Home Depot
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Ahh, those gorgeous Instagram #vanlife posts.
Picture this - a rumpled cottage core quilt wrapped around you as you gaze out the wide open back doors of the van looking out upon that perfect sunset over (fill in the blank) a crystal clear ocean, a pristine mountain scape of snow, the deep lush woods of the PNW.
NOPE!
We have been traveling, on and off, in our van for 8 years. Yes, there are lots of times that you need to pinch yourself to realize that you are actually witnessing something so breathtaking. We would not keep traveling this way if that was not the case. However…. In probably equal proportion are the moments when you just want to slap your head in disbelief because of the part that broke or failed.
Case in point. The day before we were scheduled to leave New England we had a major part failure. The inverter for the onboard solar system died. It was only 2 months old! Knowing that if we had a new one shipped to us it would not get there in time to get us out of dodge before the approaching storm! We had it shipped to a friend’s home in Nasville which was on our planned itinerary. For the 2 nites on the road prior to our arrival we would rely on propane heat. All seemed good and off we went.
But the van gremlins had mayhem up their sleeve. Stopping at a truck stop to empty the waste water tank the hose unspooled and came totally unattached! Oops. Frantic opening of some back walls, removing the busted spool, capping off ends….. and frantically trying to figure out how to solve this problem.
The next morning found us in a Home Depot parking lot. It took 2 hrs but we got it done.
We are a good team.
The other part of #vanlife that never gets discussed is all the time necessary to plan the routes, check the weather conditions along the way, and find interesting places to explore. We are always looking for good prices on gas, places to dump the waste tank and fill up on fresh water and propane. An entire day can be spent just on this kind of infrastructure re-stocking! It’s definitely not glamorous or Instagram “ready”!
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Once we did make it to Nashville we did get to spend 4 wonderful days with our friends - catching up and getting to know their four boys ages 9 to 1, their dog and their 23 chickens. Needless to say, we were both quite tired at the end of each day! Wow! But it was so much fun!
Our new inverter arrived on schedule and it was a straightforward swap out with no issues. On our way out of town today we repackaged and sent back the broken one. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing.
Ummmm….. seems one of the wires for our rear view mirror camera has gone kaput. Wire ordered from Amazon and we’ll pick it up at a drop box in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday. Every step……
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Tonight we find ourselves in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The sun has finally come out for the first time since we have been on the road and the night sky is perfectly clear. Tomorrow will be sunny and in the mid 50’s - perfect exploring weather.
Keep on moving on.
❤️
Every step a fucking adventure!
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