My first day back in Reno with the dream-mobile, and already life seems more complicated:
Prospective condo-buyers want to see the place, so I have re-tidy it (having littered the place with van manuals and other road trip detritus) and be absent by 10am.
An hour before I left van-land, they helpfully told me that I needed to drain the van water system if I expected it to get cold in Reno. Well, as bad luck would have it, I do expect it to get very cold very quickly, so I have basically a one day window to find the tools to get this done.
Interestingly (or not …) my contacts for both these ongoing issues are Sonya’s – Sonia the realtor lady, and Sonja the van lady. … life’s odd little synchronicities … The So section of my phone list is suddenly getting a lot of work.
Draining the water system was a piece of cake except for the hot water tank, which requires a socket, slightly bigger than 1″ (the biggest my neighbor has) but seemingly less than 1 1/8″ because his fixed wrench wouldn’t grab it. I had to be somewhere, so I chose not to spend that cold, bitter day driving around tool stores, so … we are gutting out the cold spell with an un-drained hot water resevoir – sigh…
Interlude
I have done a good job of shaving the rough edges off of my life and making it so John-friendly that it almost gets boring sometimes. This was especially true back in Mill Valley where life really was perfect, but even here in imperfect Reno things get into a bit of a rut sometimes.
Of course, last fall life ceased to be ho-hum humdrum – having an effing heart attack and facing major effing surgery is not boring. But even after getting that more or less tucked away, I am finding that my New Life Plan Checklist has created a somewhat busier life than I am used to having … but then maybe I’m a little spoiled and a little lazy….
For the last few weeks, my van was going to be done Any Day Now. Finally, they were willing to commit to the week after T-day. So this Monday was a very hectic phone day – getting money moved around to get a cashiers check to carry up to Portland, and getting the van insurance squared away. Then, at the last minute, van-day was moved back to Wednesday instead of Tuesday, so I had a pretty mellow Tuesday since I thought I would be gone already. ‘Twas ok, I had one more day to work my way through the leftover turkey before tossing it all in the freezer.
Air travel
I stuffed my sleeping bag and one change of clothes into my suitcase and on Wednesday morning got a ride to the airport – thank you Alana. I used to fly a lot – well into the 90′s I was still jetting hither and yon for various family and business related matters, but in the last few years I have flown hardly at all, and I am finding that I truly loathe the entire experience. The schedule stress, the cost, standing in the multiple interminable lines, taking off your belt and shoes for security, the extremely unhealthy recycled air on the plane and the basic discomfort of sitting in the same position for 2,3,6 hours, then one more line to escape the plane. It just sucks.
Meeting my van
So … arrive Portland at 8-ish. Get picked up by Erik the van guy. Get taken to my van parked at the stereo store. Get my first tour of the dream-mobile. It is mighty sweet, really it is.
Dark blue on the outside, with gray interior, powder blue trim and orange party lights for accent.
met my electrical system – solar panels, inverter, battery;
met my water system – sink, outside shower attachment;
met my propane system – forced air heat, hot water inside and out, two burner stove;
met my electronics
- stereo (groovy, but something’s not right with the bass),
- back-up video camera,
- iPod integration,
- switchable to aux battery .. so I can listen all night!
My heat was a-swim with new information.
First night in the van
Erik’s brilliant idea for the night was to park at the Edgefield (a really quite excellent hotel compound in Troutdale, OR), eat and have a beer and sleep in the parking lot. The first part worked pretty well, but I was back in the van getting ready for nightie-night for all of 15 minutes before the guard busted me. Maybe this concept would work in the middle of a crowded summer (or maybe not …), but it had no chance on a blustery winter Wednesday night when there were about seven cars in the lot. The guard said the lot next door was good, and indeed is was ok until I slept past 8 AM. Turns out it was an elementary school parking lot (duh), and they were not happy with me. So that is I guess, my first lesson in stealth parking – namely the earlier you get going in the morning, the less are your chances of getting busted.
