Sunday, January 31, 2016

Photo-of-the-Week #248 If I Had My Druthers, Ft. Pierce, Florida, January 2014


Yep! This photo says it all. If I had my druthers right about now, I'd be sitting on this beach at Pepper State Park in Ft. Pierce, Florida or on Manhattan Beach outside Los Angeles or on the beach on Padre Island. I'd be anywhere I've been or not yet been, as long as it was warm with balmy breezes and preferably with the sound of seagulls and the ocean surf to lull me to sleep.

This would be the view out the back “picture window” from My McVansion. I would be relaxing and reading a book, composing a new blog post, editing a chapter from one of my upcoming ebooks or possibly contemplating the route to my next destination when ready to leave this idyllic setting.

After last week's 28” blizzard snow fall (see last week's POTW), almost anyplace warmer and with no snow would be nice. Alas, at this writing, I'm still in West Virginia and My McVansion, while warm and cozy inside (I'm not staying in it at the moment), is still snowbound on the side of my friend's house. There was actually a heat wave here, today with a sunny, blue sky and an afternoon temperature that reached the low 60 degree mark. Daydreaming. Soon.

Live free and be happy. EH 

5 comments:

  1. Any worry about the snow on the top of your unit? We have often debated indoor or outdoor storage and this would certainly be an example of outdoor storage in the snow this year!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The snow has melted off the roof, by now. My roof has taken an occasional "ding" from "hoping" I could cheat getting under some "low bridges" - as in various obstacles - but no real damage. So, I'm always concerned about damage or leaks.

      But, no problems. It had a good 28" of the the white stuff piled on top of it. It held up fine. The van is a '94 E150 Turtle Top conversion. I don't know if Turtle Top made their own raised roofs, but I've only seen one other roof like mine in 4 1/2 years - on another Turtle Top conversion. It seems to be pretty solid. And, I'm also pleased with the degree of insulation that is standard in this Turtle Top conversion. The weakest point for heat loss is the windows, of course. That being said, in the peak of the storm with temps down to about 11 degrees, it stayed a cozy 72 degrees inside the van with a tiny, $19, ceramic space heater from Walmart. And, obviously, the roof wasn't losing much heat or the snow would have been melting off, just like it does on the roof of a poorly insulated house.

      I think, IF you have the option of indoor storage, I would default to that, but, at least, my rig has done well outside.

      As an aside, it also held the heat (even with a white reflective roof) inside the van very well in the 100 degrees in the Yuma area last spring. But, it also stayed comfortably cool when I cranked the engine and the very capable van A/C unit, covered all the glass surfaces and buttoned the unit up (except for a bit of cross ventilation to avoid carbon monoxide build up in the van - and, yes, I have a detector). Didn't like running the engine for extended periods, but it had just been rebuilt and everything worked great and I was comfortable. I only had to run the A/C for a couple or three hours, off and on, during the peak of the day and when the sun was beating directly down on the van. After that, with windows open and my Fantastic portable box fan running, it was comfortable. That sun can be as damaging and damning as the cold, snow and ice.

      LF&BH
      Ed

      Delete
    2. The snow has melted off the roof, by now. My roof has taken an occasional "ding" from "hoping" I could cheat getting under some "low bridges" - as in various obstacles - but no real damage. So, I'm always concerned about damage or leaks.

      But, no problems. It had a good 28" of the the white stuff piled on top of it. It held up fine. The van is a '94 E150 Turtle Top conversion. I don't know if Turtle Top made their own raised roofs, but I've only seen one other roof like mine in 4 1/2 years - on another Turtle Top conversion. It seems to be pretty solid. And, I'm also pleased with the degree of insulation that is standard in this Turtle Top conversion. The weakest point for heat loss is the windows, of course. That being said, in the peak of the storm with temps down to about 11 degrees, it stayed a cozy 72 degrees inside the van with a tiny, $19, ceramic space heater from Walmart. And, obviously, the roof wasn't losing much heat or the snow would have been melting off, just like it does on the roof of a poorly insulated house.

      I think, IF you have the option of indoor storage, I would default to that, but, at least, my rig has done well outside.

      As an aside, it also held the heat (even with a white reflective roof) inside the van very well in the 100 degrees in the Yuma area last spring. But, it also stayed comfortably cool when I cranked the engine and the very capable van A/C unit, covered all the glass surfaces and buttoned the unit up (except for a bit of cross ventilation to avoid carbon monoxide build up in the van - and, yes, I have a detector). Didn't like running the engine for extended periods, but it had just been rebuilt and everything worked great and I was comfortable. I only had to run the A/C for a couple or three hours, off and on, during the peak of the day and when the sun was beating directly down on the van. After that, with windows open and my Fantastic portable box fan running, it was comfortable. That sun can be as damaging and damning as the cold, snow and ice.

      LF&BH
      Ed

      Delete