In the routine

After two weeks of van living, I'm starting to get into a bit of a rhythm.

On work days, I wake up around 5am, drift and doze until about 5:30, trying to remember where I parked the night before.  I put on some "morning clothes", either some sweat pants or the clothes I wore the night before.  I put on the clothes while I'm in the top bunk of Vandrew, because there are no privacy curtains below.

Once I'm dressed, I climb down from the top bunk and drive the van to the nearest park and ride lot.  Have to get there early so there's still room to park.  When I'm safely parked for the day, I pack for the day, and grab a bit to eat from my "kitchen".  The fridge still isn't working, and I don't really want to cook something, so it's dried fruit and an energy bar, and then I'm ready to pack for the day.

I take work clothes and gym clothes, along with anything I may need after work (squash racket, shorts and sandals for after work, etc.) and stuff them into my gym bag.  Then I get a train downtown.

The nearest train stop to the gym is about a kilometer walk, and once I get there, I brush my teeth, shower, and sometimes even work out.  Once I'm finished at the gym, I get dressed in my work clothes and walk another kilometer to the office for a day of work.  At the office, I charge my phone and any other devices that I may need to, while I'm working very diligently trying to do the best job that I can and make my boss look good....needless to say, he might be reading this.

After there are a myriad of things that I have been doing, but I haven't been spending a lot of down time in Vandrew.  I've found that in the small amount of time that I have spent inside, it tends to get very hot, very quickly.  When it is time for me to find a place to park for the night, there are a few considerations:

1) Try not to park in front of someone's house (unless you know them).  I don't think many people would like a rusty retro van parking in front of their house, even if no one was sleeping in it.

2) Try not to park in front of a playground or school.  Old van...single guy...mattress in the van...enough said.

3) Ideally, don't park on a busy road.  Noisy.

4) Don't park on a road where no one else is parked.  Stand out like a sore thumb.

5) Don't park on the same block for more than one night a week.  Don't want to draw attention.

The main routine is coming together...my next issue will be trying to eat right...

Velcro is awesome

My new GPS and sound system...

Velcro is the new duct tape!

It's not exactly Vandrew...but close

This showed up on my desk this morning...cake for breakfast! (Don't tell my nutritionist!)

Propane

I dropped Vandrew off to have the propane system checked out yesterday.  There are interesting logistics when you want to drop a vehicle that you live in.  On the one hand, you need it back by the evening...or else you're homeless.

On the other hand, you can park in front of the place the night before, and have a good friend pick you up in the morning on his way to work...thanks Mike!

Jeff, my boss, gave me a ride back out after work, and after I had parted with some dollars, the guys at Wild Mountain RV Service gave me some valuable information.

1. My fridge does not have a propane option.  For some reason I thought it did. I was wrong.  It can work off 24VDC (battery power), but I'm not sure how much of the battery I'll drain doing that.

2. There's a switch under my couch that means that all the lights, receptacles, and electrical stuff will work.  Yay!

3. Deep cycle batteries are not meant to be drained below 45% charge, and if they are, the alternator will not fully charge them again and that's bad.


I ordered a battery indication gauge from Amazon today, so I can hopefully get a handle on how much juice that fridge uses...I also looked at solar panels...

...stay tuned.

Logos and graphics

It's all about branding, right? The second one was made by my boss, and I think it's boss! (That means good, if you're not up with the)

Jeff also came up with the name "Vandrew".

Thanks JW.

Fix the bed

This weekend I went out to my parent's farm where the van is being stored for the moment, and decided to get to work on the top bunk.  The top bunk is where I plan on sleeping.  I think it will be less obvious that someone is "home" in the van if I'm parked overnight somewhere.

The bunk, as it was, was intended for people to sleep across the width of the van.  Short people, or at least people under 70" tall, would have no trouble doing this.  I, however, and 74" tall, and this was not an option for me.  I need to stretch out.

My plan was to extend the bunk, so that I could put a standard double mattress up top, and make the lower half of the bunk removable to allow for head room when using the couch and table.  Should be an easy fix, right?

ORIGINAL PLATFORM

Wrong!

When I started to investigate a drip that my dad had experienced when he picked up the van from the mechanic, I found a problem.  Due to a design flaw with the fiberglass top of the van, any water that did manage to leak in collected in two troughs running down each side of the topper.  The wood was rotten and my job just got a whole lot bigger!

ADD DRAIN HOLES

WATER IN THE TOP!

REMOVE WINDOW
TO GET NEW SLEEPING PLATFORM IN

The Van

Where to find a van?  What kind of van to try and find?  If Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, will there be advances in the space program so as to enable a mass exodus from the planet?  These were the questions that ran through my mind.  I could buy a more expensive van, hoping to get more reliability, or I could buy a very inexpensive van and use the money saved to repair and upgrade.

I decided to pursue the latter course of action, not only because I believe it to be a sound financial proposition, but because I like the idea of driving a van that cost me under $5000 down to Panama.  I also like the idea that if it breaks down, I can just walk away...not that much invested.

I went on the website Kijiji, searching all of Alberta for a camper van under five grand. There were a few options.

There was one that looked promising in Grande Prairie, approximately 8 hours drive north of Calgary. It had a recent mechanical inspection, but I would need to find a way up to Grande Prairie.

There was one available in Calgary, but it was sold before I managed to go and see it.

Then, there was Daysland.

The Daysland van had been on the website since I first started looking.  Anyone I showed the add to thought it was the van to buy. I made contact with the owner, Debbie, and she told me to talk with her boyfriend, Chris.  Chris said that a few people had come to look, but the van was still available...

My only problem now was to get to see the van. I had never heard of the village of Daysland, but it turns out it was a 3 hour drive north of Calgary.

I have a couple of friends who travel to and from Edmonton on a regular basis, but none of them happened to be going on the days I had available. Was I going to lose out on the van because of a lack of transport? Fear not!  Sarah Williams to the rescue! On a beautiful sunny Saturday in May, Sarah gave up on the possibility of golfing to drive me up to Chris and Debbie's acreage to view my potential home.

The van was as advertised, and after a test drive around the countryside, $3500 exchanged hands and the van was mine.  One step closer to adventure!


This is me, in Camrose, on the way back after I bough the van.

Photo credit: Sarah Williams