At the drive in of course!

And if you drive this please park in back…

What kind of van do you have?
–Ship

It’s a twenty year old Chevy van with about a gazillion miles on it. It was a conversion van but due its age the interior got ripped out and remade into a converted conversion van. Time plus poor original materials and installation quality took its toll. I was originally just going to remove the seats, replace the carpet and take some space wasting arm rests off the wall that enclosed probably 20 square feet of dead space. But as typical with renovations I ended up completely gutting the interior and rebuilding it all. Each problem that I pulled out and tossed in the trash just revealed another problem. Before I new it the only thing back there was the headliner.

Thankfully I had a bunch of donated leftovers from various people’s home renovation projects so my cash outlay was low. I now have a cabinet and desk like thing behind the drivers seat with a full bed in the back with lots of storage space underneath. And, since I pulled so much out I got to insulate the interior too.

It’s comfortable enough but it’s really in desperate need of some mechanical repairs. Most importantly right now is the brakes. But the engine needs some routine heavy maintenance and the alignment is really, really bad.

If I had to do it over again I’d probably go with a mini van. The extra space is nice but the improved fuel economy might just be better. I think if I got my current van properly tuned up I’d squeeze out a couple more miles per gallon but no matter what a mini van would just be more efficient.

Matthew Simmons, chairman of the Houston based energy investment bank Simmons and Co. International, talked recently with Bloomberg’s Rhonda Schaffler about the need to address energy use, his view that global supply has peaked and the likelihood oil prices could reach as much as $300 a barrel.

To have someone like this, with his credentials, appear on Bloomberg saying what he does is really quite amazing. Peak oil as a theory is coming of age and moving out of the tin foil hat arena.

Schaffler was quite humorous at one point, sounding as if she wasn’t prepared well enough for the interview. She seemed overly shocked to hear the $300 a barrel price tag, amazed that it’s already happening elsewhere and that certainly there must be something to do. As if magic will make more oil appear underground. No, sorry Rhonda, we need to cut oil use and prepare for further declines in the oil fields.

As a van dweller, who makes my vehicle my home, I do wonder what the economy of car living will be in the nearish future. When I currently get nine miles per gallon in city driving planning trips will mean a whole new thing when I tally the miles at a couple dollar per turn of the odometer.

youtube video here

The nights here are not so dangerously cold but I made some commitments that will tie me to couch surfing for another week or so. It’s a good thing over all but I do miss my van.

I like sleeping in my bed with my pillows and linens. I like reading with my LED flashlight. I like being in the small space where I feel all cozied and cocooned. I like the changing vista and the quiet. Sure there can be traffic noises but unlike an apartment I don’t have plumbing noises or people walking above me.

A couple things I miss about living in a home

The bathroom: Showers on your agenda, running water and a toilet. In a van you can use kitty litter bucket toilets and a big bowl for washing in. Living life like it’s 1850 really isn’t all so bad.

The oven: In a van it is rather difficult to make a frozen pizza or a properly made baked potato–the kind with crispy skin. A toaster oven could work and would allow for cheese toast but I’m not hooked to shore power enough to warrant carrying one. Though this wouldn’t work well for potatoes and pizza but fresh cheese toast on tap may make me not mind that so much. The refrigerator is nice too but I really don’t miss it when I van dwell. I’m quite happy with foods that are shelf stable.

Standing up: my van is not a high-top so being in a home allows for that pleasing upright stance so fitting of a descendent of homo erectus. But then in a van everything you have is so near that you don’t have far to walk. Mostly you can just lean or stretch to grab what you need.

This V8-powered RV has four axles, one fixed, two steerables at the front and one steerable at the rear. Built from three vans stitched together, it’s stuffed with a genuine oak-wood kitchen with microwave, refrigerator, stove and sink, sofas around the kitchen table, leather LZ-boy, radio, communication radio, cassette player, mount-in-TV, toilet, Queen size bed, hardwood floors except bedroom which has carpet, 2 separate ACs for travel and camping, heater, sunroof.

Sold about a year back for some twelve grand on ebay.

Jared Benedict tried in vain to get the public domain maps for free or reasonable costs through various means and sources. So instead he bought the whole US in 1:24k scale and will release them for free once his initial $1,600 investment is paid back. Soon we’ll be able to get them from his site or the Internet Archive.

These maps are useful for many reasons, but for the cheap traveler they can help you find spots of land that are free to camp on, such as BLM or federal forests. Currently Jared has some to offer at the Libre Map Project, but the Map Ransom will make everywhere downloadable instead of just some places.

I’m posting this as inspired by a conversation running in the vandwellers yahoo group. The conversation turned to keeping the bugs out and in my ventures I’ve learned a few things I shared.

