Paradise Lost

Tomorrow we move down into the Slocan Valley. We were able to get an email reply from Sandy of the Mulvey Creek Land co-op saying that it would be alright to visit. Perfect, because we were just starting to wonder what the next step should be. Knew it would be going down in that direction, but not sure exactly where.

Today was a "rest" day for us. I use the " " because we didn't leave camp but we were busy all day, with our laundry, diaper laundry, cleaning up, and of course, Uma wrangling. She was so nuts for a two hour period today, and then a little calmer in the evening. She can grab a window ledge or a table and pull herself up to standing now, but sees things she wants and will let go and dive towards them. Lots of dangerous movement all the time and can't leave her alone for a second. Usually quite entertaining but today I was really tired for some reason. So I had a bit of a nap made possible by Martine taking her for a walk (Thank you thank you!)

We've been staying at a campground near Williamson Lake, which is about 5km from downtown, a nice 20-25 min bike ride or quick 5 min drive. It's mostly RV's and trailers here with some tenting sites right down by the water. The freshwater lake has been super nice to swim in. Packs of kids diving off the float and spinning like crazy on the merry-go-round at the playground. Was talking to the camp host here this morning. Horst breathed deeply and said with smile, "Ah, another beautiful sunny day... it really is paradise here!".  We agreed but added that we probably wouldn't be able to afford to live here!

Last night we went for a bike ride even farther out of town, towards where there is property with acreage, also where the new ski resort is located. Since the valley was so wide, by 8:30 the sun still had not set behind the mountains, and it was a pleasant ride in a sweater with shorts and sandals. We saw a lot of prime land for sale, beautiful meadows that would be perfect for what we want to do, growing food and grazing animals, already cleared, with plenty of sunshine. Unfortunately, all the land we saw will likely be developed into condos. It's all just 5 min from the resort.

So we are moving on!

Mosquitoes don't like babies?!?

Yes, there have been a few occasions in the past week now where as dusk approached and the swarms of mosquitoes begin to buzz around where I have thought, uh-oh! Uma's is going to get eaten alive. And then strangely, as we both get bitten all over, Uma is left untouched, happy as can be. My theory: you know how eating certain foods will make mosquitoes bite you more or less? (Apparently, mosquitoes love bananas) Well, maybe mosquitoes don't like breastmilk!

I don't know, maybe that is a strange way to start this post. Travelling with a baby has been interesting so far. Some days are awesome, other days are a little taxing or downright challenging. Uma loves the new experiences and meeting new people all the time and at the same time, the lack of normal routine on travel days and sudden changes means that sometimes she has trouble adjusting. I'm really glad I put in all that work into sewing all those curtains because it has really paid off to be able to make the bus quite dark for the daytime naps. And of course good daytime naps are essential for good nighttime sleep, a happy baby, and sane parents who are not about to throttle each other's throats.

Everyone who meets Uma says, Oh what a cute, happy baby! (which I agree with, she is 98% of the time) or Wow, she is really calm and quiet (to which I have to laugh because she always is when she meets new people and she is checking them out, but the adjective Martine and I use most to describe Uma is "crazy") She is so active, and demands a lot of attention. I don't mean it like she wants us to pay attention to her. Right now, she is slowly getting mobile, and so she wants help standing and moving all the time. And she needs you to use both of your hands, so she can stand up at the table and grab everything on it and put it in her mouth. Or grab your hair or you beard, or your nose, or your mouth, or your knee, one time she even tried to eat my foot. The only other baby I met who was like this around this age was Miwa. So Ben and Jill, you guys know what I'm talking about. All the others I see are happy just sitting and sucking on their pacifier. Not Uma... I'm exhausted but I can't help but really love who she is.

We are still in Revelstoke and plan to stay until Monday. Their farmer's market is on Saturday morning and it is always a good way for us to meet like-minded people, buy awesome produce, and just get a feel for a community. So far, we really like it here. The people are down to earth and friendly, the town is a nice size, easy to ride bikes to and around in, the surrounding area is beautiful - the valley is big and wide even though there's huge mountains all around. Heard from multiple sources that the growing is really good around here. The owner of natural food store in town said that she's lived all around BC and her garden does the best here out of anywhere she's been. In fact, she said that before BC Hydro dammed the river here and flooded the valley, there were over 200 farms in the area. The other thing I like is that there seems to a lot of young families here, we've met a few others with babies already. I'm sure there'll be tons at the farmer's market.

