Travel and exploration = mental positives. Nat. Geo.

National Geographic article expresses the positives, the mental benefits of travel. I cannot agree more!  Get out there and explore!  Live the life you imagined!
Enjoy.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/05/planning-a-trip-is-good-for-you-especially-during-pandemic/

New Travel Atlas

For Most folks...

 and for a few of us with Motorhomes/RVs...

Art by Clint Norrell                   
Humanitarian, artist, cartoonist, illustrator and author of the novel "Tug's Volunteer".

a story of a schooner sailor and a Peace Corp volunteer

How lucky we are. Yes!

 (I was writing a friend and decided to post it here)
Note that I've included added info in parentheses.....( )

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Hmmm, seem to feel the need to keep on writing!

I trust you do not mind but will actually understand better than most(he is originally from south of our border) what I'll be saying.

Got a call a few days ago from a Guna(indigenous tribe living mostly on islands off of the Carribean coast of Panama) man I stay connected to as he is my link to his tribe.  He speaks enough English and Spanish that we can get thoughts across and that's what's needed.  I live within his complex when on his island and had hired him in years past to work on my boat in the San Blas.  Anyway, I had been trying to help him get and keep his son educated.  A bit of this and that and some funds, direction etc. 

He Called a couple of days ago. (2nd time in a month)

"Panama is locking down.  All Guna's to return to their islands from the mainland (Panama City mostly).  No one In or Out until further notice.  School closed.  No food! No way of making $. Scared."

They get radio, some tv and some phone info from Panama City so of course hear of the Holland America cruise ship stranded with deaths aboard and with limited BS coverage of news now a days, they focus on that.

The Gunas live in huts/ bamboo walls, palm frond roofs, dirt floors.  3 generations(5-10 people) usually inside a 12 x 20 or so hut. No interior walls, hammocks and a constant wood fire burning in a pit over in a corner.  Mainland river water, now held in 5 gallon dirty old buckets sitting outside(mosquitos).
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As an aside, see:  http://ahunaho.blogspot.com/
(a hand up not a hand out)
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Food is now only available from their personal fincas(farm plots) on the mainland.  some bananas/plantains/yucca and rice(rice pre-purchaced before all of this), but running out.  For families that have a capable man and ulu(dug out canoe), they get some small fish but they and that is a minority.  Families, many without a man, have to depend on hand outs from neighbors.  Really bad situation especially when you consider this will most likely go on for a few months and that all of the population there on crammed into huts separated by maybe 2' between each for walkways.  How long can they exist like this?

IF...or when, just one gets sick, there is no way of testing, no way of stopping the spread as all on these islands have to move about somewhat, so it will spread hut to hut almost immediately. Note too that there is basically.. NO medically trained people anywhere that is available to help.

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Down in the Darien Gap, the other area I'm connected to, the missionary couple I've worked with are forced by military patrols, not to leave their property.  Roads closed and monitored.  For families there in this remote land, that depend on day to day shopping and trading resources in local markets, they now have no access at all to food. None.

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I've been trying to stay on top of the migration issue.  Many from Africa and Middle East are still flooding Ecuador(which is being nailed by this virus right now).  From Ecuador, they are transiting to Columbia and into the Darien Gap jungles of Panama.  There foot path is linked to indigenous villages along the way to access food, shelter and supplies often previously brought in by smugglers etc.  How is all that going to play out?  Not good!

So, although we here in the US can feel we are stressed out by this and even if some of us might die, I can only reflect on how lucky we are even now, have been and will be.  We are a blessed nation as are many advanced western societies.  I count my blessings.

Tahlequah, Oklahoma

August was just too dang hot and humid to continue working hard in the Florida outdoors.  I was trying to complete work on my Class C Tioga RV, rebuilding the front Cab Over and also do a paint job.  No way!  The sweat was dripping off of my eyelashes before completing 5 minutes of work.
The heat and especially the humidity was overwhelming, and I'm not a kid anymore.  Add to that, the fact that rains were occurring several times/day.  Yes, rain overnight and in the early morning left everything wet.  Then a late morning or early afternoon shower with an additional one in late afternoon, usually stronger...wetter.  Then after dinner time, still another.  This prohibited me from getting anything significant accomplished.
I then opted to see what Habitat for Humanity had in the way of needs for volunteers to help build homes around the country...further up north that is.
I found one of their affiliates in Tahlequah, OK was in need of a couple of volunteers so I signed up.
Figuring that OK was further north, a higher latitude and also inland, so should have less humidity, I signed up for a couple of weeks.  I also signed up to be the team leader at another build still further up north in western Virginia.  That was for another month with a 3 week break between OK and VA for travel, exploration or ? along the way.

