From RV Repair to Hacker Work Camp

Normally have a week's worth of information to share on my blog would not be that big of a deal. But this particular ten day period happens to be ripe with more fodder than usual. For all the doubters out there, we were able to finish the RV, sort of. You will have to follow subsequent posts to hear how everything turned out, but I am posting a few pictures to showcase the end of the week. We complete the framework and fully sealed the back of the RV on Friday, July 29th. Not as far as we wanted to get and a much longer day. We were 3 days late leaving for Mammoth and did not finally make it there until 3am Saturday morning. But we left knowing a major portion of the RV was done and Samoff was going to finish the rest.  We now had two days to complete the forest service fire requirements for our mountain home.

When Chris and I first started dating we took a road trip to Oregon. On our way we were stopping off at his Mammoth house to do a "few" repair things and then we would continue on our leisurely road trip. It was a good thing the promise of the trip existed and that I had known Chris for quite awhile, otherwise this fix-up work might have been enough to scare me off for good. We repainted the outside of two sides of his house, rebuilt the framing around windows, sanded, dug, planted and generally did some massive physical labor for all the daylight hours three days in a row. Not all bad, but Chris does not like to stop for lunch or dinner, so I was a bit surly by the end of each day. Of course we made amazing progress and were both happy with the finished product. I dubbed the few days as "Hacker Work Camp" which was apparently my "dues" for getting to go on vacation. The rest of the vaca went extremely well with a Shakespeare Festival, White Water Rafting, Water skiing and jet boat riding so I decided Hacker work camp was worth it.

It has been a yearly summer event with the exception of last year as we were preparing for the wedding. We dove back into Hacker work camp immediately post RV repair only this time with a mandate from the forest service. Due to the Station Fire, there are a number of new rules regarding clearance around the house, branches, wood piles, etc. Needless to say, Chris on a ladder with a chainsaw is not my favorite sight. Of course having the branches of super tall trees thrown directly at my head is not exactly awe-inspiring either. Ben asked if I was a lumberjack camp when he heard the din of the chainsaw in the background and I am pretty sure Chris almost fell 15 feet off the top of the ladder at one point, though he says he was in control. Of course the chainsaw was still spinning, so while I was diligently holding the ladder steady I was also thinking of where I could duck for cover should the whirring chainsaw come flying down at my head. We definitely did not need a live action replay of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," as I like my head in one piece. We raked and piled, cut and dragged, pulled and pushed, loaded and unloaded until the yard was well above code. We had a pile of branches taller than me by the end, filled three dumpsters, taken two other trips to the dump with bags of yard waste and a beautiful yard to show for it. For those keeping track, this was 4 12-hour days of RV repair, followed by a 5.5 hour drive hauling motorcycles, and 3 12-hour days of yard work and stone piling. (I got Saturday off for good behavior and for being the one willing to drive the whole way until the 3am arrival.)

Chris is obsessive. He gets an idea in his head and it is pretty much impossible to get it out. I normally wouldn't be worried but we were heading up to Carson for his pre-employment physical on the 4th, so he did need to be able to move. Can you imagine him going in for his physical, moving like an 80-year old man and beat up to boot? He was already worried about his fingerprint cards for his license as he had gouged a pretty significant chunk out of one of his thumbs. Not as dramatic as removing your fingerprints with acid or anything but still suspect. Luckily I did convince him we could split the wood he had gathered in the forest  and from the trees we downed later as we were about to enter our RV pulling marathon. But if it hadn't been for that, I think Hacker work camp would have continued for at least four more days and ended with at least one hospital visit. I left camp with a tan/burn, stronger, definitely filthy and sap covered. I am pretty sure I finally found the last bit of sap in my hair with this last wash, mind you camp officially ended on August 3rd and it is the 9th. It should only take a month or so for my nails to grow back, at least they are finally white again.

RV Work Photos

An RV Can of Worms

I am always up for a challenge, but just like regular home repairs, when you think something is going to be easy with a RV, just remember it will ALWAYS be more work than you intended. My husband and I are having to relocate rather quickly for his new job. Because of that we find ourselves with a house that has renters/roommates, an apartment under lease and a third living location TBD. With that in mind, the girl who is working hard towards a debt free, simple life so she can focus on her goals remembered her past living in the mountains and how much fun it can be to live in a miniature. I love RVs, the simplicity of them, the cute little communities, the month to month nature of choosing a place to live and the encouragement to be outside.

If you have never lived in an RV, you should try it out...way fun. Add to this some friends who have an unused RV that needed a home and we have a great combo of a solution for us and helping friends. Our new locale is too far away for us to live full time in the house, but close enough that we can spend lots of time there skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking and climbing. Sounds perfect, a double life! Chris was skeptical. I have to admit his objection to the plan until I crunched the numbers, showed him how it could work and how much easier it made the "you have two and a half weeks to uproot your life." He warned me. He told me the RV had not been used in quite awhile. Polyanna said, great, we are helping it live up to its full potential. A little TLC, a borrowed truck and we will get you up to your new home while I close out everything down here. (I still have every intention of working production in LA, and this leaves us much closer to meetings, etc than Tampa would! Plus, for all those concerned, I set out a firm plan of two year goals. I must admit to my diabolical plan to get more production to the Mammoth area as well, it's so darn pretty!)

I was away promoting my show at Comic-Con, Chris was here working and then I got back. He had diligently gotten all the supplies and gotten a big chunk of work done. We were about to embark on tackling the back wall of the bedroom/front of the RV. I got to take a little side trip to "Camping World" where they have EVERYTHING in miniature. My friend Carrie is jealous, she wants a mini coffee pot too, I have my priorities. The day started by simply removing the back panel, carefully to tackle the little leak in the corner. The leak, not so little. Entire back wall soaked, covered in mold and wet insulation. Not good, not good at all. The end result, removing the entire back wall and the outside fiberglass casing. The job today, rebuilding the edges of the frame, sealing the fiberglass, reinstalling the paneling, adding insulation and then putting the fiberglass back in place. Easy, right? HA!

Needless to say our few days worth of work has turned into a week. The new tires and the prepping of the inside has turned into a full blown remodel. BUT, in the end the RV will be perfect, it will keep it from any more trouble and we will have fully bonded with it before embarking on our next new adventure. Despite the occasional meltdown, we have all worked very well together and I think, despite the bone tired feeling at the end of the day, it has been fun. Problem solving on a building level makes me happy. I think John and my husband might bop me in the head for saying that...but oh, well.