CHANGE OF PLANS

When I began my hunt for a Chinook RV, I had no real idea what I was getting myself into. I'd never owned an RV before, and I've only ever lived in builds that I completely built from the ground up. I had every intention of moving into this full-time with my daughter and my two cats. I was planning on painting the cabinets, maybe putting in a new floor, and if I needed to, I could reupholster some of the cushions that it came with. And this job wound up being enormous, far more than I originally anticipated taking on. It's taught me so much, and since it's been done, and since I have been camping, kind of living out of it here and there, I have learned quite a few things, and I can't wait to share that with you. After a ton of thought and consideration, I have decided to change course. And although I wasn't sure what the future had in store for me, I didn't anticipate any of this. Life sure has a way of pushing us in the right direction, even when we feel like it's the wrong direction. And sometimes we make decisions that aren't the best, and we learn from them, and we grow from them, and we move on. I have learned so much with this RV, and first and foremost, I have learned that I am personally just not an RV person. As far as having an RV toilet, and having the RV hookups, I don't like the way that an RV is powered. I know that that, I mean, and it's just personal preference. You know, a lot of people love RVs, and, you know, kudos to them if this is your thing. Like, RVs are great, but they, you know, compared to a van, it is a little bit different. Like in the past, I've always had self-converted rigs, and when you are able to completely build from the ground up and customize everything, I find that that's what I prefer. And having a full power system to where everything that you have in your van is capable of running off of your 12-volt system, versus having 110 appliances, like the AC, for example, in the Chinook, or the microwave. You can only use those if the generator's on, or if you're connected to shore power. Generators are loud, and I don't love that. I would just prefer not having to hook up to something in order to use something in my space. As far as the RV toilets, I wanted to put the Ogo composting toilet in here, but the part that I need is constantly sold out on their website, and I'm just not able to get my hands on it, so I couldn't, or I still can't change that out until that part is restocked. So I hate having to deal with the sewer. Like it's not that big of a deal, but being in a van spoiled me with composting toilets. I originally bought this RV with the intention of painting some cabinets, and maybe doing some reupholstering, and that was it. And I wound up having to do like almost a complete, it is a complete renovation, but I would have liked to really and truly gutted this thing down to the bones, and started completely over, but I was already in this thing with so much money in this thing already. Like that would have cost so much more. So I took it as far as I could, and then started over, versus taking it down to the bones and starting over, just because it would have been a nightmare. I would have never covered even like, even close to what I have in this thing. It just would never in a million years happen, period. And I faced all kinds of challenges with this renovation. If you followed along, you know exactly what I am talking about. I mean, from all of the mice poop, which thankfully they didn't chew any of the wires, so electrically this thing was all right, but I had to do major, major deep cleaning. I had to rip up the flooring. I had to get rid of the dinette seats and the wood. The wood was just like literally soaked with mouse pee and poop. I couldn't, I slightly attempted to try and get it off. And it was so disgusting that I just was like, I'm gonna throw this away. There's no coming back from this. I faced a lot of challenges I was not anticipating. And the electrical system, like the electrical box is actually underneath the sink. And that is just how the RV was built from the factory. And in order to move that somewhere else, I would have had to get it completely to get to all the wires. If there's a way to do it without doing that, I am not knowledgeable enough to do that, so I didn't. I left it where it is. I built a box around it. So if there ever is a leak, which I did have one, it's fine. And I don't know if I talked about the leak in my lab, my sink was leaking from underneath. And it's because the two hoses that go into the faucet were literally not even connected. So the water was just pouring right out of the top. So I had to take out the faucet. I had to reconnect those hoses, make sure everything was tight and good and we're good to go now. But that was an absolute nightmare, especially because the electrical is right there, but it was completely fine. It stayed dry. I had no issues with that, but it was still scary. And something I feel like it's worth noting is I have not once used the shower in the RV. It's there. I can use it. I definitely use the toilet, but the shower itself, I have not used one time. I haven't needed to. I like, I realize with an RV, I like being able to camp at RV sites because I like having