Tour of Our Home on Wheels (part 4- the bedroom and bathrooms)

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

Our bedroom now is an actual room… A place to relax…

Our bedroom in our previous camper was a bed.

This was it. You couldn’t walk at the foot of the bed. And this was pretty much the extent of our closet/dresser space.

Just to give you a visual, because I know I keep comparing the two campers, but we do just have so much more room now, here’s the floorpan for the 26′ Wildwood we had and the floorplan for the 43′ Momentum we have now.

Taken from FunTown RV

Taken from Grand Design.

I’m pretty sure the bedroom is Allen’s favorite room. It might be Charlie’s favorite too.

We have a king size bed and we finally found some sheets we love! (100% cotton=amazing) The mattress is super comfy, but we still have our short queen size memory foam pad on top (we are waiting for our Walmart Savings Catcher money to add up to get one that actually fits!) Hahaha

The bedroom is the only room with carpet, unless you count the strip in front of and under the couch. Charlie has a bed on either side of our bed and one in the closet, but she still sleeps with us of course!

The closet has shelves across the back and shelves and a bar for hangers on the left. It DID have the same thing on the right but we put a washer/dryer combo in. My mom got it for us for a housewarming gift – thanks mom! The washer/dryer is SO nice! I LOVE not having to lug everything down to the laundry room in whatever campground we are in. And the money we save is crazy; when we aren’t paying electric!

Thank you Camping World for the image.

We have a dresser with 4 drawers and a TV above that. The bed lifts up for more storage. It came with a built in safe and an ottoman that pulls out from the foot of the bed and opens for even more storage. The ottoman is also Charlie’s step stool and she will sit and whine if it isn’t pulled out for her. We have 4 windows in the bedroom (3 that open). And our bed is in the third slide. I definitely wanted a bed that was sideways when we started looking. I guess I just wanted something different.

Oh, and there are LED lights in the closet too.

There are outlets on either side of the bed. Our closet doors have mirrors on them and the bedroom door is frosted. We have an A/C in the bedroom with its own thermostat. It gets warm in the bedroom, I think because the ceiling is lower, there’s carpet, and the exterior of the nose is painted black. So that A/C works the hardest.

As I mentioned in my previous post, there are speakers connected through the surround sound that play in the bedroom also. The thermostat control is in the bedroom along with this little panel that tells us what we are running on (50amp, 30amp, generator). And when we are running on the generator it will tell us how many amps we are using at any given time.

The main bathroom is next to the bedroom. It has a large shower with an adjustable height shower head and a seat. We have a 12 gallon hot water heater now (5 gallons previously) and Allen thinks it’s bad for the environment because it encourages him to take super long showers. We never had that luxury before! There’s a vent fan in the bathroom (no rain sensor this time), it has a vessel bowl sink that I love. The countertop almost matches the kitchen. There’s a medicine cabinet, a storage cabinet under the sink, 3 drawers, and a big linen closet that is super deep. The toilet is a foot flush and a porcelain bowl. (Fancy, fancy!)

Our bathroom will never be this clutter-free again (sorry babe), so I had to steal this photo from Grand Design.

The half bath has just a toilet and sink, but it DOES have a window!

DIYs & MODs

I used Command picture hanging strips to hang two things in the bedroom to the left of the dresser. I want to hang more things but I’m still deciding exactly what I want.
We put up Command hooks in both bathrooms for hand towels and one in the half bathroom to hang the broom. Here’s a post about hanging things with Command products.
We also had to install the toilet paper holders ourselves. Allen did that, and I tell him all the time they are a bit crooked. (They aren’t.)

In the main bathroom.

In the half bathroom.
On a side note, I love these blinds. Charlie can’t stick her little head through and bend them like she used to!

Previously:

Tour of Our Home on Wheels (part 3- the living room and kitchen)

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

The layout of the main living area in our camper is just about perfect for us. It has opposing slides, which open up the space a lot. Also, the ceilings being so high help with that. (We are 13’6″ high.) Some images I’ve taken from Grand Design‘s website and some are my own.