Wrapping up work on the Tioga, here in Florida at my Tree House as I call it, I quickly loaded the few things like groceries and a few personal items into my Foretravel and headed NW.  Taking my time, I visited a couple of friends along the way in the panhandle of Florida, then headed NW through Alabama and into Mississippi. September if you are not aware of it, is Love Bug season.  These tiny flying bugs fly united...procreating the next generation in flight.  Makes a mess on every vehicle traveling for nearly 2 months in early fall.

 I try to take roads new to me, so I get to see something a bit different each trip.  Also, I try not to use interstate highways as much as possible, trying instead to use older roads, that used to be the linking pathways between towns of America.  That way, I see the America that was...a bit of the past never seen anymore by the hordes that flow mindlessly on Interstate Highways.

An hour or two or three before I feel I want to quit driving, I'll query my GPS unit as to Campgrounds-Public(not private ones like KOA etc.) that will be in my intended path. Try to use State or Federal campgrounds as they were usually built in remote locations, off the beaten path and are in locations that capture something nice, unusual or just something to be saved for the population to enjoy.  Corps of Engineer sites along waterways or even some county or city parks have camping, so they too are options.

One such location in Mississippi caught my eye so I drove the few extra miles out of my way to give it a look.  Sadly, my GPS led me astray and I ended up in no man's land but finally found the campground.

Only 2 other campers were staying there so I was able to park far from both leaving me with the feeling that I had the whole place to myself.  Wonderful luxury!

The place was on the side of a lake, quiet and peaceful.  Loved it!

The rest of the trip to Tahlequah was uneventful.  Once there I found my parking spot, provided by the affiliate, at an extension to property owned by an assisted living facility.

 It was a large grassy area, set up for 6 rigs, with electric, water and sewer hook ups and plenty of space between coaches.  Perfect.
It was also located in an area with plenty of open land, to walk my dog Pete.  He loved visiting some miniature horses kept in a farm setting at a local school for troubled youths.  He so much looked forward to those walks!  When the horses saw hi they would walk on over... Pete would just shake with joy!

The build was a single family home, a smaller one of 2 bedrooms, one bath.

 A prior team had been slowed down by days of rain.  Our group of 4 rigs, which eventually included a total only 5 people, did very well getting the roof trusses installed, sheathed and roofing shingles done.  Windows and doors installed as well as all siding, trim and caulking done.
 A HS class for 'construction technology' spent a couple of hours on 2 days,  'learning and doing'.

Once we got the house enclosed and weather tight, the pro's were called in to quickly install the electric, plumbing and also to blow in foam insulation.  Once that was done, we cleaned up the inside, finished the trim outside.

At this point, we headed off to work on a country home, 35 minutes out of town where we helped to finish off a good bit of interior sheet rock taping and mudding, and also exterior siding.

 The town itself is a University town. Note the Cherokee language which was a newly created written language, created by a Cherokee in the late 1800's.  Many of the local population today have learned and continue to speak the language.

 The university was originally a school for Cherokee children.
 This area is home to the Cherokee tribe today and the original site that was the 'instructional center'

for the tribe is now open to the public as a Cultural Center and Museum.
I visited it and was impressed with the inclusiveness of all aspects of their history.

Live the life you've imagined!

That's certainly tough to accomplish isn't it.  Life gets difficult sometimes and moving forward can seem daunting.

Last week I finished up the renewed rebuild of the front cab over section of my 23' Tioga Class C RV.  I had previously removed all of the original decals and sanded the rig in it's entirety.  With some minor effort I will be ready to paint it all here at my house.  Perfect no, but it will look just fine when I'm done...clean and white.

Camped at Ft. Desoto Campground, Pinellas County, Fl.
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Without missing a beat, I headed down a bit further south to clean out my condo's garage, which had been rarely used for auto storage, but rather a work shop/hobby shop for my boat efforts.

                                                            When I arrived this week

                                                                    2 days later

What had been left in the garage after my physical move up to N. Florida was mostly things with a bit of value to someone, but not to me. Wanting to leave the garage ready for new owners required a clean out.

Just after 6 a.m. Wednesday, I awoke to notice a bright trail in the eastern sky.  Yes, another launch from Cape Canaveral, this time an Atlas rocket.  It was beautiful in the early morning sky and also noticed an Osprey sitting atop a sailboat just a few feet from my view.  A beautiful morning for sure.

I finished the garage clean up the night before, had carpets cleaned in the condo itself a few hours after viewing the launch but felt inspired to add a touch of art to the garage to express how I was feeling.

