Friday, July 26, 2013

In the Shadow of Mt. Shasta

We rolled in here after hours on the road on a 96-degree late July day at  dusk.
We found the Lake Sis Grill and Bar alongside the "Arcade," Gift Shop, and Bijou Theatre.  "Despicable Me" offered on the screen tonight.
Relaxation Gear One engaged.


The best part about camping at the Lake Siskiyou RV Resort & Campground was that we got to spend some time in the hot afternoon of Day 2 of our camping adventure on the beach at the lake.


















It was great fun to cool off after a hearty camp breakfast!



I often make some things ahead of time, freeze them and thaw as needed--like these Egg-Corn Muffins with sauteed red onions, sundried tomatoes and a fat slice of gorgonzola cheese!

Next on the journey: over the border to Oregon!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Food On A Stick




Spicy-Sweet Glazed shrimp via Martha Stewart's "Feed A Crowd" post.

Link here for the recipe.

I think we may have to make this when we hit the Oregon coast.


Lake County Wine Adventure this weekend!

The Ninth Annual Lake County Wine Adventure is this weekend. It's a two-day passport event highlighting the glories of the distinct high elevation American Viticultural Areas of Lake County.

Taste wine, meet winemakers, nosh on snacks and everyone who submits their stamped passport is eligible for a Lake County "Stellar Cellar" collection of Lake County's finest vino.



Tickets are $45 for two days-a real bargain when you consider how much it costs to do this kind of thing in more well-known AVAs.

If you haven't visited Lake County lately or tried the wines coming out of that area-do it!
Link here to the Lake County Winery Association for more info.

Holy Hot Dogs, Batman!

Holy Hot Dogs! Now, there's a double repurpose + multi-purpose idea for the campfire :)

Very creative!





"Islands of security in a dark and hostile environment"

Have you ever thought of trailers or RV's as a "life-support pods out there in a somewhat threatening nightscape?"

Writer Frank Hallam Day's photo shoot shows the spooky side of spending the night out in the wilderness.







He stumbled upon the idea for the photo series while shooting Florida foliage and then spent the next four years trying to capture the sense of mystery he sees in the blackness beyond the trailer lights.

Here's the link to his book, "Nocturnal"...featuring the photo series that the first prize in the highly prestigious photography competition Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2012.

Slate's "The Spooky Side of RVs in the Wilderness"


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

First Reveal Photos of Our TrailerLuv Interior Remodel

Kitchen area gets a new look
And, Voila!
Here's a first look at our TrailerLuv interior remodel project.









Opposite the kitchen area: painted cabinets, our Happy Camper cups and Santa Cruz Mystery Spot mugs.
Cheery cups & curtains (made my yours truly), if I do say so my own self.
















We finally busted these super-cute surf-trailer salt and pepper shakers out of the box.




More pics and info to come. We're pretty happy with how it has turned out and are really looking forward to taking our updated home on wheels on our next adventure to Mt Shasta and Oregon!



"Cut the Cable" with a DIY Antenna Hack

DIY HD Antenna via Lifehacker

Want to "cut the cable?"
Or sink the satellite dish?
But you know you can't actually live without a little tv?

If you're in an area with over-the-air HD Channels plus a few MacGyver-ish skills and you could build your own DIY HD Antenna for just a few bucks.


Ten bucks in parts and an afternoon of your time? Pretty good deal.

Pool Table Sofa

It's a sofa! It's a pool table! Wait, it's both!


We're always on the lookout for multi-use possibilities in trailers & rv's, right? Why not a Pool Table Sofa?

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Oh, Where to Go:

Top 10 national park beaches

10 scenic spots to swim, float, and soak in the sun at the West's amazing national parks







Point Reyes National Seashore and 9 other great spots to enjoy Mother Nature's beauty in the West:

Here's the video of that super-smart girl and her hand-heat-powered flashlight!

Don't have to lug batteries with you to use this flashlight? What a great idea for camping and at home!

http://www.upworthy.com/if-this-invention-won-second-place-at-the-science-fair-first-place-must-ve-been-a-time-machine

Monday, July 15, 2013

Priming, Painting & Gnome-Homes


I've cleaned and lightly sanded the cabinet doors.
 Time to prime!


We chose KILZ Pro-X after some Googling aka "research."

 The consensus appears to be to go for a high-adhesive primer and this one from KILZ was recommended by the Paint Counter Guy at Home Depot.



Priming the laminate and paneling inside the trailer, too, of course.

