So what does one write about in a travel blog when one is not traveling? Current Projects? Previous Travels? Someone else's Travels? All of the above?
In the last blog post I let you in on the fact that we are planning our great California Escape. As we approach our departure we are formulating a plan for living on the road and establishing a home base elsewhere.. Our home base will basically be a tiny home and a huge garage and workshop.
A Tiny House is something that has always interested us and after traveling in our converted Sprinter Van we believe it is right for us. The huge garage and workshop will be to continue our hobbies-turned-work. We love woodworking and I've taught Darin how to sew!
We converted our own van and have helped others with theirs. While collaborating with many folks over the past few years we have come up with some pretty neat items that make van life more fun and comfortable. The first item we put on the market is our K.I.S.S. Airflow Window Bug Screens. We produce these with ABS and for the four most popular high-top vans. These slide into the glass channel of the driver and passenger windows and work great for added airflow and preventing a swarm of bugs gnawing on you at night.
Recently, we've been fine-tuning our van for 4 season travel. This is our latest addition to the van and the shop. The Rear Door Blanket:
This will stay put in our van for all 4 seasons. It fully blocks the draft through the back doors, including the hot air. The zippered screen and flap provides airflow when desired and a view through the back windows.
This last picture is from the inside of a friend's Revel. We weren't quite finished with the Blanket but wanted to see if the fit worked on the Revel. The Blanket is held on with magnets and a few snaps. While we had this Revel we also fabricated a side Slider Door Blanket to address the massive draft from the slider.
Oh, and just for fun we made a Hall Privacy Blanket for the Revel that blocks the bed area from morning light if you travel with an early riser or to keep the AC confined to the bed area. This is also put up with magnets, a tension rod or snaps - You choose.
Storage is always an issue in small spaces so we are always tweaking things here and there. This Revel had a handy overhead shelf just over the driver and passenger seats. We loved it but didn't like the cost so we did some research and found one for half the price and customized it for our tastes.
This shelf is already very handy. AND we are almost done with what will be our next product in the Shop. So stayed tuned for that! Not sure when our next post will be but you'll get an email if you are subscribed - you will want to see what we are making next.
All these fun and useful items have been great for passing time while we continue to plan our next home base and get through the next couple of months.
Since we are not Spring-Chickens anymore, sometimes there are things that need to be fixed... Sooo, COVID-19 caused backlogs in so many things but none that really impacted us until we needed to schedule surgery. Now we wait... we plan... we build... we sew... we dream of travel.