Where the motorhome at?

 

 



There it is! Lately, it's been getting buried more and more on a daily basis. It will likely stay there through the winter, unfortunately.

 

 

It's still the plan. I haven't abandoned it. However, I've "come to my senses" if you will and have more or less worked things out with my current employer. It really was just poor timing on my part and was based on nothing more than an emotional reaction of coming up on my 2 year anniversary at one job, having no money, and feeling like I'm not necessarily headed in a direction I want.

 

 

I've got a new focus on spending as little money as possible and SAVING money, as much money, as I can. Part of that plan is to move into the motorhome as soon as I feel that I can. Once things start warming up again. I kind of want to live in it "in the winter" and do this whole blog/youtube angle of living in a motorhome in REAL winter. Another one of those situations in which I think I'd do just fine if it was just me and if I didn't have to be concerned about my cats. Oh well.

Got a GoPro

So I got myself a GoPro, and there's one of the first two videos I've done. I don't want to do too many time lapses because I'm not a big fan of them really. They definitely have a place, but I feel they are overdone a lot of times.

I was also more or less forced to come clean to my manager today about my plans to leave in a month. They want me to take on another role but I didn't feel right just going along with it and having them invest that time in me if I was leaving in a month anyway.

We had a long talk about it but in the end it was a "well, think about it" type deal and we'll get back together next week. My plan was to deal with this on my own and then in 3 weeks I would either let him know I was leaving, or just stay and never have mentioned any of it.

I wish I could be more confident about which way to go. As it stands I have very little money and no plan. The only real thing I have to go on is that I feel like I need to trust myself, and myself is ready to move on. Overall I'm scared, no matter which way things go, I'm still scared.

I wish everything, every decision, in my life didn't feel so final all the time.

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.