All of the brochures say there are overhead cabinets above the couch. There aren’t. I think there may have been in 2013 and 2014 and Grand Design has just failed to remove that part…

I’ll start with the kitchen…

I really wanted an island when we were looking at new campers. Not only does it add counter space (which in campers, is always at a minimum) but it also let’s me have a conversation with Allen when I’m prepping dinner or my least favorite chore: washing dishes, which he doesn’t do nearly enough of, IMHO.

The island in our Grand Design Momentum has a marble looking top and double basin sink with sink covers. We usually keep the smaller side covered, adding even more counter space. The faucet has a sprayer that pulls down so you can rinse the whole sink. Under the sink there is room for a small trash can on one side and two shelves on the other. Next to those cabinet doors are three drawers. There are three shelves on either side of the island with blue LED lights under them and outlets on both sides as well. Directly above the island are two chandelier lights that hang down and add a nice touch that I haven’t seen too often in campers.

In the kitchen slide, there is a large pantry with 3 shelves and 3 drawers, an oven and stove- with stove covers that match the island, a storage drawer underneath the stove, a marble looking backsplash, a convection microwave above, and another storage cabinet above that.

The stove WITH the covers on.

The stove WITHOUT the covers.

This would be my attempt at organizing the pantry… for probably the third time… yikes!

Next to the stove is our “residential-size” fridge. Which means it’s huge in the world of campers, but still not quite as deep as normal ACTUAL residential fridges. (We can’t fit one of those can holders that roll the cans forward for instance). All the appliances are stainless steel. And our fridge is actually magnetic! Another rarity in the camper world…

I think I might be overly excited about the magnetic fridge…It’s getting quite cluttered. And I’ve been on a post-it note kick lately so those are stuck everywhere!

Above the kitchen there is a vent hatch with a fan. It is controlled by buttons on the wall, has four speeds, and has a rain sensor, so when it starts raining, it’ll automatically close. There’s also an air conditioner that has a heat pump on it. I didn’t know what the heat pump was until I started Googling. It’ll warm up the room by 4 degrees at a time. Any more than that, the furnace will kick on. But that is going to be really nice come wintertime! (And since I’m kind of spoiled with it, and we aren’t paying electric right now, I’ve used it twice here in San Francisco in the morning when it’s chilly – it’s awesome!)

Combine the heat pump with the electric fireplace (I’ve used that too…), and we should be nice and cozy! The fireplace has 10 different looks going from super bright and blazing, to just a small little thing, and 2 different heat blower levels. It also has a remote and a timer that can be set. The fireplace is under the flat screen TV. It’s flanked by two storage cabinets. (Ours contain liquor on one side and dog food on the other.) Above one of the cabinets is a radio/CD player/DVD player/Bluetooth and USB capable thing that plays through the surround sound system and can play in the living room, the bedroom, or outside, or any combination of those three. Above the TV there are cabinets all the way across where we keep our DVDs and books. Above the TV there are light switches and a USB charging port. (It took us a full week to figure out how to turn the LED lights on the island off!)

***Full disclosure: This entertainment system is also junk, but not as bad as the one in the garage. It’s a Furrion radio/CD player and a Haier TV. Furrion products are supposed to be able to communicate with other Furrion products so I’m not sure why Grand Design would skimp on the Furrion TV here. If we watch TV we can’t use the surround sound system. But if we watch a DVD or listen to music we can. Also, every time we switch between the DVD player and our separate BlueRay player, we have to unplug and replug in the TV because it gets all confused and will play sound but no picture. We thought at first it was a faulty HDMI cord so Grand Design sent us a new one… Read about that fiasco in the DIYs & MODs section at the bottom of this post…

That’s our Bug-A-Salt rifle sitting under the TV. It’s pretty awesome!

