Homiest van you’ll ever see! Parents in 80’s build out and decorate nomad daughter’s mini van.

hanging out across from the doggy park at the RTR no I don't have a dog I'm meeting Melissa the girl that came over to me at the rest area first time ever to know my neighbor at a rest area and going to um interview her a little bit more and show you her beautiful build out done by her 80-something year old parents so it's going to be exciting hope you'll join us foreign [Music] and simple life I'm good how are you doing doing this is my rest area friend for those of you who don't know Melissa Melissa yep we met over a weekend now yeah it's been a long time now absolutely yes and so you are full-time on the road from Texas so we're two Texas girls here and you are enjoying the RTR and I'm just giving them a little background from before and in April maybe you'll be taken back off to Texas and then you're gonna travel the country is that right absolutely can't wait oh fantastic so you have got I think one of the most beautiful interior builds that I've ever seen it's so clean neat everything in place and I can't wait to show everybody but I'd like you to give us a little backdrop about your vehicle you know and and what you've been doing and and who has who's helped you with this bill this is exciting thank you Linda my parents they have been so gracious to help me out when they found out that I wanted to get on the road and to travel and I've been traveling so much three to four years part-time my dad said let's build it out for you so oh my gosh it helped me do and has he been a yeah has he been a carpenter all his life or he was a carpenter a little bit and then he did it full time and then he retired and in his 80s he said we're going to start building again oh my gosh how fantastic so you're um don't want to put words in your mouth but having the time of your life I am it is nice being on the road first time ever here in Quartzsite all right all right so yes so and then and Mom has helped out too absolutely dad I did the drawing dad redrew correctly he made the bed he made everything in here he leveled it for me mom came in at 81 and said we're gonna decorate it up she helped me make curtains bed spreads cushions everything in here all right yeah I like to give them a little before we go in and peek at everything that's going on so you've been enjoying yourself here at the RTR and yes and everything and I've so enjoyed meeting you so this is very exciting so if you don't mind uh us you know sharing your home with us we really appreciate it okay and do you want to start with the front seat and we'll save more of the more of the best for last too yeah all right this is where I store my coat you never know the weather this is where I store my food so I have my food food my tray table oh yeah yeah you can't get gas and you've got some of your office here office supplies and then a little cooler I don't really use it as a cooler I put all my drinks and things in there okay I love that so you're and when you don't use it as a cooler meaning you don't really use ice right I'm not using ice you can plug it in it's a 12 volt oh I do sometimes but right now it's just water and juice because I want to stay hydrated on the road all right fantastic and then a Little Neck Rest is that for nighttime or yes absolutely or sometimes when you're driving you get a little tired and I cover it up just because when you go and stop places it's good just not people not to be able to see what you have very good tip because you don't think of that and I also think of that as you're not seeing all the busy then right it's right it's yeah it looks a little bit better now yeah yes my coat make it black you can't see it from the outside yes and I can't help but zero in on the best thing about the future is it comes one day at a time yeah and a self plug that's say it display it right yes that's my favorite one of them so okay put it up to remind me everything is the best thing about the future is it comes one day at a time we go too fast we need to take it one day at a time oh that's fantastic my theme now okay I like where you put it so that's that's very cool and then you've got some just some incidentals here on them yes I like to keep you know hand wipes just in case you know this is something new for me but alcohol wipes trash bags and just in case need something here I can wash my hands off super neat super neat all right so and then we'll do the back here and then we'll go actually into this beautiful build okay this is my Dugout bag a bug out bag yes bag if I go in anywhere I put everything in it like what's in your bug out bag basically like Kleenex you never know what you're gonna need um I put a flashlight in there a personal device just in case um I have a compass um there's quite a few things in here chapstick yeah there's videos on bug out bags absolutely and you know what to put in them so fantastic and then on your I mean this is a nice hanger yes I this is good too to have it's a noise maker just in case someone's coming around and then I like to keep sunscreen speaking of noise yeah the airplane the airplane just things that just in case you need it you know another flashlight bug spray incense yeah and easy access absolutely I can get to it and go and I love where you put your shoes here just out of sight out of mind right those are to get out quickly in the morning if you need to and then I put my tennis shoes down here okay and I really am go ahead I'm sorry no you're good and I am really saving the best for last but this isn't going to be quite last but I'm going to give you all a little go around here and then