So Thursday, meet Sonja for more van orientation. We learned how to put up the awning, pretty sweet!, took a few pictures, crawled around the systems one more time, and I was on my way.
First road trip!
The van folks have a very low opinion of the stock tires that Dodge puts on their Sprinters. Not so good on snow, they say. With studded snow tires Sprinters are very good (they say), but I ain’t got that, so we choose a route that keeps me out of high passes, and I choose to go quickly because the forecast is for serious weather starting in three days.
My original thought was to stay around Bend for the evening. My first try at Erik’s suggested stealth plan – park between houses in a nice neighborhood and just chill and be gone in the morning.
The thing I did NOT see coming is that this thing would be so darned comfortable to drive. The purpose of getting it was to be places in it, the part about getting to those places was just the work you do to be in a cool place, and wasn’t a very big part of the calculation. Still true, but banging down from Hood River to Reno in about 25 hours was remarkably easy and comfortable and un-tiring. The seat is bus driver plush and easy to spend time in.
So… stop at Safeway and get whatever strikes your fancy, pull into a rest area and eat a table (even though it was 23 degrees outside), wash your hands in a sink with hot water, relax on your sofa for a while, put the leftovers in your fridge (to microwave later except I got home by then), listening to tunes all the while. Hop back in the drivers seat and off you go!
It is by no means something that I plan to do, but if I wanted to drive to Boston in three days this would be a perfect vehicle in which to do it.
Anyway, back to the trip. I was having too much fun be-bopping down the roead when I got to Bend, so I decided to shoot for a Rest Area about 50 miles further down the road. Did that, parked in the corner of the lot with the idling semis, and hung out there from about 10pm to 6am. Nobody bothered me, the heater worked great although it’s very loud, and I was toasty and comfortable even though it was 8 degrees outside.
Super-pretty sunrise, fun at the bagle shoppe with wifi in Klamath Falls, super-pretty morning fog on the lowlands and wildlife sanctuaries, … a generally rockin drive through the wastelands of NE California. I took the less travelled way around Eagle Lake, which was dumb because I ended up on some snowy, curvy mountain roads, but I got through them and got home 3:30-ish, feeeling pretty darned good for all that driving.
the van
My first day back in Reno with the dream-mobile, and already life seems more complicated:
Interestingly (or not …) my contacts for both these ongoing issues are Sonya’s – Sonia the realtor lady, and Sonja the van lady. … life’s odd little synchronicities … The So section of my phone list is suddenly getting a lot of work.
Draining the water system was a piece of cake except for the hot water tank, which requires a socket, slightly bigger than 1″ (the biggest my neighbor has) but seemingly less than 1 1/8″ because his fixed wrench wouldn’t grab it. I had to be somewhere, so I chose not to spend that cold, bitter day driving around tool stores, so … we are gutting out the cold spell with an un-drained hot water resevoir – sigh…
Interlude
I have done a good job of shaving the rough edges off of my life and making it so John-friendly that it almost gets boring sometimes. This was especially true back in Mill Valley where life really was perfect, but even here in imperfect Reno things get into a bit of a rut sometimes.
Of course, last fall life ceased to be ho-hum humdrum – having an effing heart attack and facing major effing surgery is not boring. But even after getting that more or less tucked away, I am finding that my New Life Plan Checklist has created a somewhat busier life than I am used to having … but then maybe I’m a little spoiled and a little lazy….
For the last few weeks, my van was going to be done Any Day Now. Finally, they were willing to commit to the week after T-day. So this Monday was a very hectic phone day – getting money moved around to get a cashiers check to carry up to Portland, and getting the van insurance squared away. Then, at the last minute, van-day was moved back to Wednesday instead of Tuesday, so I had a pretty mellow Tuesday since I thought I would be gone already. ‘Twas ok, I had one more day to work my way through the leftover turkey before tossing it all in the freezer.
