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Home, Home on the Range
Road Cabin 2 |
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A lot has happened with the old Road Cabin in the last two and a half years. Hasn't moved in and out of the barn, as was the plan. "Where's that gasoline smell coming from?" we'd ask after the monthly running of the engine. Then February or March of 2005 the smell was just insanely strong -- shut off the engine fast. Took a look and saw fuel drizzling down from the full length of the main fuel line. Yikes! Sudden black-smoke-belching fireballs are great entertainment, sure, but only from a distance. It was winter 2004 when we last spoke, so let's start by saying that warmth is a relative thing. The RV is a thinly insulated steel, aluminum and particle board box on wheels with only one functioning furnace out of two. But were we found frozen to death inside it and buried when the ground thawed in the spring? No. So, to that extreme we were relatively warm. And who likes warmth, no matter how relative? Mammals, that's who. And you know what? Mice are mammals, and they can get into an old RV easy, no matter how much time you spend plugging gaps and holes. They also build nests and die in the ducting and leave mouse pellets and pee everywhere, and then next time it's cold you turn on your one functioning furnace and there's a mad rush to abandon the RV due to the overpowering stench. On a more posotive note, we discovered that you can replace fouled air ducting in an RV with swimming pool vacuum cleaner hoses. In the deep of Texas winter (August) we would arrive at Osage Moon ten or so at night, open up the RV that sat in the shade all day and find it could be as much as 100 degrees inside. Sure some wine and packaged food was ruined, but not to worry, we have two air conditioning units! Of course you can only use one at a time. Oh, and that one A/C blows the circuit breakers in the newly replaced power converter after about 30 minutes (the first time, its lifespan gets shorter and shorter with each cycle). And while either runs, the roar is a bit disturbing, especially to Dotty. And when the converter blows it makes a loud thump followed by a horrifying screech. Dotty freaks out and won't come near the RV. On nights when the outside temp isn't going to get below the low 80's (by 6 am) we sleep in the Cedar Lounge on an air mattress.
But heat, too, is relative. We and our belongings have definitely not been incinerated into a fine ash. OK. I've been sounding kind of negative. So, one step-saving extra the RV provides is that sometimes it defrosts the refrigerator and your frozen food for you, without even having to be asked. Or without you even being there. How great is that? At least it has water and a kitchen. Well, it has cold water. Filling the hot water heater causes the plumbing to shriek for half an hour. Very pleasant. Then you wait another half hour for the water to heat. This is a process that can be avoided except in the winter when you have to drain the plumbing for every suspected hard freeze, or in the summer when you absolutely for sure do not need extra heat generated. Then there's the "kitchen". We cook in Dallas and microwave in the RV. But we don't microwave and heat the RV, and we don't microwave and cool the RV, and we don't microwave and make toast ... listen to the radio ... run a fan ... you get the idea. Afterwards, we haul our dirty dishes, flatware and containers to the Cedar Lounge and wash them. Then we haul them back.Compared to everything else we do at Osage Moon, it's merely time-consuming, but compared to how we live in Dallas it's almost aerobic. The toilet is very handy, too, but it is a chore: there are sewage and gray water tanks that must be drained via an old, leaky drainage system with broken drain handles. Let's just say there's just a lot of washing off of oneself and everything else. It's on the small side so I created this Hockney-esque image to give you an idea.
Which brings me to the RV door. That door. That obnoxious, darn ^$#^&, *+!^ &^%n!!*!&^%$dier O#$ JK>!!!+!!d-d-do .oorrr. !.. ..!...!!... .. . . And I know I speak for Amy as well when I add: that lousy, evil ##&, *+ !^ &^%n!!* !&^%$di&^%n!!*!^%n !!&^%n!! *!&^. !..& n!! ^%& ^ n! !&^ .. . DOOR!!!!!!!
How 'bout that porch? |
OK, I Feel Better Now. Here's the Update, by Scooter On the other hand, for two-thirds of the year, the living is quite pleasant. 'Ceptin' the door ... lack of motility ... kitchen. Yet the combination of RV, canopy/patio and cedar lounge creates a rambling, one-third outdoor, but quite functional living space. We sit on a hill and catch breezes from the southeast and southwest while being protected from north winds by the barn. The bed, as stated, is as comfortable as any we've ever experienced. And, the stargazing, pondgazing and birdwatching approaches the estatic.
And finally, the maintenance aisle. The barn is on the left. In between the barn and the RV is the sewage port that goes into our septic system, the water filter house (foreground), and the water, LP gas and electric hookups.
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