Melissa you can talk about some of these things look how clever 82 years old building this out right okay so Melissa if you want to tell us a little bit well you know what's going on in the corner and anything that Dad did and Mom did whatever you like well first my box is six foot and my dad's six foot five foot long so I have all my clothes in here all my maps you want to carry maps with you wherever you go in case you lose GPS service another this is three foot this is three foot okay we'll go around the back in a minute okay look at this quilt handed this Mom put it all together for me and made it more beautiful whoa whoa and then and then your flowers in the back yes and then I have here my bluebonnets Texas Blue Bonnets and then Texas girl you had told me earlier that you changed the flowers out that that was your mom's idea yes I had put these and change it to this and mine said no you got to bring Texas with you Blue Bonnets okay and then with the seasons do you change the flowers too I haven't because okay that must have been someone else yeah it just this brightens it up all right since it's so dark in here okay and and go ahead this is a cabinet I just put things up here I might need you never know gloves and all that I love it I love this little behind underneath here yeah that's so cute that was just miscellaneous miscellaneous things you might need that's like the junk drawer absolutely you brought your junk drawer with you yes absolutely but it's not okay and here this is my coffee station what I like to do is yes if it's bad outside okay here's what I like to do all right it's down it's down here I can put my coffee over here I can put this up this is a gift for my son and his wife my dad made it into an area to put my my stove which I love because sometimes the weather's bad and you just can't get outside so the good thing is you can sit here fix your coffee in the mornings fix your breakfast in the mornings right here everything's at hand which is what I love take the coffee thing here just do a pot I love one hot meals and I like using one pot for everything put this here and I have right here which you all need butane put my butane container in here and I can fix everything I need coffee sugar spoon even these this this and make my coffee in the morning well so this is a pour over it's a pour over right so all I do is heat it up put one of these in here put my coffee what kind of pan is this is that aluminum and a stainless steel okay all right plug for everywhere it's really heavy duty nice when I finish with that I can make my oatmeal I can make grits I'm from Texas we love our grits yeah that's awesome wow and this fits like perfect yes my father put this on so if I ever hit it I won't knock it over wow wow wow but everything definitely in the details and I love the way this is your little oh that's fantastic I love this I absolutely love this but I can put it all together very easily and go out forks spoons knives put everything back in there and you've got your utensils down there right and a couple more pans there right right that's for making um pancakes in the morning all right okay fantastic I love this setup I'm gonna and then on the bottom here I'm sorry all of five minutes and I'm done with my coffee I need my coffee beautiful yes we all need our coffee or most of us okay that's my jacket is that a 500 000 hundred Watt and behind here and behind here is extra of everything I need if I need to wash up in the morning I have a pan here extra butane um you never know what you need and then all the little cords to go with my jackery okay plug in while I drive or I have a solar panel out here all right what kind of 100 watt or it's 100 watt it's a jackery too yes yep pop it out plug it in and get all the power I need fantastic it's very easy to put up so wow and I do carry an electric if I am plugged in somewhere I have an electric I can plug memories beautiful and you said Mom did the quilt to end the pillows and the curtains the covers everything wow nice and then oh my gosh I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me right over there that's beautiful Melissa tell me a little bit about the curtains here I know we were talking about the things now that Mom's done and yes well I made some curtains these are Walmart curtains mom came back in cut them down cut them up here and made it where everything fit just perfect made a little cover up here so that way at night no one can see in wow that's so nice and you've got your lights up here for Ambiance where do you turn those on over in the fairy lights right here so at night it's very easy just to pop them on when I want to put them on you turn the jackery on right here and I can turn my fairy lights on oh giving us some Ambiance here girl beautiful at night that's so fun huh it is when you're sitting in bed and you can do that good way to read and have some Ambience you've got your little reading light here too is that a USB or it's you I love everything USB no batteries it's plugged in right here also the jackery has been wonderful I love any power unit they work great okay but I can sit in bed at night just sit back here and read it very cool very cool I love that the way you you know Vision you know being a visual and then how about your window coverings tell us about those I leave this one here all the time it's good you leave it here all the time yes when I do I leave it here all the time I use the little Clips so that way when I go anywhere at night I can just clip it up and it goes right into the window and it's prettier for Ambience oh it sure is this is a front window cover I made all right I couldn't find