Auxiliary tail lights

Friday 17May19

Woke at 8 this morning to a sunny day. The RT is facing almost due North so I just laid in bed which is on the right aft side. The sun felt real good.

I had the usual breakfast then took a shower. I want to clarify the comment I made in yesterday's post concerning the lady. I realize that some folks think it is a very strange for someone to desire to live in a box the size of a van. There are actually more people doing this than you might imagine. Some are doing it out of necessity due to the loss of work, divorce or many other reason why they are homeless. These folks tend to have regular vans, (not customized for camping), trucks and even cars. If you are observant you can see these people at most Walmart parking lots. I have done this type of travel sleeping in a rental car. I would fly somewhere rent a car for a week and see all the sights in the area. Typically I would get a room on a military installation every third night and clean up. I plan to do more of this type of travel in the future. I just can't see spending $100 a night for a place to lay down for 8 hours.

The Roadtrek is different in that it is a van that has been professionally modified to camp in, even live in. It has everything you need even a microwave. There is a family with two children that live full-time in a Roadtrek just like mine Model 190 Popular.

Back to the lady, she was in a regular van, no shower, no sink, no toilet. First of all I expected the occupant to be a man, and second I expect the person to be unkept. Call me prejudice but again I am speaking from personal experience. This lady was probably in her 50s and when I saw her walking her dog she looked like she had just walked out the front door of a middle class home. I wish I would have had a conversation with her just to get a understand of how and why she was living in a van.

If you are interested in finding out more about this life style there is a website vandwellers.com. There are also groups on Facebook.

As I said the Roadtrek is fully self contained. Here is some photos of the shower which is actually just an area in the middle of the van with a drain in the floor. There is a rail for the shower curtain on the ceiling.

The RT is equipped with a water heater and the process I use to take a shower is to turn on the water heater until the water coming out of the hot side of the faucet is the right temperature. I don't mix in any cold water because that would be a waste of propane. Then I start my shower. It is just like taking a shower at home other than I don't take as long.

I also have an outdoor shower which is handy for rinsing off after being on a beach.

This was another leisure day.

I didn't leave the campground until checkout time 1 pm. Might as well get my money's worth.

On my way out of the campground I stopped and dumped my black and grey tanks. The tanks are not actually black and grey. The colors are recognized in the RV world as black for sewage and grey for all other waste water. In the case of the RT my grey water consist of water from the sink and shower.

I also topped off the fresh water tank. Even taking showers I use very little fresh water.

After leaving the campground I headed towards Cleveland Ohio. I stopped a couple of times to check out the lake.

I stopped for the night with the silhouette of Cleveland off in the distance.


Today's photos