Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Still not much to talk about, still in a holding pattern. The snow is finally starting to fall and stick, but there still hasn't been much here. Probably only about an inch on the ground. It's enough to make the road slippery at times and the salt trucks have been out and about. And since salt and old vehicles don't mix that means the motorhome is pretty much where it'll be until spring or until I decide to take off.

Maybe I've mentioned it, but this time of year really makes me feel domestic and desiring all of that junk that we're all told we want growing up. All of those material things and then such concepts as stability and comfort and security.

I'm starting to feel a real time crunch as my self-imposed date of action approaches. I start telling myself that maybe I'll push it back a little, again. Right now I don't have a plan. Or, I do, but once that one small part of the plan is done I don't have any plan AFTER that. I haven't yet told myself, 'After that I take off in my motorhome' or... any other option.

Truth is, I don't think I'm brave enough to take off in my motorhome with no plan other than 'drift aimlessly until the money runs out'. Brave enough, or stupid enough, depending on your preference.

Then my timing isn't the greatest either. It's in between hiring seasons for seasonal jobs.


One option that opens up is Spring Training jobs down in Phoenix. It's so far away from here. But it gives me a destination, and a reason. I just started looking into and thinking about this today so I'm still rolling it around in my head.

I feel like parts of this have been vague because my assistant manager (hi!) has found my blog, I believe. I don't have anything to hide though. My current plan is to leave my job around the middle of January. In the end that plan will either happen, or it won't. Simple.

Major Lacking

Major lack of updates, and pictures for those updates. I apologize. I've done a few more YouTube  videos since my last update here but still not much.

I'm coming off 5 days off from work. Before that I worked 8 days in a row and I go back tomorrow to do 8 days in a row again. Back when I worked at a greenhouse I worked 22 days in a row, but I was in desperate need of money. 8 days is a little much for me now.

Since my last update I've gotten the solar panels installed on the motorhome. Like last time I used 3M double sided tape to mount them on the roof. I also redid the entire propane system on the motorhome, including a new regulator.

A few days ago I tried to put everything away and secure the inside of the motorhome so I could take it for a drive. Still not that far, but it had been a while since I had driven it at all. The solar panels stayed right where they were supposed to. I'm still bummed by how exhausty and rich it smells all the time.

So, there's that. I'd like to say updates will get better soon but winter is on my doorstep and the motorhome will soon be trapped in snow.

Catching Up and Thoughts

A quick update on what I've been working on in the motorhome. Got the new roof vent in the shower installed. I still had a leak, which was discovered to be coming from some screws to the cargo rack thing a few inches away from the roof vent. No big deal, the old vent was still cracked and old junk. There's still a leak showing up on the side of the motorhome under that big window I redid. I sealed up other possibilities on that side. I took the cargo rack off the back of the roof completely and caulked up all of those holes. Also took some big cross pieces off the top of the roof to make room for my solar panels. Been patching a lot of holes. I need to finish cleaning up the brackets on the solar panels so I can put new tape on them and secure them to the roof. Very close to finishing that but it got dark, and I've been dodging rain here and there all day.

I'm hoping to get the panels installed tomorrow and the wiring run down through the old fridge vent. I will wire it all back up but I doubt I'll have my charge controller mounted in a permanent location yet. I have a new propane regulator and hoses coming next week, and I have to run all new lines to the stove and the Wave 3 heater.

And other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. All of that above was more than I planned to say today about that!

Mostly, I've been thinking. I've been on vacation this week and it's rained almost the entire week, so I didn't get much done.

I don't even know if I've mentioned it here, but I'm feeling like around the first of the year is when I'll be leaving my current job. It's a fine job I guess. I feel a part of something, and I'm in a position of control which is good for me. The problem is it doesn't make me enough money to have a 'normal life' but overall it's not something I enjoy. I don't have an immense passion or interest in automotive parts. I love being able to do my own repairs, but I'm not fanatic. But anyway..

I definitely feel the stress starting to rise when I give myself a deadline. There's just so much I want to get in order that doesn't even involve a motorhome or anything about actually traveling. Just general things in my life. Stuff, mostly. It's even more difficult to deal with while living here with my parents. Even if I completely make up my mind to get rid of something, or do something to deal with an issue, I immediately am confronted with what my PARENTS thing I should do with it, or about it. And so I end up doing nothing. Which is probably how it will be in the end. My old car and junk that I want to get in order before I go will simply sit here in the yard when I leave. That will be the most likely outcome.


