We have rain, freezing temperatures, and back-to-back illnesses — but we persevere! Luckily, we have ALFie’s mini cube fireplace to keep us warm while we continue to rehab our 1999 diesel GMC bus into the perfect rolling cabin.
Right now ALFie is camp-ready, which basically means that it is a traveling, weatherproof storage unit with sleeping quarters and some power. We still need MORE power (the solar system and batteries with inverter), water system (tanks, pumps, and heaters for the sink and shower), walls for the bathroom (which Dave doesn’t seem too concerned about, but is a MUST for me), an air conditioning unit and stronger ventilation/fan system, and a few cosmetic touches that will make it easier for us to travel for longer than a weekend (such as window tinting for energy efficiency and security, and a paint job so that we can get accepted into KOA and other private campgrounds — yeah, they discriminate… No school buses allowed! Keep those filthy hippies away from the retirees!)
There are several other things on the list, but those are the biggies.
Below are a few weekend shots of the beginning of the installation of our framing for the kitchen counter and kitchen storage cabinets. Beneath the kitchen countertop will be the sink/plumbing, storage, refrigerator, a fermentation station (!), water pump and on-demand water heater — It’ll be a tight squeeze!
I can’t wait to start cooking all the mini, on-the-go, hearty, and delicious recipes I have been creating for our travels! Here’s hoping that when we are all packed and ready to begin the first of our journeys we can still fit in our little solar fridge. The fridge we chose is the most energy efficient, but also the largest (and most expensive) of the travel-ready fridge/freezer combos. The fridge wont be installed until after all of our solar power is hooked up, so we still have time to play Tetris with a few items in ALFie’s interior and do a little research to see if there are any other options for keeping items chilled on the road with the smallest physical and environmental footprint we can find.
You can see AWESOME renderings of what our tiny little rolling cabin will look like upon completion HERE!
To be continued…
-Kristina-
Free Range Quest 