Uma had a round of "firsts" since she's been on the road. She had her first outdoor bath last night, on the picnic table. She's had her first solid food, which she seems to be enjoying. From the first bite she wanted to grab the spoon and feed herself. She has put her toes in a lake for the first time. She kind of looked down as she squished the sand around.

Going to back-post a few photos here. I know some of you are dying of boredom reading so many words. So here are some pictures, taken the day that we left. Eight jugs of oil from A&W at Parkgate(160 litres) got us to Revelstoke with some to spare, the diesel tank is still full. Tomorrow we will get more oil from a few restaurants in town, the folks we talked to were all super open and willing to help us out!

Transmission leaks, Tombstone trolls and German tourists, Summer on the road begins

So finally we departed on our quest. Currently we are camped beside Williamson lake near the rapidly growing town of Revelstoke. Uma is just falling asleep while Joyee sings her lullabys. But let's recap our past week and a half. Departed Friday june 11th at around 3pm Arrived in Cultus lake around 5pm just in time for dinner. Our friends the Howdens(Alex, Nancy, Reece and Jesse) were kind enough to have us for the night. Nancy whipped us up some venison burgers for dinner and the boys entertained Uma while she sat in the high chair.

The next day we discovered that there was transmission oil all over the underside of the bus, not good. Aamco was accomadating and set us up with a shop in Chilliwack, only thing was this wouldn't be till Monday Morning.

Sunday and Monday was spent making some upgrading to the bus. Alex suggested he could weld up a couple of frames the prop up the tool box in order to make room for a spare tire, oil and wood. Splendid Idea. We also painted out the window where the wood stove is since we couldn't put a curtain there. After some inspection at J&A Transmission it turned out it was a minor fix, a little tightening and we were good to go again, well at least till Kelowna anyways.

Off we went to Silver lake near Hope. I've been going to this spot for years and a knew it would be a good spot to relax for a few days before heading over the hills. We stayed Tueady Wednesday night, beautiful, peaceful just what we needed.

Kelowna was next, we timed it so that Uma slept most of the drive. We rolled into Beyond the Crux Climbing gym at around 4pm, the parking lot would be the home for the next 2 nights. Mike Shannon was up to his usual tricks. We still had some errands to run that we didn't get done before we left North Van, the gym gave us a good central location to ride around on our bikes. It was easier than driving in a lot of ways, especially traffic is totally insane. We became BCAA memeber, went to the farmers market, got a longer hose for the propane tank, purchased a used tire to be our spare, and best of all, we had the transmission checked once again at the Aamco. Another small leak, arg, not sure how common it is to have this many leaks, but I think we are going to have it checked when we get to Calgary as well. Two more nights at Mike and April's place up on the hill and we were ready to move on again. The last thing to do was to get veggie oil. Luckily our friend Annis worked at Prospera Place which had 10 fryers, yahoo. We filled our boots and noted a good place to stop for oil when trying to get back to Vancouver to visit.

From Kelowna we headed North east along the trans Canada until we hit Revelstoke. A little stop at Mara lake for a swim and here we are.

Thoughts

In car accident on Friday...Neck sore today...dodge Ram lives up to name...Breaking practice was painful... Sam's Audi write off...found new home for Pathfinder... mailed taxes from 2008 today... Cleaned bathroom and found it slightly meditative, strange...

Today was a good day
Martinstien...

Over drive,Transmission problems

Over drive has been over driven!!!


Unfortunately this is our overdrive, total melt down. Good thing that we took care of this problem before we hit the road or we would have been stranded on the side of the road somewhere.

The transmission is being rebuilt as we speak at Aamco. The day before we took the bus to Aamco, we had a company called western bus service check out the transmission. They took the transmission oil pan off to check for metal shards. only problem was when they installed the gasket it was off centre causing the gasket to squish out and leak!! Yes, that is correct, they sent us home leaking tranmission fluid!!! Not sure what has happened to workmanship these days? We are in a bit of a battle with them to try to get some of our money back for this work.

