The Days Dwindle Down

The weather is changing. We are wearing more jeans, boots and jackets. The leaves are turning beautiful colors and falling off the trees. It's definitely the season of change and change is exactly what we need!

Our time is coming to a close here in North Georgia, we've got about 2 weeks left and we'll be back on the road, living our lives again.

In the past month, we have gone through our stuff that sat in a moldy 'grave' for the past two years, sold some of it, thrifted the stuff that didn't sell and threw away the rest.

These next two weeks are all about buttoning up; putting furniture back (due to renting a fully furnished place), making sure everything fits where we are expecting it to and preparing ourselves for a life back on the road.

This time around we are doing things a little differently and we are both pretty excited about the change. While talking to each other, a few months back about what our plans were for getting back on the road, we both were getting major heartburn over the stuff inside of the van aka our living space. I think for two peeps & two pups we do pretty well with a small area but we are always shuffling tons of stuff around at different parts of the day to make for more room. The things we don't have on the inside of the van usually sit up in the cargo basket on-top, making it very of difficult to get to and it's actually just a really big pain in the butt! When we park, we would put everything from the "living room" into the driver seat and down in the pedal area, making it about a half hour of puzzle building with the toilet paper going here and these books going there, etc. It became a very big and daunting process and needed some rethinking. We would, of course, love to have a bigger rig to stand up in and be able to move around more easily, but right now the van is what we have, so we tossed around ideas to make the van more liveable for all of us. We finally came to a decision of getting a trailer, nothing huge or big, but enough to take the stuff off the top and out of the living space of the van. We talked about it for a few days before going through with it and we are both totally stoked about it. When we received it, Jamie built it out and then added some things to make it more suitable for our travel needs; putting pressure treated plywood down and some I-hooks for straps. It's a beaut!!

The measurements are 40 in. x 48 in. and it can carry about 1,200 lbs. We also bought a double hitch since we have the bikes too.

It's going to be interesting to see everything put together. We now have the van, the trailer, two bicycles, one dirt bike, one scooter and a partridge in a pear tree! haha

We bought a cute lil' scooter, an 80cc Honda Elite, for me. I will be taking a two day motorcycle class so I can get a motorcycle endorsement on my license... That in itself should be interesting since I've only 'driven' a bicycle!! I may have to get a little basket on the back so Chili Moon can ride in style! haha

We will be making a small detour, to Florida, to spend some time with family & friends before heading back West, but we are totally ready to get back to the life we live so well on the road.

Great things are happening and before we know it, this whole stix 'n' bricks in North Georgia thing will just be a blur...

[caption id="attachment_5647" align="aligncenter" width="551"] ...[/caption]

Crazy the things life throws at ya!

PEACE

WE GOT A NEW VAN!!!...well, kind of!!

I have been putting this post together for quite some time, and for this reason or that, it wasn't ready to post...but now I feel like it's ready to be turned loose!

So...with no more hesitation

I introduce...

Joon van Spirit 2014 Edition

[caption id="attachment_5292" align="aligncenter" width="502"] made ya look...[/caption]

C'mon...you think I'd give up all this hard work that easily? I think not...right away...  tee hee

Pressing the refresh button on Joon, had much involved, with James doing about 98.9% of the work. For those of you that might have missed the post I did about some of the updates to Joon, here is a snippet of that post:

• New Radiator

• New Water Pump

• New Rancho shocks (front)


• Suspension Belt


• AC Pump (done in the shop)


• Power Steering Pump (done in the shop)


• Put “pucks” in front, lifting it about 5 inches

•  New shackles in back

[caption id="attachment_5240" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Before & After Shackles[/caption]

•  New Leaf Springs (5 instead of 3)

[caption id="attachment_5241" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Before & After Leaf Springs[/caption]

•  New Rancho shocks (back)

[caption id="attachment_5243" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Before & After Shocks[/caption]

•  All three components together on back of van

[caption id="attachment_5242" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Shocks, Springs, Shackles[/caption]

The last 2 1/2 months of our upgrade were dedicated more to working, saving, buying, then waiting for our purchase. Those items included:

• FRIDGE ~ 33 qt. Dometic by Waeco

Fridge link~ http://www.amazon.com/Dometic-CF-035AC110-Coolmatic-Control-Refrigerator/dp/B0017YFDGO

We got a fridge!!!

