LOUISVILLE, KY/FINDLAY, OH/ST. PAUL, MN – As is clear by the inclusion of MARV in our “Crew” section on our about page and on our “Let Them Be” design, our home/office/vehicle is an integral part of our operations at the Motorhome Diaries. It is “Motorhome” Diaries after all.

That’s why I wanted to take a moment to share a little more about MARV with you.

Since we hit the road we’ve done videos and posts about MARV – buying, watering, painting, adding graphics and stickers, removing gray and black water, etc. – and today another video joins their ranks: “Meet MARV” which was shot when we were all together in Indiana, in which me, Adam and Jason give a four-minute tour of MARV. This video should be especially interesting for those that we haven’t yet been able to step inside of MARV.

Keeping MARV running smoothly is crucial for this project. Before we bought MARV we had an inspection done from an area RV dealer, which gave MARV the green light. We’ve since changed MARV’s oil twice (in Denver and in Keene) and though I’d been wanting to change the oil in our generator for some time (it was beginning to idle roughly when initially started) we didn’t have the proper equipment on the road. I knew, however, that this was something that my old man could help me tackle when we got to Ohio so in the meantime we added oil as needed and used it as sparingly as possible. Post-oil change the generator now runs silky smooth (the dolly is in the pic as we used it to hold open the access door).

And giving MARV some TLC when in Ohio didn’t stop there.

• When we first hit the road my bike was locked to MARV’s already-shaky ladder. Not trusting this set-up (and not wanting to worry about ‘what if my bike and the ladder come off when driving?’ I later I stored my bike inside, but this ate up valuable real estate, so when in Keene on our way to Porc Fest I left it with some fellow Free Staters to use. When in Ohio though, thanks to me kissing a brick mailbox when backing up, the ladder was even further gone, so my old man and I (with the help of my mom) removed the ladder; covering all the new holes with silicone caulk and when dried, painting it to match MARV.
• Having a leak-free roof is paramount on any RV. Yet after being caught in heavy heavy rain in Virginia Beach I noticed that some of my clothes in MARV’s back corner closet were a bit damp. I realized that we had a small leak. Later, when sitting shotgun while driving through solid rains in New York I saw that some water was getting in there as well. (The thought is that allowing dozens of folks on MARV’s roof at our meetups in DC, Keene and elsewhere contributed to this problem so we’ve since vetoed such actions.) We toyed with the idea of buying buckets liquid rubber rolled onto the roof, but balked due to the ~$700 cost. Fortunately, we took care of this when in Ohio as well. It seems the previous owner tried to band-aid the problem by just applying caulk over the already-existing caulk (as evident by the thick, uneven layers of caulk). For this, the credit goes to my old man and Ryan, who removed all the old caulk with scrappers and applied new, top-of-the-line caulk (thanks for the donation dad!) to the seals between the front and end caps and the main body. Thus far, the inside of MARV has remained bone dry.
• Though we always take our shoes off when we enter MARV to help keep it clean, MARV does get dirty (I didn’t see the deputies at Jones County Sheriffs Department or those employed by the Canada Border Services Agency or Customs and Border Protection taking off their shoes). So, my dad gave Ryan an overview of how to use the carpet cleaner vacuum he and my mom own and Ryan went to work inside of MARV (the water from the carpet alone was black).

So, MARV seems pretty happy these days. Plus, we were recently contacted by Marty, a mechanical engineer who has worked around engines his whole life, who has shared a lot of information and suggestions with us to help keep MARV road-worthy, though we have yet to act on many of them due to budgetary constraints. Regardless, it’s great to know there are folks out there that care enough to take their time to share their knowledge with others out of the goodness of their heart, not just for us at MHD but for those helping others in whatever capacity – it really underscores the civil society that we advocate.