Current Location: Fort Toulouse Campground, Wetumpka, Alabama

Another catch-up post. That means we’ve been really busy.

When we last left you, we were in Florida at our RV lot. We decided to start working on the brown shed while we were there. Originally, we were just going to wire it up, but with the wiring done and a couple weeks remaining that we would be there, we went ahead and picked up lumber, insulation and drywall to start finishing things out a little more.

The inside of the shed is pretty much fully wired. Malcolm has one more circuit to run. Plus, we have to put a 50 amp breaker outside in our pedestal and run wire into the shed from there. Both of those will take some thought and, in the case of our pedestal, a part from an electrical supply house (missing a bracket for the breaker).

The shed is a 10′ x 16′ shed. We’re dividing the shed into two rooms. The back room will be 6′ x 10′ and the front room 10′ x 10′. The back room will have laundry and a half bath in it. The front room will be more of a living space. We’ll eventually put a couch bed in there along with maybe a desk. We plan on mounting a TV on the wall and Malcolm has run cable to the shed.

We bought a nice wardrobe at IKEA and used it to base the measurements of the divider wall. The wardrobe is sitting in the intended location in the picture, above. With the wiring complete in the front room, we decided we could go ahead and at least start working on the walls in that portion. Malcolm got the itchy job of installing insulation.

With the insulation installed, it was time to hang some drywall. Malcolm worked on that over a several day period and finished the front room a couple days before we were scheduled to leave.

Malcolm didn’t have time to tape and mud the drywall. We’ll do that the next time we’re home (late June) along with plumbing. We did buy a roll-around air conditioner to keep the space moderately cool while we are gone. Malcolm temporarily drilled a hole in the floor to run a drain hose for the A/C to keep it from filling up with condensate.

Val ran some items over to the thrift store near us and ran across a really nice set of Samsung washer and dryer, complete with bases. The thrift shop indicated that they worked fine. We ended up buying the complete set for $800 total. They delivered them to us the next day.

For now, the washer and dryer are just sitting in the front room. Once we get the back room finished out, we’ll move them back there into place.

Here are some random pictures from when we were at home.

This is our pet bunny. He likes to hop around in the driveway and set off our security camera while we are gone. He decided to sit outside one morning while we were eating breakfast, so Malcolm snapped this picture. A few days later, we noticed that there were two rabbits hopping around. We suspect we might return this summer to find even more.

Malcolm walked by the trailer one day and noticed a few puddles beneath the back of the trailer. Looking up underneath, he found water running out from towards the back and dripping off the frame. He also found water dripping out of the taillights. It had not been raining.

A quick trip to the roof revealed the fact that some of the sealant between the roof and the back cap of the trailer had split open at a low spot and was allowing air conditioner condensate to run behind the rear cap. Malcolm fixed that and now our air conditioner drips off the end of the gutter like it is supposed to.

Malcolm had removed a taillight to inspect and found that the insulation in the rear cap has a plastic liner on it, facing towards the cap. It apparently wraps at the top, as the insulation behind the liner was dry. We’re hoping that all the water just ran between that plastic liner and the fiberglass cap. It seems to have. If nothing else, it hadn’t been dripping through the cap more than a day or two.

We installed these IKEA magnetic spice holders in our kitchen. Mostly, they contain spice mixes instead of just individual spices. They sort of lend an artsy feel to that corner of the kitchen.

While we were in Florida, our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters got to go to Disneyland out in California. They spent the day there and had a great time.

There is a balloon ride company just up the road from our home and they apparently land nearby. We saw three different balloons coming in for a landing one morning after dropping our truck off at the shop.

Speaking of the truck, it was in the shop for the third time with a vibration issue. The first time we took it in, it had the original tires on it and the front, driver’s side tire was cupped. They recommended new tires. We put all new tires on it, had them balanced and the front end aligned. The vibration in the front went away, but there was one in the rear.

We took the truck to the dealer near our home in Florida twice. The first time, they balanced the driveshaft and said it rode much better. It didn’t. The second time, they recommended we have the tires trued and gave us a couple recommended shops. We took it to one of the shops and they trued the tires for us. It rides smooth as a car now.

Last Friday, we left home and headed up to Panama City to visit our son and to go to the Gulf Coast Salute air show at Tyndall Air Force Base. If you are familiar with the Buc-ee’s chain of gigantic convenience stores in Texas and their billboards, you’ll get a chuckle out of the billboards we saw along I-10 in Florida.

We went to the air show all day Saturday, arriving around 10:00 and staying until it was done around 5:00 PM. David had to work part of the day, but got to join us around 2:00. A couple of his friends were visiting for the weekend and we gave them a ride from David’s house to and from the base.

Malcolm took a lot of pictures with the big camera, but hasn’t gone through all of them yet. When he does, he will post them on our picture site (link here). Just head to the travel section to see them.

On Sunday, we went out to dinner with an Air Force family who live down the street from David. Otherwise, we relaxed and prepared to roll out on Monday.

On Monday, we drove on up to Fort Toulouse in Wetumpka, Alabama. We’ll be here for a week. Malcolm’s working in the trailer and Val is working on various sewing projects while we’re sitting still here.

Since we have the car with us, we decided today to go ahead and put new tires on it. They’ve been due for a bit as the car still had the original equipment tires on it. Though they had plenty of remaining tread, they are more than five years old and had some small cracks and weather checking on the sidewalls. Better safe than sorry. Also, the car turned over 40,000 miles today (and recently celebrated its fifth birthday).

Next week, we head to Nashville for two weeks before coming back here.