We feel like our departure date is coming very soon now, transmission will be fixed by tomorrow, that leaves us one day to do a final clean and pack the last few things into the bus.

Signing off,
Martinstien

Photo update! Ta da!

Martine finally broke the ice and posted on the blog which we have neglected for quite some time. I don't have any excuses other than that Uma keeps me busy. She is six months old now, sitting up alone and can roll over really well to one side and not at all on the other. I'm getting pretty fit from carrying her all around the house and up and down all the stairs of this house. Potty training is going well and not. I catch her pee whenever she goes over the bucket and needs to go. But poo has become more like Russian roulette because she's not going everyday anymore so when it happens it's always a bit of a surprise. The positive is poopy diapers only every 4 or 5 days!
 She knows how to high five, but isn't super consistent.


 We still get a lot of people who think she is a little boy. But that is partly my fault, for not dressing her in pink!? She just looks good in other colours! This green dinosaur suit is my favourite, it fits super tight, like a wet suit, so she kind of looks like a green ninja.

Okay. Enough about Uma. The bus the bus. We are so impatient to leave! The bus looks great, we have cooked a couple of meals in there already and are really happy with the layout and functionality of our design. It feels like home already. But it seems like things keep holding us back and we are trying to be patient. Being here for longer has given me the opportunity to go through more of my stuff so we're not leaving a pile of it here at my parent's house. (Don't worry mom and dad!) So that is a positive.

And now, what you've all been waiting for, a look at the bus! This is a shot from the back looking to the front. There is a giant hole in the cabinet on the left where the pipe for the wood stove goes through, that has been done since I took this picture. Ryota is making lunch here while Uma is hanging out chewing her things. The curtains I sewed, they are a dark blue corduroy and do a good job keeping out a lot of the light for her naps.

This one's taken from the front toward the back. They're hanging out on the the bed area. You can see there is a ton of space. We had a farewell gathering and had more than 10 people hanging out onboard comfortably for a bit!

I want to take some more detailed shots of different features we put into the bus but haven't had time yet. That will be the next post.

Patience of plenty

Finally the bus is almost ready for departure. We had a custom flashing made for the wood stove, only problem is it took over 2 week for them to complete. They completed the flashing on Tuesday May 25th. On the 27th I went to get the stove pipe from Vaglio Stoves. Ryota came over to help yesturday install the pipe and flashing. Its raining today, but luckily we finished all the outside work and only need to complete the pipe from the top of the stove to the bottom of the round support. I looks crazy!!

A few more things need to be tied up before we depart. we need to put a fan under the stove to suck the propane fumes out the window. We need to install a battery isolator so that the engine alternator can charge the house battery as well as the engine batteries, but blocks the draw backward to that the engine batteries don't draw power from the house batteries when stopped. Also, the bus has some overdrive issue that we are having looked at on Monday 31st of may. So that puts our departure date for Tuesday or Wednesday if all goes well.

I would have never imagined that there was so much involved in creating a home on wheels. We have learned so much about creating a living space, lessons that will serve us well when we begin to build our own home.

Maybe go to farmers market today however its pretty miserable outside.

Estimated time to departure... 2 weeks

So whats new you ask?

Here is a list of things that have been completed in the last week and a half or so.
1. Cork flooring has been installed
2. The kitchen cabinets were build and installed with some help from Amos. We built them in a workshop that he had access to in gas town.
3. The luggage compartments where also fabricated in the shop with Amos. these go the length of the bus and have 14 doors. The bus feels a little like a plane now, but the style of the doors with the rounded edges reminds me of a boat.
4. We built a frame for the refrigerator to sit in and installed the refrigerator(don't have in hooked up the 12volt yet.
5. installed the cabinet at attached to the bed.
6. Re-sealed the windows with a marine grade silicon, the bus has been leaking a little when it rains really hard.
7. Rebuilt the brackets that the filters and pump for the vegi system. We moved them further away from the seats to give more leg room.
8. Don fabricated the steel frame that the wood stove will sit on.

Now here is a list of things that we are working on at the moment.

