lab_nomad
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2020
- Messages
- 184
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I’m in Idaho working for 13 weeks. I am staying at a hotel, as I can’t find anything less expensive. Short-term furnished rentals are hard to come by (and expensive). And as I have a dog, and it’s 100 degrees, staying in the van is out of the question. I’m rather miffed, b/c the housing allowance (which is non-taxable) is what makes travel jobs attractive. Otherwise, I’m making the same money or even a bit less than my last permanent job. {sigh}
Anyhoo, I got my room for a week, and then when I went to book it for a month, I was able to get a better rate by checking in today, rather than yesterday, so I had to find a place to go for a night. I checked out freecampsites.net and found a place not too far (about 15 miles) from here. So, it was my first experience van camping versus just sleeping in the van on the 5-day drive to get here.
I stopped at a store to get supplies (batteries for my fan, water, kitty litter and garbage bags for u-know-what) and then promptly locked my keys in the van! With Penelope inside! Luckily, I called a local locksmith and he came so quickly and got the door opened in a jiffy. This Dodge Caravan has an unfortunate set up in that you can use the key fob to open the back gate or side sliding doors while the van remains locked. I had put my keys down on my plastic drawers while I was loading the supplies. Then, instead of using the key fob to close it, I pushed the button inside the door…and voila! So, I’m going to make sure from now on that whenever I open anything with the key fob that I push the unlock button first. And before I close anything, I’ll make sure I know where my keys are!
The campsites were just pull-off-the-highway deals with picnic tables and a fire ring. No amenities. Unfortunately, since there was a highway on one side and the river on the other, there wasn’t an opportunity to hike or anything, so I read my kindle and watched videos I previously downloaded on my iPad and phone.
It was really hot. Having my battery operated fan is really nice. The batteries are lasting! The package said 40 hours, but I swear I’ve run that fan longer and haven’t had to change them out, yet. Probably if I hadn’t bought those replacement batteries, they would’ve. . But it was still really uncomfortable, so at one point in the night, I took a cold pack out of the cooler and laid it on myself, rotating it to new places. That helped a lot.
One thing I wasn’t considering was how dirty I would get…in just one night! When I used my wipes in the morning, I actually had dirt come off me! And before leaving to drive back to town, I went to grab the dog’s leash to direct her into the van, and I must’ve spooked her (she doesn’t like fast movement above her head), and she rolled over on the ground. Ugh! I used the last of my water to rinse her off and then used a wipe on her, and she was filthy! So, the first thing I did when coming back to the hotel was to give her a bath.
I noticed the area by the side door that I use to get in and out was looking dirty, so I bought a throw rug to put down there. You never know what you’re going to need until you do. And I bought a battery pack from amazon to charge my devices b/c watching videos sure drains the batteries down.
But despite all that…I loved it!
I’m hoping that when the weather cools down here, I can stay in the van more and use hotels less and save some of my housing allowance money.
Anyhoo, I got my room for a week, and then when I went to book it for a month, I was able to get a better rate by checking in today, rather than yesterday, so I had to find a place to go for a night. I checked out freecampsites.net and found a place not too far (about 15 miles) from here. So, it was my first experience van camping versus just sleeping in the van on the 5-day drive to get here.
I stopped at a store to get supplies (batteries for my fan, water, kitty litter and garbage bags for u-know-what) and then promptly locked my keys in the van! With Penelope inside! Luckily, I called a local locksmith and he came so quickly and got the door opened in a jiffy. This Dodge Caravan has an unfortunate set up in that you can use the key fob to open the back gate or side sliding doors while the van remains locked. I had put my keys down on my plastic drawers while I was loading the supplies. Then, instead of using the key fob to close it, I pushed the button inside the door…and voila! So, I’m going to make sure from now on that whenever I open anything with the key fob that I push the unlock button first. And before I close anything, I’ll make sure I know where my keys are!
The campsites were just pull-off-the-highway deals with picnic tables and a fire ring. No amenities. Unfortunately, since there was a highway on one side and the river on the other, there wasn’t an opportunity to hike or anything, so I read my kindle and watched videos I previously downloaded on my iPad and phone.
It was really hot. Having my battery operated fan is really nice. The batteries are lasting! The package said 40 hours, but I swear I’ve run that fan longer and haven’t had to change them out, yet. Probably if I hadn’t bought those replacement batteries, they would’ve. . But it was still really uncomfortable, so at one point in the night, I took a cold pack out of the cooler and laid it on myself, rotating it to new places. That helped a lot.
One thing I wasn’t considering was how dirty I would get…in just one night! When I used my wipes in the morning, I actually had dirt come off me! And before leaving to drive back to town, I went to grab the dog’s leash to direct her into the van, and I must’ve spooked her (she doesn’t like fast movement above her head), and she rolled over on the ground. Ugh! I used the last of my water to rinse her off and then used a wipe on her, and she was filthy! So, the first thing I did when coming back to the hotel was to give her a bath.
I noticed the area by the side door that I use to get in and out was looking dirty, so I bought a throw rug to put down there. You never know what you’re going to need until you do. And I bought a battery pack from amazon to charge my devices b/c watching videos sure drains the batteries down.
But despite all that…I loved it!
I’m hoping that when the weather cools down here, I can stay in the van more and use hotels less and save some of my housing allowance money.