Organization and An Old Photo

It's now just a little over a week until we leave on the bicycle trip across America. We're doing this to stand up for our law enforcement, firefighters, and military. Looking back at the first time across, we know it is not going to be a vacation but we are willing to brave prairie heat and waiting by the side of the road to show our appreciation for the men and women who protect us, rescue us, and defend us. Bill continues to ride each day he can and I continue to find small ways to organize things in the little beach house on wheels and make it more home-like. There was a mysterious opening next to the radio that you couldn't really put anything in, so I measured it carefully and found a couple of plastic baskets in the office supply section of Walmart that fit perfectly.

Now there's a place for DVD's and they won't fly around the camper every time I hit a bump. There was a similar space in the bathroom so now there is a basket in there too....perfect spot for our Young Living Essential Oils.

On our shakedown trip, we got a little tired of things shooting out of the medicine cabinet every time we opened the door, so that got a couple of tiny spring rods....who needs to be hit in the head with your deodorant every morning?!

I was out there this morning with the vacuum cleaning up sawdust from putting shelves in the linen closet and put towels and sheets away too.

Bill and I enjoy reading, but there didn't seem to be anywhere to put books and magazines. There was a space next to the vanity and with the help of a plastic magazine holder, we now have a "library". LOL!

So each day something else gets put away and I hope I remember where I put everything when I need it! And also, a blast from the past...this is Bill and Ben 27 years ago celebrating Ben's birthday just a day or two before we left on the first trip.

Time sure does go by. Please pray for us as the time grows short and thank-you for following my blog. 

Hallelujah!

The rice worked! The bicycle computer is now in full working order! I know some of you were praying about that and your prayers were answered! Everything did go back to zero again, but at least we don't have to buy another one. Bill went out for a 31 mile ride early this morning and it worked perfectly. The rest of the day was spent working on the pictures from the first trip, writing more letters and doing a few things around the little beach house on wheels. One problem we encountered on our week long shakedown trip was that if you didn't find a camping spot until after dark, it was hard to find the keyhole in the door to unlock it. In a good old Harriet Carter catalog, I found an outside motion light that I hoped would work.

When it came in the mail, I wasn't sure if it would do the trick; but when I turned it on, it was blindingly bright! So Bill put that up today too. We're going to go outside after dark to see how it looks. Bill had built some supports for the jacks before the shakedown trip but hadn't had a chance to paint them, so that was done today too.

The biggest thing I wanted to accomplish was the lettering on the back of the camper. Together we measured to make sure it was all straight and it was taped up and I started rubbing on the letters.

The first row of letters look good so far.

Well, as Bill said, we've gone from involved to committed now! (I'm the support crew:)....)

Please continue to pray for us, only two weeks to go!

Your donation would be greatly appreciated at Generosity.com

There's a table in the house!

We continue to work on the little beach house on wheels organizing and improving things. Each day, I would go out to the shop and put another coat of finish on the cherry table. After those were dry, I put a coat on the underside. Bill put a final coat on the top and it was ready for hardware! He carried the old table in from the camper and started measuring how far in from each side the supports went and where the table leg was on the table. I tried to get a shot of the table to show you the bow, not a very good picture, but I think you can see it.

After that, the hardware was removed and the measurements were transferred to the underside of the new table.

Bill drilled pilot holes carefully and added the hardware.

I was getting excited to have a new table in our little camper! He carried it out to the little beach house on wheels

and put it in place. Here's the before and after:

A little bit roomier and blends well with the cabinets. So, what do you do when you have a man with a screw gun in the house? Provide him with another project! LOL! Not really, we did have other planned things to do, but since he had the screw gun out.....he put the shelves in the linen closet that he made.

Another thing that was a little funny was that the electrical outlet in the kitchen was on the underside of the upper cabinet. The cords on both the toaster and the coffee maker were too short to reach it, so he installed a power strip in the kitchen for me too.

It looks like all the projects have been completed and we will be ready to hit the road in just three weeks time. We ask that you give some thought to supporting us in this venture with a donation at Generosity.com. Thank-you and please be in prayer for us.

Cleanings and Organization....

Saw this robin early this morning, spring is truly here and the time is getting closer to our departure date of May 7.

One of the things that needed doing was a teeth cleaning. Due to health issues, it had been quite a while since I shadowed a dentist's' door. But today they had a cancellation at Carroll Creek Dental so I went in for a long overdue cleaning. It's a wonder they didn't need a jackhammer it had been so long! LOL! But the ladies there are gentle and friendly and my visit went very well. Thank-you ladies! Shared with them about the upcoming trip and left our card. Got snagged by the laundry this afternoon, but in between doing that I thought I would share the progress on some of the organization going on in the little beach house on wheels. I addressed the problem of not a single drawer first. After some careful measuring, I found plastic drawers that would fit under the closets on each side of the bed.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, "I just don't get along very well with a tape measure!" I did my share of measuring like 21 inches and 3 little lines...well, my Dear Hubby got me a measuring tape that finally solves that problem.

It even has a built in light and level. So now I can at least sound like I know how to measure! LOL! The next thing was a set of drawers for the bathroom.

I had a dishpan there, but digging through everything to find what you were looking for was not working for me during our week long trip. These should hold quite a bit and be a bit more convenient. There will be a bungee cord across the front to hold the drawers in place as we travel. The other issue was over the sofa. I only had a few baskets, so they slid all over the place. So picked up a couple more and some non-slip shelf liner.

