Creative Destruction (8/1/20)

After our very successful shakedown cruise, I immediately started destroying the van. This was mostly because of the upcoming solar installation: the installer asked me to strip the ceiling so she can put in the roof vent and brackets for the solar panel, and also to strip a small area of the rear wall down to bare metal so she can anchor the battery and electronics.

During this process, I realized that there was mouse poop in the ceiling. My friend Julie, who is a genius, suggested I vacuum it out so it wouldn’t all fall on me when I removed the ceiling upholstery. I did this, but didn’t find out until later that my brother had removed the filter from his shop-vac — so it just kind of scattered the mouse poop around the interior of the van. It was a good idea in theory, though.

It was a long day, driving from Gunnison to Denver and then ripping the ceiling out of the van. But then the next day, I just kind of kept going. I eventually want to insulate the interior and put up nice new walls, so I figured I’d go ahead and remove the old walls now.

And reader, it was so gross.

For one thing, I found the mouse. Or *a* mouse. I’m assuming it was the same one who pooped in the ceiling, but maybe there are more mice that I have yet to find.

I found an old coffee cup. I found years’ worth of spilled coffee and who knows what else that leaked down from the cupholders. I found shredded and half-shredded candy wrappers. I found the mouse’s nest, made out of fiberglass insulation, which does not seem like a good thing to make a nest out of and may have contributed to the mouse’s demise? I found two Embassy Suites key cards. I found that one whole wall is filled with hoses and wires, the vast majority of which I don’t need and which it will be A Chore to remove.

I found that the dumpster behind my condo building was full. I piled the debris on top of it anyway.