the hookup so I can use everything and I won't run out of power, which I can use everything and not run out of power. I can't use the AC and I can't use the microwave. But being as I have a three-year-old daughter, I just like having the peace of mind of knowing I'm not gonna be in a situation where I'm gonna be stressed out and I don't know what I'm gonna do. So camping at RV parks has been major. I love camping at RV parks. They're always super nice. And usually they're like an RV resort. And so they have like a pool and a hot tub and then a laundry unit and showers and everything that you need. And so it's like probably every RV in there has all of these things, but those things are just nice to have. And that led to me not even using my own shower. And I wound up only using the toilet at night. But another thing to note about the RV toilet itself is my daughter has a hard time using it because of the way the toilet seat is shaped and because it's so high. So she sits on there and she holds the wall and she just, it's not comfortable for her, which I don't love. And of course I wound up breaking my own rule, my own probably number one rule when it comes to van builds is don't go too hard. And I really went hard on this renovation. I felt like I had to though with the condition that it was in unexpectedly. A lot of things that I had to upgrade, I wasn't planning on upgrading, but then when the time came to use said thing, I needed an upgrade like the electrical converter. I wound up needing one that could handle the lithium batteries and my water pump had a leak in it. I had to order a new pump because the pump itself was just old and leaking. I think it was original, just things like that. I had to upgrade the heater, the propane heater to a Propex. One, I wanted temperature control, but two, because I took out the old AC and the AC and the heater were connected, I had to replace the old furnace, but I wanted to replace the old furnace. And as far as going and doing too much, I wound up trying to do wallpaper on one of the walls and it was a nightmare. And then I painted some of the walls. I didn't love it. I wound up taking the wallpaper down and actually cedering where the wallpaper was and then putting cedar on the entire thing, which I wasn't planning on doing. I just kept changing things and it worked out in the end. It's absolutely beautiful, but it was just all unexpected because I wasn't originally planning on doing that. And I think the biggest thing for me too is if you've followed along, I've told this story in one of my videos, but I immediately regretted buying this before I even bought it. I was sitting at the airport on my layover on my way to Utah. And I had this gut feeling that something was off. The guy I bought it from was being very, very weird. And when I expressed my concerns about his behavior, he went off on me and told me I would not get my deposit back and I could buy it if I wanted to. And then like hung up. So I texted him and I was like, first of all, I was uncomfortable for many reasons, but the main one was that he wouldn't give me an address to pick it up. He was like, I will pick you up in my car and take you to it. And I was just like, why can't you just give me a physical address? I don't feel comfortable. Like I would rather Uber there. And in my mind, I'm like, at least with an Uber, I could be like, hey, can you wait here for a minute? Make sure I don't die and possibly take me back to the airport if this doesn't go well. And he was just being so weird about it. And so he got mad that I wanted the physical address, which to me was a major red flag, but he called me back and apologized and said that his wife, he told his wife what was going on. And she said that he needed to apologize because she would feel the same given the circumstances. And so he wound up giving me the physical address and I was able to Uber there. And he was there with his wife and kids in the back of the truck. So I did feel a little bit safer about that. It was in a nice neighborhood. So I wound up going for it because I already put down a deposit because he told me over the phone, it was this, this, this, and this. Everything worked. It was all in working order. And when I got there, it was not at all what he described, but I didn't want to lose thousands of dollars. So I bought it. And that was my first mistake. Well, my first mistake was putting down a deposit, but when I have sold vehicles in the past, I've taken deposits. It's something I was familiar with and I'm comfortable with because I don't lie to people and tell them, yes, give me your money. And it's exactly what it says. And no, you can't have it back if I'm lying. So I did it. I just figured, you know, everything happens for a reason, right? I did not follow my gut and I should have. Hands down, always follow your instincts. They don't lie to you. And that was a big lesson I've been learning for a while now, but especially when it comes to money and big purchases, definitely follow your instincts. Also when it comes to relationships, do that too. But we're talking about RVs. And then going into it, I also, I didn't want to give up on this massive project that I had taken on. And I got to the point where when I