I aimed to get off at 10am this morning. Believe it or not, I got off 2 minutes early! The day started with a 4-hour drive to pick up the van. For the sake of privacy and security, I’m going to be a little generic about locations until I’m far away from them. 🙂
The owner was very nice and gave me a quick rundown on how to do everything from turn on the hot water to emptying waste.
For those of you who (like me) are new to RV / camper van living, a rig typically contains 3 types of water:
- Fresh water (comes from a water hose, drinkable, what comes out of the sink and fills the potty)
- Grey water (this is what would come down the kitchen sink or the shower)
- Black water (this is what comes out the toilet)
I left my 4Runner on his property and started out. So long, sweet 4Runner, you weren’t invited on this trip!

On the road
After picking up the van, I did what any good road tripper does and immediately made a trip to Walmart. I picked up a few staples and then hit the road.

This van is ~20ft long and actually handles very easily. I was nervous about driving something this big, but the turn radius is decent and it really doesn’t feel like a behemoth.
That said, I didn’t get quite between the lines of the parking spot on my first try. I parked kinda far out in the lot so it didn’t matter.
I only had an hour on the road before I made it to the campground. I listened to a few episodes of Cocaine and Rhinestones podcast which was recommended to me after I tweeted this:
Settling in
It’s a good thing I’m in a big van because I brought a ton of stuff. I’m fully equipped with camping gear. I’ve also got linens, all my clothes, my travel-sized guitar, and my work satchel.
Once I got parked in my camping spot (backed in!), I shoved all of my belongings in various nooks and crannies. From day 1 I can say that there’s an art to organizing such a small space. I’ll probably re-organize multiple times over before I’ve found what’s optimal.

There’s always something
In my unpacking, I realized that I’d forgotten to bring one important item — my toiletries bag. I had a checklist for this trip and didn’t miss a single thing (except adding “toiletry bag” to the checklist).
Tomorrow’s agenda most definitely includes a trip to the store to stock up on tiny bottles of personal items.
Final notes
I upgraded my AT&T plan to include a mobile hotspot with unlimited data that supposedly won’t be throttled. Not sure I believe that.
Anyhow, I’m curious to see how working off a hotspot goes when I’m not around good wifi.
I’ve got my fire started, am about to fire up some hotdogs (what’s a first night of camping if not with a cased meat?), and get off my computer.
Thanks for stopping by for the update and talk soon.
A little girl once said that if it has a table, 4 chairs, bed, curtains and mini-blinds, it’s too big (cave on wheels). Let me add that if it has all of that plus frig, stove, sink, commode, shower and tile on the floor, it’s too big! HAHA!!! How is it sleeping? Remember that Good Times had a queen bed!
HA!