Van-go: April 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

FIRST CAMPING TRIP IN THE VAN!!!!!!!!!!!

We went on our first camping trip in the van now that it is nearly done! We went with our friends Andy and Shelley and their dog Tango to the South Yuba River campground for a weekend of hiking and van amazingness.

First, we loaded everything up!

For now, the spare tire lives in the van. Soon enough, it will live on the new bumper.

Bottom drawer near the sink, with pot, pan, strainer, bowls, plates and water purifier.

Top drawer near the sink with utinsils and cups.

Drawers near the sink all closed up. The fridge is plugged in and getting ready for food.

Latch on the drawers in the pantry area!

Bottom (largest) drawer in pantry, with cutting boards, dog food, dog bowls, and dog poo bags.

Middle pantry drawer with snacks!

Top pantry drawer, more snacks, canned goods and tea.

The closet, top shelf, with clothes.

Secret hatch in bottom of closet stuffed full with two pillows and two sleeping bags!

Another view of the closet.

Shot of the inside overall. We're ready to go!

Shelley with Adam and the dogs.

Carex resting after our hike. She hurt her leg so laid low the rest of the day. (She's fine now.)

Dude resting!

Tango the garbage disposal chewing on a banana peel...

Brushin'

From outside (that's my face in the window in the pop top!)
It was raining so Andy and Shelley set up their tent under our awning. :)

Dude having a treat.

We ended up covering the floor with towels due to the rain--people and dogs
were tracking in a lot of dirt/mud/plant matter.

Bruce stayed at home!

So, it was a great trip, even though it rained. We slept great in the bed/seat. It was more comfortable and spacious than we expected! It was great. We definitely want to get the bed up top eventually--when it was raining and we were all hanging out in the van, having that upper space would have been handy.
The drawers and countertop were great. I sound crazy, but EVERYTHING WAS AWESOME. We loved it. The awning was so perfect to have in the rain, made it totally bearable. I think Andy and Shelley survived the ride in the back seat (even with three dogs...). We look forward to using the van all summer long!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Van bummer, new bumper, and more!

Well, our weekend started out like this:

And progressed into finding out we were out over $1000 to get the van's fuel pump replaced. This was a little unexpected since we thought there was an electrical problem since the battery has died twice and we realized that the radio was turning itself on (while the car was locked and the keys NOT in the ignition!). So strange. The van was supposed to be ready today (I even left work early to go pick it up), but then the mechanics broke a fuel clip and now it won't be ready until tomorrow!

Sheesh.

But, on the bright side:

We got the super giant amazing bumper!

With spare tire holder (and eventually will have a bike rack attached!).

And since the van was in the shop all weekend, the Rav got some love:

Full wash and wax! So shiny.

Two weekends ago we went to the snow. It was fantastic!

Some snow at the house! Since we had the fireplace going while there,

the snow on half the roof melted off.

Yesterday we went up to Auburn for some hiking and biking. Flowers were in full bloom!

And, lastly, the cat is awesome as usual:

Wish us luck with the van engine. Until next time...

Thursday, April 7, 2011

New awning!

Earlier this week we got our awning! It's black and the awning fabric is stripey greys and black.

It provides a really, really big covered space! It's great.

This week we also got the water tank. The new rear bumper (designed by Adam) should be partially done next week. It will hold the spare tire and two bikes (with an optional add-on 2 bike holder to total 4 bikes). Adam cut out the old spare tire holder (under the back of the van) and that's where the water tank will go.

We are really looking forward to summer excursions! We are going to Oregon as well as Idaho in the van, among many other weekend trips with the dogs.

Meanwhile, here's some other news...

Things are starting to really bloom at Liz's work. Check out this Poa secunda!

Made some peanut butter muffins. They are just slightly sweet and taste

GREAT with a little honey and a cup of tea!

These were supposed to be hamburger buns, but they are too deformed to serve burgers on. These are my third try this week, too! The first time:

I forgot the yeast. The dough is sad.

(I also made a great honey-lemon-mustard dressing! And cut up a pineapple that night.)

The second time, I remembered the yeast, but I forgot about the dough! Didn't remember it until about 14 hours later...no good!

So, third time I end up with more of a dinner roll situation than a hamburger bun situation.

Oh well, still good!

Right now Adam is playing with the new water pump as well (to go with the water tank). We'll keep you updated on our progress! (In van building and bread baking.)

My posts aren't complete without pet pictures.

Bruce the cat on our bed!

Usually our bed has a blue quilt on it, with a coordinating stripey long neckroll pillow, and beautiful shams. This is a half-made bed with a quilt my mom made on it! The girly floralness isn't exactly Adam's style for our own bed (he prefers the blue and puts up with my shams), but I see this quilt eventually living in a guest or kid's room. It's beautiful and the flowers were made by my great aunt and my mom put it together into a quilt. Love it!