LAST OF THE RENOVATIONS – NEW DAY/NIGHT SHADES

We were up unusually early this morning, pulling (with great regret) out of our campsite at Catalina State Park before 8 am to make our 10:30 appointment at Blinds Co. Inc. in Tempe, AZ.  It was our last step in our renovations: the replacement of our dusty, stained, drooping day/night shades.  Eight years have taken their toll.

For those of you who don’t live in an RV, day/night shades have two layers.  The “day” portion is designed to diffuse bright light, to knock down the sunshine if it is too bright.  The “night”portion is designed to BLOCK bright light.  On our old shades, the night portion was known as “privacy” – its coverage provided privacy to the interior occupants, but did NOT completely block out bright nighttime lighting, an ongoing complaint of ours.

Our NEW shades have blackout lining on the “night” portion, which totally blocks all nighttime lighting.  What a great feature!

We arrived at Blinds Co. Inc right on time, and Greg (owner) was there to begin the installation (for which he charged $115 for 8 blinds, WAY less than it was worth).  As it turned out, all eight valances had to be removed completely from the walls (five in the front room and three in the back).  Greg took the valances into his workshop and – while we ate our lunch -  installed the new blinds on the valances, rather than on the walls of our motorhome, as they had been before. 

Here the daytime shade is pulled down; the blackout shade is partway down.	TOTAL BLACKOUT!

Greg brought the three bedroom shades out to the MH (parked in his lot) as soon as he had installed them on the padded valances.  While he worked on installing the remaining 5 shades, Odel and I re-hung the bedroom valances, then pulled down the “night” (blackout) shades, closed the door, and reveled in the almost complete darkness.  What a change, a very welcome change!

Even with Odel and I providing a lot of help (removing most of the valances and re-installing the three in the bedroom), the replacement took 3 hours.  As soon as we paid the remaining balance on our bill, we took off to the west.  Two and a half hours later we were parked at Scaddan Wash at Quartzsite, boondocking overnight. 

Wow, does it look different than it did one month ago when we camped here with the Boomers.  Now it is practically deserted.

I can’t believe it was just one month ago that we left the Boomer gathering in Q to head to Phoenix and begin our renovations - it felt like months!  Looking back, I am amazed by how smoothly everything went, and I give great credit to Odel for that.  He is a bulldog when it comes to staying on top of details and making sure everyone involved (me included) is aware of our expectations and our schedule.  He might not know his way around a tool box, but he can sure keep the troops in line!