Across from the kitchen is the other slide that holds the couch, 4 theater style seats. They all recline all the way back. The two end seats have cup holders, massage, and heat. There are blue LED lights under the couch also. There are huge picture windows behind and on either side of the couch, letting lots of light and fresh air in, which I love! We have a table that matches the countertops that we can set up in front of the couch if we want to eat in the living room. We’ve only done that a few times though.

You can get to the garage through a glass door and to the half-bath from the living room. There is a loft bed on top of the bath, that has a pull out ladder to get up to it. There is another vent hatch with a fan up there and a window (just for light, it doesn’t open). Currently we just use that space for storage. We keep our out-of-season clothes in Ziploc Space Saver bags (I love those things). Luckily for us, and Allen’s OCD tendencies, the loft came with a curtain that slides across and covers all that.

I took this one from Grand Design’s website. (I don’t ever have that many lemons laying around.)

The floor is lighter colored and patterned which makes it like camouflage for dirt. I love it! There is a built in central vac with a plug-in spot on the second step leading up to the bathroom and bedroom and a kick plate so you can just sweep dust and dirt right in! Also, right by the steps is a coat closet with a couple hooks inside. Above that is the “jimmy jankster” – Allen’s term – or the control center. It’s where the controls for the awning, step lights, porch lights, and slides are. It’s also where you can see how full the tanks are (fresh, 2 gray and 2 black- although I’m always iffy if we should trust those sensors.)

Some sensors I DO trust because I know they work are the smoke alarm and propane alarm! Allen set the smoke alarm off the first time he made breakfast for us, and set the propane alarm off because he insisted on spraying sunscreen on me INSIDE!

One thing I do want to mention that I love about this camper is that when we are traveling, and stop at a rest stop or what not, I can get to the bathroom and one side of the fridge. In our old camper we had to open the slide to get to the bathroom. And in order to be able to crack the fridge open enough to grab a soda, we had to climb over the couch. So I really like this part.

DIYs & MODS

I’ll start with the HDMI cord. After waiting weeks for my buddy Jerry in the warranty department to get us a replacement HDMI cord, we discovered that all of the cords running between the TV and speakers and CD player are all enclosed in the entertainment center hutch thing. So Allen tried to attach the new cord to the old one and pull it through. Well, there’s some tiny holes it runs through inside the entertainment center that we couldn’t get to. So he wound up cutting a small hole and running the cord up behind the TV. It doesn’t look bad at all. Plus it’s behind the TV. Still, one of those annoying little things that come with all new campers.
This is right behind the pole that the TV is attached to.
And this is underneath, you can’t see it.
We’ve run an extension cord from the right side of the couch, behind, and out the other side to have outlets on both ends. (Allen got sick of handing me my phone when it was charging on “his side” of the couch, and decided to remedy that!)
I’ve put up Command hooks on the backsplash of the stove to hang utensils I use a lot. And we put one on the side of the entertainment center to hang MY keys (Allen never loses his…)
We’ve also put small pieces of Velcro to hold remotes, since EVERYTHING has a remote and it’s hard to keep track of which remote goes to which device. (But, we were drinking that night -combine that with the Xzilon coating- and we woke up to remotes all over the floor because the Velcro didn’t stick!)
I’ve made a few throw pillow covers to add some personality to the living room: DIY Pillow Covers, and DIY Pillow Covers, Round 2

Previously:

Next up:

Tour of Our Home on Wheels (part 4- bedroom and bathrooms)

Tour of Our Home on Wheels (part 1)

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

It’s recently occurred to me, as I’ve been checking out other RV blogs, that I’ve never actually given a tour of our camper… In the blogosphere at least! I love our home, and I’m proud of it, so here it goes!

We live on the road full-time in a 2015 Grand Design Momentum 385TH. We bought it in March from Palm Beach RV in Florida. We looked for months (at least 6) and went to numerous RV shows in multiple states, visited dealers, looked online and read reviews. We knew we wanted a 5th wheel. We knew we wanted a toy hauler (that’s what the TH stands for in the name). And we knew we need at least a 12ft garage to eventually fit a Smart car.

