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[desert_sailing]

Finally finished with the rig...more or less. Everything that needs to be built and fastened is now completed.

I am trying to make my curtains a little better, a bit of touch up painting, removing paint from floors and hardware..ooops and starting to move clothing and household items onboard.

I definitely need a clock.. tho ideally I would never have one, a battery powered reading light as well. The led strip gives a nice overall lighting but these aging eyes need a bright focused beam to read anything.

After 2 nights in the rebuild I do indeed see the necessity of a fridge. A cooler would be less than ideal and not even having that sucks.. as a nice cool beverage is very nice to have on hand. I will be ordering one of the Alpicools today.  I would be kicking myself had I bought a Berkey over the fridge.

Not perfect or glamorous in anyway but I really love her.  Probably have some pics in the Conversion topic soon.

I planned on putting a few plants in for air quality. My town has basically ZERO houseplant retailers. I went to 3 places and then to Walmart where of the 10 choices I could only find the Peace Lily. On the discount table was a very nice and full one but looked soo sad. I couldn't let it die or be subjected to more abuse. On the way to the counter I saw another smaller one.. and figured they could keep each other company.
Got them home gave a drink of water and boom.. both look fantastic! They are a little large for the van they will need repotting and maybe that will help.
I have seen several videos of folks traveling with large dogs or several and sometimes a few cats. Since I can't get a cow or a horse in the van (only pets I like) I will have these two green beauties.

"The Peace Lily can improve your indoor air quality by as much as 60 percent. It helps to reduce the levels of mold spores that grow in the home by absorbing those spores through its leaves and then circulating them to the plant’s roots where they are used as food. The plant can absorb harmful vapors from alcohol and acetone, benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, xylene, ammonia and carbon monoxide effectively."

Still much to do, glad to be over the hump!

 

[Qxxx]

HD-crofter, Home Depot and Harbor Freight should be carrying masks and cleaning supplies, and they also sell nitrile gloves.

DS, in case you still need them, Home Depot sells combined CO+Smoke detectors, and also nice ABC fire extinquishers. What you really need more than a Peace Lily is good ventilation. For me, no problem, as my side door is usually wide open. You will quickly learn the truth of "you don't live in the van, you live out of it". The most comfortable such life I've seen is the guy in La Posa last winter who had a nice big wall tent. He only used the van to sleep in at night, and all day used the wall tent to cook and live in.

 

[crofter]

HD-crofter, Home Depot and Harbor Freight should be carrying masks and cleaning supplies, and they also sell nitrile gloves.

Home Depot has a place on the empty shelf where it goes. Also no tyvek suits on the shelf. I found 3 masks at the grocery store and bought them, they are the non medical n-95's and you can breathe through them.
I went to Harbor Freight here yesterday for cooling towels and they are closed. May still be available online.
-crofter

 

[notsosure]

I am in a State that cut the order short and tied the Governors hands.

Now business see what is happening in early opening States, and they want
help getting masks mandated, and the Supreme Court over ruled him already and the health dept. authority.

 

[Qxxx]

Well, crofter, you certainly know yer way around Yuma. I like it as a small city, and have spent a couple of nights there every trip to AZ. The Golden Corral is great, and also the chinese buffet near the Walmart on So. Pacific, assuming they will ever be open. Last winter I toured the old prison, and ate at Lutes (classic) Casino in the old downtown. Maybe the world will open up again some day. Darn.

 

[desert_sailing]

Morning Q,
I do have the detectors but still need an extinguisher. Thanks for the reminder. I am a big fan of fresh air and have so far had all 8 windows open everyday and night. 6 of them are the pop out bottoms..so about 4ish inch. In the day as I am still working the doors are all open. I imagine it will be the same when I have mountain air breezing through with a great view!

I and just myself currently have a 2 bedroom house with a full basement and mother in law/office. If was planning on "living in" a rig I wouldn't have picked up a standard top van.  I heard and understood Bob when he talked about "living out of the van and not IN it." That is exactly why I have gone light on electricity and sit in befuddlement at folks that have every electrical convenience possible. That very principle is what has guided my every step. 

The plants are pets.. that actually freshen and cleanse the air instead of stank it up.

<< smelly cat

 

[travelaround]

I assume your bookcase is particle board. I have one of those and had to drag it up the stairs one step at a time it was so heavy. I duct taped cardboard to the bottom corner to keep from scratching it up.

Yes, particle board! So heavy! I didn't try to drag the box indoors. I opened it outside and carried in the big boards one at a time.

