My plans for driving to KY to avoid traffic put me directly in harm's way for weather, I drove down in a big storm. I even hit a fallen tree on I80. The weather on the trip back wasn't better, it was gale force winds and lots of ice.
I did get a few things done while I was down there. I started sketching out possible bed systems. It looks like I will have to build my own given that futons don't generally fold well enough.
The holidays were pretty nice. I did get to see the amish light parade this year. I only got a crappy picture though.
The weather was really nice while I was there, so I did a few survey's of the lot down there. My Dad's and sisters place will be my "permanent address" while I am on the road. And since I won't be on the road full time (probably 6-9 months a year), I will be running a furniture business the other few months. That will require a workshop to build the furniture though, so I was looking for where the best location for that would be. I would also need a location to park the box truck.
One of the suggestions for the box truck location was over here, but there isn't really enough solar here, it is shaded by the house too much of the day.
One of the nicer spots on the lot is the back corner. It is one of the drier spots on the lot too. It is open, not a lot of solar interference, which is nice given that it will likely have to be off-grid, being way too far to wire in. Getting to it is a problem though. Going in from my sisters side means walking through soup and all the drainage.
The other option was to come in from my dad's side. This is actually a decent spot for a bridge over the drainage creek.
I also looked at whether or not hydro was an option, but I am suspecting there isn't enough flow here.
I had considered just upgrading this whole area, replacing the existing shed and covering all the parking and turning the current carport into a workshop. That would also work. I am concerned with how much that would cost, but since I wouldn't need a complete off-grid system here it is worth considering since going off-grid electrically is really expensive. My current plan is to park the box truck on the far side of the carport.
I went out and did some electrical work at Natalie's mother's barn, so
that is at least functional again. We got to see a gorgeous sunset
afterwards.
I did scope out a few RV places about custom mattresses (as part of the bed systems noted above). They are expensive, but not prohibitively so. They had samples, and the comfort collection was the best in my opinion, the Cozy and Caress were too soft and spongy. The Casual is pretty much what my current mattress is, hard as a rock. I would add a hinge to the mattress, so it would be 100 more than what is listed here. I had originally dismissed the single bi-fold mattress because I couldn't find one either online or at any conventional mattress store, but this makes it a possibility again.
One of the other big projects was putting in gates. Dad got Heather a gate for Christmas, and Heather bought the last one for the dog yard.
I noticed when we were putting them up that the flies down there were awful. All the little black specks are flies on the siding trying to warm up. I thought they would all be dead or hibernating by now.
Christmas was good. The dogs may not have enjoyed their clothes, but they enjoyed the attention and treats.
Jelly Bean didn't have any clothes.
She did get a cat tree though. It was a bit big for her, and we ended up making it a bit smaller so it was easier for her to jump up on and it fit by the window better.
One of the things I got was a National Park Map Tracker. I filled in the ones I have been to. I still have more to go.
After I finished that up, I finished up a bed system design for a bi-fold mattress. I managed to fit a 75 gallon water tank in there, which is larger than I expected, and honestly makes me wonder if I can just do a 50 gallon fresh and a 25 gallon gray tank, instead of putting the gray tank underneath. Something to worry about later though.
I spent the next few days wearing out the dogs in the nice weather. It was in the 60s for most of the trip, and even hit 70s a couple of times.
The last thing I did though was start getting the soffit work on the shed done. I also ran another gallon of paint through the paint sprayer since Heather said she had issues with it last time just to see if it was still working. It seemed okay, I think it was just too hot when she was painting, and it was starting to dry in the sprayer as she was spraying it. I went with actual soffit this time and it was soooooooo much faster; I had originally been building the soffit pieces by hand with wire, and to say it was slow going is a major understatement. So I bought some pre-made soffit vent pieces, and we had them up all the way around in less than a day. The shed isn't done, it still needs faschia boards and some sealing, but it should hopefully at least be mouse tight now. Bees can still get in though.
The drive home was very blustery. I changed the battery in the car while I was down there, so I didn't have any issues with the newfound cold. I stopped at Aunt's and Uncle's for the second part of Christmas. Pippin enjoyed the wrapping paper.
I got home on New Years Eve. I got home right at sunset.
My mouse total is up to 9 now.
I have a lot of things to look at this winter. Now that the bed design has been finalized, I can start building it. The kitchenette has been finalized for a while now. They are still lower priority then the CR-V upgrades though which I will be using in 2026. I can also start design work on the workshop, so I know how much footprint I need and stuff like that.
