Here We Go!
After weeks of quick pivot decisions, sorting and cleaning, moving and organizing, juggling and sobbing, with the ultimate step to stabilize our situation, we have officially begun keeping a maintenance and repair log for the motorhome. I am onsite with the rig every day. The reality that this is happening is still settling like dust from the morning sunbeams, my brain is every where. Our belongings are still spread out over three different places but that will eventually balance out as time moves. A journal satiates my need for organization and represents the beginning of a more intentional restoration process. We are no longer guessing about future repairs, the present moment is in action mode. The interior is a starting place as this is where we will eventually live. It feels very humbling to be in this phase of the process.
Progress Meter So Far
The past week focused on cleaning, assessment, holding my shit together, documentation, repairing what can be repaired with the tools and materials available to us now, which is a lot. The rig welcomes me each morning and although the pace is in the turtle lane, we are steady as we go. In the beginning, the tasks seemed too minor, but after a week of daily work and logging into the journal, I have found a sense of calm wonder and comfort. We are doing this with something we own and not one second of regret nor sadness is being built into our future hobbit house on wheels.
The meter reads this:
Removed rusted hinges
Scrubbed oxidation from every window screen
Replaced screen mesh and spline throughout
Sourced and replaced window handles
Removed moldy cushions and fabric materials
Washed walls, sinks, basins, and interior surfaces
Tracked active leaks during a rainstorm for future sealing and repairs
Logged appliance model numbers for future troubleshooting and replacement parts or downright removal
Replaced faucet aerators
Discovered abandoned mouse nests hidden behind the stove and the shore electric hookup
Replaced broken bolts in the center cab console
Stumbled on a salvage shop that specializes in rv parts and repairs
What We Are Working On Next
The focus for this upcoming week is on clearing out damaged systems and learning more about the motorhome's infrastructure with a flashlight, gloves, and a face mask. We are in the age of videos and manuals and diy experts to help with questions that arise. A lot has happened since 1983 when this rig was built so wiping away the past is more possible than ever before. My design brain can do this and some dear friends are in orbit to hold a safety net when times may seem darker than usual and times when another set of eyes makes more sense. Every system I inspect teaches me more about what works, what does not, and what will be required to make this motorhome a more functional, efficient field base and studio.
The week has dreams:
Removing the overused, fold down bed to turn the area into a simple bench
Tracing and documenting the fresh water system from beginning to washed hands
Draining, flushing, sanitizing the fresh water tank that feeds the gray water tank
Preparing for the black tank complete removal
Preparing for safe and complete removal of the broken generator
Preparing for extraction of the existing toilet and capping the black water system, with high hopes of obtaining a Joocla GottaGo in its place
What is Simmering in the Death Work Cauldron?
Tonight is the New Moon, the night dark, big dipper low and bright, pretty sure Jupiter is in eyesight. The words followed a question that seemed too expanse for me to handle. I want to write a book, a documentary memoir of death with answers off the tongue from people across the lands. The land is singing death as a normal occurence, yet a death grip on my heels is pulling down and stretching my body into fragments too small for the human eye. My interpretation of the entire project is asking consensual conversations to happen, possibly with questions about personal thoughts. Why is death? What does death say and do? When is death? Where is death?
Remedial, maybe to some and depends on what kind of day you are having at present. However, the answers or solutions are exploding with gifts from the land and the humans to the underworlds and back again for all of us.
This is important, we carry on to the tasks at hand.
Working With What We Have
At the present moment, there are no additional funds available for major purchases or repairs. In fact, this typing is being done on a 2012 MacBook Pro and I just placed ice packs underneath it because the thing overheats. My admiration for the capability of computers to connect people supercedes my desire to quit at least pushing through any obstacles.
So, the focus is on using what is already on hand for cleaning, documenting, dismantling damaged components, salvaging reusable materials, and preparing for future repairs. When frustration takes hold or anxiety wakes me up in the middle of the night, over my head is a night sky so limitless and without boundaries that these gigantic trees hush me to the sound of the winds. It is frickin’ frightening and exhilarating to be engulfed by the sights seen. I have been moving so fast for so long; even when I am convinced that I had been moving slower, the reminders by the forest in front of me softens me to tears. Slow your roll, there is a smell of sweetgrass in the air.
Another Way to Support Our Journey
For those who have asked how they can assist beyond donations, Under The Root has an online shop that will continue to be available. There are handcrafted goods, educational materials, and community resources that continue to help support the work we are doing. Please explore, investigate, share, or even purchase directly from our site here. The support adds to our efforts, encourages more designs, stabilizes our housing situation, and juices up the restoration work on the motorhome.
A Precious Thank You Every Damn Day
To those who continue to read up on the updates, pop in to read more, are inspired to share this death worker and their black pearl story, make a visit inside the online shop, and send thoughts or words of your time on this planet right now, Clove and I continue to thank you from the boundless night skies. This project is pointed towards an expedition of death work and the death across lands full of people looking at the same, or similar, expansion of night skies.
Our death work support services are the solar plexus of Under The Root now. If you know of someone that may benefit from a death companion, a referral pops up in your mind to grow this audience of participation along the way, or you want to hold a conversation about your situation, it will be a delight to begin or continue conversations.
WE ARE ON OUR WAY THERE.
MEDIA KIT: https://undertheroot.studio/motorhome-death-doula-artist-and-cat-clove
UPDATES: https://undertheroot.studio/artist-cat-clove-motorhome-updates
GOFUNDME: https://www.gofundme.com/f/motorhome-for-artist-and-clove
CONTACT: https://undertheroot.studio/contact
