Who designed these things anyway?

 (I’m skipping a bunch of stuff that I might write about later like clearing the house and moving into the RV.)

I can’t believe that the RV manufacturers don’t have at least one woman involved in the planning and design of their products.  If they did there would be better organizations options in the storage areas.

My RV has a fairly large amount of storage for the size of it.  But there is nowhere to store anything.  I mean how many items do I have that are 18 inches tall and narrower than 12 inches?  How many of us travel with hanging clothes?  Don’t we mostly wear jeans, shorts, sweats, and t-shirts?  So why do I have two odd shaped “closets” with 14” hanging rods?  Dishes?  Do I stack them 14 inches high?

I have some problems.  Where to put the food and dishes and clothes.

 

Problem 1:  three 18” high, 18” deep and 11” wide areas behind a cupboard door with stuff piled in.  Most of my food was in a plastic bin on the floor or sofa.

Solution:  I wanted to make the shelves adjustable so I could use uprights and shelf brackets but they would be hard to put in without the strong support in the RV structure.  So I decided to use pegboard and pegs.  I started by cutting “sides” out of the pegboard and deciding where I wanted the shelves.  I put 5 pegs across to hold the shelves.  These shelves were Rubbermaid shelves cut to the proper width.  I used different sizes so the shelves could be at different depths for taller items (like the sliding shelf in a refrigerator). Once inside and with the shelves in place the sides stayed up.  But before I could get the shelves in place they would fall over so I put self-stick Velcro of the back and pressed it in place.  Now the cans and packets have a place to reside.  I added button lights to put some light on the

Problem 2: having to use wire stacking units to fit dishes in the cupboard and messy over sink storage. 

Forgot to take a before photo
Trust me it didn't work.

Solution:  Why not do the same thing as inside the “pantry”?  In this case, I didn’t want them to be adjustable so I cut braces to hold the shelves and glued and screwed them in place.  Easy to do for the dishes but the over the sink cabinet was too long and wouldn’t have enough support so I added some cross pieces at the cabinet stiles.  Also, the wide shelf wouldn’t go in because of the close space between the doors and had to be cut so the cross brace holds up the two sections of the bottom shelf.

I had actually removed some items and put them
in the pantry already

Narrow shelf on top so taller items can fit in
front on the middle shelf.  Rarely used items
in the blind corner.

Problem 3:  How to store all the jeans and t-shirts.  Once again pegboard and glued and screwed braces. 

Used hanging "sweater" storage that left the
back third unusable.

Solution:  Since the closets are at the front of the RV they are curved like the front so figuring out the curve was necessary to give the shelves support all the way to the back.  I measured the distance to the back where I wanted the first shelf to be (13” from the top) and the depth was 22”…down 12 inches and the depth was 26”…down another 12 and it was 30 and at the bottom 33”.  It took two runs with the jigsaw to get it right and the left side had to be cut back to account for a ½” support. 

Oh that curve!

I made a boo-boo here by cutting them both right side up instead of back to back so the left side is the back and the right side is the white front.  

I then had to determine the height of each shelf and how many I could put in.  I have some storage “drawers” that are 5” so I made one that height and the others 11”.  There is a 3-inch drop into the closet so I put a shelf at that level and made it split to have “secret” storage.  

I bought a full sheet of melamine and had HD cut it into 14.5” widths that I could cut down to the correct depth.  Since they didn’t have edging on them and the saw left chips in the melamine, I bought white “Duck Tape” and edged them all around to prevent any catching or snagging.  Now I can use the entire closet.  

I need to sort through and take some of the t-shirts out since I only wear the same three or four. 

Cut a few sections off this hanging storage
and put it back in to hold extra clothes.

The second closet I only put one shelf in and use the rest for hanging clothes (I know I said who travels with hanging clothes, but I brought two skirts and nice tops for emergencies).  That one will be used for storing extra linens and off-season clothes since it is so hard to get to and my suitcases live on that side of the bed.

I have some extra materials so I might do some modifications in the bathroom storage which is similar to the pantry but I have baskets in there now that are doing the job just fine.

Trip to see the King

Not Elvis.  Tut.

