Cape Charles/Virginia Beach

Post By: Hanna

Hey everyone! Sorry to keep you waiting on another update! We’ve been literally running away from winter cold so there hasn’t been much time to sit in one place and edit/upload videos to our youtube and write blog posts. I’m writing this currently from Titusville, Florida, but today’s topic is Virginia Beach!

After Redden State Forest in Delaware we made our way to the most southern point of the Del Marva Peninsula and checked out the Eastern Shore of Virginia Wildlife Refuge in Cape Charles VA. The refuge is a popular stopping point for butterflies during their migration south for the winter. Hey, could we be butterflies too? I kid, I kid, Though I expected to see many butterflies I only caught a few pics of the handful that we could find on the “Butterfly Trail”

Another really awesome thing about the refuge is that it used to be a military fort!

There were tons of large birds and Billy attempted to become a giant bullet which can be seen in this video!

After we finished at the wildlife refuge we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel into Virginia Beach. We did film our trip across the bridge and it will be uploaded to our youtube soon! Once in Virginia Beach we headed to the A.R.E., The Association for Research and Enlightenment aka the Edgar Cayce Library/Museum. Watch our A.R.E. video below!

After our trip to the A.R.E. I hunted down some wifi and Billy set off to film some of Virginia Beach as the sun set.

Next stop for us was Elizabeth City, NC. A post and video on that to come!

Living Full Time- Queen Bee Video Tour

Post by: Hanna

Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve neglected this blog for months and months, things got so busy preparing for life on the road full time. Happy to announce, we are officially road bound and not turning back! We started in Boston, hit the Catskills, Pennsylvania, Delaware (where we filmed our tour video, which I will embed!), Virginia Beach, and now we’re spending some time in super fun Charlotte, North Carolina. Along the way we have filmed tons of videos for you guys to enjoy on the various spots we’ve been staying and the sites we’ve been seeing. As I edit and upload those I’ll be sure to post them here with detailed text about what we were up to. And yes I know you’re all wondering, there will be lots of scrappy footage. Anyhoo, I’ll bring this quick and casual update to an end and leave you with our video tour of Queen Bee!

The Beginnings of Life on the Road- Our First Weekend With Queen Bee

Post by: Hanna

We couldn’t wait to test the waters and see what did and didn’t work for us in terms of boondocking on the road. My favorite band, Cancerslug, was playing at Firehouse 13 in Providence, Rhode Island and we took the opportunity to drive down and get our first miles with QB. The show itself was great, incredible high energies and good old fashioned rock n’ roll!

 

After the show we headed to the nearest Wal-Mart that allowed overnight parking in North Kingston, RI. We woke up the next morning, took Scrappy for a much needed potty walk, and got ourselves some breakfast essentials that we were concerned wouldn’t keep in the cooler we brought along. After checking with the store management we were given the go ahead to use our camp stove in the parking lot and we got to cookin’!

After breakfast I hopped online to find something fun to do for the day before heading home. We decided to head over to Goddard Memorial State Park in nearby Warwick, RI. and hit the road.

Here are some pictures from our day at the park with Scrappy!

 

We had a blast, and can’t wait to take QB out for another spin!

The Beginnings of Life on the Road- Queen Bee Gets a Face Lift

Post by: Hanna

Once we had taken Queen Bee home I knew something had to be done about her dingy 1987 style. I haven’t watched endless hours of hgtv and diy network for nothing, so I got to work right away. Though she was cozy, and I felt instantly at home there was no denying she was in desperate need of a style face lift

First we removed the small dinette table as it was extra weight wasted on something we knew we just weren’t going to use. Scrappy did like being King Bee, but it was something that just had to go

 

 

 

 

Now that the table was out of the way, my biggest concern was getting rid of QB’s hideous wood panel cabinetry.

 

Nothing a little paint, new hardware, and a stylish new rug couldn’t fix!

 

 

 

 

My next concern was the cushions for the dinette. God only knows who’s done what on them in the last 27 years! I have had some sewing experience in the past but had never made box cushion covers before. After watching plenty of youtube videos I felt confident enough to tackle the huge task of reupholstering the cushions. I saved some money by doing this myself, and by having some beautiful upholstery fabric gifted to me by my wonderful mother.

Here is the first cushion

 

 

After making the two arm cushions I realized I only had enough of this gorgeous fabric left to cover the back panel of the couch, so I had to explore other options. However beautiful this fabric was it just was not in my budget to shell out $75/yard to match it. I took a trip to ikea where I bought a couple five dollar blankets to use as fabric for the bottom cushions. After making the bottom cushion covers I used a staple gun to fit the remaining white fabric to the back and slapped the whole thing together along with some throw pillows I got at Marshall’s for $20.

 

 

With the cabinets painted, and newly upholstered dinette I felt QB’s aesthetic fell in line with my personal taste and couldn’t be happier. Especially since it only ended up costing me $75 to update the whole space, as opposed to spending as much as one yard of the white fabric!

 

 

The Beginnings of Life on the Road- Finding Queen Bee

Post by- Hanna

After months of struggling to find an affordable apartment in the city, we started to toy with the idea of life on the road. Perpetual travel is something we had both been dreaming of for several years, but it wasn’t until this year that we saw it as a tangible reality. One last crappy apartment viewing sealed the deal, and I hit craigslist looking for a lightweight and affordable truck camper we could be comfortable with calling home. I had already spent months scouring the site looking for the right camper, but nothing seemed realistic. It wasn’t until that ride home from that one last apartment that I found Queen Bee. The ad listed a very rare and lightweight 1987 Hornet Mini Truck Camper, and it was in our Budget! I contacted the seller immediately, and he told me that someone had already looked at it and he was waiting on a decision. If the next day the buyer had decided to take it or not, we would have a chance to see it for ourselves. I felt defeated, like some unknown person had yet again beat me to my dream. Within an hour the seller sent me another message telling me the mystery buyer needed yet another day to think about his decision, and that we could come see the camper the next day.

The next morning, checkbook in hand, we set off to see the hornet. She was nothing short of perfect. The perfect weight for our truck, the perfect amount of space, and in wonderful condition for something older than both of us! Without hesitation I wrote the check and she was ours. Luckily the seller was kind enough to let us keep her on his property until we had everything we needed to take her home, so we set off both ecstatic that in an instant our dreams became incredibly real. Finding Queen Bee was the first milestone in a series of steps and goals, moving us closer to full time life on the road.