A brief Hiatus…
Firstly, an apology. Sorry we haven’t been very present online the past 3 weeks. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind in all honesty.
After one last stop in Austin to see family before flying home, we returned back to the U.K. for a three week interlude. These weeks had been planned to be spent getting over jet lag, seeing family and friends, sorting the house and packing Noodle (the van).
This started well, we got all the soft furnishings back in and we took Noodle down to see my family for a late Christmas on the first weekend. The second week was then the start of some minor upgrades to Noodle.
We’d decided that the driver’s cab end of the van was staying far too cold over night. I had toyed with running a heating vent to the cab during early design but had decided against it. What I hadn’t considered was how much heat would get lost through the sliding door and cab, despite thermal curtains and reflective blinds. Now this isn’t really a problem, more of a comfort thing when getting out the shower. The shower itself has a heating vent after all.
The solution was to run a narrow pipe with small opening right down under the kitchen units. Some painstaking designs, redesigns and trawling the internet for available (and not too expensive) parts followed. Eventually I settled on a design that could be hidden behind one of the kick boards that we still needed to install. Unfortunately this did mean having to remove one of the under cabinet LED strips due to lost space.
Another couple of bits included a chopping board that could sit in the sink as an extra bit of work top space. It was a bit more rustic than my normal work, but the router slipped at one point and to save money I only had that small piece of oak left. So I had to make it work. It’ll do the job for us. Finally we got a door in the auxiliary water tank cupboard in the garage, some final paint touch ups and some extra security measures installed.
It was all going so well and the second weekend saw us spend a fun weekend with a large friendship group for our annual meet up. Unfortunately however, being weak and usually non-child exposed, we did end up getting some nasty colds afterward. These colds wiped us both out for the first half of this last full week we should have been prepping.
I managed to get the upgrades done in small stints and by the end of the week Ellen was improved enough to start some of the garden and other prep work she had planned. I however was taking a bit longer and as I write this, I’m still only about 90% recovered. This did mean that we had to cancel some plans to spend the last weekend with some other friends. We desperately needed the time to get things done.
To add to the stress, after getting Noodle and Toto (my Bike) through their MOT’s early, we took Noodle for a weigh-in. Thankfully we were under the new upgraded weight - oh I don’t think I ever put that in the build series, yes, we’ve upgraded Noodle’s weight and gotten our cat C1 licences! 😅
Despite being under, the rear axle was getting a little high, it’s still legal with a full tank of fuel and 2/3 full of water. But it makes me nervous getting within 100kg of rated. I won’t go into details, but the guys who specced the uprating had said we could increase the rear axle rating if we added air bags to the rear axles. So, for peace of mind we rang around madly to find a way to get air assisted suspension fitted, a relatively simple job surprisingly, before we left… in five days time…
This is where I have to give it to John Wilkinson (message us on Instagram if you’re in the midlands and need his help). He came recommended by a company “M-level” whom we’d seen a leaflet for at the MOT place. They manufacture self levelling systems for motorhomes and John was one of their recommended install mechanics. I called him up and he said it was likely doable if we could get a kit in time. He rang around that afternoon for us but couldn’t find one but between us sourced a kit online that he said would do the job and would be here Monday and he could install Tuesday. Nothing like last minute!
That planned in, we could then focus on final touch ups in Noodle over our now free weekend. A deep clean inside and out, chip and scuff repair to paintwork and removal of some of the tackier vinyls at long last. Then it was time for a test pack… I’m pleased to report that we had space to spare! Though, due to weight we can’t get carried away and have to pack sensibly. 2 weeks worth of clothes max.
The last couple of days were spent frantically sorting the house out, getting haircuts, last minute Amazon splurging, nervously praying the air suspension goes in without a problem and doing final touch ups we forgot about.
But then Tuesday morning arrived…. It turned out the kit we’d ordered didn’t fit! After some minor panicking, we found one in Boston, a 2 hour drive away but we couldn’t collect until 4pm… John offered to work that evening at M-Level’s garage in Stoke if we could get the van there. We couldn’t thank him enough and I set off at 2pm on a freshly washed Toto. She’s always our saviour when speed is of the essence and has been missing from the blog thus far. The weather was drizzly but ok for the two hours to Boston, the very helpful chap at the suspension place was understanding and got me on my way pretty quickly. Back again and the heavens opened as I was behind a lorry on a sketchy stretch of the A17. Needless to say, Toto is now filthy and there’s no time to wash her down again. An adventure bike’s natural state is covered in mud I suppose.
Finally back by 6pm, Ellen and I transferred all the kit to Noodle and I drove the van another hour over to Stoke. Thankfully, the kit all fitted perfectly and I was on my way home by just after 9pm.
Drama over (touch wood), we are now just doing the final checks and chores around the house and van before we set off on our way to Portsmouth!
After 18 months of prep and planning, the trip is finally starting!
