Round two

I visit almost all the same places as the first time I went out to Montana in Pika!

The first stop is Blue Earth to see the ever friendly Jolly Green Giant.

At the Badlands again, no iconic geology but I love the open grassland!

Finally made it to Montana! This isn't near Big Sky, but it is the same campground I stayed in last year, a delightful free Forest Service campground right on the way!

Finishing touches

Pika is ready to get polished up for the next trip out to Montana. First I had the most adorable helpers to wash the outside.

Pika is using my shower before I do!

Don't worry, this isn't child labor, she loves playing with the water!

Next the padawan gets help from the Jedi, er woodworking, Master with the new storage shelves. My dad cut some beautiful walnut to adorn the face of the shelves.

Ok, wood glue isn't quite a light saber...

The counter is a perfect height for using as a desk if I sit on the bed.

I got a lot of help with Pika, and of course my sister helped a lot in the last days. She put grommets on the bottom of my shower curtain so I can easily stake it out and not have an embarrassing wind blowing exposure situation. She helped sew my new comforter cover. And probably some other things not pictured or described. 

We figure out a way to attach straps to hold down the bins while Pika is in motion.

All ship shape! 

Kelly also helped cut the car shades to size for the back windows. She thought I should take a picture while it looks so organized, because it probably won't stay that way. Those boxes are full of food, mostly dehydrated. I'm ready to feed myself all summer!

Sewing velcro on to my shower curtains so they stay attached or open up.

Pika is finally ready to hit the road again!

Back at it

Most people who heard about my camper project, or saw the creation process were supportive and confident of a positive out come (at least to my face). But there were a few nay-sayers, one notoriously tactless neighbor said he wanted to see what it looked like in a year, because he knew that there would be problems with it. Well, it has been a year, and I'd have to say it held together pretty well!

The biggest issue were some cracks that formed in the outside, especially on corners and edges. I think what happened was I used the wrong wood filler, all the cracks happened at joints where there was a particularly crumbly wood filler. Well, the jostling over back roads probably had a little something to do with the crack formations...

This is my door, which had the most cracking, and the least fiberglass resin.

I remedied the issue by carving out along the cracks. 

It felt wrong cutting right into the camper, though my surgery ended up with some good results.

Then I filled in the cracks with good waterproof, paintable, flexible caulk. 

Now for the plastic surgery.

Don't worry, as soon as the weather is bearable Pika will get a bath.

After I wash Pika, I'm going to do a touch up of the paint. Now on to the improvements! One of the main reasons I wanted a camper (versus living out of my Subaru) was a way to shower. It never happened last year, which meant a lot of using friend's houses to shower and bathing in VERY cold mountain streams. A few youtube searches, a serendipitous Lowes purchase, and building on old ideas, and finally I have a shower!

Outside view of the set up shower. Basically two shower curtains strung around the awning wing of Pika.

There is the basin to catch the water, my sister actually bought this at Lowes, it is a cement mixing basin. Now my bathtub. Don't worry I'll buy myself one.

It is quite spacious in there! The shower pump is a weed sprayer, with the nozzle cut off and replaced with a sink sprayer attached. 

I also wanted more storage space, and a table/counter inside Pika. My dad helped me start on a two shelved counter in the front. 

Deja vu!

Bare bones at this point.

Pika in the Wild

Ok, you all faithfully followed the creation process, but also wanted to see what it was like to live in. Since it's now been almost a year since the Pika began to be created, I'd better show you how it fared in the wild.

In the Badlands, I like that the colors and shapes sort of match!

This is a site a used a lot over the summer. 

Note my table set up, and the kitty litter box to help stabilize it in the back.

Last day of work before the big trip

We worked into the night that we left. Partially letting that patch dry with the multiple coats of resin, and also other finishing touches.

We got to add the inside walls!

Our epoxy resin masterpiece! Once that resin gets on something, it totally ruins it as we've said, but one man's trash is  Evan and Kristy's art.

Kelly added a stencil of the Pika name. Unfortunately, it just didn't have time to dry and when she pulled off the tape, it pulled off the paint. 

Evelyn added an adorable Pika on the side. Also didn't quite come out as hoped, but with a little touch up it might look nice again. 

We leave tomorrow, when uh oh....

Our first two drives with the Pika ended up in minor disasters. They were both resolved pretty easily, but could have been a lot worse. The first one, I was taking the Pika around the block on a test run, and it went great. Until I was trying to back it up into the drive way. It was hard to do, and not because it's hard to back a trailer up into a spot, but because it was physically hard to turn the wheel. Now I know that my muscles were very tired from all the hard work, but it should not have been that hard! So we took the Subaru to mechanic, and they said "well, if it isn't the belt, and it isn't leaking, it is probably the power steering pump." Which would take many days to fix because they would need to order a replacement pump. Uh oh, we are supposed to leave on Friday and it is Wednesday! They said they would take a look at it during the day to "see if it is anything stupid". Turned out, there was a crimp in the line leading out or into the pump, making the power steering fail when it wasn't moving fast. So first crisis averted, or at least dealt with.

THEN on Thursday we drive it in to have it weighed officially. We were going to do that Wednesday, but obviously car troubles... It got to the weighing station just fine, we are very proud to announce that Pika was 850lbs at birth. Then, buoyed by our light camper, and successful driving, we decided to go to the DMV to get it registered. Luckily we took the back roads, because over a train track we go, bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump, then "SCRATCH!!!RATTLE!" the Pika came off the hitch, and starting dragging by the security chains. I put on my breaks as soon as I realized what that chain rattle meant, and the hitch went right through the front of Pika. Oh my, that was devastating. We were lucky it happened while we were still in Columbus, so that we could patch it up. The more concerning thing is WHY it happened. There is a bolt inside the coupler that tightened it, and we think that it just wasn't tight enough before. But no worries, it has not happened again, and it made it across the country!

The damage.

Just one little hole is ok right?

I have a bad feeling about this. 

We'll patch it up in no time! Exactly two days no time, because that's all we have!

Pretty painting.

This door will never be done! 

Well it looks good on the tape!

Evan helps make the camper water tight. Unfortunately that seal didn't work (too thick) but then when I put a different seal on, it didn't really work either in the pouring rain that we had on our drive to Chicago. 

Window installation 

I can see out!

Kelly working late into the night.

Don't worry, we didn't just make Kelly work late into the night, we did too!

Oh no! You painted over all the beauty! 

"That didn't look too hard, let me try"-Kristy "Kelly, it's too hard, can you help me?" - Kristy when she was trying to cut out the little tiny trees.

I can handle painting over the tape, that I can do.

Inside walls!

You figured it out, this post spans a couple days. Those last days we had for working were spent working, not taking photos! We do love our blog followers, but I mean, we also love to have a finished (sort of) product.

Painting!

Before...

More before...

Ah, painting in the hot hot sun that is making the paint dry before I even roll it once is so much fun!

I thought it looked sort of cool just like this.

But no! paint on!

Ta-da! After! Well, after all the "Dove's Cry" has been painted on. Next we paint on the "Pine Bark" on the lower level. 

Teaser! We have a specialist, our resident artist. 

And some Wild Kingdom, a starling eating another bird. I've never seen that before! That's probably what made the dove cry.