Modify!

A few things about the trailer just weren't working for us. All of them, we probably could have lived with if we were just camping a few times a year. But we aren't camping and the band-aid solutions that might work for a few weeks are not going to cut it. This is our home and I am not interested in band-aid solutions. 

Time to modify! This week is a perfect time to tackle a few mods. We’re past the frenzy of moving in, don’t have any major urge to sight see (we lived in Edmonton for 10+ years) so can focus on really making the switch from vacation mode to “living”.  Plus, our friends here in Stony Plain have a garage full of tools and were willing to lend us some. Thanks guys!

Number one on the list – the cat box.  We have a cat. We have chosen to bring her with us on our travels, and that, of course, means we bring her litter box. So far it has sat beside the dinette for lack of a better place. That got old about 3 days after moving in. Definitely not ideal, but it had nowhere else obvious to go, until I opened up the panel under the tv. Voila!  Plenty of unused space just asking to be repurposed. Bob built a platform to protect some of the electronics, and sealed off the back, which was open to where the furnace & hot water tank are housed. 

 I’m sure Munchie would love being able to hide back there, considering she doesn't have any hidey holes in the main area, but I really don’t want to have to crawl around through the underbed to fish her out. And guaranteed she’d go down there right as we’re getting packed up to travel. Anyway, the cat box fits perfect, and best of all, is no longer out in the open. We do need to be careful moving it around though, as this space is also where all the wiring runs to the fuse box. We've intentionally left the front panel off for now. I want to see how much space Munchie will need to get in & out before making it look pretty.

Next up – the kids room.  The dinette in their room has the typical under bench storage.  There’s plenty of room underneath for toys or whatever, but getting into it meant dismantling that side of the bench.  The kids would do this and then (of course!) the cushions and plywood would be left out, along with all the toys.  What a mess!   An easy solution – open up the side.  This was a pretty simple job with the small jigsaw.  But so satisfying.  Ideally I’d like to install a pull out drawer (like the pull out pot drawers you can buy, but solid instead of wire), so that space would be more like a toy box. 

Bob got a new TV for the main area. The old one’s picture wasn't that great and this week we discovered that it can’t pick up over-air digital signals. He had brought along his 18” monitor, thinking it could replace the TV, but it has no inputs for the Wii or HDMI, and that all runs through the TV, not the blue-ray player, as he thought it might. So he wandered over to the local The Source store and picked up a 24” TV.  It doesn't quite fit in the housing, so now he gets to modify that too! (Gee, talking electronics really hammers home the difference between camping trailer and house –for me at least.)

There are still many other changes to make, and I know it will be a continual work in process.  A lot of it is typical home stuff -  hanging pictures, finding places for everything (shoes!!!), and moving things around so they’re in the most logical (or convenient) spot. There’s a fair bit of trailer maintenance to do too – resealing, killing rust and repainting the frame. I also want to change out some (or all) of the lightbulbs for LED ones. And then there are things that are specific to living in an rv.  The “wiggle” is one that will need to be addressed at some point. People move and the trailer moves. I think it bothers me most of all, since I already have some issues with my ears. It’s not comfortable feeling like I’m rolling in the ocean when I am on solid, dry land. If I wanted that I would live in a boat!

Sure, we’re missing out on some fun activities here, and this week feels extremely slow and lazy compared to last. But what we’re doing right now is every bit as important as exploring and learning. With every change we make, and every “household” task we do here, this feels more and more like our home. Which means that when we get back to exploring we can do it as a family, ready to face whatever the outside world offers up because we've got our own comfortable place to come back to each day.