This is our Trek in our Roadtrek 210P. Hint: Scroll to a list of "Topics and Destinations" on the right. Our RT is a portal to a much larger world and we have established "lily pads" from which we travel and we'll post about those, too. Life is a Journey of discovery in our Motorized Alpaca, a "tiny cabins on wheels". It has been said that "Life Begins at the end of our Comfort Zone." Content and photos are original unless noted. Click photos to enlarge.
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G has a "swell" time kayaking
G has a "swell" time on Lake Michigan in an inflatable canoe
If you get to Chicago take one of the Chicago River boat tours. My favorite is the Architectural tour, which is available during daylight hours and also at night. At night there are all of the lights of the buildings to admire, too. Getting into the city and to the river can be a traffic and parking issue, which is why we take the Metra train into the city. City parking is expensive and at times non-existent. The City has put parking meters on just about every street that can bring in revenue.
The Chicago area has an extensive commuter Metra train system which extends into and beyond the nearby suburbs. On weekends a "Weekend Pass" is good for unlimited rides on all Metra lines. As of May 2018 cost for a pass is $10. For the Memorial Day weekend the pass was good for three days, 5/26, 27, 28!
Travel to and from other communities to Chicago's Union Station via Amtrak is also possible. For example, St. Joseph/Benton Harbor MI via Amtrak to Chicago is $46 round trip, plus any taxes per adult. Seniors and children get a discount.
On Memorial Day weekend travel into big cities can be challenging. For example, on Memorial Day weekend rather than drive an RV or car, a train ride can be preferable. No parking or traffic issues, etc. That's the method that was used for the holiday weekend to enjoy the river boat tour:
We had the opportunity to get a deck at the summer campsite. This is a 30 foot travel trailer which we call "the cabin." It's on a partially shaded site at a nice pond. G likes to call it "one of our lily pads." Will we be at this site in a few years? Probably, but we do have the option of moving it to another locale if we choose.
Today I finished putting the deck together, got the stairs in and also the new firepit. We're ready for summer!
I'm mentioned in other posts that our approach to "full timing" is a modified one. We use the Roadtrek to go to National Parks and to see things all over the U.S. With the Roadtrek 210P we can go just about everywhere a car can go. Think of it as a portable motel room.
But living full time in a 21 ft Class B can be a challenge. We've done it for up to 110 days when the weather was dry and comfortable. We've done shorter winter treks and camping in the winter can be challenging. I've posted about that before. We'd like to use this lily pad to explore more of MI, the Upper Peninsula. I'd also like to go back to Quetico.
One of our neighbors, the piney squirrel. He or she is back too:
Evening at the lakeshore. We walked to the lake from our cabin. A few tried to fly kites yesterday evening, but it was too calm (that is a kite to the right of the tree, at the water line):
We spotted a heron in a nearby tree:
The barn swallows are nesting. This one took a brief rest. Pregnant?:
Currently it is very quiet at the lakefront. This will soon change:
Updated October 15, 2018: Added a photo of the stained and completed deck
Original Post, May 19, 2018:
Spring has sprung, sort of. It was late this year and we didn't get back until April 30, choosing to stay in the warmth. Upon return it was cool and buds were just popping out on the trees. So we hadn't missed spring at all!
We unpacked, did laundry, some shopping for groceries and basically got re-oriented. We then re-packed and went to the "cabin" at the lake on May 3 and opened it up and freshened it up. Our "cabin" is a 30 ft travel trailer. It is one of our "lily pads" and it is more or less permanently parked at a campground; we pay a seasonal rate and winter storage to maintain it there. The Roadtrek will be parked nearby for a while. We'll be planning our next grand adventure, but if time permits we'll be taking some shorter treks.
Frequent readers will know that we have several "lily pads" we've set up and for all practical purposes we are "full timers" but we live in or at the lily pads for much of the year, using these as bases as we take the Roadtrek for adventures of a week or several months, hopping from lily pad to lily pad.
Currently we're prepping the cabin for summer. Some projects this year include building a deck, which is a major improvement. We'd discussed this possibility since we began using that campground in 2014 with longer stays commencing 2015.
