Ready to anchor.

I actually did some stuff during the week for a change.  I got some stuff ordered for the trip.  These are nasal dilators.  They are basically the nose strips on steroids.  They don't seem to do much when I am at home, but they do help when I am sleeping in the car.  They need to work on their packaging though, I had to re-bend them back into their proper shape.  They are all supposed to be like the top one.  These ones are softer than the last ones I got too which likely means that they aren't going to work as well, even though they are the same brand.

 

I finished up the wiring harness.  This is so I can run both coolers off the Jackery without using a splitter that I can kick in the middle of the night and cause them both to shut off.

 

Saturday was surprisingly nice.  It was rather cool, and while the clouds looked scary it was dry.  So I finished up the bottom support bars on the carport.  I understand now why people hate universal joints so much.  Every time I have tried to use mine, it has left me disappointed.  It kept binding up.  I ended up using a wobbler extension. 

 

The bottom supports didn't stiffen and straighten things up as much as I had wanted.  They are all in and tight now though.  The anchoring will help.  All that is left is the metal roofing.  And the gravel.  

 

I decided on how I want to anchor it.  I took a video, but apparently blogger doesn't allow me to upload videos anymore.  

 

Sunday was wet and rainy, but I took the truck out before it got too bad and picked up the lumber for it, as well as some survey tape and lag bolts to fasten it.  I did manage to find a couple dry hours in the afternoon to go out and mark the trees.  The green ones are definitely going, the orange I would leave it up to Barry whether he thinks they are a threat to the carport or worth taking down.

 

I also did a bunch of other trip stuff.  The first chunk of the trip is now reserved.  I ended up opting out of campsites because for some reason the cluster of them in Wisconsin I was looking at all had 2 day minimums, which made them as expensive as a hotel.  I will hopefully finish up making reservations tonight before shopping or tomorrow though.

 

I also decided to try toasting in my air fryer.  It actually turned out okay.  I am not planning on taking the toaster into the box truck, so it is good to know I can still make toast.

 

 

I noticed today that there are a couple of trees that are just starting to change.  A touch early, but not moreso than normal I suppose.  There are always a few freaky ones that start in August.   

 

I also realized when I was chatting with Matt about batteries that I never actually formally wrote up what my 5 year plan was.  You can see why I have been grumbling about not getting any of the project work done.  It is now two years behind.  Everything else is proceeding apace though.  And unless I get laid off, I might push it to 6 just to build up more cash buffer.

 

 

I also wrote up the contingency plan, and one part of the truck house idea that hadn't been fleshed out yet; what happens when the truck dies.  Having my house be in/on a truck that will age out and break down or wear out means that the underlying vehicle needs to be replaced every so often.  I originally had a line item for I think it was $200 a month to squirrel away for this eventuality.  This ended up getting removed from the final budget because there was no good way to balance the budget with it in there.  

The plan instead is when the truck starts getting less reliable or getting to the point where replacement is a need, I will need to take a year off from traveling and pick up side work.  Originally when I came up with the 5 year plan the idea was to pick up remote contract work and put extra time into the side business, but if that is untenable due to the emergence of AI, either the side business will have to grow an extra branch (handyman work?) or even just pick up an unskilled labor job for a summer or so until I can afford to either rebuild the vehicle or replace it.  I wrote up a much more detailed thing on it, but don't want to turn this post into a lecture, but I can send it if anyone is curious.