• All NEW bedding: 4 inch, 4 lb. density memory foam, that sits on top of two (side by side) self-inflating, sleeping pads. We bought a pump that can inflate and deflate the bed much better and faster than we can, and everything rolls up together now!! (see picture below)

Air Pad Link ~ http://www.amazon.com/ALPS-Mountaineering-Comfort-Series-Air/dp/B000MQ80DG

[caption id="attachment_5262" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Rollin' in my dream[/caption]

• Replaced the windshield

[caption id="attachment_5264" align="aligncenter" width="245"] Merry Christmas to my face![/caption]

• Motorcycle hitch that fits the van perfectly with a 600 lb. tow capacity, and will carry the dirt bike & bicycles...oh did I mention we also got a dirt bike!?!

[caption id="attachment_5271" align="aligncenter" width="573"] vroom...vroom[/caption]

and last but not least...

• TIRES!!!!

[caption id="attachment_5283" align="aligncenter" width="574"] Joon gets new treads[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5287" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Our Big O ![/caption]

 In between the buying and the receiving of the big items, James tightened up a few last things:

New back brake pads and drums

[caption id="attachment_5295" align="aligncenter" width="474"] No more popping![/caption]

 Applied square U-bolts to back doors; 4 on driver side for chairs & 2 on passenger side for gas can

[caption id="attachment_5301" align="aligncenter" width="586"] Square U-bolts in action![/caption]

 And other than a couple of other small changes, that we've made since getting back on the road, that's about it!

Joon's "junk in her trunk" (the big hump on top of the van) has lost some of her height, but her curves remain! Once we were back on the road, we did even more rearranging, reorganizing and even tossing some more things out... just these little things have made our journey much more manageable.

So, NOW...

I introduce to you

the NEW

Mack Daddy version

of our Joon van Spirit

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

[caption id="attachment_5305" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Joon van Spirit[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5306" align="aligncenter" width="384"] 2014 Joon van[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5307" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Joon van Spirit[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5308" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Joon van Spirit[/caption]

My tribe is pretty stoked on what we shall conquer in 2014 with Joon van Spirit.

The van, The Man and the girls are all pretty happy campers....can't ask for too much more than that!

[caption id="attachment_5315" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Happy Campers[/caption]

Peacefully wishing you blue skies & clear windshields!

[caption id="attachment_5314" align="aligncenter" width="567"] Enjoy the view, it goes by fast[/caption]

 peace ✦ tribe

Learning is Fun! How we Watch TV. Plus, the Goods on our Antennae

This type of post is a little different for me due to more specifics than creative writing but I guess some of you out there would really like to know about how we do some things. So, I'm expanding my writing repertoire for those curious folks out there.

And of course I have to make it mine, so I am calling this the...

Learning is Fun! Series

The first topic on our list...

T.V., television, the boob tube, the tele

Here, I try to answer some of your questions and satisfy the curiosity that some might have...

Can YOU have t.v. in your home on wheels? 

If you want t.v. bad enough, you'll have it! When we first started out we bought a Phillips portable 9 inch digital HD TV with FM tuner that we paid $111.00. We actually bought it on the road in January 2012, due to football season! It came with a cute little antennae that looked like a metal stick but in no time at all...it got broken so, we bought a rabbit ears antennae for $30.00 at a  Flying J.

Even though the screen was small, we were still entertained, in the van, when the sun went down. The antennae tried to bring in channels but at the most we would only get 2-4 and 3 of them would be Spanish channels...no habla espanol, no bueno! 

Time went on and in July we bought ourselves an Anniversary/Birthday present...a new T.V.!!

We gifted ourselves a Sansui 19 inch super slim LED-LCD HDTV. What a difference the extra inches make!!

[caption id="attachment_4844" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Hellllooooo....[/caption]

At that point (July 2012) we were still using our rabbit ears to bring in the channels. Right around the Winter R.T.R. (January 2013), in Quartzsite, is when the biggest change in our T.V. reception changed drastically. We bought a new antennae, that we now call The Black Ops Antennae...it looks like we're honing in the Mother Ship! haha

"The Black Ops" is a ClearStream4 HDTV Antennae. We receive over the air digital and HD programming with no fees. We bought our antennae off of Amazon for about $75.00 in January, they are on sale now at Amazon for around $90.00. The dimensions are: 9.1 x 28.2 x 20.1 inches and weighs roughly 7.4 pounds. The antennae has a range of about 65 miles...the main reason for getting it!!

In Quartzsite this Winter...and again football season at its peak, we had no reception...one channel if we tried really really really hard. We actually drove into Ehrenberg for the weekends, roughly 20 miles away, to catch the games! Plus, I missed the whole entire season of MY favorite show, The Biggest Loser... it just wasn't cuttin' it for us.