did feel like giving up, I was too far in it. And it was like, lose even more money or continue on and finish it. And I also didn't want to let my viewers down. I know that, you know, YouTube is just YouTube, but this is also my real life. And I do care about my subscribers. And I do care about the content that I create. And I didn't want to let you down. So I persevered. And I wound up finishing the Chinook. And I just have this pit in the bottom of my stomach that has not gone away. Even since finishing the Chinook, I don't love it. I don't know if this is resentment and regret. I am just like in a place where I don't like being in here. I don't like any part of it. And I just feel like it's time to let go and move on and do what's best for me and do what I feel like I need to do in my heart in order to feel better about my life, period. I think that the right owner will love this Chinook the way that she deserves to be loved. I just don't think that that's me. I tried really hard to stick it out, but I'm just not happy. And I want to be real and transparent with you as always. And I'm just, I'm not happy. I've thought a lot about it. This has been weighing on me and weighing on me. And I just don't see a future where I am happy living in here with my cats and my daughter. Amber, you know, her and me and her dad co-parent. So, you know, she's not with me all the time, but I just don't, I don't see this being in game for us, especially because of her seating situation, which I've talked about so many times. Her seat is just a box that I built with a seatbelt and she has to face backwards. And as you may or may not know, she has really bad motion sickness. And although we have medicine now that completely takes that away, when she's facing backwards, the medicine doesn't quite work very well and she still gets sick. So that makes me not even want to travel with her in the Chinook on top of the fact that I don't want to travel with her in here anyways, because I don't feel like it's the safest seating arrangement. And there are seatbelts behind the jackknife couch, but even the jackknife couch is just screwed down to the floor. It's not bolted to the frame like the seatbelts, or it's just screwed down to the floor with three screws. And then the box seat that I made is probably a bit sturdier and screwed down also, but with like a ton of more screws. All the seatbelts are bolted to the frame of the van, but I think it's illegal for kids to sit sideways in a rolling vehicle anyways. So she has only one option for her to sit, and that's in this bench that I made. And everyone was saying to put her in the front seat, but legally, it's only legal, although not safe. It's only legal if that is the only seating option. She has several other seating options in the rear of the vehicle, so she can't legally sit up front anyways. Also, this does have airbags, which makes a car seat in the front seat illegal anyways. So that brings me to the grand decision of what am I gonna do next, because the Chinook is for sale. I am not going to wait for the Chinook to sell before I decide what I'm gonna do next. All I know is that I want to do something newer, that's more reliable, that's under warranty. I have had to drop so much money on mechanics, which, again, is normal, and I'm used to that. That's never not been a thing in any rig that I've ever been in. But thinking about being on the road, being in the middle of nowhere, breaking down, again, you know, dipping into an emergency fund more often than I would like is not something that, not a stressor that I want to have in my life on top of traveling with a child and two cats. If it was just me, it would be different. I have risked far more by myself, but taking my daughter into consideration, like she is the most important part of this puzzle, and I want her to be comfortable and safe, I want to be comfortable and safe, for babies to be comfortable and safe. So I think that there is one more build on the horizon. And because this will be newer, I will not be buying it cash outright. This is something that I'll be making payments on, most likely, and will be my home for a minimum of three years, depending on the warranty. And all of that being said, I know that deep down, this is the smartest decision I have made. And while typically I like to ask my viewers what you think I should do, but this time I'm just going to do what I want to do. Oh, and there's a catch. On my next build, I have until the end of July to finish it. So we're on a little bit of a tight deadline. With this renovation, I was not on any type of deadline, but what I'm about to do next, there is a deadline. Luckily though, it will not be anything crazy. It will not be anything super fancy. It just needs to be functional, safe, and reliable. Those are my main priorities, and I feel really good about this decision, and I hope that you guys stick around, follow along on this next build, and where I'm coming from, and why I feel like this is what I need to do, and this is the smartest and most responsible thing to do for my situation. I appreciate all of you being here, and I'm very excited for this next chapter, and I hope that you are too. Wish me luck, and I'll see you guys in the next video.