21. Tiny Home Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Remember back when you could sleep on a rock - with a jagged edge - and still get up the next morning and hike 50 miles, before you made coffee at the top of the peak?
Okay - well neither do I. But I can imagine it!
We used to have a water-bed at home, back before we decided to actually THINK about such things as NOT having sea-sickness as part of EVERY dream. But it was a king-size.
The bed we have at home now is a king-size. Like I've said, we're tall. Some people can get comfy in a shorter bed, but we (I) knew all along we (I) better have the full 80" length for any bed we (I) have in a camper. Can't do that 75" thing we find in many. And our TT is an 80" long Queen, not those silly 75" Queens in some RVs.
But width? Lil' Queeny is too SMALL for a 60" wide queen. She only allowed a 54", okay so 53", and okay, so that was compressed a little in the two far corners where the mattress pressed against that area where the front windows leak a little so the foam mattress can soak up the spill like a sponge. That's what happened that day in Utah, driving through the rain. A little.
That was about the fifth night in. Now during those first four nights I was pretty bummed. This tiny home sleeping thing wasn't panning out the way I had hoped. I had begun to think this wasn't gonna work.
See - we've been spoiled. When you are young, you can adapt. As you age, you get used to things, routines, and your body starts to hurt in places and in ways that cause wise statements like, "getting old isn't for pansies". And you begin to think how nice it is to "just stay home" and watch the Travel Channel.
But Lil' Queeny was gonna fix all that! Wanna travel? No problem! Grab an overnight bag and Hit The Open Road! Now hold on thar Bob-a-louie! So I was kind of bummed. DW said she slept fine (but we've already established she is long-suffering, so you have to be suspect with positive statements and all).
Even in the TT the bed is cramped, because the top half has walls (wardrobes), instead of night stands or edges to hang an arm off'n, know what I mean?
And now, in Queeny, the reduced width, at our age, errr, I mean at MY age (DW is only 29), well, I was bummed.
See that's the thing about women, if you ain't pissing them off, to where they have to defend themselves, they can be SO much better for the male ego than can say, oh I don't know, another man? You know as in some of your male friends when their best advice or suggestion starts with "here, hold my beer".
Yeah, women don't seem to NEED that ego boost like us guys, so if you just give them respect! Bingo! You get a lot in return for your investment! And it's easy! We all have extra respect laying around. Check your couch cushions! Pay yourself first! Respect - The original compounding interest!
So there we were, not sleeping well, and me being bummed. Partly from that leaky window, but mostly the bed not turning out as I had imagined. And DW suggested, "while those two corners finish drying, what if I made up the dinette bed and slept there, and you'd have more room on the outer edge (I always take the far edge, because DW gets a little claustrophobic - see I'm a good person too!).
So we made up the lounge at first, for an evening watching a little Netflix, on the small TV that has a max 60 watt output so it'll run off'n a cheap Inverter, and stream from our phone as a Hot-Spot, until you get to CA, where apparently they ain't connected everywhere. And at bed time we turned the lounge into her bed.
What a difference! Now we both had space for our arms and rolling over and stuff. My black eyes (from her elbows) began to heal. The bruises on her shins (from my bony heels) began to fade. And we slept! For HOURS this time! And there was great rejoicing!
During the day, the loft holds the stuff. There on the left is a frilly mattress pad roll. The pad corners pull around the dinette cushions and keep them tight (twin bed, she's shorter than me and a 75" bed is fine for her). In the morning, all the bedding simply rolls up like a cowboy bed-roll. Except I don't think the cowboys used the frilly mattress pad. Too many folds can collect dust on the trail, especially during a round-up or a stampede or stuff. No cowboy wants to sleep dirty.
Pillows, DW's craft bag, throw blanket.
The daytime dinette has those throw pillows. Those are handy! For my sore arms. Just because I can now sleep, doesn't mean my arms aren't constantly sore. I don't know what that's about, but it might be punishment, because I haven't ALWAYS been such a nice guy.
The leather purse is a medicine cabinet, like Ayla's Medicine Bag. DW's purse beyond that, our waters, our glasses, the guide book. Almost ready to roll there - head to the truck.
So I'm cutting the mattress down a little - to 48" wide. We found XL Twin size, (80"), that stretches out nicely to 48" wide (twin is typically 38"). That will make it easier to make up the upper bed, with changeable sheets, and leaves space beyond the bed edge for inspection, cleaning, storage.
The bathroom is VERY small! But it worked out SOOOO good! Depending on need, the toilet is faced one way, or the other. The door can stay open, or close. The basin can be in front of you, or to your back. This bathroom is extremely adaptable - one of the best working features of this entire tiny camper. Keeping an eye out, it's easy (less than a minute) to dump the toilet daily (it's lighter that way too) at just about any public place - parks, rest stops, boat launches, picnic areas, etc. Sure you use discretion! It ain't hard to do.
The wash facilities also worked out well. You'd be surprised just how EASY it is to wash up very comfortable with one or two pints of water! And THAT'S if you're really trying to extend your water supply, nine times out of ten you could waste a whole gallon at a time - twice a day - to wash up once in the morning and once at night, and STILL get several days out of the forty-six gallons on board. Our water logistics really paid off! And showers worked slick with the hose attached to the faucet and the shower seat in the wheel well.
Clothing? I had originally thought duffel-style luggage bags. DW didn't like the idea of moving them back and forth, like we're doing with the one bed roll now. So we used the cabinets above the dinette. The small (three each side) canvas containers were handy. One side for me, one side for her.
Once we got our whiskers, moving around inside the camper worked good too. Like a small sailboat or something, you want a place for everything. The waste receptacles worked well. I am going to remove the can crusher. Don't need it. My forehead still works good enough.
And that will leave space above the tank for "stuff". One sack there for cans, one for plastic - when there are recycle containers available - which are popping up more everyday.
The swing out kitchen garbage was awesome. Used a small recessed space, and that's about a six-gallon bag! Only once did we need to store garbage sacks in the wheel-well until getting back to civilization!
We do miss the composting method we use at home. We don't require much in the way of garbage collection. I was trying to come up with a good way to compost on the road. I'm thinking of another trap door, this time in the camper floor. Then a second one in the truck bed. I've discovered a LOT of extra space under the truck bed. DW says, that might not be such a good idea.
The back seat of the truck (seats folded) holds the patio mats, the chairs, the tools/repairs bags, the levelers, the day-packs, the jackets, sometimes the hiking boots, the extra jugs of drinking water, the lunch bags, and DW's Crafts and Medicine Bags.
Once we figured out the sleeping thing, we were golden. So from a shake-down perspective - all was well.
Tomorrow I'm going to cover some on-the road problems, but this thing is close to a wrap.