[caption id="attachment_4850" align="alignleft" width="150"] Install[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4849" align="alignright" width="150"] Hi-5[/caption]

We bought this new antennae, while at the R.T.R., and became the talk of the camp! It was a definite conversation starter for t.v. goers and all of the men, whether they like t.v. or not!!

Here is how we've hooked ourselves up with some tele:

A quick peek at our set-up before getting into the details.

[caption id="attachment_4853" align="aligncenter" width="224"] The Black Ops[/caption]

(Image Ant. 2) The antennae comes in a box with all of the pieces that you need to put it together, it took about 15 minutes for my handy man. Out of the box the antennae (the black circles) are black but the "grill" and the metal pieces that connect together are silver, we have spray painted all of the silver pieces a flat black. The antenna is placed on a regular one inch piece of PVC pipe that we have also spray painted flat black...(.97 cents at Walmart). We purchased a cute little solar light at the Dollar Store and placed it at the very top of the PVC, ya know...for low flying planes!

[caption id="attachment_4855" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 2[/caption]

(Image Ant. 3) In this picture you can see where J' has fit the PVC pipe into the 90* elbow. There are 2 rebar rods, about a foot long, inside of the PVC to reinforce it during hard winds. The PVC is held onto our cargo basket with 2 U-bolts that we picked up at Radio Shack for about $3.00 a piece. In this picture you can aslo see the RG6 rated coax cable running down the length of the PVC into the roof of the van...the next picture is better for the cable.

[caption id="attachment_4854" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Ant. 3[/caption]

(Image Ant. 4) J' drilled a hole through the roof with his 18 volt Dewalt drill and a Titanium bit to feed the RG6 rated coax cable through to the inside of the van. The hole was filled with silicone caulk...and seems to be holding up pretty good!

[caption id="attachment_4857" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Ant. 4[/caption]

(Image Cab.5) The coax cable being run through the ceiling of the van, down along our interior trim to the T.V.

[caption id="attachment_4856" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Cab. 5[/caption]

(Image TV 6) Our glorious 19 inch nightly entertainment!

[caption id="attachment_4860" align="aligncenter" width="350"] TV 6[/caption]

(Image Back 7) J' drilled a couple of holes in the back of the t.v., at the top and fed a small piece of rope through the holes of the t.v. We use the rope to hold the t.v. in place instead of a mounting bracket...too many crashes onto our heads while getting water! We also installed a pigtail (the black cord taped to the back of the t.v.), so as not to pull on the fitting on the t.v. Believe us, you do not want a bad fitting when you're trying to watch the rose ceremony of The Bacherlorette and the cord accidentally gets moved!

[caption id="attachment_4859" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Back 7[/caption]

(Image Stg.8) Showing how the rope acts as a mounting bracket.

[caption id="attachment_4861" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Stg. 8[/caption]

 Hopefully those images will help clear up any questions about how our antennae is set-up, when we put it up outside...which is most of the time. However, there are times when we don't want to put it up, can't put it up or are just not sure if we can or if we should. For those times, we will take The Black Ops off of the PVC pipe and place it on the front dash. I do not have pictures of this, because we've only had to really do this a time or two in a casino parking lot, but I'll run down how we do it.

We have pretty big sun shades up in our windows at all times, when we are parked. We also have two separate black pieces of fabric we put on the sun visors and push them to the side windows so the side windows are blacked out too. The antennae fits right on the dash board and is balanced by the steering wheel. I am accident prone so I make sure to wrap the corners in a towel before doing this so 1- the antennae doesn't rip the sun shade (yes, I learned the hard way) and 2- so the other edges don't poke ME in the eye ball...or Savannah (yes, I learned the hard way!). Even with the antennae up there, Savannah can usually still sleep on her bed that sits in the drivers chair. Doing it this way, the antennae is out of the way, it can't get broken and isn't outside bringing peeping eyes onto the scene.

All in all, we love our Black Ops and our t.v., we don't wish for satellite although it would be nice to get the History channel and TLC and some others, we love the ongoing cost....FREE!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and if I don't know them J' will!

I hope everyone had fun learning today. You can catch us back here...some day...some time!

PEACE

 

 

A Little "Help" Goes a Long Way

J' got some super good shots of the "hotties" this morning...I guess I'm getting used to the sounds they make, I didn't even budge when he got up.