one so I made one myself yes and then Mom helped you redo these yes she did after I made them and all I changed patterns and so mother redid all of these and hand she hand stitched all of them oh she hands look at that oh and you've got the felt on one side and the reflectix in the center is that correct spelled on this side reflect Us in the middle and material on the outside just for the pretty inside yes it's fantastic love it and then what's behind you here okay this is something else she put together for me here it's a little cover I can roll it up this is the station where I can do about everything in the morning Clips how neatly you did that it goes together so easily I love the way you have everything that's busy covered I built this my dad came back in and he built this top part for me because I need to be able to access everything a weather radio um spotlights for at night you never know hand warmers I have a little bitty heater works perfect a little mini heater this is my what I call First Aid first aid kit like your medicine cabinet medicine cabinet at home has a little bit of everything I love these little crates that you have how organized those are mother had these along with the crate over here that someone had just given her with fruit in it and she said here she painted them for me what crate there's a crate right here oh yeah yeah the crate there of course and she painted them and she painted them oh my gosh she put this together talk about support I have wonderful parents I have been blessed wow wow wow wow instead of like what are you doing and yeah yeah they they they got in on it oh they did I got nervous but they knew I was on the road a lot and I travel a lot yes very supportive now that's so fantastic so let's go around the back so that we can see this part and how you look at you just rolling that down love it so easy clean neat oh absolutely and matching love it what's going on here Melissa well I had leftover space after my dad leveled my floor so I asked him could he make a box for me for when I plug in so he made me a box oh my cords and plugs I only use the use the plugins look how cute and it matches your daisies yes absolutely the daisy theme so it just slides it slides right under there and then this this is a yoga mat I had left over we were looking for something to put on the floor that was soft just cut my yoga mat put it in that way I can easily get in don't hurt my knees get in and get out fantastic oh my gosh don't hurt your knees so you're talking 20 years from now you've got it covered absolutely I wanted to be able to get exactly and feeling yeah yeah well so before we go around the back what's in your tool League because I know people are going to be like ah she doesn't have everything in her in her Helm she has to she has a Thule actually there's not a whole lot in there I have two tents a little small pop-up tent and a changing tent so if you stay at Corps of engineer parks and some of them they require a tent if you live in your vehicle you must have a tent okay so so that's not that's definitely not a necessity no to have that I need that and in fact some people put a solar panel paint there it's just I already had bought it put it up yeah it's all I have okay and so yeah tense is just uh very rare yeah right right all right thanks so you've got some cool stuff going on here this is beautiful from the back what all it's here well it's good for us to see it okay this is the back of the box here oh yes and this is where all my tools sit extra blankets things that I might need on the road extra diaper wipes we all use bungee cords so it's kind of a miscellaneous garage for me fantastic oh my gosh two of those and then your bed is made from this is a foam from Home Depot and mother said let's put a good cover waterproof cover on it so I bought some material and she sewed it together for me beautiful and look at the color and there's this one too the outdoors we got material and she covered that so you shop together for material wow she loves to sew so and here's your nice and neat here they're not flopping around your covers right these go in the front two windows the very front let's go in there this is my back window it's a great big one I had to make my mother recovered it here at night beautiful and what do we have here all right this here is a suitcase when I visit family pull out clothes I need put them in here and just you're you're rolling on Wheels and then you're rolling on Wheels into their house absolutely that goes with me yes this right here is my fitness bag when I go Planet Fitness Anytime Fitness wherever I like to go yeah this is my dirty clothes bag all right I can just grab it grab my dirt laundry well that's the cutest dirty clothes bag I've ever seen in my life Nick basket girl girl people use pillowcases they use Walmart bags they use whatever they can find and Melissa Melissa uses a picnic basket and you can go in the laundromat with your picnic basket I'm telling you I absolutely love it because it makes you feel good yes it does instead of this big old bag rolled up I don't want to look like Santa Claus walking in I'm telling you I just love it and then you were saying over here carbon monoxide detector and smoke detector very very important especially if you cook in your vehicle and you do want to put a crack in your window so if you cook in here on a bad day cracking window and those really help oh that's fantastic and I see you have a couple fans here and you're a USB fan girl are these both are USB small they last about four days for me so I am wow wow what's the brand on those these are all pullers yeah I've heard yes very