Today I did manage to lift the thing up and put it in place. Amazing! Now I need to put books in it. Definitely an improvement - to have a place to put books to get them out of boxes!

@Brian - I am happy to read that your Covid test was negative!

 

[Qxxx]

The guy with the wall tent in La Posa had a lot of solar on top the van, and ran an extension cord into the tent. He had 10'x10' in the tent, and I think he even had a microwave or toaster oven, along with a really good folding chair for lounging. He was there for the entire fall and winter, $180, and was just 100' from the toilet. He would even take stand up showers every day in the tent pouring heated water over his head. The downside was, he had so much stuff he could not sleep in the van when traveling, but life was good when static.

 

[Qxxx]

Yes, particle board! So heavy! I didn't try to drag the box indoors. I opened it outside and carried in the big boards one at a time.

All things considered, since yer land-based, you might get a block and tackle, lol. I have 9 bookcases, and 3 of them are the tall ones, and still have 20 boxes of books in storage. Pheeew.

 

[crofter]

....The downside was, he had so much stuff he could not sleep in the van when traveling, but life was good when static.

The cargo haulers string up a hammock or bunk overtop of the load. 12v refrigerator and trucker lunchbox takes up the passenger seat.
-crofter

 

[B and C]

All books except the family bible (in swedish) are gone. I always liked the feel of books but kindle never loses my place.

 

[crofter]

I am in a State that cut the order short and tied the Governors hands.

Now business see what is happening in early opening States, and they want
help getting masks mandated, and the Supreme Court over ruled him already and the health dept. authority.

That is sad. Are people wearing the mask, or no? Here the people wore the cloth mask long before mandated to do so. 
-crofter

 

[crofter]

All books except the family bible (in swedish) are gone.  I always liked the feel of books but kindle never loses my place.

My low point was 27 boxes of books, shipped out when moving. The UPS driver had to meet the person with 27 boxes of books a lot of work for one delivery.

I am in a community with a library, so I donate the book after reading it. Then I can check it out without storing it. 
Kindle would be good, tho  more screen time to add to my excessive screen time. I bought a CD book to try, I can listen to it when resting my eyes.
-crofter

 

[notsosure]

That is sad. Are people wearing the mask, or no? Here the people wore the cloth mask long before mandated to do so. 
-crofter

The older people at the store in the morning did from the beginning, and so I did.  For around here they are stubborn and I did not expect it.
Getting one was an issue.  It can be mandated per county, as if there are no commuters.  It is a swing State.

 

[B and C]

Book on tape is what I use when driving. Sure makes the miles melt away. A least with the kindle if I fall asleep, the pages don't keep turning

 

[travelaround]

The guy with the wall tent in La Posa

The reason I decided against getting a tent is that if there's a bad situation, I couldn't drive away quickly - I'd have to remove things from the tent and take it down. During the time I was living in the van I had two bad situations come up. The first was a man who parked next to me and stared while I was parked next to the Spokane River. I left. The second situation was during a severe storm in the Cabela's parking lot when someone wanted to use the parking lot as a place to spin his car and make a lot of noise on the wet pavement. I left there too - and drove down to Walmart, a block away. In the wilderness.. I guess if I were in a large group I felt safe with a tent could be used. Normally when I travel I keep everything inside the van in case I have to leave.

 

[travelaround]

I have 9 bookcases, and 3 of them are the tall ones, and still have 20 boxes of books in storage.

That's a lot of books! I've downsized on books a lot since 2013... I gave away most of my book collection when I moved to Idaho. I gave away more when I decided to leave there. What I have here is about 1/4 of the books I have left. Not very many. I don't like moving boxes full of books.

 

[travelaround]

I always liked the feel of books but kindle never loses my place.

Right! You can carry boxes with 300 books in them or put those books into a Kindle and put that in your pocket. I really like my Kindles. I have two - an old Paperwhite and a newer Fire 10. I recently made a video about them, on my Booktube channel.

 

[Qxxx]

My kind of books are largely unavailable except in print form. The majority are technical and scientific stuff from the 1990s, and bought used. Arcane stuff only a nerd living in a tiny niche world would bother with. I looked on amazon, and some have no reviews, lol.

 

[Qxxx]

I keep thinking of that guy at La Posa with the big wall tent, it was very nice for camping long term in a place like an LTVA. Otherwise too much trouble to setup. But all in all, a converted cargo trailer would probably be more preferable. Bob Wells used to have one but got rid of it. Anyone know why?