First of all, I cheated. The underlying purpose of the trip was my niece's wedding in Evansville, Indiana on Saturday, March 13, 2010. I picked up my two daughters on Friday the 12th and we stayed in a motel Friday through Sunday night. And the following Monday through Wednesday was at my sister's house. So sue me... LOL. I actually believe that in order to be a successful "vandweller" or "vagabonder" you need to take advantage of the kindness of others or the occasional motel just to keep sane. And there were other nights along the way that the motel was just too convenient and cheap to pass up. But, in general... here's a summary of the ups and downs of my adventure.
Personal Hygiene
Many thought this would be a problem. I have a couple of advantages. First off, I'm a man. I understand that being of the opposite sex would have presented a few issues along the way. Forgive the bluntness here, but I did see a couple of places that I WOULD NOT have sat down anywhere near the toilet no matter how many sheets of "ass gasket" were between me and the seat! But, if you can hold it to the nearest fast food joint or Denny's or some such place, everything is pretty much OK.
Showers were a little different, I guess. I used both "Love's" and "Pilot" truck stops. Most of these places have showers available for "commercial drivers." I never had anyone deny me at either location. Both had towels available if needed. I carried my own.. and toiletries... so that wasn't needed. Not sure what, if anything they supply other than a washcloth and a towel. Somewhere along the way, I forget now which location, also had jacuzzis available. All of my toiletries were carried in your every day toiletry bag.
I also have the advantage of being bald. My hair care needs were very minimal! I did carry a rechargeable razor and beard trimmer/hair clippers. In my truck I had a 350 Watt Inverter that had two plugs and a USB plug so that I was able to charge the shaver/clippers if/when needed. The USB was generally plugged into my Garmin GPS unit.
Sleeping
Here is my bedrooom, living room, kitchen on the road. I am sorry I don't have a lot of photographs, but things got pretty messy the first day out and stayed that way the entire trip. One skill I will have to work on is keeping things in order and in their proper place. I can see where that will be an enormous PLUS to "vandwelling."On the left of the photo, behind the driver's seat is a combination egg shell/memory foam pad. On top of that is a Coleman Sleeping Bag rated to -10F. You can also see a couple of normal ordinary pillows there too. I sure didn't need the temperature protection and was actually quite warm sleeping there.
I should make an additional note here about myself. Although being male and bald are definite advantages, being nearly 6'3" and 370 pounds are NOT. While the length from the back of the driver's seat to the back tailgate measures over 6 feet, once you get pillows, etc. it's not all usable. I slept with bent legs... no biggie, but on a scale of 1 to 10 in comfort... it wasn't any better than a six. On at least two occasions, I just reclined the front seat and slept there... still not a huge score on the comfort scale, but easier to get into/out of. That was also a problem, climbing around the back and getting comfortable at my size. Once settled, not so bad... getting settled... a challenge.
As far as where I stayed, every night (not at a motel or with family) was spent in either a rest stop along the freeway or at a Walmart parking lot. I never was approached by anyone in either place while sleeping. I know that Walmart has a reputation for allowing RVers to sleep in their lots and I saw RVers in each of the lots I slept. BUT, some cities do not allow this regardless of Walmarts' policy. Like I said, I had no trouble. Rest areas generally allow an 8 hour stay but prohibit camping. The only issue I had was when I cooked on my tailgate (see below).
Cooking/Eating
YES, I know it's the same pic. BUT, notice the clever way I'm wrapping the text so that the other side of the truck is now near what I'm writing!!! Again, in this area, I cheated... way too much. I ate far too many fast food/restaurant meals on the road. I did equip myself, however with a two burner cookstove from Coleman, camping pans, plates and utensils. I generally just pulled out the stove and cooked on my open tailgate. This worked fine everywhere but one rest stop in Texas where a private security officer pointed out the "no camping" rule. I, in turn, pointed out the grills at EVERY picnic table at the rest stop. He continued to insist, so... I moved my cookstove over on top of one of the grills and continued. Go figure?I did not take a cooler of any sort on this trip. I prepared canned or vacuum-sealed foods. I probably will make use of a cooler next time.
All in all... the experiment was a success. I blogged regularly. I had no problems finding internet access. Most blogs were posted during breakfast at McDonald's (too much eating out). I probably will look for a little larger vehicle to continue this pursuit full time... or figure a way to make what I have more roomy through a roof rack/storage and/or building a platform bed in the back with storage underneath.
Please feel free to comment/question/remark... whatever!!!
Joe
Search Amazon.com for boondocking
"Ass gasket"....hahahahahahahahahahaha! Love it!!!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, if you do this full time in the future, get something you are comfortable in! I know you can survive pretty well even from a backpack and shoeleather, but as a lifestyle, it is much more enjoyable in comfort as well as much healthier. Enjoyed your writing Joe! Keep it up :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, clever use of the single picture! You had me with that side shifting text thing LOL!
-Mike & Heidi
97 Roadtrek 170P "Taj Ma Trek"
http://vantramps.blogspot.com
I read your post on MobileLiving. The simplicity of your setup is a good thing to preserve. Unless you have very good fixit skills, consider before you add anything to your setup whether anything can go wrong with it and whether you can fix it easily. You can find things to change where the "friction" is: comfortable sleeping matters, you might want a possibility of cooking inside or eating different food, whatever matters to you. Vandwelling is very individual, but many of us are interested in others' solutions, so please keep posting as you learn.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge Mr. Fixit, so whatever I do will be very very simple. I do think I need just a bit more room. I'm considering (and this is in the VERY early stages) either a Dodge Grand Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country Van (same thing). Beginning in about 2005??? they have something called "stow & go" seating. Both seats fold down COMPLETELY flush with the floor. Bigger sleeping area?
ReplyDeleteWe currently own our third 1995 Grand Caravan. We like those, obviously. My oldest brother likes the Town 'n' Country; he says they're more luxurious. They're all good for at least 200,000 miles if they've been maintained. The area behind the driver in the '95 is 9' X 4'; our seats are removeable but don't fold down. I'm not sure when the "stow 'n' go" seats came out, but my wife's been salivating over them ever since. We would remove at least some of the back seats and use that space for storage.
ReplyDeleteWe have camped in our Grand Caravans, but they're too small for two people long term. Depending upon your priorities, you might consider something larger. For longer trips (say, over a month) or for permanent living, we will look for a full-size van, probably with a high topper so that we can stand up inside. That would let us use an indoor running-water shower, too, which is a priority for my wife. Those have little to no stealth in most environments, but give a lot of usable space while fitting a standard parking space. As best I understand it, fuel mileage depends primarily upon the motor and drive line combination as long as they're not overworked, and I think we could find a good-enough compromise to suit our needs that way.