All Cut Up

Yesterday I had a day off work, so I decided to be productive. I went to Service Ontario, where last week when I got a temp sticker for the truck (because we had intended on selling it) they told me I did not need an emissions test this year, but (run-on-sentence much) apparently the status has changed (now that I decided to keep the truck) and it needs an emissions test before I can get a new plate sticker. So I got another temp, and Michael has some running around to do.

After that I went to the Home Depot and bought some supplies for my neighbour's sign ...

When I got home I drew the signs onto the wood, printed the lettering to size (I will have to cut these out in order to use them as stencils later) and got to chopping. 

I am extra proud of myself for this part because for my sign I had Michael do all the cutting. I watched him to see how he did it though, and this time was able to get it all done on my own.

Once the cutting and sanding was done it was time for stain. I chose a colour called Sagebrush Green to compliment their trailer colours and because the Lord of the Rings has a lot of beautiful green scenery. It's also an antique-y kind of colour to compliment the type of sign it is as well as to match, but not exactly, my sign. Supplies cost me around $82. I am not charging them for my time, because they've been so helpful with a lot for us, but if anyone else wants a sign like this (or with whatever theme) I will charge a flat rate of $150-$175 depending on what is involved.

L to R
Isengard, Rivendell, Mordor, The Shire, Middle Earth, M3, Gondor

Next week I will cut out the lettering and get it painted on. We're putting the post in the ground today, but the signs won't be ready until next weekend (hopefully). Michelle (from M3) has no idea what it is going to look like. She only knows she chose the theme. I can't wait to see the look on her face. I showed her husband, Tim, and he said she's going to be thrilled. :)

PS. I'm going to stamp the back, somehow (suggestions!) with "Sign Designs by Samantha Rogers" ... maybe I've started a new career. ;)

It's a Trailer Life for Me

We have been towing our (various) trailers to many different locations for about a decade. Last week we went to a little local park for the week and within 24 hours we were in love with it. The park itself is gorgeous, the beach and water are clean, the people are friendly and welcoming to new people, but respectful of privacy too. It is close to the county bike path so if we wanted to leave the park to bike we could, or even bike to the park (about 45 minutes) from home. If I run around the lake 3 times it's about 5 kilometers. It is far enough away we can leave the city behind us, but close enough to home (it's 15-20 minutes away) we would get a lot of use of it, we could even drive to work. This park has everything we want ... so we bought a seasonal site for 2019.

We take possession of our site (M4) on September 4, 2018. The park is open until the end of October, so we will have two months to use it this year. Then next year it is open from May 1st to October 31st.

Me on my new site!

I can't wait to share all my trailer-ey crafts and pictures of our site as we make it our home away from home. We are trying to come up with a witty name for it ... like some people have it "So and So's Cozy Corner" or something like that. We'd like to come up with something original that reflects our family. BUT we also don't want it to be trashy. Though I do want THIS sign ...

So true.

We are all super geared up for our new adventure at the RV park. We told the kids we are taking down, and selling, the pool, since they barely use it now and they'll be able to swim at the park (and they all like the lake better anyway) so if you know anyone who wants it ...

Here are a few more pictures from last week.

Our trailer

There is fishing in the lake, but just not at that spot.

Erv

As you know we are an RVing kind of family. We have been towing trailers since we bought our first 1978 pop-up in August 2009 (actually it was Ethan's 2nd birthday). It was an old smelly little pop-up trailer with patches in the canvass (some we put in and some that were there when we bought it). I think we paid $250 for it. It was a fun little trailer. She was aptly named Patches.

Soon, however, our family outgrew it and we needed something with a little more room and a little easier to set up, so we sold Patches to another family looking to try out trailer camping. In August 2011 (actually, coincidentally, it was Ethan's 4th birthday) we bought a 1998 Coleman Casa Grande pop up trailer. This one had a tonne more space due to having a slide out dinette. Michael named her CC, as in "Canvas Castle" because of her size over Patches. Eventually as the children matured (especially having a daughter who wanted more privacy) we sold CC in October 2013.