The rest we kind of decided along the way:

an island in the kitchen
a full size fridge
a king size bed
a washer/dryer
actual closet space
a pantry
a couch AND a table to eat dinner at
a patio
nice entry steps that don’t rust
automatic leveling jacks
a generator

***Notice the order those are listed in: my top priorities first 😉 -I’m writing this post so that’s allowed!

The Momentum 385TH met our wants and needs, and even more. So, we went for it!

She’s good looking’ huh??!

The morning after we picked her up, at Palm Beach Traveler RV Park, we were ready to take off for the muddy swamp that some call Louisiana!

I’ll start with the basic exterior features, then work my way through the inside. I’m going to list DIYs and MODs we’ve done as well. I always find it interesting and helpful to see what other RVers have done, so I’ll share our little tweaks (and issues we’ve had along the way also).

The camper (some people say fifth wheel, some say rig, RV, etc., I just refer to her as a camper) is 43′ long. Here’s the basic layout and numbers:

Some of these photos I took from Grand Design’s website, others are my own. You can probably tell the difference!

It came equipped with a Onan 5500 generator in the front that can run everything. We have run it all night long on less than 5 gallons. There are 2 – 30gallon fuel tanks. One that feeds into the generator. And one that has a pump that you can connect to pump fuel into your toys, motorcycle, car, etc. or pump into the generator tank.

There are 3 slides, 2 electric awnings (the main awning has LED lights across it), 2 entry doors (with aluminum steps that won’t rust), a patio that folds down in the back with a manual awning over it, frameless tinted windows, 3 air conditioners, heated tanks with an insulated and heated underbelly (which will help like crazy this winter if we get stuck somewhere cold like last year! – Oklahoma City… Frozen water lines… Frozen toilet… New toilet… Not fun…). There are LED lights under the steps and flood lights in the back. We opted to add a Xzilon coating to the outside, as well as the inside (which guarantees we won’t have to wax it for 5 years).

There is a large pass through cubby in the front-ish. The generator is actually in the very front. But it’s to the right of the front door. All the cubby doors slam-latch closed, and most of them have magnetic something or others that hold them open. The pass through cubby is heated so things, as well as water lines won’t freeze in the winter.

The camper came with a swing arm for a TV, and we just mounted the TV from our old camper on it. I like being able to sit outside and watch the race or a game (or occasionally Dr. Phil-Allen’s favorite! Haha! Just kidding…). We used to have to set up the white folding table and run the cord out through the door if we wanted to watch TV outside. Which wasn’t so bad either, just more work.

Twin Rivers RV Park, Hobe Sound, Florida, May 2013

Red Coconut RV Park, Fort Myers Beach, Florida, January 2014

Abe’s RV Park, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, September 2014

Lake Pines RV Park, Columbus, Georgia, February 2014

DIYs & MODs

Allen found some metal hooks and screws at an Ace Hardware (where employees still actually take the time to help you) that we hung up on the ceiling of the cubby for our fishing poles. He mounted them to the metal beams that went across. So far they are working well! It keeps them from getting all tangled and broken when we drive. ***Disclosure: we are NOT avid or even somewhat avid fishermen. We took his kids fishing this summer a couple of times, but we had to buy poles for that, and so we needed somewhere to keep them.
We discovered a puddle in the cubby and found a leak in the water line so we had to fix that a couple of weeks ago. Here’s that scenario: Leaks are the Worst!
Currently the leveling system is all wonky and has lost its mind. Here’s that situation: Broken Leveling Jacks. I’ll update when we finally fix it.
Allen had a little run-in with a yellow pole in a gas station parking lot. Here’s where we fixed the ladder: A Little Camper Fixing

I’m going to give you the tour in parts… If I did it all in one post, it would be ridiculously long! But I will link them all together as I get them written!

Next up:

Stateline, NV/South Lake Tahoe, CA trip!

