Again, we’ve been doing boring stuff. None of it is really big enough for a full blog post so here are some mini things.

The Back Room is Complete!

1. I finished the plywood in the back with some leftover Waterlox from when we did the floors in our house. It looks pretty good but the texture leaves some to be desired I think.
2. We put in some more storage. We had two 2-drawer bedside tables that fit perfectly with a tiny clothes hamper on one side and on the other side we found a perfectly sized IKEA dresser to install under one of the “closets.”
3. Allison finished up the upholstery in the back and it looks great!

I Made Solar Panel Brackets!

I was kinda upset about the cost of brackets available online for solar panels so I ended up making my own. I took six feet of angle aluminum and after many hours of drilling and cutting with a neighbors drill press and radial arm saw with a fancy aluminum blade:

I ended up with a whole bunch of two-inch long segments that looked like this:

Then I bought a boatload of bolts, washers and nuts from Home Depot (because Amazon was INSANELY expensive) and put them together like so:

The weather hasn’t exactly cooperated to get the solar panels installed on the roof but someday soon. I’ve already run the cables from the batteries up to the roof so it shouldn’t be too bad to get it all hooked up, just need a few hours without snow or rain.

We Slept Inside!

We slept in our new bed for the first time in the RV and it was fine. We were a little worried about the low of 42 degrees but with a few nice blankets we ended up being a little hot. Cheat may have been a little uncomfortable but he didn’t complain so let’s call that a win. Things we learned:

1. We need a better ladder.
2. The roof is really close to our heads (especially Allison’s)
3. It’s easy for us to stay warm but getting airflow on a hot summer night might be a little harder.

We’re going to take the rig into a shop soon, but after that we’ll probably move in full time.

We Got Rid of Tons of Stuff!

A couple weekends ago we had a garage sale and sold a ton of stuff. Then we sold a ton of our kayaking gear including 2 kayaks, 2 paddles, a ton of extra cold weather gear, and the shredder 😦 . Then we had ARC come by and pick up a ton of furniture. So slowly but surely the house is emptying out a bit. We’ve also been slowly scanning all of our important documents (with a really nice travel document scanner) so that we can get rid of the filing cabinet but that is one heck of a boring job.

What’s Next?

1. The solar panels need to be mounted and hooked up.
2. The RV needs to go to the shop to get a good bill of health (and two engine leaks repaired, and the fridge fixed, and a frame bracket replaced, and the socket for towing electrical connections attached. I could do some of those myself, but we’re at the “pay someone to do things fast” phase)
3. The car needs the tow bar base plate installed. Probably going to take it into a shop to do it because again, we don’t have the time to do it ourselves.
4. Get rid of more stuff. Always.
5. Get the house ready for renters. There are a ton of “like to do” things and only really two “need to do” things (other than fixing the porch awning which we already did, thanks Thomas!). First, we need a door installed (the exterior door from the back room has never been… useful) and second, we need to get an electrician to run two new circuits. A 220V circuit so we can move the dryer next to the washer and a 110V socket for a new electric baseboard heater so that the tenants won’t need to deal with the pellet stove (it’s a little higher maintenance than I trust a tenant to deal with).
6. Change phone plans. We need to switch from Ting over to an AT&T reseller because AT&T has much better coverage where we’re heading. We’re currently thinking of going with Cricket Wireless because their prices are decent (not as good as Harbor Mobile but not as bad as AT&T proper) but most importantly, we can do two-month trips to Canada with them and still use full speed data so a Banff trip may be in the works, we’ll see.
7. Installing the new curtains. My grandmother finished making the curtains for the rest of the windows (thanks again!) but we need to install different rods and valences for them (by design).
8. Packing. And weighing to be sure we aren’t over weight.

So long story short, we’re behind where we’d like to be but we’ll probably get there on time. We’ll see.