I’ve always tinted my windows, and have used painters paper and tape to obscure the windows. I can make small opening in the paper to see out and no one can see in. I like the idea of a curtain at the front seats. I have used windshield blinds–like a ladies fan but bigger, and these don’t attract notice in warmer climates–I can’t find these any more. If I could find them now, I’d do it. I’m tinting my front windshield with 70% tint, 3M Crystaline. I use 3m Crystaline 40 for the back windows and this is the best tint for heat rejection. The 70% tint is almost unnoticeable, but does a great job, if you read the reviews–blocking 40% of the heat. The 40 tint I am using elsewhere blocks a whopping 60% of the heat–this is equivalent heat rejection to limo black 5% tint, but you can see out easily.

If you have a van, you can also set up a reserve, deep-cycle battery, an inverter, and plug in a heating blanket inside your bag. I’m sure that would take care of you even in the worst cold. (You’re also off the ground with all wind blocked, so that makes it a lot better than camping on the ground in the cold.

My experience is from camping and road-tripping a lot. I’ve slept in the front in a newer oldsmobile, and much preferred sleeping on a mattress in the back of a hatchback Saab. Any van, I think, would be superior, because you can stretch out more in back, and you’re less visible.

I’d really like to get a newer VW Camper, as they have everything you need (2 beds, poptop for cooler sleeping, ventilation and headroom, stove, fridge, heater, storage, screened windows for ventilation, etc.) You can get VW Eurovan Campers from the mid 90′s for $15K, and VW Westfalia Vanagon campers from the later 80′s for under $10K. I’d like to try living in one of those on Hawaii for awhile, maybe with a small, secluded plot of land somewhere as a home base. I think cops respect property-owners a lot more, and you’d always have a place to safely park then. (Lots can be obtained on the big island for $10K – $20K.)

But places like California, the Northwest, Hawaii, and perhaps Florida would all be good, because you’d avoid the Cold. The heat might get a little bad in Florida in the summer, that could be avoided in Hawaii simply by seeking higher elevation.

This is definitely something I’m doing for fun. I have a weird part-time work schedule that involves working full-time for about a month and a half and then having a about a month and a half off before I come back to work again. This life-style makes it easy to have a job like this and take off in between to travel. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a job that would want to make me settle down and stay in one place, but haven’t found it yet!

Good vibes,
scott

Cheers again,
Romana.

That’s a question I get so much I wrote a post about it. You can find it at:

ayearinacar.com/faq-showering/

One way to think about it is this: The inside of the van is not going to get any colder than it is outside. And if it’s cold out, the inside is going to get just as cold. But people go camping in weather that’s -20 below so it’s possible somehow to sleep in those conditions.

During the time I spent in Flagstaff and Albuquerque in November and December it got to be in the teens and twenties. It was definitely cold, but I didn’t have a very good sleeping bag for cold at the time so I think that will help.

As for getting sick or getting backaches, yeah I get them sometimes, but no more than I did when I lived in an apartment and slept in a “real” bed. I’m working on a page for this website with a description of what my van looks like. The bed is really very comfortable. It is a more narrow than a normal bed, but otherwise just as good.