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I’ve never seen views like we saw here. It was literally breathtaking! I’ve never been to a mountain town before and I was impressed. Everywhere you look you just see amazing natural beauty.
We checked into Harvey’s Casino Resort on Friday afternoon and then hit the casino. We played some video poker and took a free craps lesson. There was a camera crew making a commercial at the video poker bar and then also at the craps lesson so I guess we will be in two commercials we will probably never see!

The craps teacher

The hotel was right on the corner, at the line between California and Nevada. So we technically lived in Nevada for two nights.

After that we headed outside to daylight (very shocking to our casino adjusted eyeballs!). We got some drinks and food at Mc P’s Taphouse Grill. Then walked around a bit to check out the area.
We went to a comedy show after dinner. It was pretty good. I’ve seen funnier. It’s the second comedy show we’ve been to together. The first was somewhere in Florida a couple of years ago.

After the show we stopped at this sports bar in the casino. The bartender was from Cincinnati (like us!) so we chatted with him for a bit and had some beers and late night pizza. He suggested we go to Emerald Bay to scatter some of my brother’s ashes. It turned out to be a great tip!

the bartender’s map for us

an actual map

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Artemis Lakefront Cafe (crappy, slow service but delicious food-especially Allen’s biscuits and gravy!).

Then we headed over to check out Emerald Bay. It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel but traffic wasn’t too terrible. Once you get close to the bay, the road gets super steep and winding and I get super nervous and nauseous.

We finally found a place to pull over and get out. Completely breathtaking! We scattered my brother’s ashes, most of which blew back on us -oops- and took some pictures then headed back down.

We hit the pool for some recovery drinks and suntanning then got dressed and went looking for dinner.

Here we are looking all fancy

We checked Friday’s Station on he top floor of Harrah’s (across the street from us). The least expensive steak on the menu was a 6oz filet for $70! What?!?! So then we walked back over to our hotel and checked the menu at the top floor restaurant of Harvey’s, 19 Kitchen and Bar. Same thing, just a wider selection.

We checked a couple other places but weren’t impressed so we headed to Stateline Brewery up the street. It’s a brewery, in a basement, and the average entree is around $25 so it’s more our style for sure! Allen tried the Acclimator IPA which was pretty delish! We ordered the artichoke dip. It was a big loaf of Sourdough bread with half the loaf hollowed out and filled with dip, then the top was brushed with super yummy garlic butter. Yum! So the artichoke dip was the entirety of our dinner! We had a couple more beers and called it a night.

Looking up the mountain, at the ski lift… No way could I have handled that! Allen said it’s about 9000ft elevation at the top… Yikes!

This morning we had a couple of breakfast burritos from a cafe up the street, spent our last $20 in chips, cashed in our tickets and checked out.

The obligatory huge chair vacation photo

On the way home I saw my first California grass fire (there was one in the campground in Oklahoma City but this was a lot bigger).

Overall, our Tahoe trip was really fun, and the best part was sharing the experience with my love. Now I’m just happy to be back home with Charlie! We missed her! And, a special thank you to Carmen for puppy-sitting!

Considering a Domicile Change!

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I’ve been doing a lot of research on changing our domicile for a few months now. When we were in Slidell, Louisiana we received a bill in the mail from the City tax department. They were charging us a fine for not paying taxes quarterly, even though we pay in full every year. In Ohio, we pay state income tax as well as local income tax. The local city tax also went from 1.5% last year to 2% this year. Plus, that annoying fine they just started adding 4 times a year.

The bill for the fine was the last push I needed to really start looking into our options. The taxes are one thing, even though we don’t actually, physically “live” there, but the fine is another thing all together and the fine alone is over $300/yr. No thanks!

Everything I found online from other blogs and websites (Technomadia, RV-Dreams, Escapees, My Dakota Address, Wheeling It, etc.) was pointing me toward Florida, Texas, or South Dakota. These states have no state or local income tax.

