The Hive is Alive...
Well, even just typing this last blog post it still seems so surreal. Each year I make a vision board of things I want to accomplish in the upcoming year and this was on my vision board last year. I am proud to have accomplished this goal and its in no small part to the support I have around me.
The last blog left off with the markings of the decals which we had laid out by Coker Graphics in Yuba City. Delene and Bryan were incredible to work with and I highly recommend them for our area.
Chris created some QR code graphics which we had printed for the quick scan of menu and payment which went on each side of the trailer. Of course with COVID, by now we are all too familiar with QR codes…
After picking up the trailer from Coker Graphics, it was time to do the electrical. This gave Chris an opportunity to get on Amazon (even more than he already does!) and start going crazy ordering. Chris is in the IT industry, but admitted to me that he knows little to nothing about electrical engineering. So we called our best friend Kyle who does know electrical engineering and Chris was back on Amazon getting the order together. Chris and Kyle sat down and designed wattage (whatever that is!) Amps (still whatever that is), gigawatts and flux capacitors (pretty sure when they kept mentioning this it was a joke because they kept laughing).
Kyle recommended a deep cycle marine battery because I guess they can hold a charge for a long time. Chris went to the store and found almost no batteries in stock. So he FaceTime’d Kyle to see about alternatives. Chris has a bad neck and back so he rested his foot up on what he thought was a shelf at the store venting his frustrations to Kyle as they discussed alternatives. They hung up and when Chris moved his foot, he realized he was resting it on the actual marine battery they needed – There was only 1 left. Fate!
A week later, more things started to show up. One Saturday afternoon, Chris and Kyle started the electrical and it would be finished that evening. Over many beers, laughs, jokes played on each other…The trailer was officially finished! Now it was time for a final photoshoot.
But wait…..Chris says I have to add electrical information for people who want to know….So, if you only care about the pretty pictures, scroll down. If you want to get into the geek speak….read below.
Electrical Stuff and whatnots (written by Chris)
The trailer is powered by 1 marine deep cycle battery. We knew we didn’t want to have to cart around and plug in a generator which is why we settled on a deep cycle battery.
Chrissy wanted two outlets in her trailer to charge her beloved phone and possibly use a low voltage fan to move some air around.
The trailer lights (rear, brake and signal) are run from the truck when its plugged in and driving so there is no tie into the battery itself.
The two outlets are plugged into an inverter which converts the DC to AC electricity. The inverter is then plugged into the battery – thus creating the power we need.
We also had additional voltage, wattage and amps to run some rock lights under the trailer. With an inline fuse, those connected directly to the battery itself.
The last item mounted in the storage compartment is a charger. The charger is wired to the battery via positive and negative connectors. The charger then plugs into the extension cord when she returns from an event to charge the battery.
Okay, back to the fun stuff now! With electrical completed, it was time to do a final clean on it and get out to take some final pictures. For people who don’t know the area, we live just about the base of the Sutter Buttes (which is the smallest mountain range in the world!) Every time we take a trip and we are coming home, I can look up at the buttes and know I am close to home! The Sutter Buttes are the mountains in the background of the photos below.
Now it was time for the rubber to meet the road. No joke, I was terrified to do an opening…I didn’t know how much to bake, how to prepare or anything. Chris talked me into doing a two day opening for a couple hours each day in case people weren’t able to make it one day, but could make it the other day. I decided to do $10 dozens as a sale. Needless to say, the local support (which is everything to me!) did not disappoint.
I ended up selling 50 dozen cookies and 8 dozen brownies. I sold out the first day in an hour and a half and the second day in about 40 minutes. Again, I cannot say enough incredible things about the local support around here!
I should have been better about getting pictures, but there was so much going on, I just was not able to. So if you came out and I didn’t get pictures with you, I sincerely apologize and I will make sure we get pictures in the future at the next event!
I have gotten many inquiries about the trailer through social media and through the website here. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and I can give Chris’ information (LOL!) and will gladly follow up to answer anything he can (as he already has with a few people). He is willing to help because it would have been helpful for him to have someone to reach out to when he was starting this adventure.
Overall, even as I type this, I get emotional thinking of all the support. Thinking of how this whole thing even started…It all started with a vision. If you are thinking about doing a project like this, the most important thing is to have support around you in friends, family, community. I know that I truly could not have done it without the support of everyone around me and I wish I could even express how grateful I am to each and every positive person and influent in my life. This isn’t the end…it’s just the beginning…