Home Maintenance

I guess I can't get away from it.  Even though I'm on the road, I need to work on the house. 

Earlier this week, I was washing the bug collection off the windshield of the camper van, and for some reason the area above the windshield caught my eye.  It was covered with some sort of black mold. 

I checked with my good friend Google, and sure enough, the fiberglass on the camper van ought to be waxed at least once a year.  Since my best guesstimate says it's been five years or so since the camper van was used on a regular basis, the work was probably long overdue.

I stopped at O'Reilly Auto Parts earlier this week, and picked up the cleaner stuff, but wasn't sure how I was going to reach the roof to clean and wax it.  I thought I'd have to wait until I found a campground owner who a) owned an 8' ladder, b) was in a good mood, and c) trusted me not to kill myself using the thing.  But, as luck has it, last night brought me to a former co-worker's house in Indiana.  When we came back from dinner, and walked through the garage to get into the house, I noticed they had an 8' ladder.  My new best friends!

They were happy to let me use the ladder this morning, and I spent a good four hours doing the three step process of scrubbing off the grime (with Step One of the Icy-something-car-cleaner system), using the clay bar and clear stuff to do whatever it does to smooth out the surface and get rid of the scratches (Step Two!), and putting on a coat of wax.  After all that, I thought a bit, and since 90% of the work was getting the surface clean enough to wax, I added a second coat of the wax.

My arms ache just a bit, but the whole van looks happier now.  The grime up top didn't catch the eye, but now that it's gone, it sparkles!  There's something very satisfying about a job like that well done.  Take THAT, you Black Nasty!  Begone, Foul Grime!  (Not to mention the happiness in knowing I have friends willing to both help me with my home-improvement projects, and to put up with me for an extra night - by the time I finished, it was too late to move on for the day.)  I will sleep well tonight.