The 98 Mercury Car Bed

In 2011, after being diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, I took the drastic action of having a bed built into my 98 Mercury Tracer so I could sleep in it. Living in a house was causing too much stress on my chemical-laden body.

In 2014, I bought a house with my youngest son and turned it into a "safe house." We lived there for 3 years, then he got married and moved out. After less than a year, I decided taking care of a 2 story house was too much for me. I decided to take off on a road trip for a couple of years, exploring America. So... we built out the Tracer again. My friend and ex-partner Joe helped me. He has been a tremendous support person through this crazy MCS journey and even though our relationship as life-partners  didn't survive, our friendship did, and I'm very very grateful. He, more than any other person on earth, understands what living with MCS means. He "gets" me, and has the patience of Job when I'm losing my mind during an MCS exposure event. He has stuck by me like glue. He deserves a medal!

Building the car bed this year was easier than in 2011.
First I took out the front passenger seat and the back of the passenger seat behind it.  It was pretty grubby down underneath those seats!  It's an old car.  But it didn't take much to clean it up.

Yucky carpet under the seat!

 We took plywood and cut it to fit.
I wanted to have a hinge on the bed
so I could store bins of my clothing underneath the bed.

Last time I did this, I made the opening on the outside edge.

This time, I wanted to be able to get into my bins 

from the INSIDE of the car. 

Here is the top of the car bed.

The bottom, where my feet will go, extends into the trunk area.

Last time I just laid down that rear seat back,

but this time I took it completely off so I'd have room to store items

under the bottom of the bed in the back seat.

Things like my art supplies will slide right under.

Here, you can see the bins underneath the seat.

This is where I'll keep my clothes.

Next, I went looking for a foam mattress.
Originally, I thought I'd cut up my tempurpedic mattress,
but decided against it for now. Maybe when I get a van!

So I checked out Joann's and Fred Meyer for foam.
Joann's had good high density foam but it would have cost well over $50 and that was with a 40% discount coupon.
Freddies had sheets of foam but they were not the quality I was looking for.
When I built my bed in 2011, I got the foam sheet from a reupholster business.
It was just scrap for him so it was cheap cheap cheap.

I learned that foam naturally changes color as time passes

but that doesn't affect the quality.

I came home, took an electric knife to my old foam bed.

When I shaved off a slice and looked inside, it was just like new!

It will do just fine!

I carved it to fit my new bed, 

which is a little narrower than the one from 2011,

and vacuumed it, 

and it fits like a glove.

Today I took an old set of flannel sheets, 

cut them up, and made new sheets for my car bed.

I cut the flat sheets in half and got 2 top sheets!

Using my handy dandy serger, they were quickly finished!

The bottom sheets were a bit more difficult, 

as the car bed is a bizarre shape at the bottom.

I got only one bottom sheet out of the flannel, 

and a flat "undersheet" to protect the foam.

Here is my car bed with new sheets.

Out of a set of full sized flannel sheets,

I got one flat undersheet,

one fitted bottom sheet,

two flat top sheets,

and 4 pillowcases.

I sleep with travel sized pillows

even at home, so this worked out great!

(That strap you see is the seat belt -

difficult to take photos of such a small space!)

I took a trip to Goodwill

and found a really nice down comforter with duvet

for only $12. So my bed is ready.

I stuck my new cooler in the bathtub to soak.

I picked up this small cooler at Goodwill yesterday.

It was "yellow sticker day" so I got it half price

for only $4.

It's exactly what I need since the only item I'll need to cool

will be my almond milk and maybe a container of leftovers.

Sweet deal!

I went through my food storage last night

to see what might work for me.

I pulled out a few items, like dehydrated refried beans

and potato pearls.

I also have packages of tofu which do not need refrigeration.

I need to think about how much food I want to carry.

Stay tuned. 

Next, I began packing the trunk!

PS:  These posts have all been moved over here in February 2018 from an earlier blog, if they don't seem to make sense to you.