I am sitting here, at a loss for subject matter. I was going to write up a little blog with photos/videos of the gardening work I have been doing for the past 2 weeks. I had to put that plan on hold because its currently in the mid 40’s temperature wise. My house is from the 1800’s, literally over 120 years old. Its actually a cabin from a nearby ghost town. The town was called Fairfax and it was a logging town. In the 1930’s, the town shut down and all the buildings were relocated to nearby towns such as Carbonado, Wilkeson, Burnett, South Prairie and Buckley. Anyway, those old cabins had no insulation. I added insulation to the walls, and underneath most of the flooring, however much work remains. My house is usually around 10 degrees colder than the temperature outside. I literally get chilled to the bone. Have you ever sat at your computer and worked while wearing your snowboarding clothes? I didn’t think so….
I needed something better for the winter. My heating bill was ridiculous, because the heat would just escape out the walls. I was on the lookout for a small camper to live in during the winter months. I started talking about my desire to purchase something in the middle of 2017. I attended some RV shows, and was not impressed with the quality at all. My good friend and father figure, Dan, gave me his old camper. The roof has leaks, but the interior is in really nice shape. He had plans to gut the interior and swap the pieces into a nicer shell. He has more than enough projects on his plate, so he ended up just giving it to me. $30 later for 2 tarps and some string from the hardware store, and the roof leaks are set.
I have an old 66 Chevy C20 that my mom bought when I was about 3 years old. I learned how to drive in this truck. It was sitting in her field for many years, and I finally went to her house and literally took it when she was on vacation. It took me 2 days to cut the truck out from the black berries that wanted to eat it, and get the truck running again. I had to blow air backwards thru the fuel lines, clean the points and add a few quarts of ATF to get it running. Once it was running, I put it in gear, hit the gas and the engine tried to fly out. “Ok, so one of the engine mounts is broken, got it”. I tried a little easier, and the truck would not move. Stuck brakes. In the everlasting words of Sweet Brown – “ain’t nobody got time for that”. My friend Tyler hooked up his Dodge, and with a little tugging the brakes were set free.
That whole incident was a couple of years ago. I’ve changed up a few things on the truck and have it running pretty reliably now.
I enlisted the help of Tyler, Richard and my girlfriend to load this camper. It took us a couple of hours to get loaded. The camper had to be lifted with the jacks, one of which was leaning at a bad angle. I have never loaded a camper into a truck bed before this experience. Man what a crazy adventure that was.
This old Chevy is a tank. It has a v8 (327 or 350, who knows) and a 2 speed automatic transmission. That’s right. All of you out there driving the new 10 speed automatics, and my 66 Chevy has 2 gears: slow and slower. I am surprised that the old girl handled the load as well as she did. Dan’s driveway is very steep. When I drove forward and turned left uphill the first time, the whole thing felt like it was going to tip over.
Luckily my truck has the optional overload springs on it. This camper is pretty heavy. The truck is no stranger to a large load. I remember as a kid hauling loads of hay, firewood, goats, horses, cows, and more.
I was surprised and impressed how level the truck is with the camper on it. Those old-school quarter-elliptical leaf springs work like a charm.
In case you were wondering: no, I cannot see a damn thing behind me and yes, those are ratchet straps holding the camper down. Not my finest moment for sure haha. Luckily I live a close, flat drive away from his house. Tyler followed behind me and kept everyone back.
I have a tiny room heater that I bought for my bedroom a couple years ago. If I literally put it right next to my head, I could survive the night in my house. In this little camper, I have the heater on 1/2 of the lowest setting, and it keeps me warm all winter. I also appreciate the tiny house living aspect of it. I can stand in the center of the camper and reach the stove, counter, sink, pantry and refrigerator with no more than 2 footsteps. Talk about convenience.
I’m going to leave you with this video, and get to bed. The H202 has kept the sniffles at bay thankfully. I have had a pretty emotional week and I am drained tho. Goodnight all, see you tomorrow!
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