How time flies! February 2014 was when I bought my van, and recently the odometer turned over 200,000 miles. The 20,000 miles I’ve put on it have been among the best of my life. I meant to travel and disperse camp my own state of Oregon, but I and often with DH meandered off into beautiful country in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and California. I’d visited a few of the same places before, but never like this, where I could just stop and go as I pleased. What a lovely and pleasantly addicting difference.
I’ve made minor changes in my van, the BEST one being I now have a terrific fridge. The Coleman thermocooler that came to me with the van just sucked amps, not being a compressor fridge. Plus it didn’t get very cold, so I mostly used ice in it. I recently snatched up a 40-year-old Norcold on local Craigslist for $150. Word was the new models use the same swing compressor as this old one, so that sounded promising. It’s clean, runs super quiet, and freezes stuff in short order at not even halfway on the dial. I am so happy with it! It’s a big honker, but DH and I like eating fresh, so making room is worth it.
I wrapped it in 1” polyiso with double-stick tape and aluminum tape and I throw Gramma’s wool blanket over it. When it’s over 90 degrees outside the compressor only comes on for a minute or two every now and then. I usually turn it off at night. One morning I forgot to turn it on. Late that evening after a plus 90 day triking around Black Rock City, it was at 46 degrees and there was no food loss.
I reconfigured the back corner shelving so all the outdoor gear stored there previous to adding the fridge is still there and slides in and out, hooray.
Also, DH suggested I add a tall skinny propane tank under my sink, so away with those 1 lb. canisters, finally!
I still womanhandle my 32 lb. portable solar panel in and out of the van, and that’s ok for now. I do appreciate being able to park in the shade when possible. I sought help here in Portland to make a travel rack for it on the outside wall driver’s side. No luck, so when I get around to it, I’ll see if I can figure it out myself.
The bed system still works great. I use the top one when I travel alone. I give it over to DH when he’s with me and pull out the smaller one from under it for me. Though the house batteries fit fine under my bed, I’d prefer to get them in their own pull-out shelving under the van floor, but that’s another day, too.
With Low-Tech’s help, I replaced the two front shocks after the last RTR. Ok, I should say I fetched tools, held flashlights, and wrenched where I could actually turn something with my less than stellar strength…SHEESH! Those suckers were HARD to get out and in. Later, I paid to have the back two replaced, and that mechanic told me it was a beast of a job. I feel a bit less wussy.
Bought four new good quality highway tires. The ride is smoother, but the cheap, worn mud and snow tires just, I dunno, felt better. Also, new brake pads, calipers, rotors, wheel packs around. $$ owie but safe now.
Two years ago on the way to RTR a Ford shop in San Diego decided I needed a new head gasket and said they’d fix it all up with a pretty bow for only $4500 (Ford dealership, right?). The only symptom was a faint gas smell coming from the radiator water reservoir. That didn’t convince me it was time to break the bank and then some. I talked it over with others in the know and chose to keep a close eye on it instead. So far so good – no overheating or other symptom and the reservoir seems fine. I had one coil replaced and the engine’s been humming along nicely since. When the time comes I need a major repair, I’ll research my options. Hopefully that won’t start with walking miles first. I'd rather be doing this:
All for now. Long time since I’ve posted, so there will be a lot of new folks to meet at RTR and I’m NOT scheduling a bunch of work this time. Gonna relax and enjoy the GREAT company.
Best to everyone.
Sassy
