And on and on it goes....

Not gonna do it!! I am NOT going to go back to only updating the blog every month or two. Gonna make it a point to update about once a week or more if something news-worthy happens. The main reason is that this blog will be my traveling journal once I do jump off and go RV'ing. So I want to keep it up and going. Here's the latest.....

House (Renovation)

When I last left off, I had found a water leak in the hall bathroom shower faucet and things were looking pretty bleak. If you remember:

Well, it got worse. I could not for the life of me get that valve apart as it was frozen by 20-something years of time. Since I couldn’t get it apart, I couldn’t fix the solder joint where the leak was. The heat from the torch would have wrecked the seals in the faucet. So I finally just ended up turning off the water to the whole house and un-soldering the feed connections and capping them.

One positive was that since I had to completely disassemble the whole thing, I was able to take the valve assembly out to the garage and work on it there rather than sitting in the tub and try not to wreck it. I neglected to take a picture of the assembly all put back into place, but trust me, it looked nice.

Picked out a nice mid-line shower faucet at HD and reworked the whole piping assembly to accommodate the new faucet. I then got it re-attached to the shower feed lines and had to rework the wood blocking that the copper pipes attach to. No big deal, but still a pain. After all that I was able to finish out the Durock sheeting and start thinking about tile.

Here's the tub surround with all my lines all drawn for the tile layout. Have to look close to see them or you can click on the picture and it will get bigger.

Tile should start going up sometime this week, or weekend, or next week, or.....

I really have to point out that YouTube has been an invaluable resource for how-to information. Who knew that pretty much anything you want to know about copper pipe soldering, Durock, green board, drywall points, etc is right there on YouTube.

House (Un-stuffing)

I’ve got about half of the old VHS video tapes ripped into digital format so far. This is a long process as I have to play each tape while the sampler records it. The other problem is that some of those tapes have deteriorated a good bit. I’m hoping to have it all completed by the end of July. Once they’re all done, they’ll all go into the trash and I can finally get rid of the VCR. If you've got some VHS tapes you want ripped, let me know and I'll loan out the sampler thingy. Otherwise I'll sell it in the next garage sale.

Got some more stuff gone through mainly in the garage. I’m hoping to get rid of another garage cabinet in the next couple of weeks. Won't be long and I'll be able to demo the paint booth and the workbench. The goal is to get as much 'stuff' (hate that word) out of the garage as possible so I can acid wash the concrete and eventually paint the ceiling, walls and floor. 

One of the next things on the garage list is to empty out and get rid of the fridge. Believe it or not it’s the one that was in Mel’s grandmother’s house from years ago. She had it in her house for many, many years and I sort of ended up with it. It’s starting to make some strange noises from underneath and I suspect it’s on its last legs anyway. That plus the floor of the interior is rotting out. I only use it for beer and freezing large meats anyway. Since I quit competing and I can’t eat that much meat (or at least I shouldn't), I don’t need to use it for that anymore.

I’ll probably end up buying a small dorm style fridge to keep in the garage for beer and water only. That will save me a big chunk of space and electricity.

I’ve gotten really serious about weekly meal planning and staying on my grocery list at the store, so the fridge in the kitchen stays pretty emptied out most of the time. Don’t see much point in running a second large fridge in the garage that only has 6 or 8 water bottles, and maybe a six pack of beer in it.

RV Search

This area has slowed down for the summer as it’s too hot to be prowling RV lots and there really aren’t any more RV shows until the fall. I’ll still be prowling the websites quite a bit, but it’ll have to be something good to actually go onto a lot and roast.

Other

Really getting seriously into this budgeting software (Ynab), and the changes in lifestyle that can go with it. I also found a website called ‘Mr. Money Moustache’ that gets somewhat fanatical about curbing spending and maximizing savings. I don’t subscribe to every bit of it, but I have changed quite a bit about my budgeting and spending. It’s starting to show a difference in my finances and I can plainly see the advantages in it.

