Saturday, June 20, 2015

Hiker Reunion!


Canadian Bacon and Zen Master (Dina and Keith) are meeting us in Haliburton tomorrow where we have rented a waterfront house for the next two weeks. Two years ago they were my hiking partners (along with Two Socks) for the last half of the Appalachian Trail. Calling them hiking partners seems trivial and even offensive. These are my people, my tribe, my soul friends, the ones who I want to grow old with.  I can't wait to see them again! We have no set plans but I am sure no matter what the weather, we will have a great time!  It sounds silly but I'm even excited for Melkie to see them, he used to follow Zen Master (Keith) around everywhere!

Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Test Drive

I hadn't visited my daughter in Ottawa in awhile and we were itching to test out the bus. There is still a lot of work to be done but it's now a legal motorhome and we wanted to see just how roadworthy it really was.  It rides like a dream! I couldn't believe how easy it was to maneuver and there are no blind spots on this thing! I was so comfortable with it that I had to constantly remind myself to take it easy on the corners. Michael did a great job mounting everything, there were no rattles from any of the work he had done but there is a wire hitting metal somewhere behind the electrical box that needs to be taped down. Right off the bat we filled up the tank and by the time we reached Ottawe (500km later) we were almost on empty and needed to refill. I had been hoping it would do a little better on gas than it did and will see what adjustments we can make to improve the gas milage. Overall the first trip was a huge success. We bought rare earth magnets to secure the drawers and overhead cupboards and since our return Michael has already installed them. We only have a few days before we leave for Haliburton and there is still a huge to do list. It would have been nice if we had the bus was completely finished before we took it anywhere but I gues the advantage to this is that we can adapt our plans as we see how we use it. Melkie like it!

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Progress





Michael has been so busy working on the bus every chance he gets. The pictures don't give any justice to the amount of time he has put into this. For every picture I take there are hundreds of steps in between to make this come together. The Allure floor is finished  (we chose Vintage Oak Grey) and carpet was used at the very front under the driver seat area. He recovered the steps with 1/8 aluminum check plate and it looks awesome! While it was too cold to work on the bus he designed the bench seats and drawers and customized the IKEA dressers that we bought to fit over the wheel wells. By the time those were all painted it was warm enough to start painting inside the bus and finish the shelves over the windows. We custom ordered acrylic doors and he installed them when they were ready. Yesterday we moved all the furniture into the bus and Michael will be finished mounting it by the end of the day! A good friend of mine upholstered the foam cushions (another IKEA purchase) for the seats/bed so the bus is starting to really look like a living space. But there is still so much to do! The sink still needs to be installed (we are just using portable camping shower bladders as our water tanks) and we have a camp toilet that isn't a permanent fixture yet. All of the LED lighting still needs to be installed and we haven't even purchased the inverter or the stove/barbecue yet. We had the windows tinted and Michael painted outside window frames black. I was pretty skeptical on how that was going to turn out but it looks amazing and gives the bus a more modern look. The next big job is to paint the rest of the bus exterior white. I'm so excited that the bus is almost ready! The first trip is going to be to go visit my daughter in Ottawa! I can't wait!