Van

Our first major trip (at least our first trip with photos). We've become less inclined to take photos lately, placing more emphasis on enjoying the moment than trying to have the camera enjoy the moment. This one was a three-day trip that was semi-planned, a coworker of mine grew up in this area and told me where to go and what to see.

In the tame

We set out after work on a Friday afternoon and drove North until it got late enough for us to want to sleep. We then spent some time driving around looking for a Walmart. (Edit: we later figured out that we can park in hotel parking lots, which are quieter and easier to find). Many WalMarts allow overnight parking and one can usually be found only a short detour off your highway route. A suitable store was soon found and we slept in the parking lot, away from the main entrance, and to our surprise we were far from alone. There were other RV's, there were pickup trucks with people sleeping in the front seats, there were some full size trucks with sleeping people too.

I cannot say that this was a very quiet experience, there are usually engines running, starting and stopping within earshot all night, and periodically a street sweeper would drive through the parking lot, polishing the pavement. We were of course very new to this so we didn't sleep that well, worrying that we'll get kicked out. Our standard equipment includes the built-in pull-down shades for the living quarters, and pop-up shades (incidentally, from Walmart) for the windshield and front side windows. Once these are all up it is fairly difficult to see inside the vehicle, especially once the lights are off inside.

I went out in search of the impossible...

A device that can do all of the above. And then I found it. Sort of.

So I wanted to have one all-purpose head unit take care of all these functions. The name brands didn't seem to have this, or if they did, it was a bit expensive... in the four digits.

Then I looked at mp3playerstore's Innovatek line....

For my next trick, I wanted a sink. And I had to have running water. All this in a fully carpeted van, mind you.

I tried not to do this myself. I did. I went to Home Depot and Lowes and looked at their sink/cabinet combos, and all were too big and wasted space, plus they were of course made of MDF and were heavy and not so strong. Adding to my list of gripes with pre-fab selections was the giant porcelain sink-tops which provided very little useful room to place objects onto or do anything but ... well, wash. And that's no good when you're tight on space.

So first order of business is the bed.


I can cut and put screws into wood, I can even use glue and come up with ways to use hinges, but constructing a mattress was something of an enigma for me...

I called some places and got outrageous prices for custom made foam mattresses (and I'd need two if I wanted it to fold!)... and then we went to IKEA. There we saw a nice 4 foot wide futon with a two piece mattress. Fortunately IKEA sells the mattress and futon separately, the mattress costing about $90. The two halves were not the same width, but it was close enough to perfect - at exactly 6 x 4 feet together.

Before I install all my ideas in the unsuspecting van I had to remove a few things: the two captains chairs had to go (there are only two of us), and the rear bench ... well that definitely had no place in the van. It is 4.5 feet long when horizontal, enough for very small people to sleep on. In addition, ours didn't work (was stuck in the down position).

You can see one of them still there in this photo... We eventually decided we didn't need this one either. The captains chairs are pretty easy to remove - you pull the release and carry it away. Not so easy

It's been only a few weeks since I voiced my idea of lightweight RV-ing.

The idea is simple... we can spend years, even decades, waiting for "the right time" to buy a real RV, to try to go full-time, to ... experience any of it. I figured that waiting to take the total plunge without getting your feet wet is a bit of a gamble.

So a compromise came to me: Let me buy a van, throw a bed in it and go from there.

This seemed like a good idea...