I've been putting a lot of thought into, and TRYING to look into, the Forest Service this week. Hard to find any real, and practical, information about it for some reason. That's kind of my plan at this point when I hit the road. Find an area of the Forest Service that will hire me for temporary work. Hopefully something that is hands on and outside, but that doesn't keep me away from the motorhome for too many days in a row so I can keep an eye on the cats. I guess I'm worried that all the jobs I feel I'd be most interested in would require overnight hikes and stuff. Which would be great if it wasn't for my cats.

Money is always an issue, of course. At my current job, and putting money into the motorhome, I save pretty much nothing and I'm still paycheck to paycheck. That's why  getting hooked up with the USFS appeals to me so much. I'm interested in it, and I could still make money. All while taking in some new scenery and life situation.

Lately I've been wondering how serious I am. This week I suddenly realized if I was dead serious about all of this I should have taken a third shift job somewhere a long time ago. At the same time, without the motorhome that's not very practical since I live an hour away from work as it is. But if I can get the motorhome buttoned up soon, and then find a third shift factory job or something close to my current job I could be making crazy money working 80 hours a week. And I'd feel a lot better about hitting the road. I would have legit places to park 24 hours a day.


I wrote this post 3 hours ago, and I got frustrated when I reached this point. So I just saved it as a draft. But now I'm going to publish it anyway, even though I feel like it shows just how much I walk myself around in circles in my head, or how much resistance I add to my own situation even though I've put all of my time and energy into the dream of getting back on the road (and TRULY on the road) for the last 2 years.

Flooring and Leaks

 

The motorhome is feeling crazy lately. Crazy AWESOME.

I had last Sunday off from work and decided to start working on the new flooring for the motorhome. The above picture shows the beginning, and also one of my issues I had to get around. There's a couple big bolts that go through the floor that used to be under the dinette benches. I honestly don't know what they go to or if I could remove them. (I was too lazy to get under there and look) Instead I went to Lowes and bought a 1" hole saw for the drill and just drilled holes. Amazingly, I drilled the holes in the exact right places the first time. The flooring itself is vinyl plank flooring. Very easy to cut and just as easy to put down.

 

I used two boxes of the planks and I fell just short of completing the project. That's the end right there up above. At $40 a box I really didn't want to go back and buy another box for just a few more planks. I sat on it for a few days (okay, I was working) and then when I had a chance I went to the big box store. In the end I came up with something I really like, and I think it looks like I planned it that way all along. Can't beat that.

 

 

 

That hose there is a propane line. Originally I was going to tuck it behind the carpet like it was when I bought the motorhome but I didn't like the way it bulged out with this type of carpet. I haven't looked into that one too much yet. I figured I'd just get clips to go over it and screw it to the step, and possibly put some poly loom or more rigid plastic over it first. OR, I will reroute the hose all together.

So the flooring is done, in my opinion. I'll probably need to get some trim to go along the edges to give it a more finished look. It really doesn't look bad as is though.

I'm a guy, I don't know if the floor matches the walls or not but I've been planning to eventually paint the walls anyway.

With the new flooring in place it's time to get another leak fixed up. Every time after it rains the passenger side wall has water along the bottom. Not good. There was a vent for the old furnace here below the window too so I took that off, put some new butyl tape along it and also took off the vent part and cut out a piece of tin to cover it all up. That was good, but the main leak was coming from the window. I took that off, cleaned it all up, and put new butyl tape all along it. It was leaking on both bottom corners, the front corner having some decent damage. I went so beyond on getting that thing taped up that if this thing still leaks I will be absolutely amazed.

You can barely see it there I the picture but that lens up top there is brand new! I got it for $0.50 from the clearance bin at the local RV place. I bought it not even knowing if it'd fit and to my surprise it's the exact same brand and style of the originals. There was a red light there, which was wrong, and I'm picky about lights.

Other key things of recent times: Got a new shower curtain for the shower. Got myself a Catalytic Wave 3 heater that I still need to install. I also got an electric tankless water heater but now that I have it I'm not sure it'll work for me. I still think it's possible to do with the proper solar power system in place but I'm not so sure about the actual one I have. That project is a little ways off still.

With those, I think I'm done with my 'major' purchases. I need to get a whole new roof vent assembly for the shower which looks like it'll cost me a little bit but mostly everything else left is small things that will add up to be a lot! Har har.

Do you live in your van?

I went to the store this evening to buy a small desk for the motorhome. I had found it on Target's web site and thought I had to order it online but then I found it at Meijer, the Midwestern version of Walmart.

I was in there for only a short amount of time and when I came back to the van I found this note on the windshield. It made my day, even though I've mostly abandoned the van plans in favor of the motorhome. I've still got the solar panels on the van so it sticks out a bit if you're in that frame of mind.

The only problem being that it looks like a dude's handwriting. Harhar.