1. We moved the next stop bell up and now Joyee is working on sewing the curtains.
2. creating a latching system for the drawer.
3. building a table for the front facing seats that folds up.
4. getting handles for the kitchen cabinets and maybe the luggage compartments.
5. Looking into a solar system for charging batteries
6. Pricing out the cost to put on a hitch and basket at the back of the bus for the propane and tools to sit on.
7. covering the passanger side wheel well.
8. installing the woodstove.

I wish that I had more time to expand each one of these points because there is a story behind each one, but maybe when its all complete I can give the low down on the entire bus.

Today working on the latch for the drawer and covering the wheel well.

Progress and plant driven

Busy Busy Busy,

The bus is now powered by not only diesel but also vegetable oil thanks to Geoff and Scott at www.switchover.ca . We drove the dart over to his shop in south vancouver at around noon on the 25th. The coversion proved to be very challenging and we all worked until the wee hours to get it finished(I left around 12:30am and they continued to work until 2:30am!!!) The conversion was a success and we are burning vegetable oil at least 1/2 of the time. The large V8 engine in the bus takes a long time to heat up this time of year so sometimes it takes a while to get hot enough to burn oil. It will be perfect for traveling because we will be driving long distances without cooling down the engine allowing us to use mostly vegetable oil.

Our collection method is going to be via 12v electric pump and wand. We have just ordered these recently and are awaiting their arrival. Looking forward to grease bin diving in the near future!!

Kitchen

Thinking about our kitchen layout, need to start building cabinets...

We are having troubles deciding which fridge to go with, our options include a top load Sundanzer 1.8 cubic foot 12v fridge from wegosolar or purchasing a fridge freezer and having it converted to 12v.

We are also planning on getting the RV package from we go solar. This is a little blurb about it on their website...

"The RV-80 Kit keeps your batteries charged and healthy to run TVs, DVDs, Lap tops, lights and more. The Solar Panel provides 4.63 amps of charging power while the panel mounting hardware mounts your panel securly down without worry of leaks.

System also includes a 22 amp flush mounted, MARK-22 battery charge controller with digital system monitoring of battery voltage, solar charging current, and charge set-point calibration. The perfect solar charge controller to prevent over charging or under charging your batteries. Also if you want to expand your system in the future this controller will handle it."

Still thinking about our sink and water tank. We may just used the same system that we used this summer, a crock pot that accept 18L bottles and a bucket underneath to catch the grey water. Simple solution while we design our system.

Bed construction and teenage wannabe hoodlums

Woke up this morning to discover that someone had tried to break into the Dart! They yanked on the doors from the outside while they can only be opened by the driver from the inside. So one door was slightly gaping open while the other remained closed. Not sure the true extent of the damage because Martine pushed it back into place and it seems fine, but who knows? Guess what they stole... the fire extinguisher. That's how I know they are teenage wannabe hoodlums. You guys are not cool. Mama Lau is going to sleep in the Dart next weekend and burst out of it waving a machete and drop kicking like mad if you come around again. And Uma will back me up by screaming like a banshee (what she has learned to do lately). And fly-pooping in their faces. Yes, I will save up all her poos of the week in a bucket, pop out of the hatch and dump it on them when they try to vandalize the Dart next time. Am I angry? Yes, I am. Am I joking? Only kind of...


The other downer today is that we left some windows open, (and the hatch) and it rained last night. Got home from our plywood shopping mission last evening kind of wiped out and totally forgot to check these things. So it's a bit wet inside, and we can't tell if Martine's work on the hatch fixed the leaking problem or not. A little bit of water is no big deal, I guess. At least they didn't break the windows and steal all the tools. I'm thinking that we might have to rethink where we park on the weekends. Maybe right in front of the house rather than on the street that is just flanked by bushes.


Or maybe I really will have to sleep in there, wait, after today maybe we'll be able to! Martine is at our friend Amos's workshop today. Amos is a carpenter and helping us doing some of the building inside of the Dart. They're going to work on the bed today, the storage under the bed (we decided on big rolling drawers that pull out into the aisle and compartments which are accessible when you pull the bed aside). And cabinets right above the windows on both sides, kind of like airplane luggage compartments. So we will see what the boys can get done today and tomorrow.


