Here we are once again. Back in the van redoing bits and pieces for the final time. 

In retrospect, we should have done some of this from the beginning but at the same time, I am glad that we waited to do these last few touches. 

The very next day after I got home I gutted out the back of the van and took out the bed frame and mattress. Along with taking out the Mattress I got all the loose items, threw them in a laundry basket, and hauled them all into the guest room to make a pile. The idea is to get a count of everything I brought with me on this trip, go through it and decide what I do and don't need for the foreseeable future. Of course, there will be things added to this list as well but this was the start of seeing what I have already and eliminating what I don't need to make room for what is needed in the van. It's a process but once I got all the belongings out and organized I went back outside and tore out the bed frame. 

When it was initially put together (for the second time) I used pallets to be the main structure with a secure metal frame on the top and then the mattress. This worked well with the low income that I was (and still am) working with but after this second trip, I realized two things.

1) I would love more room under the bed if possible. 

2)I want cabinet storage by the bed. 

With this realization, I started to imagine how to make that happen and put it in my mind that I wanted to have this completed as soon as I got back. For me, I have to imagine it, hold onto it, and talk myself through it to then start the process. WIth being home (and after weeks of imagining and pondering) I immediately got to work. Getting the mattress and initial frame out was easy and then we got a little deeper. Panels started to come off and cords were falling all over the place. As it turns out there are a lot more wires than initially thought. See this van had already been upgraded from a regular van into a wheelchair-accessible van and then sat that way for most of its life. When it was converted, as it turns out, someone did some very shifty things with the wiring. I have never seen so many wires spliced in so many ways and going in so many different directions.

It was honestly astonishing to watch as my dad snipped away at wire after wire after wire and in the end, it was a hefty amount of wiring that ended up being useless and was snipped away. The relief that I felt once that was completed was unimaginable. For the last two years, I have had some wirings hanging down towards the back of my bed (I did the best I could to get it out of the way with clips) and now I didn't have to worry about tangling my feet up in that mess. 

With that being completed we came up with a game plan for the storage and now it's just a matter of getting supplies and getting it done. I'm excited and ready to have this be the last time I make changes like this. We're almost there.