Whynter Fridge

Check out my fancy new Whynter fridge that I got from craigslist for less than half the price of a new one. It works great, and so far I love it. It has been used but it's only a year old. Manufacture date on the side proves it. It's the 65qt model, also known as the FM-65G. It runs on AC power and also DC. I believe that once I get the solar panels moved over from the van, and another battery or two, that I will be able to power this unit with no problem. It's pretty quiet too. It can get down to -8 degrees, but I don't plan to ever use it to freeze things so that should help conserve power.

 



It's nice to be able to have one of these as it's one of the larger expenses for the motorhome that I didn't expect to ever be able to afford. And the fridge that came with the motorhome didn't work. Which, as of purchasing this I got right to ripping the old fridge out. Turned out to be a bit of a Tetris game getting it out of the motorhome but by turning it just the right way at just the right time, it's now out.

 

 

 

 

.... and I had to take the door off of the fridge. And off of the shower. And off of one of the cupboards. Haha. It's out now, though. Obviously the new chest doesn't fit in the old spot. So far it looks like the new one will be going where I ripped out that dinette part the other day. It probably would be a lot easier if I never did that as now I have to build pretty much the same thing again. Oh well. I can build it a tad bit narrower and give myself some extra inches of space. The old fridge spot will just end up being more storage space, and now it gives me an awesome spot to put the litter box for my cats, so I'm excited about that.

 

As of right now, I don't think I'm going to put the door back on the shower. It's bowed out quite a bit anyway and makes opening and closing it difficult. It's also heavy. I plan to just put up a curtain and call it good. That should work fine with just me in the motorhome and it's already been nice to have the extra light in the rest of the motorhome from the roof vent in the shower. Whether smells from the waste tank are an issue or not will remain to be seen.

 

Otherwise I spent the day cleaning the motorhome out and getting ready to put the new flooring down. Sadly  I didn't get that far, and I only have one day off from work. I'm finally really feeling like I'm on the home stretch though and that the end of this project is near. The picture below is before I cleaned it out. It looks much nicer inside now, I promise.

 

 

New Showerhead and Possible Fridge

 

I'm moving into the interior of the motorhome after the recent shocks. The other day I drove it around in a big 60 mile circle and everything went well, even on bumpy back roads that I don't travel very often. Still debating if I'm going to drive it to work on Sunday when traffic is virtually non-existent.

I have some flooring ready to go down, but just haven't had the time to do anything with it yet. I need to move my tools and whatnot out of the motorhome before I can work on the new flooring too. Flooring might be on hold again even still. With the work I did on the shower the other night the next day there was some water on the floor. Not sure if that was from the shower drain, or because it rained hard that night, or where it came from. Need to fix that before I put flooring down and cover it all up.

The shower has always worked, but the water kind of dribbled out. I probably could have cleaned up what I had on there. So I put that fancy new faucet on there as well as the new showerhead. Now it's pretty much like a real shower in a house. So much better. Just need to figure out if the drains or anything are leaking now. Very excited about that.

 

 

I also decided to rip out this area above the wheel well. It used to be the base for a dinette chair kind of. I got to looking at it and realized the wheel well doesn't take up as much of that area as I thought and that I may as well just rip it out (and get rid of more nasty, stinky carpet). This area sits directly across from the bed I made and I've planned to put a computer desk and chair over there. I've also wanted to find somewhere to stick my cat tree. I admit it's getting torn up and close to the point where I might just throw it away but it's the one piece of furniture that has gone everywhere that I've gone. Just a little something to keep my cats feeling safe. It also provides an easier way for my cats to reach the area above the cab easily. I had the same type of setup in my travel trailer and they loved hanging out and hiding up there. Either way, taking this box out opens up probably a good 12 inches of space to work with, and I figure I might build some sort of bookcase/shelving  over the wheel well.


I haven't been able to get the fridge in the motorhome to work. I'd probably have to take it out, tip it upside down, and reinstall it all if I had any hope of getting it to work again. But even with that I don't know how much juice it'd use on DC power, and I don't trust propane fridges. I believe I once read propane fridges are the number one cause of RV fires.

There's a handful of 12 volt fridges on Amazon that I've heard people talk about and they work well, and seem to play well with properly sized solar electric systems. Most of them are more or less around $700, which is a ton of money and I don't have anywhere near that to put into a fridge. I'd rather just go with no fridge at that price. HOWEVER, on a whim today I did a little searching and found a guy very close to me selling one of these models for less than half the cost. I am ready to jump on this deal, I'm just waiting for the guy to get back to me. If I don't hear from him tomorrow I'll actually give him a call and try to make it happen. Definitely a worthwhile purchase to me and I'm hopeful and excited about it. Just imagine, I could have cheeses and sandwich meat and other things!

Stay tuned on that one.