Holy Moley!

It's the 2nd of April so I only have 7 days to finish up and get on the road.
I'ne chosen the 9th or 10th as my start date, seeing as how I have to be in Kansas between April 11th and April 17th.

All of a sudden I'm feeling pressed.

I finally got the van painted...a weird olive drab color with flat black grill, bumpers and mirrors. It looks like a WW2 Army vehicle. Everyone tells me it looks official, like it belongs to SOME agency...no telling which one, but "Let him through!"

I put the paint on with rollers and a brush, just like painting a house. Of course I did everything ass-backwards (next time I'll have it down.)
Unfortunately it rained for 3 days just as I finished and wouldn't dry as it sat in the carport. The rain finally stopped and I parked in the sun and baked the finish on, as it were. It looks a bit like velcro in some spots but it's not orange! Hooray. I'll carry a spray can of flat brown to cover any scratches or peel-offs. It will be interesting to see how the color evolves during the trip.
Best part...I invested less than $50 into the paintjob. Earl Schieb, I laugh in your face. Ha ha!

Next I got a bunch of plywood and boards to build a bed. When I got home I realized I was not Bob Vila and had absolutely no idea how to do it. Luckily a quick email to my bro Richard for help got me a suggestion for a design and I was off.

It took me 3 days to get the bed built, since my back had me moving slow. 1 day to buy and puzzle over how to proceed, 1 day to cut all the pieces at my friend Snazzy's house and 1 day to screw it all together.

I then decided not to waste more time trying to build a closet. A clothes bar across the back with a clamp to keep the clothes from sliding all over cost me $11 total and will do fine. It will also offer a place to hang one end of my mosquito net.

Now I'm finishing up the odds and ends. Putting in my CB/ ham radio antenna, installing curtains made by my long-suffering wife Susan and figuring out how much crap I can stuff in all the storage spaces.

It's hard to believe, but this van has way less living/storage room than my 71 or 72 VW camper. I guess it's all down to German efficiency as opposed to my hybrid-race shade-tree engineering.

Well, I gotta get to work. No time for dallying on the computer!


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