Summer is about over.
Hope everyone has had a great one.
It has been nice in Oklahoma, a little more humid than I like, but it has been tolerable.
I just find stuff to do inside the air conditioned house...LOL
Chuck has been busy working on the Taj-Mah-Hauler this summer while we are home.
He has done quite a few upgrades while she was sitting.
First and foremost, he has added a Solar System for the trailer.
At this time, we have two 100 watt panels, and I am told he has two more ordered.
Should be interesting to be making our own power on the rig.
He has tested it at the house, and it is very impressive.
We can't run the air conditioners or microwave but to have the lights and TV available without plugging in to the house is impressive to me.
We are just beginning our Solar conversion, so I know we have a lot to learn.
I know there are a lot of you that already have monster systems on your rigs, and I am sure we will learn a lot as we go.
Next thing he did was put the keyless entry on the trailer.
He chose the "RV Lock" brand.
I am thinking this is going to be wonderful and I won't look like the janitor running around with my wad of keys any longer. LOL
He changed out the 3 step system on our main door to a 4 step system.
This is really nice and easy to use.
As with everything, it was a little more time involved than we expected.
Who knew they would have to be tweaked a bit to fit.
After a few nips and tucks, they fit perfectly!
The backup camera I spoke about on an earlier blog is wonderful.
It was one of the first things we did this summer, and again we thank our friends Tommy & Cindy Landry for all the help getting us set up.
The TV in the garage area was never used, so we moved it to the basement so we can watch it from the patio while we enjoy the Winter months in Arizona. :)
The holes that were left from the TV mount was hidden with that wonderful contact wallpaper from Walmart.
I am really in love with that stuff.
Don't get me wrong, it is a bit of a bear to put it up, but the results are so gratifying.
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| Before |
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| After |
So much so, that we tackled the curved wall in the kitchen area.
Yes it is curved, and that made it a bit tricky to work with, but after a few choice words, it looks really nice.
Making me want to put more up and lighten the kitchen area.
Chuck changed out the black and grey vents on the top of the rig.
We should have no smell coming back into the trailer.
The check valve under the kitchen sink was changed out as well.
Chris our friend told us about that little trick.
So glad he did...seems the sink always had a smell....amazing that a valve could fix that...and what would it cost the makers of these trailers to put them in...next to nothing.
Chuck has re-wired the electrical panel to accommodate the wiring for the solar panels.
The area looks really nice where he has added the solar system wiring..
We bought a new new TV and sound system for the living room.
We had been listening to blown out TV speakers since we bought the rig, and had tried everything in the books to make it work with the Sony system that we had when we bought it, but it was just a total
mess, so we got the new Roku TV and a sound bar with sub woofers.
It really makes it a pleasure to watch the TV now, even if the air conditioners are on.
The middle air unit on the rig has never worked like it should, and Chuck had been on several sites checking out some other peoples issues with lack of air.
He got out his temperature gun out and started doing testing on the unit.
He found that we were losing a whole lot of air at the cooling box due to the sloppy way it was installed and taped.
Ordering the silver tape from Amazon took care of this issue.
He was able to get the unit to pull the correct degree of air into the room, so looks like we are going to be able to use the middle air unit again and actually be cooled by it.
Way to go Chuck!
Chuck also installed an EZ Connection hitch assembly on the trailer and Big Bertha.
No more will I be trying to plug in with no avail.
This thing is pretty sweet....just don't want to lose a finger in the process as the magnet is pretty strong. :) He also installed new connectors on the 50amp shore power cord and the receptor end on the trailer. These were of the "Smart Plug" branding. No more twisting and shorting of wires when plugging in. After looking at pictures of rigs burning down, it made a whole lot of sense.
Since we are at Desert Gardens in the winter, we didn't have a private network last season, so leave it to Chuck to set up a wifi system with private network for the trailer.
The Taj-Mah-Hauler is wifi ready!
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| Shades raised up for traveling |
I ordered blackout cellular blinds for the garage area of the trailer.
The black mini blinds that came with the trailer were a mess.
Dirty and didn't stay in place.
Since this is my area of expertise, the cell shades were just what we needed.
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| Shades lowered |
They are the cordless type and will pack up quite nicely into the valance that was already in the rig.
Yes, they will be left up while we travel but I think they are going to work out wonderful....and above all they look sooooo much better. (and yes, I sell them)
OK....so you are thinking....well Diane, what have you done.
Now let me tell you, I haven't just been sitting around eating bon-bons.
I had a garage sale...and let me say here and now, I think it is my last one.
It was so much work to dig out all that stuff....but it was a good one.
Now I need to have another one as I have drug out more "stuff"....but I think I will just donate it and go on down the road.
We had a shop intervention, and Chuck was able to let go of some of the old Harley exhaust systems he has been holding on to...heck, we had so much chrome out there, we could have started our own shop!
Next we will tackle the engine parts that are still out there taking up space!
That will be another day.
I decided I would paint the Laundry Room's cabinets in the house with my wonderful CeCe Caldwell paint.
All good, but I really didn't realize there were 15 cabinet doors and 5 drawers in that room!
I will go into detail on this remodel in another blog that I will be doing very soon.
Besides all that, I have to keep up with the cleaning of the house, and of course cook!
LOL....all in all it has been a good summer.
We have gotten to spend some good quality time with the Grandkids, and have enjoyed every minute of it.
Another thing that we did (yes, we!) to the trailer, that I was so excited about, was to turn our screen door into a storm door.This is something we had talked about last season.
It is so nice to have to door open, but when you have the air on, well, you get the idea.
A trip to Lowe's and a hundred dollar bill took care of this issue.
We got the Lexan pieces home and began cutting them to fit the screen.
The outcome is really nice.
I think we are going to enjoy this very much.
Bronco will probably be the biggest fan of this addition.
We still left the door in the garage area a screen door.
This way we are able to get fresh air through the rig if we want to.
We are now getting ready to make a trip to New Orleans and then on to Destin Florida.
We will leave in a couple of weeks with our great friends Diana & Chris...so you know there are going to be stories to tell about that trip!
It is going to be fun to try out all the new additions to the Taj-Mah-Hauler and see what else we want to do to it.
Seems like it is a project in the making.
We sure have learned a lot about this trailer, and as it seems with everything, a person just has to make it work for their own self.
Oh, by the way, we are now proud owners of a Travel size Berkey Water Filter.
I am really excited to take this with us on the road.
No more lugging water around, and no more plastic bottles filling the land fills for us!
Just my little way of trying to help the environment.
Every little bit helps you know.
I have added a link for the Berkey Water Filter if you are interested in learning more.
I am sure there are a few things that I have failed to mention that we have accomplished with the trailer, but they are completed, and we are ready to get this show on the road.
I am so amazed at all the whiz-bangs and gizmo's that we have added to make this trailer our personal tiny home.
Some of them will be appreciated daily I am sure.
Time to get back to work as the yard is needing mowing due to all the rain that we have had the last week.
God has been so kind to us, and helped with the drought that was very close at hand.
Oklahoma has been very green this year.
The weather has been extremely calm in our area.
All good in our little corner of Chukadi Acre.
Happy Summer to all. :)
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