Metris Getaway Adventures

 This week marks one year since we purchased our Metris from MB Orlando, and it's been quite a year.  We have camped in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri and of course, Illinois.  To mark the occasion, we had the vehicle professionally detailed (outside only) and oh, boy - it's looks like new again!  Earlier in the spring, while parked at Wal-Mart, the van was side scraped.  We filed a claim, and State Farm paid to have all four panels on the driver's side repainted, and a dent removed.  After this body work, the originally painted parts looked dull in comparison.  The body shop reassured us that if we had it washed, waxed and buffed - all would be be fine.  So that's what we did, and it looks awesome again.  We are wondering why MB does not use a top coat?  The new paint job included it.  So, waxing appears to be the answer, and we have vowed to try to keep it better waxed in the future.   The deta...

  I’m sure everyone has heard more than enough about the historical convergence of the emergence of two different broods of cicada in the Midwest this year. Well, where we live, we are literally right on the line of the emergence. One side of the river has cicadas like crazy, but our side - not so much.  That means we really hadn’t thought about what it would be like when we decided to head south to camp over Memorial Day Weekend.  My prep project for this trip was to make window covers for inside the driver and passenger doors.  We had some Reflectix bubble insulation already. I just made a template, bought some magnets and set to sewing.  Basically, I bound the bubbles and inserted the magnets as I went.  It was a pain, because everything in the area of my machine stuck to the magnets - the pins, the needle plate, small scissors - it was a challenge.  But they work great, and are exactly what we needed, for just the cost of the magnets and some time ...