I spoke with someone at Loring & Associates, PLLC, recommended by Escapees, about all things domicile so I had a good jumping off point. I knew I had to find a mail forwarding service to use as a “home base”. And I had to check vehicle insurance rates. And consider how much it would cost to register our vehicles. A 2015 Grand Design Momentum Toy Hauler, a 2011 Chevy Silverado 3500HD, and a 2006 Suzuki Katana 600. I also needed to consider how often you need to physically be in that state for drivers license renewals and vehicle registrations or inspections. We don’t have ties to Ohio other than family. No property, no house, no doctors or church affiliations, so there’s no real reason we should keep our domicile there if it isn’t beneficial to us. In the far off future we either want to settle down on a ranch and adopt a bunch of animals or get a little shack on the beach or own an RV Park… None of which would include Ohio. And definitely would not include our little town that is ripping us off tax-wise.

FLORIDA was my first choice.

I love the beach.
Warm weather.
Sunshine.
The beach.

But when I ~~called Progressive~~ – sike, they wouldn’t talk to me because Allen and I aren’t married, even though I’m on the policy also and he’s given them permission to tell me anything and everything numerous times… When I got a quote online instead, the insurance rates in Florida were absurdly high! I’m talking over double what we are paying now for the camper, truck and motorcycle. So, my dreams of becoming a Floridian, at least for now, are nonexistent.
When looking and comparing Texas and South Dakota, it was kind of a toss up.

TEXAS

Allen’s company is based out of Texas and we go to the shop usually at least once a year.
The truck is already registered in Texas because that’s where we bought it.
I like Texas. And BBQ.
But in Texas you have to physically take your vehicle in for a safety inspection once a year. The exception is if you are not in the state of Texas. But as soon as you get back you need to take them. I really would rather not drag this huge camper to a tiny state inspection place every year when we get back into Texas.

SOUTH DAKOTA

They have a really low sales tax, not that we will be making another big purchase super soon, but good to think about for when we do get the Smart Car.
They make it really easy to register vehicles, you don’t have to physically bring them into the state even.
You do have to stay one night to prove YOU are physically present in the state in order to obtain residency status and get your drivers license.
We’ve never been to South Dakota. So it might be interesting.

So with all things considered, it really came down to insurance rates. I got quotes from 6 different agencies over the last week. Yes, I spent many hours on the phone. Not super fun. But, I did get a feel for just how much rates vary from one company and agency to the next.

*** I should note that even though some of these companies say they specialize in full time RV insurance, some of the agents I spoke with seemed floored that we actually LIVE in our camper… What???

Also I learned that South Dakota and Texas used to be really cheap states for insurance rates but then full time RVers started using these states for a home base so all the claims were coming back to those two. Overall, across the board, South Dakota is the least expensive of the two. It’s still more than what we are currently paying. But, and I realized this when I started researching, we don’t have the right coverage now.

We are with Progressive for everything. When we traded in the old camper for this one, we just called and switched the coverage over. They asked all the same questions and we answered honestly. They asked where the camper would be at least 6 months out of the year and we said nowhere. We told them we live in it and travel all the time. They made us give an address anyway. So, we do not have the full timers package. I’m sure once that is added, it would bring our current rate up.

So with all said and done, we would definitely save money switching to South Dakota and it’s fairly easy to do.

We need to secure our mailing address with My Dakota Address.
Stay the night in South Dakota.
Get our drivers licenses.
Register our vehicles.
Switch our vehicle insurance.
Change our address with Allen’s work and health insurance.

We just need to time it right. You need to do everything within 90days. Our lives are hard to time. We are in San Francisco now, so we could just take the northern route when we leave here, depending on when and where we are going next. If we stay until winter and there’s snow in South Dakota then that’s not happening. If that’s the case, we could possibly just fly out there for a couple of days over Christmas break to take care of everything. But if we leave in a month and the weather is still nice, we could stop by and take care of everything. We never make plans, we make tentative plans, loosely. So the loose, tentative plan now is to become South Dakotans!

