Cosmo and I took our first road trip in our new (to us) Roadtrek van. I’d spent the weeks since I purchased this van remodeling, taking out the jump seats, putting in extra cabinets and cupboards. We’ve been living in it (in my back parking lot) for over a week now and decided it was time for a test run.
Even though we’ve been living in it, it was far too easy to find we’d forgotten something and run into the house to get it. I decided it was time to take the show on the road and see how well we did living in it for real. The short answer is “Very Good!”
I am still working daily, so it wasn’t practical to take a road trip that would take days before we arrived. I had considered driving to Rehoboth Beach and just park on a side street near the ocean overnight. Even though tourist season is somewhat over, there are still enough people coming to the beach to make it questionable to park an RV on the street overnight. As far as I can tell, I’m legal to park in the town. I’m under 20 feet, and I can fit into a regular parking space. Parking restrictions (residents only on some streets–pass required) and parking meters are done for the season. Even so, I dread the knock on the door in the middle of the night if someone living nearby gets nervous and calls the police to report “someone living in a van” parked in front of their house. I will do that at some point, probably after the last of the tourists has gone home, but for now, I decided that a nearby campground would be a nice getaway. And boy was I right!
We went to Killens Pond State Park. Camping was only $20 a night (with my senior discount) and included dumping privileges. Since my black and grey water tanks were filling up, this was a bargain. We headed out late Thursday morning and spent the night. Adjacent campgrounds were vacant, and on either side of us, past the empty sites, were people with dogs. So the entire loop where I stayed was very dog friendly, and Cosmo got a chance to play with Lola who was staying just a couple sites away. We went on hikes around the pond, took a late night walk to a clearing where, with little light pollution, we could see many stars and planets and even a vague hint of the Milky Way. It was so nice to be out in nature. When I turned out the lights and went to bed, it was dark. REALLY dark! (Parked in the back lot at my place, there is a lot of light pollution from neighboring businesses, so it is never really dak when we go to bed.)
During the day I sat at the picnic table and read. Sometimes I just sat and didn’t read! Either way, it was so pleasant to be out in nature. Cosmo was on a 20 foot lead, and spent his time plotting how to catch a squirrel (he never did).
I cooked breakfast, made lunch, and cooked a big dinner there. All systems working perfectly. The hot water heater got the water very hot very quickly. Before drifting off to sleep, I watched part of a DVD on my new DC power TV/DVD combo. It seemed a bit crass to be inside depending on electronic devices for entertainment when the entire Universe was so clearly surrounding us outside, so I soon turned it off and we went back outside to walk in the moonlight.
I wasn’t gone long enough to be sure I had everything I need to live in the van full time, but I got a pretty good sense that what I think I need and what I actually need are starting to become one and the same. I was totally comfortable and at home in the tiny van.
If you’d like to see some of the highlights of our trip, check out my YouTube Channel for the latest video at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx9L4rW4Orsox-BDA4ebmmQ?view_as=subscriber