I had to give Quicken the ol' boot. Those clowns were forcing me to basically re-buy the software every three years in forced 'upgrades'. The vast majority of reviews I read about the upgrades were all about it being a major ripoff. That plus their budgeting tools were very weak at best.

Stay tuned for the next riveting chapter….

Still harassing RV salespeople.... and loving it!

Yesterday was the last big RV show until fall for pretty much the whole state of Florida. It was in Tampa at the fairgrounds and thankfully the vast majority of it was inside and air conditioned. It's quite a bit smaller than the really big one in January.

I knew that it was going to get hot really early so I made a beeline to the outside stuff and got through those before the real heat got intense.

Spent some time in what I call the ‘gauntlet’ which is the smaller vendors hawking anything from exclusive getaway vacations, to RV cookware, to RV add-on stuff, to pretty much anything you could want for an RV. These people can be extremely aggressive and will literally get in your way as you walk to stop you. I had one lady try her very best to put some sort of device in my hand figuring that if she got it there then I would be hard pressed not to buy it. Guess again.

Spent a good deal of time in the main show area and went through a bunch of 2016 models. To be honest, they look very much like the 2015 models with a few new useless gadgetry items thrown in.

I even went through several class C units, travel trailers (never own one of those again), and some class A rigs. I’m still totally convinced a fifth wheel is the right choice for me. Even some of the $500k class A units just wouldn’t be what I would be comfortable in. Granted they have lots of shiny in them, but in my opinion they aren’t laid out very well. Plus, they all basically have the exact same floor-plan.

I thought I had seen all the models on display at the show and was getting ready to leave when a salesperson walked up and we started talking. This guy was good. I mean really good. He didn't bombard me with a ton of questions about buying an RV, It almost seemed like he just wanted to have a normal conversation with someone. I'm so affable that it felt completely normal to me (Sucker!!).

He eventually did ask if I had seen anything I liked. I said yeah, there's a front living model over there that I liked quite a bit. He then asked if I had seen the one over here, and no I hadn't seen it tucked back in a corner. So I figured I'll go look just to humor the guy.

Whoa, nice rig. It was a little bigger than I am planning but not that much bigger. I spent a good bit of time going over it in some detail (remember I'm an engineer). The sales guy picked it out almost immediately. Basically it was, "You're an engineer aren't you?", busted again. He said he can always pick us out because we will invariably start looking at construction and details rather than the shiny stuff.

So about that time the factory rep guy comes over and we get into a big discussion about building materials/insulation/tankage/electrical/etc. as we tour around the rig. He finally ends it with an offer to come up to the factory in Indiana and take the factory tour. I asked if he means the 'Tourist Tour' where you watch the stupid little video, See a small portion of the assembly line through a glass window or something. He said 'Nope, I'll give you a hard hat and safety glasses and we'll go walk as much of the line as you want.

So I figured I would really push the envelope a little and see just how far he was willing to go. I asked if I could order the rig from the factory and watch it being built. He said that it was an unusual request but he's had it before, and yes I could do that. All 5 days of it.

Say what??? He totally called my bluff! I’d be almost tempted to buy the damn trailer just to see if he would make good on the agreement.

Seriously though, it is a nice unit and with a couple of small changes that he agreed to, I could very easily see myself living in it for ~8 months at a time.

I did stop by Lazy Days on my way back to Melbourne and snuck onto the sales lot without the sales people catching on. I've been there enough times to have figured out how to do it.

They STILL don't have that 293RK on the lot!! Or if they did, they sold it already. Kind of irritating because I wanted to spend some real time in and around it to try to get a better feel and not have a salesperson irritating me.

I'll keep watching and get over there quick when they get another one.

Blood Lilies!!

My blood lilies have bloomed!!

I know, you asking what in the heck are blood lilies? Well, they are in the lily family and only bloom once a year very much like the amaryllis. I tried years ago to buy some from a local nursery and only one person in the whole place had heard of them and told me they were way expensive.