Image Transfer DIY

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

Yesterday when I got lost in the endless Pinterest maze, I was actually looking for a way to transfer an image onto fabric. Since I made my pillow covers, I’ve been thinking they looked a little plain. I found a solution (I think!)

I still want to add to this but, now I know how to do it! It’s super easy! You need:

A printer
Wax paper
Scissors
Fabric

That’s it!

Remember everything will transfer in reverse. Good thing this was a test on scrap fabric!

Word… And my Sutro coffee cup…

I chose my image and put it into Word. Then I cut a piece of wax paper to around 8.5″X11″. I had to finagle it a little to get it into the printer. I wound up sticking it between two sheets of regular paper then pulling the top piece out. Hit PRINT. Then put the ink side down onto your fabric and rub, make sure it doesn’t move or it will smear. And don’t touch the image on the wax paper because the ink is wet. Voilà!

I need to figure out what else I’m going to put on this pillow cover because the chair turned out pretty small in comparison.

The chair is a drawing I did when we finally had to get rid of the original. It was around 13years old and it finally gave out in Oklahoma City. We definitely got a lot of use out of it!

I just hung up these two guys this past weekend. The top one was a DIY I made for Allen’s birthday present. We picked up some Command damage-free picture hanging strips. They are kind of like Velcro but they snap together. I love all the Command products!

With a camper, space is limited so the more you things you can hang and keep out of the way, the better… But you can’t really put nails in the wall, and the studs are never where you need them to be. I still wanted to hang some things to make it more “ours”… They are holding so far! Here are some more Command products currently in use:

On the backsplash behind the stove

On the bathroom wall

In the half bath AKA broom closet!

DIY Pillow Covers!

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I thought I would take full advantage of this super foggy, windy, kinda rainy, gloomy day here at Candlestick RV Park and work on an indoor project. I bought a beginner’s sewing machine a few months ago and I haven’t gotten to use it a whole lot yet. I didn’t want anything too complicated. I’ve never used a sewing machine before. I did some research and decided on the Janome portable one in “purple thunder”! It was about $60 from Amazon. I’ve been trying little things here and there. I’ve made a pair of Allen’s ripped jeans into shorts… I’ve also made a couple of onesie’s into outfits for Charlie… Just by hemming them a little here and there… I got these at the Flea Market in Dayton, Ohio.

The Bengals one is 0-3months and fits a lot better than the cheetah print which is 6-9months

She was NOT happy that i woke her up to try them on…

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to cover up these hideous (IMHO) throw pillows that Allen has had forever. They are brown and dark blue and just have no personality. Yesterday I took a trip to Walmart (yes, a trip, out here in San Francisco) and I picked up some fabric. I had asked Allen what color he thought would look good and of course his answer was brown or dark blue. No chance. So I got some pretty teal stuff. I kind of followed this picture I found on Pinterest. They are envelope pillow covers. Super easy. I’m not a master seamstress by far! But I’m liking the sewing machine!

Here is my super simple drawing of how i did the cover…

Overall, I think they look great and add a pop of color!

The gold pillows I found at a thrift store in Cincinnati for 69cents each!

Before I got the sewing machine, I still wanted to make Charlie some clothes… So these are a couple of little things I made for her. She’s such a good sport!

fur coat and booties! She would only wear two at a time, no way was she wearing 4!

She didn’t mind this sweater. She got her arms stuck in the knitted holes while napping one day and that was pretty funny!

she absolutely hated the snood part!

Back to Reality

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

So I arrived in San Francisco Saturday evening. Allen picked me up from the airport and we went to get some food and a couple beers at Red Robin. Then we went home to CHARLIE! She was SO excited to see me! (She even peed a little…) Gosh, I missed her like crazy! I woke up pretty early this morning, I’m still on Eastern Time really… So I showered and got dressed and made some coffee then I took Charlie for a walk. I made a grocery list and printed some coupons… Charlie and Allen are both sleeping. In bed. Still. Lazy bums…

The campground (Candlestick RV Park) is SO crowded compared to last time we were here… All the little patches of grass are now just dried, dead, brown patches of dirt. All the flowers that were so pretty are now just thorny sticks with a couple blooms here and there. Candlestick Stadium is gone so the view is completely different. We have an end spot this time, so we look out at trees instead of the side of another camper, which is nice. It almost tricks you into forgetting you are in a black top parking lot. Almost. Not really.

