor. 🙂

We used the Japanese saw this time to trim the luan. It seemed to not cause as many splinters as the jigsaw did. We all took turns as cutting this amount of wood by hand is laborious. Daniel says his wrist hurts. I felt it in my shoulder. Greg is stoic. LOL!

And here we go! The sandwich begins. The 3/4″ insulation.

Tada! A moment of rest after we finished gluing this layer down.

The wind was blowing a bit when we got back. Leaves were blowing on our nice new wall. Pretty! 🙂

Daniel decided to go surfing. LOL!

And here we are working into the night gluing. Lots and lots of gluing!

To give you an idea of the scope of the gluing.

Finally! Finished!

And the final moment! Caught on video:

Unrolling the Filon

Steady Progress

We have been busy. After the wonderful wind experience, we moved our construction site into a pole building. A wonderful family is letting us rent space in their building so that we can build the walls inside. Literally saving us! I can’t remember what I have written but suffice it to say I could not find a single garage, storage unit, warehouse, RV shop, or building that would let us rent space. I recently met this nice lady and noticed she had a large pole building on her property. It was incredibly presumptuous of me to ask, but I did and she and her family said yes. Everyday after Daniel is done with work, we head over and get work done. We finish around 8pm for the day and come home whipped.

Here are the construction updates. We cut off that side aluminum. There was no way to incorporate that into the walls with the walls being constructed off the rig. We cut it off. Now the aluminum is flush. We have the rig tarped to protect the new floor from the rains we have been experiencing. So far – so good.

The aluminum frame had to be disassembled a bit to get it to the pole building. The cab-over wouldn’t fit on the bed. So we had to undo what a lot of time was spent during the previous week doing. We got it on the bed though and drove it over in sunny weather. Daniel and Greg worked on the frame – putting it back together, and shoring it up over this past weekend. The cab-over seems a bit flimsy. We keep trying to shore it up but with a half wall, there isn’t much you can do. When it gets attached to the cab, that will stabilize it but for now, it’s a problem spot.

Monday night we got the wood measured, seamed and layed out. Tonight we glued the aluminum frame to the interior luan and laid out the initial 1/2″ Styrofoam insulation. Once that has all been measured and placed, we will glue that down. Additional Styrofoam will go on-top of that, and then the luan and filon. We hope to get all the insulation glued tomorrow.

We looked at cabinets today at Lowes. Getting some ideas and a rough idea of cost. We will check out some other places as well. I will be ordering our new RV door this Friday and our stove.

We spoke to a tile expert yesterday for the bathroom and possibly the back-splash for the kitchen. In 2011, I had been collecting really neat glass tile to do some mosaic work on a piece of furniture I found on the side of the road in Ballard, WA. I left it with my friends when we completed construction the first time we were here. I thought it had been gifted to someone so never thought I would ever see it again. I have it all! So exciting! Now, we are looking for ways we can use it. I may even use it around the sides of our walk-in shower. Not sure but looking forward to figuring it out! We are looking at some ceramic tiles to be the shower floor.

We looked at solid wood possibilities for our floor. We don’t want to do the laminate again. For us, with the dogs and the kid and the love of sand and dirt, the laminate just gets scratched. We have decided to go with a wood floor and we are just going to poly the heck out of it. We are looking at cabinet planks. They are long, and have a nice grade but aren’t too thick. We can glue those down, and then seal them. The price is a heck of a lot better than the hardwood floor planks!

Here are some current pics of our work from tonight…

We are using a liquid nails product to glue the aluminum wall frame to the luan wood.

We had a bit of fun walking on the frame to help the bond between frame and wood. Dad and Xan were surfers.

Even I got into the work!

Work,

work

work.

Time to get the insulation for dad!

And start general placements.

We wrote things on the walls. Like ‘Love’ and ‘Smile!’ and other stuff like that. 🙂

Daniel is piecing together the 1/2″ insulation inside the aluminum frame.

Done for the night. Time to get the little big-guy to sleep.

 

And the steps before …

Working on the aluminum side frame,

Greg sanding some rough spots on the frame.

Putting some final screws into the floor.

the tarped Winnie.

uh-oh. The cab-over is too long!

Measuring the walls.