Cats in an RV

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Blaine to Chehalis (Washington)

I had a typical pre-departure night filled with strange dreams, with a particularly vivid one waking me up to the sound of pounding rain at 6AM. Weirdly enough, I’ve been on an ‘early’ schedule since I got to Blaine last month, with bedtime between 10 and 12 and wake up around 8. If this had been a normal morning, I would have just gotten up at six. But since I had a full day ahead of me, I plugged in the electric blanket against the chill and went back to sleep.

The rain had turned to a gentle mist when I woke up again at 8. I didn’t have much left to do since I’d taken advantage of yesterday’s warm and sunny weather to dump the tanks and load the car. I lingered over breakfast, then went out to top up the fresh water tank and put away the water hoses. I continued to putter until I saw the park manager entering the office and went to see her to finalize my stay.

I’d given a $100 deposit for power and was shocked to learn that I had used $62 worth of power this past month!!!!!!!! I didn’t even run the dehumidifier. The only explanation is that I’ve had the 12V lights blazing in the evening since I’ve been working on my embroidery project. I really do need to convert to LED, but I don’t find that LED lights up a room as well as the incandescent bulbs do.

The manager wanted to give me my refund by cheque, but I talked her into giving me cash since I wouldn’t have been able to do a deposit for four weeks.

I’ll finally mention where I’ve been staying the last four weeks: Lighthouse by the Bay RV Resort. Lovely park and well managed, with clean washrooms, a club house, and three washers. When I arrived there was a welcome package waiting for me by the door, with everything I needed to get settled in, plus tons of local info. A lot of people there are permanent residents. If I can’t afford the gas to go south next winter, I will happily consider going back there because of the affordable monthly rent, location, and lower cost of living.

I pulled out of the park at about 11 and went down to the Texaco to fill the on board propane tank. I had a third of a tank of gas left so I decided to wait to get fuel; I’d be due at about the same time I’d be glad to have a leg stretch and pee break.

It continued to rain gently as I headed south, but by the time I hit Marysville, just north of Seattle, the rain had stopped even if the clouds were still black and swollen. I saw a highway sign announcing ‘Donna’s Truck Stop’, so I figured that’d be an easy access station, which it was. I took on $125 worth of fuel at $3.76 a gallon, so 33 gallons. That put me at almost full, with more than enough to get to Eugene.

The sky continued to clear and there were patches of blue when I hit Seattle. I stuck to the centre lane and made it through the city uneventfully even with the construction. It was the same thing through Tacoma and Olympia, capital of Washington State. I saw the capitol from the highway.

I’d asked around about good options for overnighting between Blaine and Eugene and was told the Walmart in Chehalis is RV friendly and exactly halfway. Croft says that it is his first stop after the Port Angeles ferry. That was good enough for me, so that’s where I headed.

11AM departures are a pain; too early to have lunch before leaving, but arrival is too soon after lunch to make it worth stopping for food. So, I just drove straight through and had a snack on arrival at 3.

I think I may set up camp permanently at the Chehalis Walmart! What a perfect overnight stop! Besides the Walmart supercentre, there’s a Starbucks with wifi, an Applebee’s, a Home Depot, and more. I must mention my love affair with the Applebee’s chain: awesome food, cheap prices, and portions so huge I always get two meals out of my order. Since I wasn’t driving tonight, I splurged on a ginormous mojito. *hiccup*

The weather this afternoon and early evening has been gorgeous; sunny and warm. Except for a cat who got very RV sick today, it has been a perfect day. I love my life.

 

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Paused

Nothing much to report at my end. The week or so of cold weather we had was conducive to finally getting some real downtime at home and my days have pretty much been filled with cat cuddles, movies, and embroidery.

Without going into too much detail, a large payment from a client is very long over due so I’m having some cash flow issues. Resolution is in sight, but I don’t expect to get much more done here in Blaine except for perhaps a day trip.

It feels like I just got here, but incredibly enough, I’ll be pulling out mid-day on Tuesday! And I’m heading south, into Oregon! And it will be in Oregon that my RVing life will change forever. Da da da dum.

