Lexi & Chris in a Truck Camper

So, yeah, we make a stop off by some outlets to get Chris the basics. ⁠
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When he will be reunited with is suitcase...is yet to be determined.⁠

4/4

So, now we are dialing in a minimalist shopping list: in the history of our travels, what does Chris NEED?

So far, I have:
Underwear
Socks
A nice shirt
A casual shirt
A pair of pants
And *waves hands vaguely* running gear

3/4

I shake my head, "if you didn't put it by the door, I didn't bring it in.⁠

We look at each other, shrug, and go to bed. Because it is too late and we are too tired to get worked up about clothes.

The next morning, however, we have plenty of energy to direct towards fashion faux pas.

2/4

The last few days on the road have been a blur. We were winding down before bed on our first night when I looked around and asked Chris: where's your suitcase? (Yes, we still store most of our clothes in suitcases.)⁠
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Chris looks around: "you didn't pack it?"⁠

1/4 #roadtrip #packing #woops

Truck camper parked in the desert

Time to get away from all that ice, ⁠
Time for the desert and not taking easy rhymes.⁠
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Sedona is a special treat this time of year. It is technically off-season. It can snow and get muddy. But it's still so much warmer than where we were.⁠
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𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 @roamlab 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴⁠

🙌

When so many things are going wrong, there are also so many ways to show support.

Whistles are an important tool to draw attention when we are in danger.

This is about running
This is not about running

Still good eating!

Welcome!

Mundane things are magical when you make them happen. Until there is an award category for "most satisfying mod," pulling a chilled treat from our conveniently located ice chest will be reward enough. ⁠
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What can I say? It's cool.⁠

Woman carrying a board into a camper

The walls are going in!⁠
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See that board in my hand. It's going to frame our refrigerator. It's going hold that food locker in place while we bounce around dirt roads so that, when we stop for a cold one, it will, indeed, be cold.⁠
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#diycamper #diy #camper

Weather doesn't care about your holiday plans or that meeting at the beginning of the week. And we've learned not to push our luck.⁠
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What's your story?⁠

4/4

The next morning, we drove past the remains of a semi that tested its luck and came up snake eyes.⁠
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That said, we should only be facing cold this weekend. And this time, we aren't trying to cross a massive blacked out state with empty grocery shelves, like in Texas a few years ago.⁠..

3/4

But we swore we wouldn't camp that cold ever again.⁠
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The same goes for tornadoes.
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I pay a lot more attention to weather reports while driving through tornado alley these days. We don't want to spend another night rocked to sleep by gusts of wind whipping through a Walmart parking lot…
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2/4

What is the most extreme weather you have camped in?⁠
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The temperature is dropping with the leaves, and we are about to take a test trip with the latest camper renovations. ⁠
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Temperatures will be freezing. ⁠
Not the worst we've camped in…

1/4 #roadtrip #camping #weather #outdoors #nature

Step 1 is reframing the camper access⁠. Getting the fit right took a long time. But it feels good to finally be sealing the aluminum frame in place.⁠

4/4

Our first version debuted in 2022: a primarily foam prototype that relies on compression to seal out the elements. It's been good enough to get us through these last few years, but I'm working on something more tailored to our build. ⁠
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3/4

But we have one vehicle. And there are times when we need to take the camper out of the truck bed. This has made many parts of our build more complicated, including any prospect of a pass-through. ⁠
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We've been experimenting with solutions for years:

2/4

Woman applying sealant

Passthroughs are (generally) for permanent builds. If the camper never parts from the truck frame, it's not that hard to add a portal from the driving area to the living area. Bolts, glue, and sealants are acceptable mounting materials to isolate this passageway from cold, noise, and moisture. #diy

I’d never heard of that before!

Thank you. That is so true. Taking a breather and I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

One more coat of paint or do I call it a day?

Everything with fiberglass just takes a little longer:

Laying down fiberglass. ⁠
Curing epoxy. ⁠
Sanding down the excess epoxy. ⁠

But, very soon, it means we will have cabinets that are lightweight, mold and fire-resistant, and brand spanking new.⁠

Woman sanding fiberglass plank in front of a camper

Do you know what this is?⁠
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This is the beginning of cabinets. The built-in storage that I have long yearned for. No more stacking boxes. Just in time for elf season, I'll be able to place things ON A SHELF!⁠
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#diy #camper #maker

Are there diving bells for handy-peeps?

Because I am so tired of washing fiberglass dust out of my hair.

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Well, not quite. When the temperatures are above freezing, the heater still works. But below freezing (you know, that time when you REALLY need a heater) we get nothing. ⁠
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So, we roughed it until the weather warmed up and promptly forgot about the problem until now. ⁠
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Woops.

The highway was in the process of being plowed. Snow piled high on both sides of the pavement. It took a while for us to find a point where we could pull out of traffic to restart the truck. ⁠
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The truck seemed to run all right after that, but all that blew from the vents from then on was cold air.

Truck camper driving along a hillside of fall color leaves.

The heater is broken.⁠
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It actually happened a while ago. We were driving out of Tahoe, descending into Nevada, when the truck suddenly seemed to spaz out. The acceleration became sluggish, and something else was just not quite right...⁠

#truckcamper #roadtrip #fail