Turns out my mom has several in her side yard and was willing to give me some bulbs, which she did. Me being the complete dolt put them on the workbench in the brown paper bag and promptly forgot about them for months. Yes, months. I figured they were dead for sure. Well, turns out they don't mind going dormant if stored properly and I just so happened to have inadvertently stored them properly (I almost typed out that I MEANT to do that, but everyone who knows me would recognize immediately that I was lying).

Anyhow, I finally planted them and hoped they would come back. Well they did, and for years now I very impatiently wait for their bloom and re-emergence. They die back completely and go dormant when it gets cold. Every year I worry that they won't come back.

So here are two of them in all their splendor!!!

They are magnificent in my opinion! Here's a closeup of one of them!

As I said above, they only bloom once a year and the bloom only lasts for 2 or 3 days and then basically disintegrates.

I know most of you probably don't really care, but I think it is the most awesome thing ever. These guys put on a fireworks show every year and really are the highlight of my garden.

I actually wonder if/how I am going to be able to take a couple of these with me on the road or to the town-do. Not sure if I can give them the situation they will acclimate to or not. I guess we'll see.

Just thought it would be neat to share this little yearly fireworks show.

Slight change of plans?

First off, a quick note about my previous. I got my panties in a wad over nothing really and it took me a day or two to cool off about it. Looking back on it now, it really was nothing and I'm not sure why I got so bent out of shape. Shoot me, I'm human.

Moving on.....

Been doing a LOT of thinking ( I sometimes call it belly-button contemplation time ) about the next 2-10? years and what I want to do, and what sorts of things can I do now to help set up the future. Yeah, pretty deep stuff. But, I find I do best when I have a pretty clear goal in mind and not just go wandering off aimlessly. Although wandering aimlessly does sound pretty good at the moment. Focus!

So here's what I'm thinking so far:
1) Finish the house renovations as quickly as possible and getting rid of 'stuff'
2) Get the house on the market about 10 seconds after the last paint brush stroke
3) Sell the truck and buy a used little cheese-box car that gets a million MPG
4) Start looking for a small townhouse or condominium (or 'town-do') in the area (more on that in a minute)
5) Buy and move into said town-do as soon as the house sells
6) Fix up the town-do somewhat to make it live-able. You know, the basics, solid gold fixtures, granite floors, silk couches, 500" LED TV, killer sound system, indoor jacuzzi, stripper pole, etc.
7) A bit later buy the big truck (F-350 4x4 duallie w/diesel aka One Bad Mamma-Jamma)
8) Buy the 5th wheel
9) Retire from work on just the right date (Yes, I really have a date for this. No, I won't share it)
10) After that point the plan is to spend beginning of April through December-ish on the road. December-ish through the end of March will be at the town-do.

While at the town-do the truck and RV will be in storage and I'll use the cheese-box for transportation. While on the road the cheese-box will live at the storage yard. At least it will be behind a gate and under a cover.

Yep, that's the big plan. Earth shattering isn't it?

So about the town-do. I want something in central/south Brevard county, say anywhere south of SR-520. It must be in the 2/1 or 2/2 range with an accessible pool and possibly a garage. It must have solid gold fixtures, granite floors, you know the rest.

Why all of this? Actually it's pretty simple. I hate cold. That's it! Have a good night folks,be sure to tip the waitstaff!


No really, it solves several issues:
1) There's a good chance that I may come back to this area after the RV thing runs it's course
2) I have to maintain a domicile (street address) somewhere, so I'll have one
3) A house w/pool & yard doesn't lend well to being closed down cold for ~8 months
4) RV parks in Florida are packed to the eyeballs in the winter months
5) Gives me a change of pace instead of being in the RV year-round
6) I can have repairs/upgrades done to the RV and/or truck much easier
7) I won't ever want to own something as big as this house ever again
8) If I need to bail out of the RV(doctor, dentist, family, etc) while way out in Armpit, Utah or something, I can hop a plane and have a place to stay and wheels ready to go without driving a few thousand miles
8) Because it makes sense to me dammit

Still formulating this crazy road show and I'll update as my Abby-Normal brain allows....