Air travel
I stuffed my sleeping bag and one change of clothes into my suitcase and on Wednesday morning got a ride to the airport – thank you Alana. I used to fly a lot – well into the 90′s I was still jetting hither and yon for various family and business related matters, but in the last few years I have flown hardly at all, and I am finding that I truly loathe the entire experience. The schedule stress, the cost, standing in the multiple interminable lines, taking off your belt and shoes for security, the extremely unhealthy recycled air on the plane and the basic discomfort of sitting in the same position for 2,3,6 hours, then one more line to escape the plane. It just sucks.
Meeting my van
So … arrive Portland at 8-ish. Get picked up by Erik the van guy. Get taken to my van parked at the stereo store. Get my first tour of the dream-mobile. It is mighty sweet, really it is.
- stereo (groovy, but something’s not right with the bass),
- back-up video camera,
- iPod integration,
- switchable to aux battery .. so I can listen all night!
My heat was a-swim with new information.
First night in the van
Erik’s brilliant idea for the night was to park at the Edgefield (a really quite excellent hotel compound in Troutdale, OR), eat and have a beer and sleep in the parking lot. The first part worked pretty well, but I was back in the van getting ready for nightie-night for all of 15 minutes before the guard busted me. Maybe this concept would work in the middle of a crowded summer (or maybe not …), but it had no chance on a blustery winter Wednesday night when there were about seven cars in the lot. The guard said the lot next door was good, and indeed is was ok until I slept past 8 AM. Turns out it was an elementary school parking lot (duh), and they were not happy with me. So that is I guess, my first lesson in stealth parking – namely the earlier you get going in the morning, the less are your chances of getting busted.
So Thursday, meet Sonja for more van orientation. We learned how to put up the awning, pretty sweet!, took a few pictures, crawled around the systems one more time, and I was on my way.
First road trip!
The van folks have a very low opinion of the stock tires that Dodge puts on their Sprinters. Not so good on snow, they say. With studded snow tires Sprinters are very good (they say), but I ain’t got that, so we choose a route that keeps me out of high passes, and I choose to go quickly because the forecast is for serious weather starting in three days.
My original thought was to stay around Bend for the evening. My first try at Erik’s suggested stealth plan – park between houses in a nice neighborhood and just chill and be gone in the morning.
The thing I did NOT see coming is that this thing would be so darned comfortable to drive. The purpose of getting it was to be places in it, the part about getting to those places was just the work you do to be in a cool place, and wasn’t a very big part of the calculation. Still true, but banging down from Hood River to Reno in about 25 hours was remarkably easy and comfortable and un-tiring. The seat is bus driver plush and easy to spend time in.
So… stop at Safeway and get whatever strikes your fancy, pull into a rest area and eat a table (even though it was 23 degrees outside), wash your hands in a sink with hot water, relax on your sofa for a while, put the leftovers in your fridge (to microwave later except I got home by then), listening to tunes all the while. Hop back in the drivers seat and off you go!
It is by no means something that I plan to do, but if I wanted to drive to Boston in three days this would be a perfect vehicle in which to do it.
Anyway, back to the trip. I was having too much fun be-bopping down the roead when I got to Bend, so I decided to shoot for a Rest Area about 50 miles further down the road. Did that, parked in the corner of the lot with the idling semis, and hung out there from about 10pm to 6am. Nobody bothered me, the heater worked great although it’s very loud, and I was toasty and comfortable even though it was 8 degrees outside.
Super-pretty sunrise, fun at the bagle shoppe with wifi in Klamath Falls, super-pretty morning fog on the lowlands and wildlife sanctuaries, … a generally rockin drive through the wastelands of NE California. I took the less travelled way around Eagle Lake, which was dumb because I ended up on some snowy, curvy mountain roads, but I got through them and got home 3:30-ish, feeeling pretty darned good for all that driving.