Sunday Summary #133

Paint, Installation, and Building

Hi there,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 133rd Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written in northeast Florida.

Last Week.

We had a few unexpected pivots in the past few weeks. Two days after returning home from our friend Chris and Aly’s house, our fridge and freezer arrived. We are super excited with our fridge and freezer as it’s larger than the typical van fridge and freezer with a dedicated freezer. After opening the fridge and measuring, we compared the size to the compartment we built in our kitchen cabinets only to find out it didn’t fit 👎 We were in denial for rest of the day and decided to deal with that challenge the following day 😂

The next day, we made the tough decision to cut our beautiful kitchen cabinet we had just made in half. 😳 After cutting the cabinet in half, we did another test fit with our fridge before starting the multi-day process of painting all of the cabinets. We choose a cream color for all the cabinets, except a dark forest green for the kitchen cabinets. We love how they came out and are so excited to see the van vision coming to life 💚 Installing our cabinets was invigorating. For the first time we were able to see our vision really coming to life and envisioning ourselves using the space, cooking, working, and lounging.

Next, we created our seating/lounge area through our driver’s side window. Jen, the architect, had a specific vision for this area, including a solid wall instead of a shiplap often used for van walls. Well… we know why people use shiplap over the 1/4” plywood for walls in vans as we did… because it’s easier. After we attached our wall to our furring strips, Elliot cut out our window from the 1/4” plywood and mistakingly cut it too short with the router around our window sill. So, like most projects, we learned from our mistakes from the first trial and then retried the second time with much better results. 💯

This Week.

This week, we’re finishing up our seating area with paint, finishing the installation, and installing drawers under the seats. After, we’ll start plumbing! Elliot is particularly excited about this task since it’s a completely new skill set he’s going to learn.

We’re also excited to welcome two very good friends visiting us in their new van: Andy, Gwen, and Aiden from Abroad Reach Travel. We could not be more excited to see them and check out their newly converted van. If you remember from our Great Loop Documentary, Andy and Gwen were our good samaritans who became friends. We saw them last summer when they welcomed us aboard their sailboat, Acadia, for a week of sailing the Penobscot Bay. After a change of plans due to Gwen’s cancer diagnosis, Andy and Gwen bought a van earlier this year and finished their own van build this summer. Gwen and Andy have converted two vans into campervans, so we’re excited for their upcoming visit. 💕

Videos.

Since our last newsletter, we published three videos on YouTube. We hope you enjoy watching the van come together. 😊

Blogs.

We’ve been writing many new articles on our website that are great FREE resources for anyone traveling by water or land. We include a Boater's Guide in our travel guides that compiles pertinent resources for people traveling on the water, from marinas, anchorages, provisioning, and more!

Currently on the Great Loop?

We wrote a few articles on our website that are great resources for anyone traveling down the Midwest rivers this time of year on the Great Loop. Most boaters (all that we know) stop in Paducah, Kentucky, after the 200+ mile stent on the Mississippi River. We have a detailed guide that’s perfect to read on your cruise so you can best utilize your time in the charming little town. We also wrote two articles on each of the side trips going down the Cumberland River to Nashville, with a wonderful stop in Clarksville, Tennessee, and the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, with a highlight of visiting Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Lastly, we have our Great Loop Locks Spreadsheet that lists all of the locks with their contact information, mile markers, notes, and more for sale in our store.

• Best Things to Do in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama

• Ultimate Guide to Paducah, Kentucky

• Cumberland River Cruising Guide

• Best Attractions in Clarksville, Tennessee

• Tennessee River Cruising Guide

• Great Loop Locks spreadsheet

From the Eyes of Ollie.

For Halloween, I was Super Woman! I’m the hero everybody loves, and my superpowers for making food disappear are quite strong. We went trick or treating in my neighborhood, but nobody had dog treats. That’s okay; maybe I can show them my superpowers next year. I’m always superwoman, but I only dress up once a year.

Gratitudes

Between our visit with Chris and Aly a few weeks ago and our friends Gwen and Andy visiting us this week, we feel so fortunate to have so many handy friends in our lives! By far, the greatest gift Chris gave us was his time and teaching us so many valuable lessons and techniques of woodworking (he took 7 days of PTO for us 🤯). Andy helped us on our boat when we traveled southbound with them, and to have friends who are genuine teachers… they let us learn from them, including making our own mistakes, and give us that space to grow is so incredibly valuable. We feel beyond grateful to have such kind friends who reach out and help us 🫶

See you next Sunday!

Peace and love,

Jen + Elliot