 Which is.... try to

7.B. Cab Ober Rebuild, 2019

As mentioned 2 posts ago... I am in the process of rebuilding the front Cab Over section where there used to be a window.


 I originally did this project in 2008/9 to address leaks caused by the OEM front window.  In case you are not aware, virtually all of those front windows in this generation of Class C's leaked, causing most RV's that had them to now be in the junk yard.  The front cab over just rotted away and most folks did not know how, or could not pay for the expensive repairs.
Luckily, I saw the problem and rebuilt the rig immediately after purchase, when it was already17 years old.

However, in a rush to finish this job, I misjudged how many coats of resin I should apply to the new plywood exterior, choosing 1 coat rather than 2 or 3.

A pin hole in the resin caused a bubble of delamination to appear 8 yrs later at the top center of the 2' x 7.5' x 1/4" fiber glassed panel I had used to cover the window hole.
So now....the rebuild.

Using a heat gun (hair dryer would work as well) I removed the strips top and bottom of Eternabond tape I had used for 2 yrs. to prohibit any more leaking and hopefully postpone this project. Heat the tape and pull.  Remove the rest with a scraper and lacquer thinner and small pieces of paper towel.

Sliced the fiberglass with a razor knife and ripped off some to see how bad it was.  obviously all this panel would have to be removed.

I set my circular saw at 1/4" depth and made plenty of cuts, then pried the small sections off using a few hand tools.

Cleaning up carefully all of the old caulking and all surfaces is critical.

A slightly different approach and style for this build, but framing is kind of standard.

Cut insulation material to fill the voids and caulked all edges, sealing the sections well.

Covered the framing with a new piece of 1/4" ply screwed and glued, then using fiberglass cloth 4" tape and epoxy resin(could have used polyester for speed, but I had epoxy on hand from my boat work-yrs. prior).  All edges and seams were taped, then fairing compound spread over all fiberglassed areas to be worked further.  (this is just like automotive body work).

I wipe on a bit of Dykem machinists dye in lacquer thinner (could have used less dye here) to mark all work.  When I sand, the color is removed except for low spots. Sometimes I can sand only once to get the surface perfect, but not often.  Usually it takes 2 or 3 times of adding filler, then dye and more sanding until I get a paint ready surface.

All edges-interior and exterior- were 'rounded using a router and by sanding and then several applications of fairing material.  It's 'sculpting'.
A lot of tiring work, near brutal....especially since the temperatures here have been in the mid 90's and heat index over 100!

Once or twice/day and every night, we had thunderstorms, so I had to cover the work with a plastic sheet often.  The weather really slowed me down.

The plywood was then covered with a layer of Filon(shown as the white material) purchased through an Amazon seller, then the filon rec'd 4 layers of fiberglass cloth epoxied over all edges.  Then,  covered with fairing compound until all was smooth and ready for paint.

December it was in white primer.

Paint completed in my driveway.  This was difficult as painting outside....I had to pay attention to wind, rain, bugs etc.  By doing it one section at a time, I was able to prep, tape and paint without any negatives. It took some time to complete the entire RV, but now she is finished and every item reinstalled on the exterior.  I'm very satisfied with the results!

Now finished without graphics.  She's white, clean and shinny!
Any comments?

7. A. "Important"...READ (Doing the Cab Over Front Window for a 2nd time)

As mentioned in  "Project: 7 New Wood" (in Index on the right side of page), I was rushing the job of rebuilding the Cab Over section including removal and covering the front window opening, so my wife and I could return to our boat in Guatemala.  I also had a cold I was fighting off.  Ever heard of the expression, 'never have time to do it right, but always find time to do it twice'? 

Why is that Important? well folks, my plan was to make a wood panel of 1/4" plywood, cover it with epoxy resin and cloth, install it over the old window opening and paint the entire front cab over.  Done!! Easy and a good fix.
However, when I applied a layer of fiberglass cloth over and around that wood panel, I should have put a 2nd coat of resin on the cloth than being satisfied with only one coat.

Front panel in 2009, looked Great and worked as planned with the exception that I should have:
 #1.    coated the wood panel that covered the old window opening with more resin so as to absolutely water proof it. 
#2.     run a bead of caulk/sealant along and around the entire panel when I was finished. I did not, thinking my panel adhesive would do the job but it didn't... My bad!  I rushed the resin coating, putting on only 1 coat and I could have caulked the finished product.

