Leaving Nevada in a couple of days

 I'm leaving Nevada in a couple of days to head to California. Stopping off at Yosemite National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Redwood's National Forest. 

I'll also be visiting some family for a day or two before I head back to New Hampshire. It's a long drive home and will probably take eight or nine days. - It took 9 days to get here - but I'm hoping to cut the time down to six days, which mean much more driving each day. increasing the mileage to five hundred miles per day, which is a lot in a converted school bus towing a trailer.  

It been fun here but the weather has been very difficult to bare, 100+ everyday for a month. It's been tough on poor Abby, she has a fur coat on all the time. poor girl can't run much. She loves to run, but it's just too hot for that here. Right now anyway.

I have to get the photos from my phone and put them on the laptop so I can post pictures of my travels. 

Well that's it for now, I'll post more later.

It's been a while since I've added anything to this site. I'd like to be more regular with my posting, but the truth is, it just gets away from me. I'll put an effort into keeping things here regular...

So I spent the summer in the White mountains of New Hampshire. I truly love it there, it's so beautiful!

From the lookout point on Artist's Bluff

I sold my house, the short bus and I purchased a full size bus and began converting that into my house.

As you can see it needed a complete rebuild. So this summer was spent building my new tiny home. It was a long and expensive process. I started About the second week of August 2018. 

A new floor, all rust repaired, rust proofed and painted. 2 inches of foam insulation, carpet in the rear and vinyl  throughout the rest. Walls insulated and covered with 1/2 inch plywood

 
Built the bed frame to also hold the 100 gallon water tank and extra storage under. Covered the wheel wells and insulated them.

                  

The left wheel well became the bathroom, housing the composting toilet. Build my first door!

 Removed 9 windows and covered them. I'd never done this before, so I was a bit concerned
I would have leaks, but I guess I did something right. Not a single leak! and it's a bit warmer with all the insulation.

 I used a white PVC board to cover the windows. This was easy to work with but it was expensive, at $80.00 per sheet, on sale, it was more then I had budgeted for, but I'm pleased with the results.

The bed went in easy enough, but had to be removed and reinstalled for strength.

 Next went the TV. I don't really watch TV, however if there is a cold night, and nothing to read, I will watch a movie. I still have to finish the wall behind the TV but that will come later.

Next came the kitchen area. Notice the bottom center 2x4, it has been cut and lifted so my feet fit under it when I do the dishes. This was important to me as I find it very uncomfortable to bend forward to far and for too long.

I found this stove on Craigslist.
It's Gas and looked like a nice stove, easy to care for. It was $350.00 and I had to pick it up from Massachusetts. 5 hours drive round trip.
The stove worked great, but I had to install a chimney, which meant a hole in the roof. I have never been  okay with putting a hole in the roof. it took me three weeks before I got the nerve to do it.
So far no leaks! I really added a ton of silicone.
I had to change the orifice. this was not easy. No shop would talk to me since they are afraid. Afraid I would sue them if something went wrong. It was incredibly frustrating. It took weeks to finally get an orifice that was close. I had to grind, cut and drill to finally get it to work! But it's on right now and it works great. It's not that efficient, about 75% but it's nice to look at, and it does warm the bus. 

Next came the closet. I think this may have been a mistake. I like the idea of having a closet, but it takes up too much room. perhaps I'll figure something else out. 

The kitchen needed storage, so I designed and build these simple cabinets to fill the need for space and storage. 

Having a place to study and write was important to me. so this was the simple answer, Again I will probably do something different, but as yet it seems to work okay for me now. 

 Doors made for the cabinets. This took me two tries. My first doors were made from spare plywood. however, I just didn't like the results. However the new doors made from 1 x 11'' pine look nice and lined up perfectly. I still have to finish them with polyurethane and install the handles. But this will wait till a cold winter night.

 The stove and fridge are full sized. I went this route for the simple reasons that I live here. This is my home. I like to cook and wanted larger size. Also should I sell the bus, they are matching and new and full size. A good selling point.