Namely, spending an evening meticulously sewing in advesive backed magnetic tape strips that I loveling cut and mitered the ends together to create a 100% complete rim around the screen is a complete waste of time. The magnetism wasn’t enough to hold through the thin plastic screen. So that was about three and a half hours lost.

Then on a return shopping trip I found a pack of 40 or 50 or so magnetic disks in Wal-Mart’s craft section for a couple bucks. I really didn’t want to invest another minute in this but I also didn’t want to be eaten alive by mosquitos either. So rather than spend hours sewing the idea of stapling hit me. Simple, fast, and sturdy enough given the time investment.

All told it took about ten minutes to staple it together. I abandoned my template I made for sewing against and just did it sitting in the driver’s seat and fitting as I went. A quick trim of excess and I smugly sat in admiration. I tried opening and closing the door a few times and it didn’t fall off, or even hint at it, unlike the version with the magnetic tape which dropped at the slightest provocation.

Construction Details

To make this just start along one edge and place magnets every four to six inches. They’re cheap and it’ll go fast and the overkill will help form a more complete seal. Fold the screen material over and make the first staple parallel to the fold. Then the second staple goes on the side of the magnet. When you have a pocket slip the magnet in and give one more staple to close. I found it best to make this last staple on the side of the magnet that you’re working to, that is, the side that in a second will have another magnet some four to six inches away. This way each time you’re stapling you have as little in the way as possible so it’ll go most expediently.

I’ve handled mine carefully and they’re showing no signs of wear or tearing. And unlike using strips of magnetic tape the ones made with button magnets are so easy to fold! And that’s even with my tape design having gaps for folding allowances included–they were still way too still.

The one thing I’ll say about having sewn that first screen though, it gave me the motivation to do some mending of clothing. The needle and thread was already out so the excuses were few. I had several favorite garments with loose buttons that are now quite secure.

So the belt is on and for the couple of minutes I’ve run the engine all seems well. I’m so happy I was observant as a small child and learned the gumption necessarily to just do my own stuff and not be afraid or confused by mechanical things.

I took a little walk and with some guidance, from a repair shop ironically, I found the hidden auto parts store. It was an old timey shop with about fifty years of grit tucked in it’s corners. The counter guy thankfully took me seriously when I, stupid woman, asked for a new serpentine belt. He was really great and we narrowed down which belt would be needed based on what accessories it had and the engine size. He asked if I might by chance have it with me and I said, “well, the other half of my shopping list is a breaker bar so I can get the leverage needed to get the belt off.” He chuckled.

Fifty three dollars later and I was walking back and feeling very butch indeed with my two and half foot breaker bar in hand.

Returning to the parking lot I was secretly hoping I’d get some random man to lend his superior upper body strength to help–or perhaps an athletic woman. As I’m neither of those two I was really counting on the astoundingly long tool for leverage.

As it turned out the parking lot had plenty of traffic which flowed in a disturbing pattern. All men completely acted as if I didn’t exist. Older women would sort of look, but kept their distance. Who actually inquired if I needed help? Three separate younger women, in their 20s and 30s. Just where is chivalry these days and the good old fashioned neighborly lend a hand? The first two women offered their cell phones and moral support, making sure I was okay though not being able to offer practical help. The third one though, who came as I was wrapping up, was also mechanically able but by that point I was nearly done.

Thankfully that monster breaker bar gave me plenty of leverage to move the tensioner. I’ve failed miserably with shorter ones in the past and will keep this one in a place of esteemed honor as it shines gloriously in its function. Though long as it was I needed to remove the window washer fluid tank and vacuum accumulator to get enough swing. Small price indeed though to get running again.

The belt was beyond bad, it was completely fraying apart and worse than my initial inspection saw. The long separation must have been hiding somewhere. I inspected all the pulleys and they looked fine so I’m hoping it was just a belt gone bad of old age. I’d of course really rather not have another breakage and be told I need more work to prevent the same in the future.

And again, thanks to my father for taking the time to explain things to me when I came and sat with him when I was little. Though not the most patient of men he did always take the time to explain not only the process of repair but the deductive reasoning behind why this was the correct way to repair whatever the problem was.

I’m back from the woods and have spent a couple days getting reacquainted with civilization. I’ve been sleeping nights at hotel parking lots in tourist towns as I make my way slowly back to my home area.

One trick I’ve learned just recently was that if I start my van just slight after someone else starts their vehicle that people don’t pay attention to me. They’ve already looked in my direction to see the other person start up then pull off so I follow their actions when the other people in the area grow bored.

This has worked so perfectly the last couple mornings that I suspect my van will have appeared to mysteriously vanish. Which, claiming parking spots that I have no legitimate claim to, is probably a good thing indeed.