While I was sitting at work even before I had decided to retire I was listening to the radio station (KFI) out of LA that I like and heard that the King Tut exhibit was in LA and it was the last time it would be allowed out of Egypt (unless they need to make money again).

I immediately googled it and booked a visit.  Yes, I live in Portland OR so how to get to LA, how long to stay?  Answer:  Fly and two nights.

Yes, pay for an airline ticket to fly to LA, rent a car, stay in a motel for two nights and fly back.

WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I had originally planned to take a shuttle to the Vagabond Inn but couldn’t find anything, taxi was too expensive, don’t trust Uber, et.al.  So, I rented a car from with the military discount it was cheap and since I didn’t drive more than 30 miles I didn’t bother to buy gas.  I used maybe a gallon?  They had a shuttle from the airport to their off-site location so it was easy to get there (and back to LAX upon return).

The motel was old but clean.  I’m not a lodging snob all I want to do there is sleep.  The room was very spacious with one clean bed and through Expedia was very inexpensive for LA.

You name the fast food outlet and it was within walking distance along with any ethnic food you could want.  I mean it is adjacent to USC!

I walked up and down the street the first night but opted for the standby McDonald's.  There I encountered my first fast food kiosk for ordering.  Place your order.  Take a number, sit down and they will bring your food.

The next day I got up too late to make my first appointment to see the movie about the discovery of Tuts tomb.  I figured I had probably seen everything on all of the Egyptian documentaries I’ve seen so no big deal (but I did see it later in the day). 

I walked to the Science Center on USC campus, taking a detour through part of the campus on the way.  At the museum, they scan my ticket and give me my guided tour speaker.  You go into an anteroom where there is a presentation on the discovery and once it is over you are allowed into the exhibit.  This is their way of controlling the number of people in the exhibit area at one time.  You are required to put your backpack in front of you so you don’t a) knock into other visitors and b) knock into the exhibit or knock another person into an exhibit. Halfway through my Nikon camera started acting up so I had to switch to my cell phone and some of those photos came out better.  I went through once then turned around and went back to the beginning and went through again.

There are two parts.  The first is almost all of the artifacts and the second is more of the story of how it was discovered and you end up in the gift shop.  There was an Egyptian “ambassador” there selling and autographing books by  Aswari the former antiquities minister.  I listened to him telling a family about the collection and explaining hieroglyphics. 

Amulet that was the first artifact found ...by the kid wearing it 

My next stop was the 3D IMAX movie on the Space Shuttle.  It was very interesting and the 3D really brought it to life.  I was told to just stay in the theater to watch the Egyptian movie after this one was over so I did!  Not a lot of new information as I suspected.

Then it was back into the main part of the museum to see the shuttle.  It is in a separate building located adjacent to and within the Science Center area.  It was actually smaller than I expected.  Outside to see the only remaining external fuel tank and back inside to the shuttle gift shop. 

In the main hall of the center, there were other space exhibits of Apollo capsules (talk about small), satellites and model of the Mars rover.

By this time there are thousands of kids from day camps there so it is time to go.  Outside I buy an ice cream bar from a street vendor and walk to a shady spot overlooking a beautiful rose garden to scarf it down before it melted in the heat…but it was so frozen I almost broke my teeth trying to bite into it.

I walked back to the hotel and stretched out on the bed enjoying the AC and fell asleep.  After a quick nap, I woke up grabbed a chicken sandwich for dinner and returned to the hotel and read.

The next morning I left around 11 to drop off the rental.  I couldn’t believe how crowded the gate area was at LAX.  I don’t think it has been changed since I flew out of there 30+ years ago but there are lots of signs saying there is something new coming soon.  There was no seating but I found a quiet corner next to a kiosk and sat o the floor next to the window to have a power bar.  I was soon joined by three airport employees having their lunch.  After about an hour I got up and found that there were seats near my departure gate and sat for about 20 minutes before boarding.

First time in three returns to PDX that my car hasn’t been covered in snow.  It was rush hour so I took back roads to pick up Oscar at the Rover.com sitter I had left him at in NE Portland. Then home.

A quick but enjoyable trip.  It is nice to be retired and have the time to do what I want to do.