Preparations

I spent some time yesterday in the Woman Cave working on curtains for the Guppy. We're going back to Montauk State Park in March; curtains are on the To Do list of chores that should get done before we hit the road.

I've got two sets of curtains to make: some new ones for the windows in the kitchen/living area. The existing curtains are a little too transparent. Being a campground host generally entails living on a stage: the host's site is always right up front, the first thing you see when you pull into a camping loop, and is often positioned so everyone gets to walk past it on the way to the showerhouse. I don't mind the life on a stage aspect too much during the day, but once it gets to be late enough that it's flannel nightie time, I'd rather not make it easy for people to see me. Ditto first thing in the morning -- I don't want anyone seeing me while I'm working on that first cup of coffee and still trying to decide if it's worth being awake. I know I'm being a little too sensitive -- most people walking by the Guppy aren't looking at it, they're focused on wherever it is they're going and what they're going to do there -- but nonetheless new curtains are on the list.

The Guppy on stage at Montauk State Park

The other set of curtains is a heavy pair to block off the cab part of the Guppy from the rest of the interior. It's to help reduce cold drafts and heat loss. They're probably going to look a little strange (once again I'm dipping into the Thelma stash of yard goods) but if they help reduce heat loss, it won't matter much just what they look like, which in this case is going to be hot pink corduroy. Why my aunt Thelma purchased 7+ yards of extremely pink corduroy is a mystery; I'm just happy to have it (free material!) and pleased that there's almost exactly the right amount of yardage. I think a previous Guppy owner had done something similar at some point because there are closet rod brackets in addition to the normal RV drapery hardware -- the Guppy came from the factory with a privacy curtain for the bunk over the cab, but those curtains just block off the bunk, not the cab. We have some left over plastic pipe from a plumbing project that's just the right size for a drapery rod. Hopefully, cold drafts from the cab won't be an issue anymore.

Doing anything in the Woman Cave is always a bit of a challenge at this time of the year. When I went up to get a fire going in the woodstove, the temperature in the Cave was the same as outdoors: 8. It took about an hour to get it all the way up to 40, but once it got past 40 it didn't take much longer to reach the point where it felt comfortable without a jacket and mittens. The curtains to block off the cab are now basically done, but I need to do some more measuring in the Guppy before I make the other set. They won't be hot pink, which is a bit of relief when they're something we'll be seeing every time we use the Guppy and not just when the weather is cold. Maybe I should do some before and after photos. . . or maybe not, not unless I decide to use the odd retro 1950s fabric with the bizarre coffee pot pattern.