good yes in three years never had an issue all right and then we can see a little bit better I know you're out here now if you want to go in or just tell me right here what what things are so we all have to be nosy especially me and know what's in your drawers Benji cord nothing goes anywhere this is a coffee station here yep bathroom station here stations love it I have a porta potty I can put out side bathroom here this here is all my paper plates uh regular plates things like that oh my gosh my feathers then this one here is all the trash bags and things I need to throw trash away yes this one here is just a little bit more cooking utensils and then a hot plate if I camp somewhere they have electricity I use the hot plate nice last one is miscellaneous I actually have Linda's book I absolutely love just finished it oh thank you I didn't I bet I didn't pay her to say that no she didn't and I love them and this is all my cords for everything cords for the fans and all that so it all fits perfect and I love this countertop and then above you had told us earlier this is your uh what station is this this is for coffee tea hand sanitizer things like that this is just from Target or Walmart I ordered these and my dad said let's make an actual kitchen so he put me a countertop oh a countertop and he put me a backsplash and a backsplash and then he said look you have room so I have water I have two gallons of water back there two gallons two gallons paper plates napkins I have my bathroom here clean it that's a collapsible potty yes it is yeah when you open it just put it in the way yes put it up yes but it made for extra space wow I just absolutely love everything I think we've just about covered Melissa anything else that you think of all right underneath here my dad put in two by fours it leveled my bed up for me so I have four two by fours going this way two going this way and then a four by eight sheet of plywood fit perfectly on top wow okay that was that's that's awesome to know about your bed and then look how cute up there the lights I have several lights this one is so when I walk in I'm not walking in in the dark at night this one up here is nice to have if you just need some light if you need to do something up here and then I have this for when I get up during the night so that way it's not dark in my hallway I call this my hallway Melissa you have thought it through and then I know you said you have something on the other side let's go check it out listen you were just telling me something that's hilarious well when I got in the car and I sat down on my bed my dad said measure your foot so that way when you get in I have a hallway that I can sit up in and my foot can stand straight I don't have to go like this so wow a man in the details a man after my own heart absolutely all right and what do we got over on this side okay on this side mother made another cover for me this is just for privacy so people can't see in but this is where I store my table so I can cook outside this is a jackery panel 100 watt that goes with it portable you put it outside I do for safety reasons and security I do put a lock on this and my jackery so no one can steal it wow I've never seen that before that's really awesome and then my water's back here okay so we can see good here I have four gallons of water back there oh so you have a total of six all together six gallons of water all right make sure just in the safe yes and then I see another box this is a front window cover that goes in the front beautiful you gotta have fun when you're camping yes so this is my fun I have frisbees you meet people everywhere it's really nice we can color my Bible word hunt that's a big thing for me to be able to do that wow lots of puzzles and I even bring a little white thing to put the puzzles on and we can work on them on a table a white thing a little white piece of board Dollar Tree oh no because you need to be able to we can have several people make puzzles winners of bringing a hallway a hallway into your home and a light when you get home and a light to turn on in the middle of the night and it's all in place and it's in very small space but it's all I need Melissa thank you thank you thank you this has been just an a beautiful time you are a gift from God thank you for not being shy and coming over and introducing yourself the rest area because without that this wouldn't have happened I have a new beautiful friend and I am I am so grateful I know you have a grateful sign back over here yes uh yeah that we can see right from there grateful and that I am and for you today and thank you Linda especially at the rest stop talking to me meeting with me oh please no but you're you're welcome but my thanks is all yours right now so seriously um I just um wish you um you know just very safe travels and I guess together since you've been a follower we can wish everybody joy in your journey yep and blessings in your day in your day and see you down the road Yay see you later Melissa bye Linda Melissa yes what was that one more thing you just shared with me this is actually my second build my first one was a no build build with a cot and plastic storage boxes whoa so I guess we could be a takeaway is just go out with what you have exactly exactly you don't have to wait till you have a a hallway and uh no my first year was boxes and those cots and blankets and still living the dream absolutely absolutely do my favorite same team okay love you Melissa love you too Linda

Channel: Serene and Simple Life

Views: 202,303

Keywords:

Id: -PbIIxbxYg4

Length: 25min 14sec (1514 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 21 2023