And then the first coat of color-Yay! Cabinets-muted green.



Loft area above the bed platform gets blue like the sky 




And the trailer walls go creamy yellow.

We've decided the RV sofa will exit stage-left which means more floor space than we've ever had in this trailer. What ever will we do with it?

1. Install a bowling alley?

2. Build a gnome amusement park?

3. Cover it with a rug and set up a temporary table?
   



 While #'s 1 & 2 sound fun (but a little noisy) we'll probably go with #3, at least for now. We always have the space if we run across some entertainment-starved gnomes on our travels. 

Though, the possibilities around "Gnome-Home-on-Wheels" are pretty enticing. All right...back to it!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Color!


Time for a color other than brown!





...the color palate under consideration...most of them are Martha Stewart Paint Colors. Not sure how Martha would feel about her brand married to our hoopty trailer...but I hope she would appreciate the transformative power of her colors :)

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Cabinets & Hardware Prep Underway


Interior makeover underway!

First, we removed the drawers and cabinet doors:





Wow, these are so ugly. Was this the height of fashion in 1981?
I have a hard time believing this look was ever the height of fashion...but that's how they made 'em then.


Then, scrub off 30+ years of whatever...I'm using this stuff...TSP.



Remove the hardware, making sure we keep track of which hardware goes with which cabinet. 



We numbered the inside of the cabinets and I put the hardware into little baggies with the corresponding numbers.


We were going to paint the hardware but now we're thinking that if we clean it up...it'll have a bit of a vintage look to it. After all, it's 30+ years old--that's vintage, right?


 If you try this, make sure you use gloves. I let it sit in the TSP for a few minutes, scrub it, let it sit for a few more minutes, then rinse in water and wipe it off.

It's starting to feel so good that everything will be nice and clean and fresh!



Monday, July 8, 2013

Ch Ch Ch Changes!


One thing that has always bugged me about sleeping in our little house on wheels is that claustrophobic feeling of being stuck on the "inside" of the mattress area. I had to climb over Tom to get out. Not super fun for either of us, really :) 

Then, Tom started sleeping on the "inside" and I think he may have liked it even less than I did.

Solution: Extend the bed platform so we can swing it around to give us a little room on either side.





In the pic above, you can see Tom's handywork. Bed platform now extended. It takes up a little more floorspace but we'll be sooooo much happier not having to climb over the other just to get out of bed.

Now we're going to work on cleaning, priming and painting the walls and cabinets. 

And we've just about decided to remove that RV fold-out sofa that under the blue sheet. It's a pretty cool RV sofa but we really don't sit on it much and could use something more multi-purpose in that spot.

A combination of seating, table-top, and storage would be ideal. And that's how another project gets added to the list!


Monday, July 1, 2013

Crazy From the Heat?

Repair Job commences. Bonus: It's hottest weekend of the year so far! Step One involved a trip to Home Depot to pick up 2x4's, 2x2's, and about 30 Fender Washers to shore up the inside structure and re-attach the listing tin. You can see a little bit of the new structure taking shape below. Side note; NPR's "Wait Wait; Don't Tell Me" is playing in the background.


I'm considering changing the name of this blog to "WasherLuv." Second trip to Home Depot to get more. But the repair plan seems to be working.




Starting to add the adhesive sealer tape.





This stuff is used to repair roofs and the adhesive grows stickier in the heat. That's all good, of course, but ya gotta work quickly.














It ain't pretty, by any means, but getting it back together is the priority right now.


Figuring out how to cover the horizontal seam. Tom has drafted our young man to help (now that he's awakened at noon from his summertime slumber. Remember those lazy summer days? Yeah, me neither.)



First cross-seam seal in place. Unfortunately, we ran out of the sticky-seal stuff and will have to revisit this part of the repair when it arrives. Luckily, it should only take 2 days.






Meanwhile, an interior remodel/revamp plan is taking shape.In the pic below, you can sorta see that the bed is currently oriented sideways. That means that someone is always kinda trapped in the back which can make anyone feel a little claustrophobic. If that's ever been you in that spot in the camper, then you know whereof I speak. 


We've decided it's time to tackle and conquer the claustrophobia by turning the bed so that it'll be straight-on rather than sideways. That means building an extension onto the bed platform. And, while we're at it, why don't we just refinish all the cabinets and paint the interior?

When I get ideas like these, Tom often talks me down from the ledge. But this time he did not. I think we may both be crazy from the heat. More to come.