I would have liked to have gone and helped but Uma needs some quiet time at home after yesterday's outing. She kind of freaked out in Home Depot. Not like crying tantrum meltdown but just acting really strange, screaming and kicking and panting. I think she was overstimulated by all the lights and people and activity. Maybe there was just too much going on for a baby to comprehend, because while we were waiting for one of the staff to get back to us about the drill we wanted to buy, I started to notice other children wailing in the background, sounding just as desperate as she did. So we went back to the bus to regroup, change, feed, etc. while Martine got the plywood. We also looked at the cork flooring. It's nice, and pretty expensive. $4.99-$7 per square foot. Compared to laminate which is only about $1-2. Going to shop around a bit cause we like the cork and we only have about 50 square feet to cover anyway.

 We now have seatbelts so Uma can sit in her car seat instead of my lap. Poo training going well. She pretty much never poops at home except for in the bucket. Just some surprises when we go out sometimes. She got a hand-me-down Jolly Jumper and has been enjoying that as well. Boing boing boing. Oh yeah, and we had a 100 day old birthday dinner for her, and she wore a dress!! I can't turn off this black highlighting or get any of these photos where I want them????

Sky light/Hatch repair

Seems like the multiple layers of silicon put on the hatch over the years is not enough to keep the hatch from leaking, so yesturday I opened a can of worms. Dissasembled the hatch and attempted to scrape all the rubber off the roof, in the process I scratched some of the paint off right down to the steel. The rubber was definitely strong, but didn't prevent leaking. So strong that I couldn't get it off, had to cut it off with a knife and now I'm in the process of sanding off the bits that the knife couldn't get. The origional install 7 years ago used some sort of rubberized putty, thick and excessive which caused the current issues, bending the hatch in the process making my resealing a little more challenging. This morning if the weather holds I'm hoping to clean the rest of the rubber off and then paint the spots where I scratched down to the steel to prevent rust. I'll use a rust protection called tremclad. Then I'll clean up the hatch which is covered with a fine algea and dirt around the seal. I'll put a bead of marine grade silicon where the hatch will sit, then place the hatch down and fill in any remaining gaps. It is important that this job is done perfectly because we can't afford leakage once we get on the road so I don't mind spending a bit of extra time on it. better get to work...and work

Jobs that also need attention in the next couple of days.
Water build up in one of the lights
general cleaning needs to be completed, washing floors, walls and in all the cracks
floor needs to be patched where the seats where taken out.

Slowly gathering the pieces...

Yesterday we made a trip to an auto wrecker in Abbotsford who had RV's, hoping to salvage some parts. We were looking for a propane stove and fridge, an awning to attach to the side of the dart, table, seats, seatbelts, sink, tanks... it was a long list and we didn't find most of the things because everything was pretty picked through and thoroughly trashed. Most of the RV's were filled with garbage and the remenants of the previous owners, their clothes, shoes, (all dirty), jars of food, books, cd's, bedding... was kind of scared to go in to some of them they were so gross. I had Uma in the front carrier and she, on the other hand, loved it. Squealing and laughing in one particularly dirty RV. Not sure what she's thinking there.

We came away with a really decent looking stove. Runs on propane, 4 burners, has an oven (yes! baking on the road). 4 seatbelts that we think we'll probably just attach to the exsisting bus seat (because I decided they are actually quite comfortable), and a folding table. Plus the wrecker guys threw in a mirrow for free. Not sure where we'll attach that though, there's not a lot of wall space, since the windows are so big.

The big windows are sure awesome when you're driving though, it's like being on a tour bus! Every window slides open at the top, and each side has an emergency window that opens on a hinge from the top and will be great on hot days, propped open. We drove around with Uma just on my lap since there are no seatbelts to attach the car seat with yet, and it felt pretty weird. But I guess that's what one would do with a baby on the bus, and while I would prefer to have her in the car seat most of the time once we get that set up, it was sure nice to be able to feed her while we were driving when she needed it. She seemed to enjoy the perspective too, and was so good all day. Just sitting or sleeping on my nap, didn't fuss or cry at all!

