My needs changed, abandoing my design and build. Sad news.

[dbhosttexas]

I have been very slowly designing and building a foamie truck camper for 2. The big issue was I needed room for a king bed that would fold up and allow us to have a seating area / fold down work table for the day so we could hit the road and work remotely.

Unfortunately due to a sudden, very aggressive infection that hit her heart, I lost my wife, and no longer will be needing the space for 2.

That puts me back to my original through that she had rejected, a Hi top contractors cap, 2 door model, and a short queen or in this case now Full memory foam futon for a bed suspended over the fridge, wheel well and water tanks. Probably have to set something up as a foot rest as it will sit pretty high up...

So the plan moving forward, finish the mechanical work on the truck, about 90% done now, get it road worthy, pick up the contractor cap from my college friend who has had it and just never bothered to sell it. Insulate, convert it to a camper, set up the AC mount, and get ready for the road.

Not talking full time vanlife stype stuff, but just going to those places we had talked about. With remote work I can do that.

I guess it will be semi foamie though. I am going to insulate the shell with foam + PMF to keep the weather at bay, costs down, and comfort high. Probably paint the sides to match the truck, and the roof with a couple of coats of Tropicool to keep things under control...

I'll post up pics, and if I see you on the road, or at camp, drop in, shake a hand, and sit by the camp fire with me and tell me about your build and travels...

[GTS225]

Life doesn't deal a person very good cards, sometimes.

I understand your pain, as I lost my wife to cancer in September of '20. Not exactly what I had planned doing for the first 1-1/2 years of my retirement from the workforce.
Hang in there, brother. It does get better on the other side.

Roger

[JasenC]

I'm so sorry DB.

[dbhosttexas]

Thanks.

I am in my early 50s still, so I thought we had a lot of roads and trails ahead of us. I don't recall the name of the virus, but the doc said it was an infection that had no symptoms until it was already too late. Hit her heart, inflamed it and the valves, hit her liver and made it dump all the sugars it was holding causing diabetic ketoacidosis, and mucking up the electrical signal to the heart, and the only symptoms we had looked like extremely mild flu, or COVID until she got the sugar dump and got lethargic super suddenly, and bam, done... Not sure what the virus was, but those sneaky scientists working on Bioweapons cound't make a meaner one...

I am still going to do the travels we had planned, but need to simplify and complete the build. Now, more than ever I MUST do the trips. We always joked if one of us went before the other, keep the passenger seat uncluttered, they will be there on the road for the other...

I need to double check the height of that contractor cap, I still need standing height. Might still have to build a foamie topper just to get the height I need. No problem though. I don't have to extend beyond the truck bed rails any more...

This sucks, but seeing the sights she wanted to see, somehow bring something of her along with me somehow, might just make it suck less.

[RJ Howell]

Sad to hear the news DB.. My condolences. I will try to catch up to you again as we pass through your area!

[pchast]

My condolences...

Lost my wife to cancer in 3 months a few years ago.
Its less painful now but I still talk to her on occasion.

[nsfr1206]

My condolences also…


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[dmdc411]

Sorry for your loss db!

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[BrianInVA]

Sincere condolences db. Finishing your design and build then going on those trips might be the best “therapy” you could find. (Of course throw in a lot of prayer and trust in God, and talking to her.)

[dbhosttexas]

So for the just me camper, I am basing it on a hi top camper shell. I have found a Leer 122 I am planning on picking up tomorrow. Assuming I can get a rental truck. My rig is still needing to be repowered. Once I get it home, I will drag it into the yard, replace the 3rd brake light on the truck as it leaks, and clean the bed of the truck out, put new weather stripping on the topper mount and mount it up.

If anyone is interested, I will post up a thread about this build and the travel I intend to do. Trial run will be to San Louis Pass in TX, southern side of Galveston Island, then start ranging further and further out assuming 5G access so I can work...

[pchast]

Please continue to post with your pictures.

[tony.latham]

I lost my wife...

I can relate. I lost my wife of five months to cancer in 2006. A year later, I fell back in love with a widow. We've rebuilt a fine life with each other.

People won't understand what the loss of a spouse does until they've been there. I think it breaks every emotional bone in your body.



Tony

[dbhosttexas]

Startiong a new thread. Since I will be doing some Foamie construction for the cabinets keeping it here... I will title the build thread The Memorial F150 Craptor. Hopefully it will make sense.

[dbhosttexas]

The camper shell turns out wasn't a Leer after all, but some brand called Jeraco. Never heard of them, but seems stout enough, and plenty of headroom for what i need.

Still working on replacing the old failed lights on the truck and cleaning it up... Will try to get the camper seal installed today, and then start in on a scrubbing...

[dbhosttexas]

:( Life doesn't deal a person very good cards, sometimes.

I understand your pain, as I lost my wife to cancer in September of '20. Not exactly what I had planned doing for the first 1-1/2 years of my retirement from the workforce.
Hang in there, brother. It does get better on the other side.

Roger

I know people say it does. I will believe it when I see it, cause right now, life is not feeling so great... I am a good long ways off from retirement. This was NOT supposed to happen. And she was the fantastic wife that took the place of Satans daughter, so yeah. They say when life hands you lemons, make lemonade, but I have no water or sugar...