Marcus, Allen’s coworker, moves in today right behind us. I think we should go buy some of those swimming noodles and put them on the bumper, because we will probably be touching. It’s that tight out here. I’m not exaggerating.

I Didn’t Leave my Heart in San Francisco…

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco…
But that’s where it is now.
I’m at the airport, waiting on my flight to take me home, to Allen and Charlie. I have my brother’s ashes with me. Specifically on he seat next to me. It’ll be his first time flying. We, I, have a short layover in Chicago then I’ll get out there at around 5pm local time.

I have a few very good friends at home (mine and Allen’s hometown/my mom’s) and I’m so grateful for them. I’m going to miss my mom like crazy, but we will be ok. I had the pleasure of getting to know her psychotic cat, Jack, over the last three weeks and I’m going to miss that little jerk too. She’s crazy. I’m glad my mom has her.

Allen says I need to get back in my routine because he can’t live on pizza rolls much longer! So that’s what I’m going to try to do… I just made a grocery list, in fact. I have a DIY post that I need to write, and also a couple of campground reviews from Allen, his stops on his way from Dallas to San Francisco. Also, I’m sure Charlie has grown at least a pound, so I’ll have to take some pictures of her! Now I just wish these next 8 hours would go really fast!

Getting to Say a Long Good-Bye

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

In my last post I talked about losing my brother Adam. Thanks to a lot of very generous, kind people, we’ve raised a lot of money on GoFundMe to help pay for the funeral expenses.
His funeral was Thursday evening. I thought it was beautiful. We didn’t have a reverend or pastor or preacher. (We didn’t want anyone to look at Adam negatively and judge him, especially the fact that he was gay) Instead my Aunt read a poem from my mom and then we invited anyone up who wanted to share a story or memory about Adam. I think a lot of his friends got up and said something. It’s all still mostly a blur.

We had pictures of Adam playing the whole time on a slide show and then when everyone was finished speaking, we played some of his favorite songs. He would’ve loved it. Missy Elliott “Work It” was the first one to come on!

Adam playing dress up through the years

We had been planning to bury his ashes next to his dad in a cemetery close to my mom’s house. But the other night my mom and I walked over to see where we would put the marker. We were both thinking, but not saying, that we weren’t sure if this idea fit Adam.

We eventually said, almost simultaneously (we do that a lot even when we don’t see each other for months) that his ashes should be spread, not buried. Adam has always wanted to travel and never really got the chance. The last conversation we had, he told me that Charlie was the luckiest dog ever because she got to go everywhere and see everything.

So I’m going to bring him with me. It’ll be his first time on a plane and the first place I’m taking him is San Francisco. I think he would love this. I’ve started compiling a wish list of places I’d like to scatter some of his ashes. But, as with the rest of my life, I know all of this has to stay a tentative plan. We will just have to see where the wind blows us.

I just read an article that gave me some really useful tips. I’m glad I found it. Thanks to the author.

On another note, Allen and Charlie made it to Candlestick RV Park in San Francisco safely on Friday afternoon. Our super nice neighbor Carmen watched Charlie while her husband Doug helped Allen squeeze into our spot.

Photos from Carmen to me during the action

Allen said we arent moving the camper until we leave for good. No NHRA at Sonoma this year. 😦

He took notes and pictures for me, well, for the blog. So when I get out there, I’ll post about their super slow trip from Dallas to San Francisco. (He couldn’t check into the campground until Friday so he was doing less than 500miles/day) Allen also wrote some Google reviews of the campgrounds they stayed in on the way out. I’m so proud of him! My mom joked that he’s going to become known as the angry blogger. I love it.