Carpet out, Hardwood in!

Replacing the carpet in our 5th wheel.


Kids, pets, work boots, mud, dust, and more kids. Our carpet which I am sure had to be the cheapest carpet known to mankind, had taken quite a bit of abuse in 2 years. It was tramped down, dirty, and if I am going to be honest, it stunk!

So we got a wild hair and instead of me continuing to shampoo it every week (which I highly recommend against doing) we pulled it out! it was fairly easy pulling the carpet out. It had a thin pad underneath of it, and was only really attached around the edges. Once the carpet was out we placed a thin barrier and started laying snap in laminate.


Progress

We ended up choosing a laminate that came in 3 different sizes, that way we could try to eliminate cutting as much as possible with all of the funky angels we had to deal with. After about 4 hours we had it all in and all of the dust vacuumed up. We love how it turned out! We even tried moving the slides in right after wards to make sure we didn't have any issues, and all was fine!



Final transformation

 After looking at the photo you might notice we also tore out the bar. When we first got our trailer, we though the bar was a great little extra seating/storage area. And it was in the beginning, but now that we had two kids it just became in the way. The kids always had to run around it, and taking it out helped create an open floor space again. It was attached pretty dang well, but after a little pulling and hammering Hubby got it to come loose!

Well, that's our carpet to laminate floor transformation. If you are thinking about redoing your floors in your trailer of 5th wheel and have any questions leave a comment and I will help with what I can! Thank for reading :) 

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

We made it!!
Midwest to the west coast --3 days and 1700 miles.

The road trip went pretty smoothly. Friday the 13th, we took off and drove to stay the first night in Laramie, Wy. Grabbed a hotel and got back on the road early morning. The second day we landed a little outside of Vegas, with no hotel rooms, or any campgrounds in sight we parked for the night near a casino. It was a bit adventurous you could say. We all piled on sweats in case it got to cold and hit the sack. It ended up working out perfectly and again we got up bright and early to hit the road again. We puled into Long Beach early after noon and our destination was made... for the mean time!

Once we got settled into a very small park (outside of Compton haha) we decided to do a bit of exploring. We decided it was impossible to get anywhere without a little guidance from some friends that are staying there. Certain stores and areas to avoid, ect. We landed at Seal beach for a little beach time. The kiddos had a blast and despite a little storm blowing in, they had a great first beach trip!

Seal Beach Day 1

Levi ended up signing the books early Monday morning. We ran a few errands and then ended back at the beach for day 2! We spent a little more time there that day. The kids splashed in the waves, chased seagulls, and slid down a big sand bank.


Seal Beach Day 2



Tuesday, Levi ended up getting a call for a job in Lancaster, CA. So we packed back up the 5ver, slid in and hit the road. Once we navigated through lunch hour traffic, we made our way north through some California mountains and ended up in Acton, CA. They had a few different parks to choose from. Once park was very big with big spots and lots of room for the kids to run, but we had zero cell service there. So we headed into town to the Californian Rv. Its a small park, small spots, and everything is on a big hill. But it is nice, and has a pool, so this is where we ended up!

Pool/Hot tub Acton, CA

Wednesday morning was the first day for Levi on the job. He showed up and realized that the job call was working on huge transmission towers bigger than he has ever dreamt of working on. Its not the type of work he came here to do, so he ended up turning down the call.
So... Wed evening, Levi and his buddy started the drive to local 1245 which is in Riverside, CA to sign the books there. They are hoping to get another call out in a couple of days to work out of the northern CA hall.

The kiddos and I have enjoyed a down day today, getting the trailer all clean and caught up on laundry. The last few days have flown by, and I am sure the next couple that follow will too.
We will be hanging out here in Acton until Levi gets another call out. It could be a few days, or even weeks. But for now we are enjoying the time and soaking up the Cali sun, even if it is cold here up in the mountains :)

New Chapter- JOURNEYMAN LINEMAN

LEVI IS A JOURNEYMAN!!!!

What a whirlwind these last few years have been. It has been 4 years and 6 months since we picked up our lives in Washington and hit the road for a better opportunity. We have experienced so much in these last 4 years that I don't even think I could summarize half of it in a blog post. There has been so much we have experienced, so much we have sacrificed, and so much time we have lived a different lifestyle than most.. So many memories! 

This first long journey of many has ended with a Journeyman Lineman ticket in his hand!

 

 

He has worked so incredibly hard for this day, and it is finally here! Despite all of the nerves he had, he did outstanding on his test scoring a 92. I am so PROUD of him. Never giving up on a dream no matter how far it seemed sometimes or how hard it go. HE DID IT!

 



This is the moment we have waited for and looked forward to for so many years. The little ticket in his hands is the proof of hard work, dedication, and now freedom! This opens so many opportunities for us and we cannot wait to see where the road takes us.

First things first, Levi will be headed to work tomorrow for his first day as a Journeyman and his last day working in Iowa! He gets to grab his bag of tools and DRAG!

We will spend the rest of the day on Thursday packing up the trailer and tying up all loose ends here and then hit the road early Friday morning headed for sunshine! We plan to roll into California on Sunday and signing the working books in local 47 in southern California on Monday. The next few weeks will be full of new, crazy, and a whole lot of memories.

To end the day today had a great farewell with a line of storms that rolled through here today. It was a perfect farewell storm for Iowa. We have so many memories here, and have really had a great time here, but we are so ready to be saying goodbye to one chapter and hello to our next!