What I’d hoped would be just a few short weeks without a mobile palace has become 6 months and the end is not near!

After my last trip west (especially through Montana) I decided I need to be much more mobile and agile.  I decided I would get a truck camper (TC).  In concept, it seemed like a simple goal.  Easy for me to say, huh?

I decided my first task was to purchase a truck.  How else was I to actually bring a TC home when I purchased one??  I decided to buy a 1 ton, 4WD, rear wheel, crew cab, short bed, diesel Ford.  YIKES!  Those things ain’t cheap!!  Yeah, I know.  People have said I need a dually or they’ve said I need a long bed or both.  I intend to use the truck as a pickup truck here at home when not traveling and I’m not going to drive a dually around town.  And, being a crew cab, even with a short bed it is longer than the average parking space.  No why I’d want the long bed version!

I finally located a reasonable deal on a 2016 with very low mileage (less than 10,000) and bought it.  It has most of the bells and whistles that Ford has to offer.  I like it.

Oh oh.  It is just an inch or two too tall to fit in my garage.  Darn!

I spent weeks trying to figure out how to add on to the garage to make a space for both the truck and the camper (when it is off loaded).  That would have just been too ugly and would interfere with my peaceful space on the back deck. So I decided to build a stand alone building.  

The challenge became where. Where to build the building which I’d decided needed a 14 foot tall door and needed to be a minimum of 24 feet by30 feet. I didn’t have much to choose from if I wanted the building close to my existing garage area.  I chose to move my woodshed and build the new building in it’s place.

Bring in the excavation equipment!

After removing several large trees (and some smaller ones) I hauled 6 loads of dirt in and graded the new area.  I poured the slab.  The end of the slab closest to my driveway required a 24″ retaining wall so I hired a block mason to build it.  Slab work is finished including the retaining wall and French drain.  I’ve spread most of a 14 ton load of gravel.  I ordered the trusses which are scheduled to be delivered today and I’m ready to have the lumber delivered.

WHEW!

Winter is here and I really don’t care to get out and do construction I the freezing cold.  So, it may be awhile before the building is finished.

I don’t want to buy the TC until I have a place to park it so I guess I’m stuck with day dreaming about roadt rips for now.

Cheers.