Finding Balance

Since we've moved in to our "Home Base", we've had to put the Journey into a storage lot.

Poor thing looks so sad there, but we visit it several times a week to slowly move items we're going to use in the house.  But one thing we've been adamant about is that we are going to leave enough items and clothing aboard so we can take off at a moments notice and not need to buy or bring anything other than food to roll down the road.   Of course, sometimes this makes for some comedic moments with us.

Marti:  "What do you want to make for dinner?"
Paul:   "How about a nice roast in the crock pot?"

A few moments of silence between us, until it dawns on us both that we don't have a crock pot in the house. Yet.  Off to Walmart for a crockpot.

Paul:    "I hope you like the home made chicken soup I've made."
Marti:  "I'm sure it will be good, pass me the ladle so I can put some in my bowl."

Another few moments of silence until we realize we don't have a ladle.  Yet.  After using a soup spoon to get the soup into bowls, we eat it and then, once again head to Walmart for a ladle.

We are getting there, the house is almost completely furnished with mostly all the necessities now and with a bunch of stuff removed from the Journey, I'd swear it is sitting a couple of inches higher on the suspension air bags.

Some things have returned to us from storage at our daughter's house that we chose to leave behind most of the time.  Here are the "Tadpoles" in our garage awaiting a little TLC so to be ready for Key West where they'll come in real handy.

It's not been all work, though. Being close to our grandsons Andrew and Owen, we have had the time to build the two mini bikes I bought them.  They've taken to them very well and are enjoying riding and working on them.  Never too young to learn to turn a wrench.

I another week or so, the construction of all the houses should be complete, the work trucks and dumpsters will go away and I can bring the Journey down to the house for a day to wash it, unload a few more things and winterize the water system.  It's been six years (!) since I last winterized it and I hope I remember how to do it.  Just because we are not living in the Journey 24/7 right now doesn't mean I won't take care of it as much.  We intend on keeping it and enjoying travels with it for a long, long time.  :c)

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Removing Diamond Shield From Our RV

It's about time I got back to writing about our Journey RV, because, after all, this is supposed to be about our RV lifestyle.  So I'll skip over talking about new houses, assembling furniture and skinned knuckles (lots of skinned knuckles).

The Diamond Shield protective coating on the Journey's nose served well for the nine years (already?) we've owned it, but the glue started growing mold under the plastic, making the Journey look like a diseased abomination.

I tried various things to remove the plastic, some parts it easily peeled of in big sheets, other parts it came off in little tiny pieces.  My fingers cramped after a while so I found plastic razor blades at Ace Hardware, which help a bit, by the plastic still came off in tiny, postage stamp sized pieces.

I got a recommendation to try a decal removal disc made by 3M.  I gave it a try after ordering it from Amazon.  I chucked it into my drill.

It didn't work well at all.  While it did sort of remove the top layer of the plastic, it melted the glue underneath into a really hard surface.  It took a very long time to even get that far.

Honestly, I was at a loss as to what to do.  Peeling the Diamond Shield off piece by piece would see me working on it until the next century.  There is a lot of surface area on the front of a Class A motorhome.

I was watching TV on my new home's 55 inch unit when I came across a car show where a custom car shop was removing a fancy car body wrap using a heat gun.  It came right off.  I decided to give that a try, after all, what did I have to lose?

With the heat gun on low, I heated a four inch square section at a time and then used the plastic razor blade.  The plastic shield peeled right off easily, with one down side.

The down side was in some spots, the plastic came off, but the glue remained behind, doing its job, sticking to the paint.  I tried some WD-40 on the glue to see if it would come off.

For the first time ever, WD-40 let me down, it didn't work on the glue.  So I tried another penetrating oil.

The PB Blaster worked well.  I sprayed it on and let it soak for five to ten minutes.  It turned the glue orange.

The glue residue was easily scraped off with the plastic razor blade and a little elbow grease.

The result was clear, undamaged paint, which I put some wax on.  The generator hood came out clean and shiny as if it was just painted.

Now that I know the secret to removing the Diamond Shield, I have the rest of the nose to clear off...when I'm finally finished putting together the furniture and other items in the new house.  ;c)

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