Dirty Laundry

I’ve written a good deal about my thoughts on this wonderful lifestyle and shared the fun projects we’ve been a part of so far. This time I decided to be more practical and address the oft-brought-up issue of laundry.

One of the few things about the full-time RV lifestyle that poses a challenge to almost everyone is laundry. Not only the dilemma of whether or not to give up coveted closet space to install the compact, relatively inefficient washer/dryer, but the larger question, “what does one do with all the dirty laundry before it is washed?”.  Even a weekend warrior has this issue. Sitting by the campfire, fishing or swimming in a lake will produce some pretty rank clothes!

Let’s face it, worn laundry stinks. No matter how inoffensive it seems when you first take it off and throw it in the basket, cumulatively, dirty laundry stinks.  Only one of the five 5^th wheels we have owned over the years came with a laundry drop built in.  However, Champ has built one in all our campers and has perfected his design over the course of the other four, including the one we currently call home.

One of the perks of a 5^th wheel is the large storage area under the ‘upstairs’.  It is almost always located directly under the bathroom / hallway area and at least the front part of the bedroom. Therefore, the solution is simple in most cases.  Those of you in travel trailers and motorhomes will have to get more creative or trade for a 5^th wheel!

He puts his talent for using vertical space to work in a wonderful way when he builds these.  Usually the floor under the sink is the ideal place.  In our beloved Puma that we owned for many years he cut a hole in the floor in front of the stool and made a lift up hinged, trap door out of the flooring he cut out. A strap for a handle and the bathroom rug over the top and no one, but us, was the wiser.

[caption id="attachment_290" align="alignright" width="300"] Under the sink chute[/caption]

In our current Montana under the sink was the sweet spot. He used the section he cut out of the floor to make a partition around the whole. It not only keeps things from falling through but it creates a ‘chute’.

In the compartment area below the hole, he built a raised platform to set the basket on. This way you don’t lose valuable storage space for things like chairs, tools or whatever you store in your front  compartment. The pedestal is made from a steel plate with a flange bolted to the floor and PVC pipe as the vertical lift.

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignnone" width="300"] Raised basket in front compartment[/caption]

The platform itself is made from OSB and some 1” x 2” trim to keep the basket from sliding off. The whole thing is painted gray.  In the picture shown the lift has a bend. That was designed for our previous RV that had an obstruction to work around. If it is a straight shot from the floor to the whole you can simply make the lift a straight vertical line.

Another hack I came up with is the issue of line drying. Some parks won’t allow you to dry laundry outside under any circumstances. Even the weekend warriors face this issue with wet swim towels and suits. Or, if you’re lucky, the kids come up from the lake or creek muddy from head to toe and you literally hose them off in their muddy clothes before you let them inside. Those clothes need somewhere to go. Enter the shower rod. I bought a simple $10 tension shower rod. If fits nicely on the top lip of the walk-in shower enclosure and will also work with a small tub style. If you have a corner shower it won’t work very well.  Clothes can hang entirely inside the tub or shower to dry without dripping on the floor.

[caption id="attachment_291" align="alignright" width="300"] Shower rod between the slides[/caption]

If you have two slides on the same side, like many do these days, and the campground isn’t snobby about drying things outside, the rod fits nicely between the two slides and acts as an easily removable outdoor drying rod. Some small sections of 1" foam pipe insulation fit perfectly around the rod and keep space between the hangers so they don't blow together in a clump if it's windy.  The fancy clotheslines that mount to the back of the camper are expensive and can only be used outside in the place where you permanently mount it. This is cheap, easy and flexible. Favorite adjectives of all RV’ers.  After living in ours for a couple of months and dealing with doing laundry in public machines that tend to fry the clothes dry we opted to install a combination washer/dryer with a vent-less dryer.  For the most part it works well. The big challenge is not overloading it. Even what we consider a small batch is a bit much sometimes and the dryer doesn’t dry the clothes completely. Partial line drying speeds up the process of getting multiple loads done in a single day or couple of days.

There you have it.   Our dirty laundry solution, perfected over the course of 15 years and 5 campers.   If you want more detail on how to do this send me a question!

Until next time…

Planting for Butterflies

I have said, many times, one of my apprehensions about launching into the Full Time RV Lifestyle was giving up my yard and gardens. Gardening has long been a preferred method of therapy and I get great joy and satisfaction doing yard work and planting gardens that both feed me and make my surroundings pretty.  Our lifestyle decision has not only allowed me opportunity to continue to get my hands in the dirt, it has actually opened the door to even more opportunity than I had as a homeowner.  Who have thunk it?

My latest gardening adventure is adopting a bed in the Saylorville Butterfly

[caption id="attachment_285" align="alignright" width="300"] Entrance to the Gardens[/caption]

Garden. I have always known it was here but never fully understood the scope of the project, it's mission or how many people it takes to make this little corner of  Saylorville Lake the butterfly paradise that it is. A couple of other ladies who also live in volunteer village  this summer also adopted beds so it has become another way to get to know my volunteer companions and engage in a activity that we all enjoy.

The gardens boast over 30 beds that hold varieties of flowers both perennial and annual as well as herb gardens. I'm learning very quickly about the difference between host plants for the caterpillers and nectar plants for the butterflies to pollinate.

[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignnone" width="300"] Blank canvas[/caption]

The best part so far has been getting to take an empty garden and design it the way I wanted to. The ranger gave me a list of recommended plants and I let my imagination take over from there.  I adopted a large triangle shaped bed in the middle. The only thing growing in it was some chive and some sunflower volunteers coming up around the chive. I went out early one morning as the sun was starting to get high in the sky and got inspired to do an entire bed in yellow and orange like a sunrise or sunset since the location of the bed will be bathed in both early morning and late evening sunlight.

Volunteering to garden here is like having a fairy god mother for the garden.  I turned in my plant order and the plants arrived a day later ready to plant. I think Champ appreciates that I am satisfying my gardening itch without the long list of charges on my Discover bill that normally accompany this time of year.  There is also a watering fairy in the form of an irrigation system. All I have to do after planting is keep it weeded and looking nice.  I know that sounds horrible to some, but I really like the work.

This morning the sun came up, it started out about 50 degrees with no wind. I took my I-pod and blue tooth speaker to the gardens and went to work planting my bed. I can't think of a better way to spend a morning.  I set Tangerine and Yellow Primrose varieties of Marigolds, Lantana, Cosmos, Black Eyed Susan's . I also sprinkled a couple of Rosemary and Fennel plants to give some nice fragrance to go with the splash of yellow and orange.

[caption id="attachment_286" align="alignnone" width="300"] Just planted[/caption]

One of the things in Texas that was really amazing to me was the astonishing variety of butterflies.  In my yard in Iowa, I only saw an occasional Tiger Swallowtale, or a Sulfer.  Of course the Monarchs migrate through Iowa late summer and I always had milkweed around and planted Coneflower to entice them to stop at my yard on the way by.  Living in an area surrounded by cropland, the use of pesticides has severely impacted the butterfly and bee populations. Not to mention, the lightning bugs are all but gone in Iowa.

I am excited to see the flower gardens thrive and grow through the summer months, but more than that I can't wait to see what variety of butterflies will call this little corner of Iowa home. This will be a good place to hang out with my camera later this summer.

Until next time...