Speaking of Uma, her potty training is going well. I'm catching her really routine poops in the bucket, which is about twice a day, right after she feeds after a big sleep. These have been consistent and she seems to understand and even enjoy it. It never takes more than 30 seconds after I put her over the bucket and when she's done she always looks up at me and laughs or smiles. I think she appreciates not having to poop in her pants. I mean, who wouldn't!!! When we go out with her it messes things up a bit because she doesn't sleep for as long of a period of time when she is out so she makes little poops throughout the day but when we are just at home, I can catch her big poops, which are the messy ones to clean up anyway... so I would say it's a pretty good start! Not bad for a 3 month old!! It makes sense to me that it would work even though I've had some people say that they think it's pretty advanced for her age. If dogs can be trained not to poop in the house, I think babies can be trained not to poop in their pants. It's just natural for them not to want to, and it's up to us to help them because they can't help themselves.

I'm sure Martine may have more to add but I will let him do that later. These are my thoughts for the last couple of days.

Details, Missed the big picture!!

So we are now in possession the Handy Dart, and like any used car there are problems. So far it seems like minor problems, but still things that need to be dealt with non the less. We were told that the vehicle would be cleaned, but aside from a few chemicals spread around the dash to make it look shinny and a quick moping, the bus is filthy. Only one of the lights is working, the one near the back door, which has water in it!! There are a few other issues that need to be dealt with but lets talk about the positive.

This morning we ordered our vegetable oil tank from planet drive. We decided to go with a -10 internal tank for the time being which will probably be installed near the heater blocks to decrease the time to switchover.

Planet Drive 60L tank (the one we purchased is a little different, it "Comes with UNHEATED pickup tube installed")

This is great, we have the dimensions for the tank and today I'm off to the wreckers to see what goodies I can find. I'll be looking for Bench seats with removable table, Propane stove, propane fridge, Water tank, cabinets and maybe a bathtub.


Also we are thinking we will install a cork floor over the existing floor. We liked the idea of Cork because it provides insulation, its comfortable, easy to clean and it will look great!!! So I'll make a stop in richmond on my way back to see what the best price is. We will be going with floating tiles, not glue down.

We are also still trying to name this beast so if anyone out there has any ideas please post in comments.

Time Begins and ends at the same time...

And so we begin preparation for our journey. Right now we are focusing mostly on our transportation/home for the next little while. On Tuesday we put the down payment on our vehicle, a E350 20 passanger mini-bus which was formerly used as a Handy Dart/community bus. The plan is to camperize it.



We will be installing a wood stove, propane stove, propane fridge, solar panels, bunkbeds, bench seats with table, and much more.

The "next stop" ding bell will remain in place and be used for bathroom stop warning instead!! "DING"

We are also planning on adding a fuel tank for waste vegetable oil so we can use desiel for warming up the engine and then run on vegi oil from there on in.

We went to look for stoves today and found a great option, Jotul F 602. Jay gave us some good options for running the pipe trough the roof, he has had some experience with wood stoves and vehicles in the past.

The next step is an RV wrecker to look for Propane stove, Propane fridge and bench seat, and what ever else we think might be useful such as a ladder to get the roof so we can add longer stove pipes when burning the wood stove and adjustment of solar panels to catch maximum sun.

One of our biggest questions is how we are going to wash diapers. This procedure currently requires lots of water, a washing machine and dryer. How to make the procedure easy on the road, simple, don't use diapers at all, just a pee bucket. How would that work you say? Today we had 2 successful attempts at the beginnings of potty training. Uma usually poos right after she feeds in the morning, so this morning we feed her and then held her in a squat position over the toilet. She didn't seem to like the toilet so Joyee went to get a bucket instead to make it a little less intimidating. Then you simply make the constipated poo noise and she will poo right?? Wrong, she will poo on mummy's leg while she gets the bucket. Some of it went in the bucket at least and we considered this fairly successful. Next attempt came just hours later, after Uma had a nap. Martine went to change Uma and she wasn't wet, so over to the bucket she went. same idea except this time you make the "ssssssssss" noise, IT WORKED!!!! she pee'd. One diaper saved!!!

Preparations are going well so far, lots to do still, lots to think about, Lots to process and digest..

There is a time and place for everything, and that time is always now.
(You'll get used to these cheesy quotes)