The Front Window project was completed early 2009 but in early 2017,  I noticed a very slight bulge(delamination) at the very top/center of the panel.  I then applied a 2" strip of Eternabond tape over both the top and bottom horizontal edges of the panel to make sure everything was sealed going forward.  Not as pretty as a job correctly done, but absolutely stops any future leaks from occurring.

 Over the next 2 years, the delamination to show more, as the water intrusion had already rotted the wood in the center of that panel and it just took time to be noticeable.

Therefore folks, I'm writing this to inform you "if" you do the job as I did in 2010....give the panel a 2nd or even a 3rd coat of resin, so there are no pin holes in the cloth that are not sealed with resin.

If I had done that, I would not be redoing the front...which I am doing now but a bit differently. No worries if you do it my original way but adding extra resin for sealing purposes.  The original idea is fine, just give the panel more coatings of resin to completely seal it and then....caulk around the edges.

Project 23: Solar System

A long vacation for the summer of 2015 was decided upon.  I understood the benefits of being self reliant.  Having what you needed without relying on outside support and having what's needed to fix anything  along the way is crucial to maximum safety and pleasure.  Being a 'traveler',  (Tourist= Point A to Point B and back to Point A)  (Traveler = Point A to Point B to Point C, D, E.... etc.  Life as a 'journey') I build what I need for boat or RV and set it up to take care of all essentials.

Enter 'Solar'.

Not expecting campgrounds with power while visiting Alaska or the many many miles before getting there, I rethought what I might need on a daily basis. Power, both 12 VDC and 120VAC was going to be needed.  I had earlier installed a 2nd House battery under the dinette seat, fed by 10 gauge wires off the Ford OEM installed battery located up in the cramped engine compartment.  The original had lots of connections already, so one more small one was deemed OK.
Later though, I installed a small 'modified sign wave' (square wave) inverter for simple 12VAC loads like shop vac, microwave, electric drill etc.  The things you might need on occasion but hopefully without the need to start a big generator(which I had already removed).
Project 19: Generator Upgrade

I ordered a package of 3, 100 watt Solar Panels

Installed the 3 on the Forward roof of the Tioga

and a MPPT Controller with optional Remote Monitor, in March 2015.  All worked out well but could have used more House Bank batteries. The land of the Midnight Sun has much less sun anytime when compared to my prior experiences in the Lower 48.  Alaska's high Latitudes significantly reduced the power of the sun's rays.  The output of the panels were augmented by my frequent drives. The engines alternator kept introducing a charge to the batteries, so between the alternators charge and the solar charge I was receiving, all was OK.  However, in Alaska I was using my Propane Heater more than I've ever done before.  The electric motor powering the heaters 'fan' was a constant draw on the batteries, so having a larger bank of House batteries would have helped keep the voltage up.  I made note of that.
When I returned to Florida 8 months later, I added another battery a few feet away from the other 2 (that now makes 3) batteries in the "house" system.  Have to admit though, having these additional batteries fed by only a 10 gauge wire limited the benefits when charging by the engine.
The solution from many standpoints was to increase the House Bank of Batteries to 4 - 'Series 29' big boys and install larger wiring.

Now, Dec. 2018, I did just that.

Engine Compartment Driver's Side BEFORE:

One House Battery was the Original configuration from the factory and still the compartment was cramped.

Wiring was 'do able' but NOW I've cleaned up this area and made the whole House Battery Bank 'System' better.

Engine Compartment Driver's Side after relocating this and ALL house batteries behind the driver:

Engine compartment will get a good cleaning next!

First mod: Adding a single additional battery tied into the front OEM House battery.

(under forward Dinette seat)

Later increased number to 2  batteries and placed under the rear dinette seat.  This was for the Alaska trip.

Installed these under the Rear Dinette seat instead of Forward Seat.

 but NOW...., the final Upgrade:  Went back to the Forward Dinette Seat and installed:  (4) large "Series 29" Marine/RV Deep Cycle Walmart Max-EverStarts.  (Walmart brand,  if needed anywhere in the US). Total Amp Hours now in the House Bank is 350.  (RC@ 25 amp figure for battery, multiplied by .4167)
(Installed them under the forward Dinette Seat/same compartment as Water Heater.)

Added a 3/4" separation panel between batts and Water heater and had to shift some plumbing lines to make room.

Also improved the quality of A.C. power by upgrading from my earlier less expensive modified Square wave inverter to a Pure Sine Wave 1000 Watt unit.  This output equals the quality of electrical power at home, which is important especially for sensitive electronics in the RV

Mounted this PROwatt SW 1000 Pure Sine Wave inverter in the small space below the refrigerator.  Perfect!!

These mods, can be done to most any RV.