Yeah, if I didn’t get an awesome deal with Ballys ($11 a month if I paid for 3 years upfront) then I probably would look into a Y membership since there’s so many of them.

I always love hearing about people who travel short term in a van. You guys are the ambassadors to the rest of the world. If you only do it occasionally then you can’t be TOO crazy and maybe then they’ll actually listen to you when you explain the advantages.

Great blog. Enjoy the writing and the detailed explanations.

My wife and I have traveled a lot in a van, only for a few weeks at a time, tho, and sort of mastered the art of bathrooms, showers, and sleeping in places where we don’t bother others and aren’t likely to be bothered or “moved along”. My parents think we’re nuts and in danger. Not so. Been at it for over 20 yrs.

I’ve heard that truckers often get more vouchers than they can use. Like I said, I’ve only checked at one place and when I found out it was $10 and no one offered me a voucher I just decided to wait another day.

Wanted to let you know that I ’stopped’ in for a quick read of your new posts. Sounds like you’re having FUN! Enjoy the journey. That’s what it’s all about.

Your Tui friend, Claudia

I used to be all about trying to do laundry by hand whenever I got a chance, but now I don’t bother anymore. More trouble than it’s worth since it never seem to actually make the timespan between doing ‘real’ loads of laundry any longer. I’d rather spend my time doing something else now.

In fact I have met Sia. I used to help with the bands when they came in to perform on Morning Becomes Eclectic, so I met her then, but it’s not like we had a heart to heart or anything. :) The performance she’d doing with KCRW on the 24th is the first in a new series they’re doing to try to recapture the feeling of being at the station when the artists come in. Can’t beat the actual experience of it though. One of my favorite memories of that job is labeling the headphone boxes in the studio while all the members of Zap Mama warmed up and ran though songs literally standing in a circle around me. I took my time with the labeling. Sort of ruins going to real concerts though.

I checked out the Flavorware website. I like the idea, but I doubt it’ll work in my van. I just don’t have enough power. I recently killed my battery running the “fridge” during the day while I wasn’t driving. I do need to find something new for cooking though. I think I’ll be happy if I could at least heat (preferably boil) water. My SmartMug is definitely broken and I’d like to replace it with something better.

To Brian:

Baby wipes are also often suggested. I don’t have a spray bottle, but do have a box of those. I think these sorts of things will be useful when I’m in hotter weather, and end up taking a shower about as often as I do these days, but will want to take one more often.

He said that he would take a spray bottle with him and some soap. He would then spray down a body part and wash it and rinse it. It allowed him to go quite a few days easily without a “real” shower.

Sometimes he did this in the van, but he preferred finding a gas station bathroom where you could lock the door and get some privacy.

My second question is, have you ever thought of using a flavorwave for cooking? I swear by mine. You can cook anything in them, from soup, to steak, to almost anything. I even drop in some popcorn kernels and it makes hot air popcorn. And easy clean up. The down side is they use almost as much power as a microwave. But if you got the power, I think its the way to go. You should check it out at this URL

http://www.thane.com/products/housewares/flavorwave-turbo/flavorwave-turbo.php

I await your future posts,
One Man Enjoying America