March 3rd van conversion and It’s raining again
Today…
It’s been somewhat of a slow morning for our van conversion so far today. When we say “slow”, we really mean we haven’t started working on our van build yet and it’s already 9:56 am. That is not to say we haven’t been busy and productive though.
Don was up and at ’em at 5:30 am this morning to teach some online English classes to some adorable Chinese students. When you are wanting to live in a custom-built van and travel around North America full time, you have to think outside of the box for ways to make money, unless of course, you are already independently wealthy.
After teaching his classes, Nat and Kona rolled out of bed and Nat made a delicious pot of coffee. French press with some Peete’s decaf Major Dickenson’s with a splash of cinnamon, some coconut milk cream, and a stevia sweetener for each cup. As Andy Griffith would say, Mmm Mmm Good!
Doing a little computer work on the website, sitting on the couch and planning out the day over that cup of yummy coffee, and snuggling with Kona bear in front of the portable heater. (remember, we’re a Florida couple who is very sensitive to frigid temperatures)
Don is going to be adding some water to our freshwater tank so we can do the things people do with water.
As it goes in Jacksonville, Florida during the winter, we are having lots of rain, precipitation, cats and dogs, angels pissing down on us. Whatever you may like to call it, it’s wet and cloudy today. Of course, this being north Florida, yesterday was in the high 70’s and raining and of course, today, it is in the low 60’s and raining.
For this Florida boy and girl, that means getting out our winter clothes because to us, it is damn chilly outside! Our plan for today is to build the wheel well covers out of some of the plywood we have leftover from our flare/window frames we built over the weekend. Not the most exciting or sexiest of van-build projects, but something we want to do all the same to make it easier when building our left and right side cabinets.
Once the wheel well covers are built and in place, the vinyl lock waterproof flooring will be installed. After the floor is in, we can really get going on this van conversion with some cabinets, closets, and our bed.
Before we get too far ahead and have the entire van built out, let’s refocus back to today’s goals of getting those wheel-well covers built. The reason we want the wheel-wells covered, or boxed in, is so we can then put our flooring down and begin to build our closet and kitchen cabinets on top of them.
We got out to the van around 11 this morning. Don set up the workhorses and power tools while Nat walked Kona. Once all of the materials, work area, and tools were set up and ready to go, it was time to put on some jams and get to creating our ultimate Van Life van conversion!
Working on the van is always so much more enjoyable when listening to some good music. Thank goodness for Spotify. We would still prefer to listen to our iPod playlist, but that just isn’t as practical these days. We do enjoy the playlists Spotify has created for me though. Today’s music playlist was classic 70’s and 80’s Hits.
Kona spent the first full day in the van hanging out with us. He chilled and laid in his new pup bed we bought for him off Amazon. It is soft enough to where we almost wished we had one to sleep in. Kona was much more relaxed than we thought he would be. Kona is going to end up being a great Van Life dog, we are sure of it!
We got the wheel-well covers built and painted and installed. A couple of other previous projects were wrapped up today as well. Don painted the couch we built last week. Nat caulked and sealed the propane tank box. Then, Don painted most of that too.
Our friends, Hannah and Morgan of the Traveling Tortoise go a little work done on their van as well. We have that “Dueling Van Build” competition going on you know. We are both building our van conversions out at the same time, parked right beside each other. Go give their Instagram and a look and a follow. They are a top-notch young couple and great friends to have!
Don went to pick up some Culvers for dinner. Neither one of us had lunch today. We didn’t even think about eating we were on such a roll. Seeing that it was now around 6:30, neither one of us felt like cooking any dinner. Having Culvers is always such an easy decision. Sometimes, it is way too easy of a decision. By the way, if you have never eaten at a Culvers, then you need to experience it. You truly are missing out on some of the best “fast food” there is. We feel a little guilty calling it fast food because it really is so good.
Don finally got around to top off the freshwater tank in the RV. Our good friends the Morgans are so kind by offering it to us while we complete the van conversion. Nat did a load of laundry and a little artwork for a skoolie client she is creating a logo for. Be sure to go and check out her artwork at NatSilver.com. She also has a lot of her artwork on t-shirts, hats, etc… at Nomaditee.com. If you ever get down to Satellite Beach, Florida, be sure to stop by the Surf Art Gallery on A1A. She has some of her artwork for sale there.
Back in the RV for the evening and a shower. An evening nightcap and some more writing here on the website was in order. It’s a little after 9:00 pm now. Netflix, our bed, and a cup of hot tea are calling our name.
It was a really good and productive day for us. Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.
