Just a couple clips and some music - "remember when"
In December of 2019 I bought a van and left Minnesota headed for the West Coast. The van was a 2016 Ford transit connect with 125,000 miles on it. I got it for about $11,000 and with my kickass interest rate of 18%, I am paying $300 a month on it. I did very minimal upgrades before I left Minnesota, I cut a hole in the cargo divider, I added a nice carpet which fit almost perfectly, and I added some rain guards to the windows… - basically what I had was a no-build minimalist van set up. I am used to living out of a backpack so I knew that what I needed room for was the necessities.
Clothes
Food
Toiletries
Electronics
And sleeping stuff
You don't really need much else... The only other item that was new to my gear list was a folding bike which is the biggest and bulkiest item in my van. I also had a few other random items (like tools) that I did a pretty good job of hiding in the plastic body cavities in the back. I added some lights… I made these cool acoustic panels… Trash Bag on a magnet… cooler over there……. But that's it. That was basically my set up. I really felt like I already had everything I needed, and i could basically fit it all inside of a backpack. (Almost).
It took me three days to get to the coast. The weather was pretty cold by December 1 so my nights were spent hunkering down and trying to stay as warm as possible in cities like cheyenne and salt lake. When I got to California I spent my first day getting the van situated and figuring out where everything needs to go. I also made some window covers out of cardboard black vinyl, and Spray adhesive. I landed in Crescent city where I was super excited to explore the Redwoods for the first time. I spent a couple days camping in the forests up there and slowly made my way down the coast stopping at Gold bluffs beach McKinleyville Eureka and Fortuna.
My plan once I got to San Francisco was pretty simple.
Find a reliable place to take a shower
Find a makerspace
Get a job
And find some good places to park the van.
Parking the van was a learning process. One app that is useful is called spot angels which will show you all the places you can park and how long you can stay there. The goal is to find a flat spot in a low crime area that is close to your resources like food and restrooms. (you don't want to get towed or get parking tickets which ive already got 1 of for parking in a spot during the scheduled street sweeping times). I've so far had a lot of luck staying around Potrero hill, the sunset district, and other areas around Russian Hill. I would say in general just be respectful and don't do too much to get noticed and you should be fine. There are quite a few spots where it seems like RVs and campers cluster toget
The Transit Connect does good in the city compared to larger vans. What I like the most is that it blends in with a lot of other commercial vehicles that plumbers, or electricians, or delivery people would use. This small van is also relatively good on gas mileage and gets about 24 mpg average. The main negative about having a small van is that I can't come anywhere close to standing up inside this thing - and even standing on my knees I can't be completely upright. Only sitting cross-legged can i sit up straight. But small size isn't such a bad thing - It is pretty cool to be in my van and have everything I own at an arm's length away. It reminds me of the appalachian trail (Karma Rant).
Sleeping in the van was really improved when I upgraded from a traditional inflatable camping pad to a more heavy duty 4” self inflating foam pad. This also helped a lot with staying warm at night (it generally gets down to about 45 degrees or 7 celcius). The only tough thing about this sleep system is that when im not using it - it takes a while to tuck everything away. Ideally every morning I would roll up my sleeping pad, fold all my blankets and have everything nice and organized. (so far I haven't had the patience for that and i just leave everything out)
My only other problem with sleeping in my van is the condensation. Which is a pretty big problem that I need to figure out quick. When you sleep your breath gives off a lot of moisture that - when it comes in contact with the cold metal shell of my van condenses. So what i need is proper cross ventilation. I just haven't quite figured out the best way to to this yet (lemme know if you have any suggestions). -basically it's going to end up with me cutting some holes in the van and I need to get this done soon otherwise it's going to become a much bigger problem. What ive been doing for now is just trying really hard to get the van dried out when i get a warm sunny day.
Besides figuring out the condensation problem, the only other thing I need in the van is proper storage. Right now the only thing I have is this antique crate that I bought for $10 and used as a table for a while - it still has the legs on it…
Негізгі бет Ойын-сауық "bought a van and went out west"
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