[gallery ids="4815,4816,4817"]

Over the last couple of days we have acquired some good stuff. Our friend, Mikey, did some spring cleaning in his rig and asked us if we wanted his cooler...reflectix and all! He will be leaving us and going East for about a month and during that time will buy himself an actual fridge, he will not have room for both and rarely uses the cooler for cooling, more so for storage, so we happily accepted the offer and now have a sweet set-up for cooling. The cooler we were using and this cooler are actually the same size (50 Quart), but the new cooler is an extreme 6 day, it locks down, it's thicker and with the already fitted reflectix it's like another barrier, the ice actually does stay ice much longer. We've had to get used to the length of it just a bit: we have to use a long funnel now to put water into our water bottles and it sticks out a little bit more to use the potty in the middle of the night...but nothing we can't get used to and overcome. There are some advantages as well. The top of it is all flat, it doesn't dip in the middle so I can use it as a table now...couldn't do that before. The outside also has two handles so it's easier to get it out of its hole, PLUS, the wheels are in the back...easier for sliding it out and in (yep, that's what she said). It's made a huge difference and we are very happy with the decision. The other cooler, for now, is storage...great more stuff! haha

[gallery ids="4805,4804,4801,4803,4802"]

Remember when J' got me those awesome clips at O'Reilly? We were there getting leaf spring helpers for Joon. In case some of you don't know what leaf spring helpers are, (I didn't), here's a little run down...**copied right out of Wikipedia:

**Leaf springs are a simple form of spring, commonly used for suspension. The leaf spring acts as a linkage for holding the axle in position and thus separate linkage are not necessary. It makes the construction of the suspension simple and strong.** The leaf spring helper attaches to the bottom of the leaf spring providing more support. Our helpers will provide 1,500+ lbs. of support to the back leaf springs.

It was great to find some wood in the cactus and bushes around here when we set-up camp because they were a great help to the jack stands, keeping them on more firm ground than the soft sand here. J' got under the van and put the leaf spring helpers on by himself...how handy is he!!?

Now we have more support in the back! Woo hoo...we've wanted and needed that for a 'minute'. Also, having the tires off and being able to see underneath Joon was a good thing due to us being able to see our muffler hanger had broken. A quick trip into a good auto body shop in town, ABC Auto Body, to weld it back together was all we needed and we were back in business. We may have a few tweaks here and there with the helpers but, so far, so good!

We've been busy little bees, haven't we?

Not as busy as this little guy though...he was partying hard in the pollen!

[caption id="attachment_4820" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Bee Butt[/caption]

PEACE

Welcomed with Open Arms

We've been quite the busy bees lately! A very good thing. We've been so busy I've only turned my computer on to check my main email...feels good! With that, I have not forgotten about my loyal readers and am happy to be writing about more than just sitting in the van!

So, away we go.....

April 27~ We decided the heat was getting to be too much and made the decision to leave Wickenburg the next day. We did a load of laundry in our 'new' 3 gallon bucket and packed up Joon's Junk. To celebrate we had a big UFC fight card to watch and Cpt. Kev came over with a pizza.

[caption id="attachment_4523" align="alignleft" width="150"] Washin' & Packin'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4524" align="alignright" width="150"] Fight Night[/caption]

We all gathered around the side door of Joon Van and enjoyed a night in the good life along with some pretty good bouts.

April 28~

We left our beautiful spot ontop of our mountain in Wickenburg. We got gas

[caption id="attachment_4527" align="alignleft" width="150"] Good-bye[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4528" align="alignright" width="150"] Hello[/caption]

at $3.79 a gallon! Dumped our trash and refreshed our water for free at the Mobil station. We stopped for lunch at Burger King...yep, 2 Whoppers for $5 bucks and 3 x 10 lb. bags of ice coming out to $8.56! You really can't beat that. Then we drove. Our destination? Sedona, Arizona. It's just absolutely gorgeous here, it's so different than anything we've seen to this point. It's amazing! I can't wait to go explore. We met up with our friend Ray, who we met at the R.T.R. in January, and are camping with him right now. The camp is a great spot where Red Rocks surround us on all sides and many different flowers are in bloom that we haven't seen yet. It's beautiful here.

[caption id="attachment_4531" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Arriving at Camp[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4532" align="aligncenter" width="350"] New Home[/caption]

We have the feeling Sedona is going to be very good to us. Can't wait to prove our feelings true!

PEACE

P.S. I'm still doing pictures in Shutterfly but our connection isn't the fastest out here, so they may be delayed for a bit until I can get some upload speed. Thank you for your patience!