This post originally appeared on my Sixty Miles from Anywhere site, just as I was starting off on this adventure. I attempted to update the content, but realized how much things have changed over the last several months. I will post an update to what I have learned in upcoming posts and possibly a podcast episode.
One of my favorite movies is White Squall. The part where the first mate is chewing out the kids for not keeping things stowed is really hitting me this week. Sometimes literally. If something doesn’t have a place where it is stowed or fastened securely, it really has no business being on the bus. One of the biggest challenges of vanlife problems is keeping it clean and tidy.
That goes with the saying “Running a tight ship.” Lines, sails, and all the stuff carried with sailors on voyages needed to be kept tight, put away, and clean to ensure the safety and health of the crew. Not to mention the ship. The other phrase, “loose cannon” also comes from nautical terminology. If a cannon wasn’t tied down properly in a store or just choppy seas, it could roll all over, crashing into the hull or squashing sailors flat.
Dust and Dirt are the Bane of Living on the Road
Dust gets everywhere. I wipe my surfaces down every day. I shake out my rugs. I don’t think I did this much dusting and sweeping in any house I’ve ever lived in. The thing is if you don’t, it will start to eat away at your stuff. The inside of your vehicle will start to accumulate dirt and debris. And in my case, dog fluff. You pick up all sorts of fine dust, either from the highway or the dirt roads when boondocking. If you don’t manage it, it will take over your life.
Keep it Clean with Storage and Food
You have to be even better with dealing with food in a van than you are at home. Surfaces need to be kept clean. Food waste needs to be at a minimum, because of limitations of where to store trash as well as attracting bears, or worse: rodents.
I don’t have a lot of room for food and refrigeration can be sketchy sometimes too. Especially if the power needs to be conserved. I generally only use a few dishes at a time and wash them immediately after I use them. Not getting the food off your cups and utensils can make you pretty sick.
Fuel Storage
I learned this the other day while making dinner. Always keep extra fuel on hand. Once I ran out of butane halfway through making mac and cheese. I wound up having a PBJ for dinner instead. The ability to use fuel is important when it comes to cooking, but also being able to boil water if you are unsure of its potability.
Finding either fuel can be tricky in some places, and there’s no guarantee if you do find fuel you can afford it. The only place I was able to find butane fuel in Lake Havasu, for example, was at an ACE Hardware. For $7 per can. A four pack of the same fuel in Tucson at a Korean grocery store was $7.50. Lucky for me, Walmart got a resupply of butane a few days later. Not long after that, I upgraded my range to a dual fuel system.
Animals and Pests on the Road
I’ve already written about the great chipmunk invasion. I’m still not sure how they got in. Or if they ever left. A vehicle has a lot more ways to get inside than a house, if you can believe it. I’ve had to clean the floors several times too just to make sure the droppings those adorable little bastards left aren’t going to make us sick.
Somewhere in New Mexico, I picked up some mice that I could hear chewing in the walls of my bus. I tried spin traps, which they just ignored. I had to go back to using the old school snap traps, which I picked up at a hardware store in Quartzsite, AZ weeks later. The first night out with peanut butter and dog food kibble for bait, I trapped two. I haven’t had any problems since.
Also keep in mind that bears now know how to open vehicle doors, so keep them locked up. Otherwise you might have a friend-shaped thing in your bus that isn’t a friend waking you up in the morning. Little things you take for granted such as gnats and fruit flies are also a problem. These insects are attracted to the light in your vehicle at night and will often swarm interior lights if you don’t use screens for doors and windows. They might also take residence in your trash or any food that is left out, which is great for the circle of life, but not so much for your living situation.
Get Organized
Everything has to be securely put away before you put the vehicle in drive. A buddy of mine who lives in a camper in Tennessee commented on a previous post saying you don’t check everything twice. You check everything three or four times. Sometimes five. Even then, shit still goes flying everywhere. The other day the door to the fridge flung open after hitting a bump. The contents of the fridge were laid out neatly on the floor for everyone to see.
Getting organized and making it a routine to keep your items stored properly will prevent mishaps like this. It also allows you to keep inventory of what you have, what you need, and what needs to be repaired. The road is not kind to fragile objects, and over time the vibrations will eventually take their toll on everything unless it is regularly packed and protected.
Toilets and Van Life
If I thought it was bad before living in the middle of nowhere, now I’m even further removed from that. I realized a problem I had when I decided to use the vault toilet at a campground. I’ve been caught, pardon the expression, with my pants down before in a vault toilet, so if I have the chance, I bring my own roll of TP with me just in case they’ve run out. I grabbed a roll that was handy and realized it was wet. It had a faint chemical odor too and the only thing nearby that could have been the source was my portable toilet.
My marine toilet is something I tend to use only in emergencies or if I have no other choice. Usually in cities or places without facilities. RV dumps are free in some areas, but you’ll find that upwards of $15 just to dump your waste can take its toll on your resources. Plus it’s a messy inconvenience that is better to be avoided if you can.
Water
When I lost power due to solar problems, I realized that I needed some other way to get water without the limitations of an electric pump. I now carry a 6 gallon water container that I can access from the back door of the bus. You just need to keep an eye on how much you have left, because once the water is gone, it’s gone. Until you can find some more. That might not always be so easy in the desert.
Solutions to Vanlife Problems: Keeping It Clean and Tidy
At home within four walls, I can be pretty messy. I sometimes leave dishes or laundry out for days on end. You can’t afford to do this in vanlife. Whether it’s a skoolie, conversion van, or camper van, messes take up valuable space and they can even mean your things get broken if you have to stop suddenly. Keeping it clean and tidy protects your investment, allows you to control your environment, and for someone as disorganized as me, these could actually be good habits to get into.
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