(I won’t be offended by the eye rolls that result from that last bit. 😀 )

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Not So Mellow Yellow

I awoke to a bit of a shock. The yellow that was so warm in the somber loft was BRIGHT LEMON in a large, sunny room. At first, I thought that the paint folks goofed with my new batch of paint and then I remembered that I did most of the first coat with the original batch and that the new batch was a perfect match. What a difference natural sunlight makes!

It will be toned down by the curtains, pictures, furniture, etc. so I am not in panic mode at all and I have to say that it is rather cheery!

Since I have so much paint left, and it’s a relatively easy space to work in, I will definitely do a third coat in this room.

The cabinetry colour is also satisfactory, but I’m not spoiling that. 😀

Here’s a random Cute!Cat picture:

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Loft Improvements

This is a before and after post, but I’m not calling it that since I was more focused today on insulating the windows than getting the curtains finished. Otherwise, the space is DONE!

The loft was another area of the rig that completely justified doing renovations. At this point, I estimate that my interior renos, including furniture and appliances, will end up costing me about $1,800. I’m at about $1,500 right now, not counting the Eternabond and the dehumidifier. That’s not very expensive when you consider that a) my space is more functional and b) ripping things out enabled me to find leaks that might not otherwise have been detected until they turned into major structural problems.

The end result for the loft was to have it be less damp and to add a mildew-resistant paint to the walls. That was it. I wound up having to put in a new floor, too, but it was still a pretty easy reno, regardless of the delay, and Eternabond not withstanding, I didn’t bust the budget getting things fixed.

It’s still damp up there, but it’s a different sort of dampness because it’s just window condensation rather than stagnant water from a leak. I will have to do more on the windows if I spend another winter in a cold, damp climate, but I wouldn’t consider that I have a problem at this point.

So, the loft at purchase:

Make a note of the too short, hospital-green curtain pushed in at the right there.

The loft about a year ago, after I added the pallets:

The loft after I emptied it at the start of the renos:

Same corner of the loft after I started to pull away wet material:

And that corner again with new flooring and the wall dried out:

And now…

The new quilt was a complete indulgence. I badly wanted something that would tie in all my colour choices and started looking at about the same time I moved into the rig. It took two years to find the ‘perfect’ quilt, and it was just $20, and at the Walmart in Omak of all places! At that price, I decided to indulge.

The fleece over it is, of course, for the kitties! 😀

The ugly and too short hospital green curtain has been replaced by three dark green insulated curtains, the gorgeous colour of which doesn’t photograph well.

The instructions on them say DO NOT IRON, so I apologize for creases. 😀 I’ll try to steam them in the shower one night. These curtains were an amazing find by Donna. There is no way I could have made insulated curtains for $11 a panel.

This is what I intend to do for the other two windows:

Just a cheap polyester shower curtain (ie. something that can get wet without mildewing!) that I cut, hemmed, and added snaps to. I’ll be redoing that one; it was a test. Polyester is VERY hard to work with!

Notice the shelf above the window?

All I did was:

1) flip a window valance around so the top became the bottom and secure it above the window;
2) cut a piece from the big window valance to fill in the front;
3) glue and nail the front piece to the valance.

I’ve always had a shelf for storing things at night, but had to remember to move the things when I hit the road. Now, I don’t have to worry. Easy mod that will really increase the livability of the space!

My only disappointment with the redo is that to fit the dehumidifer in a practical location, I had to relegate the suitcase to the foot of the bed, so I lost my headboard and now have an item that is purely ‘stored’ instead of being used actively. And, no, sleeping with my head at the other end of the bed is not an option because of the ladder placement. And, no, moving the ladder is not an option because of reading chair placement. 🙂

Here’s the dehumidifier:

How perfect a place for it is that? It’s space that I never used and I will never have to worry about the dehumidifer when I’m traveling. I have plenty of room to pull out the bucket of water, which I can empty out the window! I did consider the option of making a hole in the wall for attaching a drain hose, but I don’t see any reason to do that when I can empty the bucket so easily.

You may notice the less than crisp edge on the yellow in that last picture; it’s so that there will be a less obvious delineation between the paint jobs in the library and loft.

Both kitties are thrilled with the new space and happy to lie on their fleece blankets:

I’m really happy with this reno and cannot believe what a burst of colour can do to my mood.