Some Good...and, Some Bad

[Dawn Michelle]

First let me start by sharing that we all survived our first overnight camping trip!  By we I mean my mother, the dog, the cat, and myself.  Juno still has a long list of things to do, but we had water, fully working electric, a working toilet, good bedding, a fridge, and mechanically needed to put her through some paces so when I take her back they can try to track down the oil/transmission fluid leak (I think it's the former from the cardboard spots).

So we headed a whole eight miles over to Lake Powhatan and set her up, enjoyed a drink and dinner, and then the next morning took her all back down again with only a little drama (tip #1 - just throw out the PO's stinky slinky and start new, no matter how well it tested in the backyard).

The dog enjoyed herself, but the cat only made one appearance (captured below) and then disgusted went and hid back under the passenger seat where she remained the entire time and expressing her ire refused to eat or use her litterbox until we returned home.

Of course - now in that picture you can see the carpet and understand why it had to come up!  So as soon as we came home, my first order of business was to completely unpack so I could start on that and touching up paint in a few places.  Very discouraging to do that, but I knew that was going to have to happen.

The good news is that the subfloor, despite being stained, had no soft spots - even around the toilet and shower.  The carpet and padding came up easily and I found a canadian penny under the doorsill (which I replaced - but it wasn't from the manufacturer as that date is clearly marked as 10/16/84 - and the penny was from 1988 :-)

I choose floating vinyl plank flooring from Lowes - $55 a box for two boxes.  I'll put carpet back up under the dinette as you apparently can't have that flooring touching any vertical surfaces so I can't reinstall the dinette leg foundations unless I put carpeting there.  This was the most frustrating and difficult projects to date as there is not a square line in the RV and an unbelievably stupid number of corners, angles and vertical trim pieces.  

It took us four days total to do what - 11 feet?  Ah well.  Mom and I teamed up on this (thankfully or the floor wouldn't have gotten done by the first snow) We figured we averaged about forty five minutes per plank.  The flooring was finished just in time for me to get the loft cleared out before taking her back to the fixit place.  We still have all the trim now to cut and put in (shaking my head in fear).

So why clear out the loft you say?  

All summer the rain has been sporadic and actually haven't had much since I've untarped her and sealed the roof - I found some leak evidence in the loft but since I'd sealed and thought the front trim looked okay I thought I'd dodged a bullet (I did reseal the back trim).

Well, no.  I came in the morning after 8 hours of soaking rain to discover the ceiling bubbling where the ceiling meets the front panel above the window.  

So while I THOUGHT I was just taking her in to finally get the awning fabric replaced (got wrong sizes sent the first time - but I still recommend - Shade Pro in California offers custom awning size which I needed for same price as precut one) I'm biting the bullet and having them take out those panels and see what we got.  While at it the trim on the front sides isn't as sound as I thought and I've got delamination between the cab and truck roof - didn't think it was that serious, but since we are opening it up...let's look at it fully.  Better be safe than sorry. Of course I am expecting this to completely destroy what is left of my budget and puts me well off schedule (had hoped to be on the road by Sep 15th).  

So, that's the bad!

Once she's back I'll be painting the loft, finishing the floor job by putting down trim and finding carpet for under the dinette, still have to reno the bathroom, trim around the fridge and frame out the new storage space above, still have electronics to install (2-3 12v plugs, backup camera, better weboost antenna, wifi booster, tps, some sort of fan in the cab...), a gazillion light box trims to repaint and the exterior to work on.  And she has to go back to mechanics yet - yeah, I'm not getting out of here on the 15th of next month - LOL.  Not unless some dwarves, fairies or elves show up in my yard to pitch in!  I can always dream, right?!!!

[Dawn Michelle]

LOL - bless her heart, Shillelagh has always been an indoor kitty so now she also has to deal with a vet for rabies, microchip and any vaccinations she needs.  She is not going to be happy with me. However, when we first got her as a kitten and she came out of the carrier the first thing she did was rub up against the dog and the poor dog has been "hers" ever since.  If I were to separate them the dog would be just fine, but I think the cat would lose it.  So whether she wants to or not, she goes.  We don't split up family - grin.

Stopped by the fixit place - the new awnings are on and the converter is in and they've did a little sealing on the awning rail where there were some issues but haven't started the quote yet for the sealing for the leaks I have.  Sounds like the direction, however, will be seal the leak and front window (possibly camper side trim) - dehumidify and ozonate and not try to tear into anything which was my fear.  But will know for sure in a couple more days.  The owner worked over the weekend with all that eclipse stuff going on (all the RVs on the road and all the emergencies they came in with) and took a day off bless his heart.  I'm feeling anxious though - want to get these last big issues out of the way.  Classes started this week and my time is going to be divided.

I know - complain, complain, complain - just feeling the anxiety.  Pretty sure my 9/15 deadline to hit the road is nixed.  Hoping though I can have her ready to go over to the Caravan Carolyn meetup on the 16th/17th over in Tennessee.  Would be a good little trip to test things out.

So that is it for my update - in the meantime we've been clearing out the basement and trying to have a clear out - have a garage sale.

[Lakota Wolf]

A bit of good and bad. But the good outweighed the bad, so that's a plus, It may sound like a lot on your plate with the little stuff, but just set your game plan and it will all fall into place quicker then you will realize.  I'm still giggling at your cat, When I had my cat, (solid black), she would get the same attitude when her and I traveled, she look out front door and say, nope. Ain't happening, then she turn around and jump back up on ** HER, queen bed and call it a day..