Week 3 - Paint, shop, paint, shop. Shop, paint, shop, shop, paint, shop

So, there were a number of reasons for originally wanting to buy our own van and converting ourselves (e.g. like a Mercedes/Dodge Sprinter van):
 

1. we could tailor how we wanted it to be laid out/look
2. we could be a little more ‘stealth’ with a panel van v’s a big RV/motorhome type vehicle (especially when it comes to trying to park or drive through small Central & South American towns)
3. it would be cheaper than buying one ready made
4. it would give me a project to do (while based in certain cities where Meg was planning to build up her chef’ing portfolio)

 
However, the US threw a few early curveballs. As previously mentioned, firstly, they don’t have a lot of what Europeans would class as a motorhome (said converted Sprinter van) – instead, as RV’ing is a popular past time, and the Americans like to travel around their own country - which has wide roads & lots of space, the campervans are proper RV motorhomes (even the smallest ones, are still longer & wider than European campervans). Secondly, because of the popularity of RV’ing, factories churn them out, so the market is awash with them, and therefore you can actually pick & choose any which kind of model you want. And finally, I naturally have a limit in my abilities, and putting in plumbing & the electrical requirements was something that was way above my station, and something we were not going to risk leaving in my hands. And this final point, is what ‘pushed’ us down buying a 2nd hand RV route (trying not to sound like a wimp who bottled in when push came to shove!) – we spoke to a few RV mechanic/renovation places, and the quotes we were getting back to just put in the electrics & plumbing was exorbitant (in one instance, the quote was c.$30,000 – and that didn’t include the cost of actually buying the van itself)
 
So, to bring us back to this last week, it was a case of getting Milton (our RV) to a state inside that we were happy with. Meg naturally wanted all pretty, flouncy, patterned stuff and bright colours. I wanted navy blue. Just blue (perhaps with a dash of white to add a bit of contrast). After a lot of backwards & forwards to Home Depot, and TJ Maxx, and Ross, and 101 other cheap interior/knitting/homeware shops we were starting to build a nice pile of ‘stuff’.
 
Thankfully, this week we were staying with Meg’s brother & family, and so it was a lot easier having a (warm) roof over our heads when it came to painting and decorating, and the pain that is renovating anything (word of warning – paint spray guns = paint gets everywhere. EVERYWHERE).
 
But, after 5 days, we were at a point where the walls were painted (a slightly more yellow than anticipated) and the cabinets were painted (a slightly less white than anticipated) which meant me could finally hit the road with a large chunk of the aesthetics sorted. Naturally that was a priority over anything mechanical. Mechanical stuff we’ll know won’t work once things fall off, or fail. And that’s what we’re going to have to be ready to accept next…