Van life

The van life, wild camping, Cabo dos Bahias, Argentina.

I have now been basically living in my van for over 3 months, and you know, van life is pretty good. I am very happy with the design, the kitchen sink and hand pump, my memory foam mattress, and my desk. The overhead pantry gets a bit cluttered at times, and more than once, the brutal ripio has led to an open door. And when it is my overhead pantry, for some reason, every time, my kitchen knife, a small cleaver really, comes flying out. So lucky I have not wounded a hitchhiker along the way. I did learn very quickly that I needed to put bungee cords on cabinet doors, and secure everything as much a I could while traveling. I would hang my bike from a hook while parked, and at night in the van, but would put it down while traveling, did not want it to pull my entire ceiling down at the first huge pothole. I really like living in my van, campsites are often beautiful, and if the weather is not cooperating, I can hang in my van, and I do not have to crawl into a wet tent. Things have loosened a bit, the kitchen cabinet was shaky upon arrival, and eventually, the desk pulled away from the bed platform a bit. And, the middle leg of my bed platform, that suffered irreparable damage along the Carratera Austral, though bed is so securely attached to side wall of van, two legs has been plenty to hold me. Also, the observation lounge has been fun, happy hours, and a great platform for either photography, or to get away from bugs. The awning works great, even if I have not used it lots, but when I do use it, it works great. I have hauled many hitchhikers during my journey, and they all seem to love it my van, especially the vibrant colors. I like the colors, adds a bit of life to my little cave, because, as I have mentioned, other than the skylight, there are no windows back there. About the only thing which has not worked well, actually has stopped working all together, is my vent fan. I really did not need it during virtually all of the trip, never really got that warm, let alone hot, in the van. And now, I think the vent fan is another casualty of the brutal roads, not working at all. This was not problem, as I could open, and close manually, so if I did want some fresh air, just opened, as long as I remember to close when traveling and if it rained. Overall, I am very happy with build, with my van life. It is not for everyone, but worked for me, for months. And down the road, who knows......

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