Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER ONE:
Getting Started
After a lifetime of tenting and towing we are finally at the wheel of our dream machine,
a self-designed campervan with a pop-top roof. Granted, it might not be everyone's first
choice. I know people with full-sized RVs whisper anxiously about us:
“
Poor kids, stuck in that cramped little tin can. I couldn't bear it without my own
shower
.”
Hey! We have a shower. It's a cold-water hose off the back of the van but when you've been
driving over hot asphalt all day the water warms to perfection. We
like
it.
And we like small. Not cramped, compact. Cramped was the Toyota mini-van we drove
around Australia. It had a bed and a fridge. I doubt there was four sq ft of open floor space.
We didn't notice it the first time because the seven-week trip flew by under perfect, blue-sky
weather. We lived outside, only crawling into the casket, as Steve called it, to sleep.
On the second trip, 21,000 km/ 13,000 mi over four months, the weather was too often cold,
wet and windy. Spending a lot more time confined inside, we noticed how small it was. We
learned that we like the agility of traveling in a van-sized RV but for North America's cooler
temps and tendency towards rain we were going to need a bigger model.
The Van