Will let you know how this works this summer. Also found a cool shampoo holder for the shower so we don't have bottles flying all over in there as we go down the highway.

I realized too that as I was typing, I haven't shown you our letterhead. I think it came out great and here is the informational letter we've been giving to people.

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for this journey and feel free to leave a comment.

Please consider donating at Generosity.com

No longer a port hole.....

It's been a busy few days, but here I am catching you up on the bedroom window project. Last time, I left you hanging talking about drilling holes! Actually, didn't go too crazy, just wanted to move the curtain rod up some to make the window seem larger.

 After I did that, I received the vinyl I wanted to put on the glass. It will give us more privacy and light and of course had to have dolphins on it! LOL!

I ended up having to seam this and wrestled with it for a couple of hours, but I was victorious! I put up the nautical lace curtains but I could see we needed something a little more....

so I snitched two pictures out of my bathroom in the house and hung those up too!

Just in time too as we spent the next day loading up the camper to take a trip to preview Bill's southern route for the trip this summer. We left Saturday afternoon around 2 and started for Knoxville. It was 4:00 by the time we got to Knoxville and we had skipped lunch so we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for some much needed fuel for the body! We met Anthony there who was the Senior Vice Commander of the VFW in Coeburn, VA. Nice chatting with you Anthony and thank-you for your service! We continued to follow our planned route for the summer and made notes about road conditions; the roads sure have changed in 27 years! On the back roads on the way to Maryville, we saw this large hand lettered sign, "Prayer will get you to heaven, Trespassing will get you there quicker!" LOL! Nope, we didn't trespass! ;) After passing through Greenback, Vonore, Madisonville and Etowah, it was starting to get dark and we were pretty tired from loading the camper. Would we ever find a place to park? Just in time, we found Hiwassee Court RV Park.

They weren't officially open, but let us stay the night. We opened up the camper and crashed into bed. We were up, bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning heading toward Chilhowee, TN

Window on the World....and a gift!

Bill came home with a surprise yesterday! Our friend Patty gave us some beautiful Longaberger baskets to help with our organization!

Hope she doesn't mind that I am thinking of using the big one for clean underwear, whoops! Did I say that out loud? LOL! I'm sure that these will prove to be most useful and I'm looking forward to adding them to the little beach cottage on wheels. Thank-you Patty! Also have a name suggestion for our little cottage....how about, "Toes in the Water"? We talked about using the other part of the song, but didn't think that would be appropriate when we pull into a church parking lot.....;) So, on to the bedroom window! After considerable fluffing, here is what the original curtains look like.

Cute, but doesn't really look like we're at the beach does it. I took them down and here is the naked window.

It's a little low, my belly button has a really good view...LOL! I had an idea to use one of the rods that were in the closet.

These were in our last house and are too small for anything here. I had the rod, but do you think I could find the brackets anywhere?! No. Hmmm, what can we do instead....The curtains I plan to use have openings instead of a rod pocket so the rod will show. I looked through my cans of spray paint and found this one.

So I just spray painted the rod that the original curtains were on. A coat of clear on the top and it was done.

I hung up the nautical lace curtains but it isn't doing anything for me.

I think I might have another solution. Meanwhile, some very necessary items showed up in the mail too....a sewer hose and a drinking water hose.

Never knew I could get this excited over a couple of hoses....LOL! Bill flushed out the water tank and we tested out all the faucets and drains. Found a couple of small leaks that were quickly fixed. Our holding tanks are a little on the small side, so we will just take advantage of campground showers and bathrooms when we can. I think I will go out to the camper now and drill a few holes, for what you say.....see you tomorrow!

Jest fer Pretty...

Thought you might enjoy seeing some of the homey touches I've added to our little beach house on wheels. I had a few feet of border left over after running it through the whole place so wondered what I could do with it. Hmm, those kitchen cabinet doors look mighty plain....

so I took out my little craft scissors and started cutting up the border. It may be a little over the top, but it's a beach cottage! LOL!  I hung up the pretty soap dish that our friend Deb gave us...it was just too pretty to put a bar of soap in! Heavy duty Velcro to the rescue!

The little bluebird is something I found thrift shopping with my mom one day, he looks like he's hanging there, but really has a command strip on the back of him.

Since we really needed a rug for the living room space, I started looking online for something that would fit. Well, 75 to $100 was just not going to cut it! On to the Walmart online store where I found this one for $20!

It doesn't have thick pile, but there is a definite advantage to that...I don't have to roll it up to bring in the slide, it just rolls right over it. As you can see, it fits just right....a measuring tape can be a girl's best friend at times. Staged the living room a little, how do you like it?

The little dog was given to me by my stepdad a few years before he passed and looks like the Boston Terrier we had years ago. He's coming along for the ride too. A well-loved family picture put up with heavy duty Command strips...will let you know if this stays up.

Another fun beach sticker for the bathroom door..

these are great and adhere to just about any surface for wall decorations that you can't bump into. When I was grocery shopping last week in Walmart, I found this sticker for the bedroom.

Kind of romantical! :) It had a couple of extra swirly things that I didn't use....until today. There is glass in the upper cabinet doors over the bed and, well, they looked kinda plain....and the swirly things did kinda sorta look like waves....so I put those up too!

The last thing I want to change are the window treatments at the bedroom window. But that is for another day! Please pray for me as I have been sick and this cough is dragging me down, but I will persevere!