However, the project has been delayed by rain. For more than a week rain has been nearly continuous, with only short breaks. Back at Mondo Condo there was a microburst a few houses away which felled a healthy spruce. This unfortunate tree was planted in shallow soil on top of clay:
As of yesterday even the campground with the cabin had not yet dried out. It's currently overcast, but dry as in "drying out." Here's a short video taken over several days at the condo, nearly a week of daily storms:
Now to build the deck at the cabin. Last year an annual resident vacated his site but left his deck behind. The new tenant decided he didn't want it and I got permission from all parties including the owner of the campground to dismantle it. So at the end of October 2017 I did:
Disassembly prior to moving the deck, October 29, 2017
I consider myself fortunate to get the deck for the cabin. The only problem was it needed to be deconstructed and relocated to my site. It measured 10 ft x 16 ft and the deck boards were fastened with more than 500 nails. It was an arduous job to deconstruct it last fall. Of course it rained.
I worked on it for a day with a hammer and wonder bar and removed all of the nails. Whew! Then I cut the frame into three sections, each about 10 ft x 5 ft. 4 inches. With help I was able to carry and transport the boards to our site. It was cool, raining and damp most of the time, which made the work more difficult. On the final morning with the decking on the site the sun came out.
I don't think we had the opportunity for a final campfire on our last night. On the final day we got up early and loaded the bikes onto the Roadtrek's bike rack, did the final winterizing of the cabin and winter prep of the deck components, including tie downs "just in case." We then made a brief stop before heading to the winter lily pad in Arizona.
Ready to cover for winter.
Reconstructing the relocated deck - May 2018
The reconstruction of the deck was somewhat easier than building one from scratch. I purchased about $75 in materials including nails, deck screws, (14) 4 x 8 x 16 inch concrete blocks, (2) 8 ft 2 x 4s (suitable for direct contact with earth) and a gallon of Cabot semi-transparent oil based stain.
We decided to relocate the fire ring, and will put in a larger one 36 inches in diameter, on concrete base.
G and I discussed options for where to put the deck. The awning is about 16 ft wide and we decided to put the deck parallel to the cabin and from rear door forward, roughly under the awning. I put it about 16 inches from the vertical side of the cabin. Using a string line I placed concrete blocks at the corners and decided it looked good.
The deck frame will rest on concrete blocks and will be above the soil, but on one end the top of the block will be only about 1/2 inch above the soil. That is the end farthest from the pond. At the other end, the top of one corner block will be about 3-1/2 inches above the soil. This is very sandy soil with a good slope to the pond. That's a good thing for drainage.
The blocks were positioned so that there is a slight slope to the top of the deck away from the cabin. I'd like the water to drain away from the cabin. This took a bit of juggling. The positioning of the blocks, digging holes to get the top surfaces level, assembling and straightening the three frame sections, adding 2 x 4 joiners and placing the deck planks on the frame took about 8 hours. A string line was used to check straightness and a 4 ft torpedo level was used to check just how level the frame is, in all directions of length, width and diagonal.
In all the deck frame rests on 14 blocks. The blocks are arranged under the framing so that there are three across the 10 ft. width. One at each outside frame and another in the center. For the 16 ft length there are also blocks, one at the ends and two in the middle. Because of the seam of the frame I used two blocks at each seam to be certain that both ends of the joint will be supported.
In this manner the frame will be supported by concrete blocks about every 5 feet in all directions.
Corner on three blocks
Based upon measurements, only 12 support blocks would be required. But there are joints where disassembly cuts were made. I wanted both sides of the joint to rest on a block. That required two additional blocks. Note the string line on the ground. That's how I got the sections to be "straight" before nailing together and adding additional 2x4 supports.
Two of the sections had a seam at a corner. To provide additional support and prevent the load being entirely on nailed sections I used 2 blocks side by side at both ends of that seam.
Here's the entire frame assembled, resting on (14) concrete blocks, and with 2x4s added to brace the sections at the joints. I added two pieces in the very center at the seams for additional stability. Only (1) 8 ft 2x4 was used for this.
Entire frame re-assembled and on (14) blocks
Satisfied with the frame and supports I put all of the deck boards on top of the framing. These are pressure treated pine deck board suitable for above ground use. (Common: 5/4-in x 4-in x 16-ft; Actual: 1-in x 3.5-in x 16-ft).
Deck boards resting on frame
Next Steps:
With the return of monsoons the screwing down of the planking will have to wait. Also need to do some work on the wooden stairs (lying on their side in the photo above). And, the firepit needs to be positioned at the end of the deck.
I'll light sand the top of the decking to smooth any splinters and with dry weather I'll stain the deck and the stairs. [Note: I used Cabot's "Semi solid deck and siding stain". I've used this particular product family for years and have always been pleased with the result. We chose "Beechwood Gray" as a neutral color.]
