Late last Summer, I sold my motorhome and my Jeep … and bought a large SUV (GMC Yukon XL).

My thought was to set the Yukon up to be able to “camp” 1-2 nights on the way to somewhere where I would stay in an Airbnb/VRBO.

I took out all but the driver and passenger seats to accommodate a bed setup as well as battery bank, 12v frig/freezer and a few other mod cons necessary for Emmett, Oscar and me to overnight it!

The mattress is a tri-fold so currently I have it set up as a lounge kind of seat and it makes for a great setup when I am out and about Plein Air painting (see the video below!).

Meanwhile, on nice days, I leave it open and let Oscar and Emmett get used to the setup and going in and out.

It is working very well for me as a day camper … we’ll see about actual camping at some point!

The video … a short look at the day setup and a few painting outings:

I have been working on a video for weeks … par for the course in my YouTube creator adventure!

Re PleinAirpril Fail: I struggled after a strong first week start and never regained my momentum. Nothing horrendous, just life and I allowed some distractions to push me off course.

Ultimately, it is history and I still learned and am still painting and even a fair amount of Plein Air painting from my “Mobile Art SUV” – that is the video that is pending … hopefully tomorrow!

Meanwhile, it has been typical Montana Spring: warm, hot-ish, cold, rainy, graupel and mountain snow. All good, especially the rain and mountain snow as we are still playing catch up as far as snow/runoff/water.

Today, I was working on finishing up the video when I needed to download some things and my connection was slow so I headed for a spot with better speed.

On the way home … on the road home:

It was a bit more dramatic than the photos show. Still … lovely color and light and contrast!

Memorial Day weekend is upcoming. Typically it snows or is cold and rainy Memorial Day weekend, but current forecast is for sunny and mid-70 to mid-80 F … woo-hoo!! We will see.

Yep.

Shortly after posting my Spring with Emmett and Oscar post, it started snowing … no wintry mix, actual snow. And NOAA issued a Special Weather Statement: heavy snow showers in the Flathead Valley until 2:30 p.m.

Last weekend was sunny and warm … well we had some freezing fog early Sunday, but then sun!

“Spring” in Montana can be anything and I enjoy the back and forth but when it is pleasant we get outside and stay outside as much as possible.

I decided to make a “weekend in the sunshine” video. There are some inside and what I was doing snippets, but it is mostly the Emmett and Oscar show!

As I prepare this post, it is overcast and windy with a wintry mix forecast :) aka Montana Spring the wintry version.

I feel more prepared for PleinAirpril this year. This is an art challenge to paint outside from real life in April.

I modified the rules for myself … my goal is to paint from real life in April … outside when possible.

The details in this video: