Follow Our Progress

December 7th 2003

We took the day off yesterday to relax and have some fun, so we didn't end up working on the bus at all.  Today was a different story...

The propane tanks hooked up to the bus finally ran out last night.  We arrived at the bus and it was just as cold as the outside air.  The blower for the heater was on, but all it was doing was moving around the cold air.  Now that they are both empty, I can exchange them for ones that will fit under the bus...

The forced air heater used up the majority of the gas.  I am not very happy with it since it doesn't do a very good job of heating up the back of the bus (even with all of the other vents closed).  It's also a bit too noisy for my taste.  I am thinking about either getting some smaller catalytic heaters or swapping out the one we currently have for 2 smaller ones so that the distance the heat has to be moved is less...  Becky and I need to keep our eyes out for a really nice wood burning stove that will allow us to make use of a blower motor to move heat around...  There's a project for another day.

	Becky and I were going through the garage yesterday and found a couple of gallons of paint left over from when we painted out bedroom at the house.  Becky and I picked the color out of a magazine advertisement a few years ago while looking for something to make our house a little less plain.  Becky likes the color so much that we decided to go ahead and see how it would look on the wals of the bus... The color is more or less a tan that looks really good with black and white accents.  We thought that since we like the white laminate ceiling panels, the color might work well to add some warmth to the bus and yet still allow us to keep open and bright look of the ceiling.
	It took us the entire day to get 2 coats of the paint on all of the interior walls that we had already primed. I am planning to paint the trim for the walls with a bright white to match the ceiling and fixtures.  That combined with the same bright white paint on the cabinet doors should look pretty good.  The paint smoothed out the walls a little more. The white walls looked pretty good, but it was just a little too bright and sterile I think.  The new color makes the room feel a bit more warm and comfortable.
	When we finished up the painting, and while the kids finished watching their movie, I went ahead and tackled a couple more ceiling panels. It's addictive...  I wanted to do the rest of the living area and start on the hallway, but when everyone else was ready to go I had to put my scrubber down and call it a day.