We knew we were no going to go with another pop-up trailer. We knew we wanted something with even less set up when arriving to camp. We knew we wanted a bathroom in the next trailer. We knew we had to go to a hard-sided travel trailer. In May of 2014 we bought our very first travel trailer. She was a 1982 Prowler. Ugly, but loveable. I painted the ugly old wallpaper a lovely bright green (the rest of the inside was wood panelling) and made bright green curtains to match. Our family loves the Robin Williams movie RV so the kids decided to name her the Big Rolling Turd. (Seriously, if you haven't seen the movie already, DO IT, and if you have, DO IT AGAIN!). We enjoyed BRT for three and a half seasons, but her time was numbered. Even though we put new tires and a new axle on she wasn't as road worthy as we'd like. The dry rot was starting to show and we knew, although we loved her she wasn't going to be our forever trailer. On October 15, 2017 we sold her to a guy with a dog who towed her to a little local trailer park where she will spend her retirement. She'll probably live another 10 years just sitting in a trailer park. It was the towing and constant jostling due to bumpy roads that was going to cause her early demise.

Big Rolling Turd

That brings is to present day. Well, actually, it happened the same day as BRT left the building, sort of. On Thursday October 12th Michael and I were browsing kijiji as we often do, looking at trailers and dreaming about which one we would buy if we won the lottery. He found an ad for a 30' trailer with bunks (a must) at a reasonable price. It was a little longer than we wanted (we were looking for around 27'). Michael messaged the guy for some more details (year, model, etc.) so he could do some research. I was NOT at any way, shape or form for getting a new trailer at this juncture in time. I was actually against it and voiced my opinion loudly.

Michael persisted and made an appointment to go view the trailer on the following Saturday morning while I was at work. Saturday my phone was going NUTS. Michael sending me pictures and texts telling me how amazing this trailer was, and that it was actually a 27' box and 30' from tongue to bumper, which was great, because we could still fit it in our driveway. 

He told me he and the guy had negotiated the price WAY down to what we wanted to pay because the guy would rather drop his price and give it to a nice family than sell it to just anyone for his full asking (and he had other offers that were higher than ours). Michael gave him a deposit. He spent much of his day texting me to convince me it was the way to go. If we sold BRT the difference would be next to nothing for a trailer that would be safe for towing and better for our family ...

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and made our way back to Dunnville so I could have a look at the trailer and give my final okay. It was BEAUTIFUL. They owned it 13 years and had taken such good care of it. So I said 'okay' and paid the guy the remaining balance.

After a couple of hiccups with the tongue jack and a leaky valve stem on one of the tires, Michael successfully and strategically backed it out of the tight spot it was in. Before we pulled away the guy shook our hands and THANKED US for being the ones to buy it. He explained again how he and his wife were happy it was going to have a family making memories in it, like his did for 13 years (his sons were 5 and 2 when they purchased this trailer) and was on the verge of tears. We got in and he took a picture for his wife and we were off. 

We headed to the nearest Canadian Tire to get the valve stem replaced. Lo and behold who showed up? Trailer guy. Any other person and I would have thought him to be stalkerish, but he felt bad about the valve stem and wanted to buy us lunch. We had already bought and eaten lunch so we said our good-byes again and off he went. Well, five minutes later he walked up to me, shoved $25 into my hand and said "that's for your lunch." When I tried to protest he insisted even harder, so I thanked him, he wished us well and he left (again).

The travel home went well, though the winds were high. The trailer pulled nicely though. Much nicer than the Big Rolling Turd.

This time *I* named the trailer. I took another moment from the movie RV and I named the trailer Erv.

Erv

On our way back we got a phone call from someone wanting to buy BRT. We asked them to come back to the house around 2pm, when we'd be home. I was anxious because unless we sold BRT we literally did not have any place to park Erv. When we got home, we temporarily parked Erv on the side street (still attached to the truck). To make and even longer story short (because this post is long enough) we sold BRT for what we wanted and by 3:30pm we had Erv set up in the driveway in her place.

Dinette (with the place mats Valerie gave me)

Master Bedroom

The boys' bunkbeds

Owen and Ethan get the super cool bunk beds near the rear of the trailer. Michael and I, of course, get the master bedroom at the front of the trailer. Miss Lily gets the sofa. It's not as bad as it sounds. It pulls out into a double sized bed, so there will be lots of room for Lily and all three cats.

Dozer approves

We are doing our first camp-out in Erv this coming weekend. It's going to be great! Everyone is super excited about it. :)