October 22nd:

	Autumn is upon us, and winter is fast approaching poor Winnipeg.  
We had a wicked and unseasonal snowstorm a couple of weekends ago, which 
gave us a taste of the winter to come.  As I understand it, this winter is 
going to be long, cold, and snowy which, for those of us on the extreme 
edge of the city, might lead to us getting snowed in.

We don't normally stock up on supplies over the winter, as there's a 
regularily restocked supermarket a block away, however this year we'll be 
stocking up on dry goods.  Call it a gut feeling, but we'll make sure we 
have plenty of food, water, etc on hand.  The power was knocked out for 
over half our province (including parts of the city) for upwards of two 
days during the recent storm, and it took two solid weeks of work by 
Manitoba Hydro to restore power to the rest of the province.  So, we're 
going to be prepared.

--

This past month has been busy.  In early September, a friend of Mrs IPX 
asked her if she knew anyone who wanted an old camper van.  When my wife 
told me, I said I'd toyed with the idea of buying one but never 
mentioned it, as I didn't think she'd be game.

As it turned out, she was thinking the same thing!

She asked her friend how much she wanted, and her friend replied that it 
was free, but she needed it gone within ten days.  Naturally, we started 
making plans.

(My Mastodon friends will know part of this story, which I will now tell 
in its entirety to fill in the gaps.)

We went over the next day to have a look at the camper.  It was a bit beat 
up and the exterior needed some work in the aesthetic department, but it 
wasn't horrible.  The camper door didn't lock properly, but that's an easy 
fix.

The interior was a bit of a nightmare.  You could tell it had once been 
nice, but was really shabby now.  The roof vent leaked and you could smell 
the mold behind the paneling on the roof and walls.  The cupboards and 
storage were clean, the shower and toilet supposedly still worked, as did 
the fridge and stove.  The bed and dinette/hide-a-bed were really shabby 
and needed to be replaced (pretty sure they were moldy).

We looked at each other and thought it'd still be doable.

The cab was a mess.  The faux-leather seats needed to be recovered, the 
carpeting was worn and moldy, and the removable-face tape deck looked like 
it had been kludged into the dash.  Again, not a huge deal as we'd 
probably replace it with a satellite radio/cd player.  The cab ceiling 
still had the mounts for a CB radio which looked to be the same size as 
the old Cobra CB radio I have in my shed, so that would be cool to be 
able to put it to use.

I lifted the doghouse in the cab to check out the engine, and as her 
friend mentioned, it needed a new distributor cap.  Her friend had 
neglected to mention the rotor and wires were missing as well...

We left her friend's place encouraged.  We knew we'd need to put a lot of 
work into the thing, but it was all doable.  I'd done my own engine work 
for years before going carfree for 20 years, and knew plenty of people who 
could help.  Jill knows plenty of people who do sewing and upholstery, so 
outfitting the seats and beds would be easy.  Plus, I work in the hose and 
fitting industry, so getting replacement hoses (including propane stuff) 
would be a non-issue.

We figured the project would take a couple of years at most.  We could 
work on it whenever we had the time, and could buy parts etc as needed 
over the space of a couple of years.

Sadly, the project fell through.  I'd done my due diligence and consulted 
with the City regarding the camper, and was advised that I couldn't have a 
non-running, unregistered vehicle on my property for more than 30 days, 
even if I was working on it and had receipts.  The manager sympathised 
(being a car buff himself) but said city council was really cracking down 
on derelict vehicles and backyard mechanics who have a bunch of old cars 
on their property.  He said that one vehicle *might* fly under the radar, 
but all it would take was a phone call from a nosy neighbour and I'd have 
to get rid of it.

Being that we couldn't afford to get the thing running, safetied, and 
registered (insured) within a month, we ended up having to pass on the 
free camper...

As shitty as the story was, the experience wasn't a total letdown.  Jill 
and I agreed that we'd like to buy a similar camper van in the next couple 
of years, and are looking at options.  Who knows, if we like it well 
enough, we could join the ranks of Winnebago Warriors once I retire!

(Yes, I'm a Dead Kennedys fan)