 So here is the gas stove/heater installed and ready.
I like the way it looks. I added corrugated steel panels behind for extra safety and aesthetics. I think this too will be reworked in the future. Maybe angled...?

The roof rack was build by a young man Aaron, in Franconia, New Hampshire. This guy was amazing! I love the rack!

 I sealed the roof. I used Henry's for this. It is
and seals any imperfections.


The chimney has been sealed and resealed to prevent leaks!



The roof Rack and ladder are exactly what I wanted !



Once in New York and settled in for the winter, I needed a way to help keep the bus warm. Also My dog Abby discovered a way to open the front door of the bus. So I needed something to stop her from escaping and something to help keep the warm in and the brutal NY winter out!

 A door inside the bus proved to be the answer!
















So with the door in, it's considerably warmer and my dog is safe. 

Of course I still have some finish work to do and trim work to improve the looks and efficiency. But for a guy who doesn't know what he's doing, I think I made a comfy home. For me it's ok, I like it. Not done, but it's a work in progress.  

Interior photos of my bus. 

Trying to post photos and a for sale ad, to sell the bus has been a nightmare!

No site is easy, all photos are too large. nothing works as it should! It has taken me hours to post an ad because something went wrong, but nobody knows exactly what is was that went wrong or why... What an absolute Nightmare!!!!!!! 

So, I'm still in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Working at the Park has been very interesting and enjoyable.
The summer has been wet, and seems to have just flown by. There are still so many trails to hike and roads to bike. Hopefully the second half of the summer will be dryer and I can finally get some miles under my boots and tires.

Today is laundry day, and shopping day. I was hoping to do some riding later, but it looks like rain again.

  

This is the first blog from my phone. I seem to have some service at my camp site.
Last night we had a bad storm, hail the size of nickels.  Wet heavy rain and high winds.

 Apparently the seal around the roof hatch leaks. This was the first time I've ever had an issue with a leak in the bus. So this weekend I'll be up on the  roof with some sealant.
We saw this young moose along the Kank highway Saturday.  Thus was my first airing here in New Hampshire.

I've moved the bus to a new site, I'm still in the same campground,  just a more convenient location.

This is the camp store where I work. I've enjoyed the job so far, and I'm hoping to come back in the spring for another season.

 I took this photo while mountain biking over the weekend. I love the new bike and enjoy taking it out and exploring. Everywhere you look there is so much beauty. And every new place is more beautiful than the last.

So that's it for now.
If the cell service holds out, ill post more this week. 

I am currently in the The White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

I am now employed for the summer as a Park Ranger at one of the state parks. I was hoping that would add some extra cash to the savings, however, as always, thing pop up and accidents happen. such was the case. 

The good thing about the position, I can return next summer, or stay throughout the winter and work 

at one of the mountains. 

This is an older post as there has not been any internet access here in the mountains. 

So today it’s raining.

Looking at the calendar I see there are only 3 more days till my job ends. This is both exciting and quite frankly, a little scary. This will be the first time in my life I will not have a job. I will have no schedule, no meetings, and no alarm clock.  I will no longer be late for an appointment nor will I have to report to anyone.

Oh yeah. I’m happy!

Looking at the bus I see all the little tasks I wanted to complete before I left. Things like building and installing screens on the windows, adding a shelve unit above the water tank for food storage.  Still don’t have the curtains back. Finish painting the exterior, and the list goes on. I have a feeling there will always be a list of things that need attention.

There will be 10 days between the last day of work, May 30^th, and my departure date, June 10^th. I’ll be hiking in New Hampshire for 5 days during that time. So that will leave me 5 days to complete my chores. What gets done, gets done. What doesn’t, doesn’t.

I will be working towards adding more information and photos to this blog and adding on a regular basis. For those of you who have stopped by or are following, thanks for the visit. 

The following are some photos of the area I am currently staying.