Campulance Life

  This one took some thinking. Back to the inside to tackle a few more cosmetic things.  We are working on prettying up the back corner where we removed the cabinet and coming up with a creative way to cover the under bed storage.   Step one was removing that corner cabinet so the bed would fit.  We needed to build a wall of some kind, since it was open to the outside storage.  We had a small cabinet behind the bed for storage and a "headboard", so we built on top of that, I think it looked pretty good.  Problem was as I scooted up during the night I kind of felt like I was in an office cubicle.  We did a little redesign and added some shiplap and paint for good measure.  Here is the final product, with bedding all washed and ready for the first trip. Next up was the under cabinet storage.  You know how they say, measure twice and cut once.  Well we measured about 4 times and then probably 4 more.  We had each other pretty conf...

It's NOT just what's on the inside that counts. We have been a bit more focused on all things outside the last few weeks and it's feeling pretty good to check things off the list.  Working on the water system, sprucing up the tires and adding some personality to the exterior have been our focus recently.  Lucas got new hubcaps for Christmas, so once it was warm enough we got those installed.  I'll show you the before so you can appreciate the after.  Before                        During    And the After..... Next up was working on the water system.  We had the counter, sink and faucet all ready on the inside, but the bigger project really lies in the outside cabinet where the fresh and gray water tanks will go, along with the pump and hot water heater.  The counter height is higher, so the clips that came with the sink wouldn't work.  A trip to Home Depot and some creative use of th...

Summer 2021 here we come Well, almost. There are a few more things to check off the list before we venture out this summer. Mother Nature decided to tease us with a few spring days, so we are on a mission to accomplish some tasks.  We spent the cold winter accumulating  stuff that began to overtake Lucas' family room.  Slowly we found places for most of our Christmas camping related items. Last fall we focused on the inside and making things pretty, this Spring is all about the function.  Which roughly translates to Lucas ordering and working on projects, while I try to be helpful but mostly ask a bunch of questions to try and grasp what exactly he is doing. Things on the spring list include a water system, solar panels, new shocks and brakes.   First up were the shocks. Lucas ordered these a while back and just had to wait patiently for warmer weather. Last weekend he made his first attempt.  Now keep in mind the Campulance is a 2001 and best he could...

This guy 😍 So far we have been able to share with you all the demo and design that has happened on the Campulance.  What you haven't seen are all the small things here and there that are making a big difference.  While I have been assigned interiors, it seems Lucas has gotten stuck having to know how to do everything else.  I decided I can't just post pretty curtains without letting you know all the tasks this guy has been checking off the list.  Boring old stuff like making sure we have outlets, lights to see on the highway, inverters and batteries to give us power off the grid, not to mention having to explain to me how inverters convert DC to AC power over and over, when I say, "Ok, explain that one more time".  I can be completely content when I don't know what I don't know.  But once there is something I know I don't know, I need to understand it. He may have the patience of a saint, or possibly roll his eyes when i'm not looking, but either way ...

  Snuck in one more trip We had resigned ourselves to the fact the the Campulance was parked until well into next year. Temps had been in the 30s and 40s for days, then all of the sudden a weekend in the 70s.  We made a last minute decision to sneak in one last trip.  Brooke even decided to tag along (although still in her cast from surgery- so she had to hobble around). Friday after work we headed north to Morgan Park Campground in Niagra.  Many campgrounds closed the end of October, but this one stays open through November.  There were maybe 5 sites booked there, so we basically had the place to ourselves.  We arrived somewhere around 7:30 so Friday night was pretty low key, just hung out and headed for bed.  Saturday morning we headed for a walk to the lake, while Brooke slept in. Here is where the adventure begins.  Morgan Park has some hiking trails and a sign near the lake with a map of the trails. We decided on High View Trail- that tiny li...

 We Have a Kitchen  Mother nature has been trying to halt our progress, but she can't tell us what to do. We have been slowly tackling the kitchen area on days above freezing and this is probably my favorite transformation so far. I knew I wanted subway tile, so that got ordered right away. The countertop on the other hand was not as easy to decide. Was I going to make one? That seemed like a lot of work. Butcher block? super heavy and might not be smart. IKEA? Yep this was the answer.  They have some nice laminate countertops. More decisions- was I going to warm it up and go with a wood look or be cool and do the concrete look.  Votes were split 50/50 and I think I would have liked either one.  Sydney has an IKEA a few minutes from her and she was coming up to visit so she agreed to pick it up for me.  I don't think we thought this through very carefully cause the pickup was a bit more challenging than we expected.  I must not have conveyed the size v...