"Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place."
- Unknown
After acquiring Nancy Anna and I spent the next 3-4 months preforming the labor of love that is renovating and improving Nancy. This is an ONGOING perhaps never ending adventure with a bit of a learning curve involved. With so much that needed to happen, we started with something easy. Nancy’s exhaust was rusted from the catalytic converter all the way back, so we took that in to have replaced. Then, I try to save a few dollars by ordering tires myself and have a friend mount them. Well considering I am on the very front end of the automotive learning curve and have never even changed my own oil, I somehow manage to screw up and order the wrong load bearing grade tires costing me about $40 in unnecessary shipping. We finally take it to a tire shop and leave it to the professionals who have to special order 6 new tires.
Next, we find out that Nancy needs a special horizontal propane tank that had to be special ordered, so we tend to that while at the same time take here in to have her shocks replaced. Somewhere along the way, we order (2) 6volt AGM deep cycle batteries that would be hooked together in a series to give them 12volt capacity. We had to build a special battery bank under one of the couch seats inside of the RV to house the new and improved battery bank. When Trying to connect the battery bank to the RV I discovered that due to the number of wires and splice jobs, I once again needed help, so we take it into an RV shop where we also have them check the plumbing and gas systems for leaks. Sure enough, a small gas leak was found and fixed and also a new water pump was installed. Rest assure, we now have 2 working LP gas and carbon monoxide detectors inside Nancy. Meanwhile during all of this Anna paints the entire inside of Nancy, including the stove and all of the counter and table top surfaces. She also handmade curtains out of sheets of fabric and hangs other various decorations. Knowing that we will be boon docking (no electrical or water hook-ups) quite a bit on our adventure, she also mounts standalone battery operated lights and string lights all around the RV to preserve the precious charge of the on board battery bank. Let me see, what else. We rebuilt some of the wood that was around the coach, reinforced the cabinets up top that were starting to sag a little and my personal favorite, built a mounted spice rack. After living in her for a brief period, it became clear that Nancy had some major issues with leaks. After 3 tubes of caulk, two coats of roofing paint and 60 feet of roofing tape around the edges, I think she is leak free. Well, at least for now. If you were paying close attention you might have noticed that we did not get the broken gas gauge fixed. Sometimes life calls for a little sweat. ; ) The last thing we did before we hit the road was get all of Nancy’s belts replaced. Two weeks into our trek to Key West, we discover that not only is the alternator no longer charging the house batteries while we drive, but they aren’t being charged while we are plugged into our Honda 2000i generator. We take her to the shop to discover that the circuit switch and relay that sends volts from the alternator to the house batteries needs to be replaced as well as the convertor that charges the batteries while plugged in to shore power needs to be replaced. So we give the people what seems like our life savings and abracadabra, problem solved and she is good as new again. *Breaking news… While I was in Publix, Anna had a small mishap backing Nancy over a curve. The result was the ripping out of her entire Black/Grey water drain pipes sending grey water and ammonia filled black water all over the parking lot and making way for more fun renovations. I’ll let her tell that story and I will keep you posted on the result of this mishap. So far these are all of the updates (unless I missed something) that we have made to our dear ole Toy home. I am sure that there will be more updates to come and I will keep you posted. If you would like to help Nancy get her updates, please click the link on our website and let it redirect you to Amazon.com before you do any of your Amazon shopping. It won’t cost you anything and Amazon will pay us a small portion of the sales price. Thanks for being a part of this journey with us. -G Below in no certain order is a list of the renovations made to Nancy including the price associated with each. Toyota Motor home Acquisition Price $5,250.00 Muffler $220.00 belts $200.00 propane tank $210.00 converter $360.00 trailer hitch $50.00 tires $580.00 relay and circuit $175.00 Coach batteries $615.00 Seat covers $37.00 Wiper blades $22.00 Curtains $100.00 misc $70.00 Bike Rack $60.00 Tape Sealant (for the constant battle with leaks $105.00 gas leak, water pump, electrical work $512.00 shocks $340.00 Total $8,906.00
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We are two passionate millennials aspiring to live a budge-friendly and sustainable lifestyle, living on the road in an RV, traveling with three dogs.
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