© 2011 Lydia Hinshaw
The living room, weather permitting, with dining room at left
 |
| The range |
 |
| The fridge |
OK, we've cheated the past couple of nights, which we've spent in comfy motels.
But here's a glimpse of our way of life this summer. Generally, we had a good time except for those few times it rained.
 |
| The library |
The last week or two also had its challenges, as it was getting dark earlier every day, requiring us to fix dinner by the light of our headlamps.
We had our fireplace for warmth, and our beach chairs for comfort. We had a picnic table with a plastic cloth.
Our range was a Jetboil camp stove. Mostly our diet consisted of things that could be cooked with 16 ounces of water, because that was all we could boil. We also learned to make pretty good coffee with the French press function of the Jetboil.
Refrigeration was a pain. We had to buy bags of ice every couple of days. At work, the van was be parked out in the blazing sun all day, which limited the life span of ice. Occasionally we lost food because it didn't stay cold enough.
Also, there wasn't room in the cooler to store much. By the fourth day of our four-day weeks, we were eating on empty. On our four-day weekend, we faced grocery shopping on our first and last day off.
My favorite spot in the van was the library. All right, it was the upstairs bunk. I Velcroed my Kindle to the ceiling, and added a tiny reading light I got at the going-out-of-business sale at Borders in Kalispell.
I could lie flat and read in comfort. All I needed was a remote-control so I wouldn't get frostbite reaching up to turn the pages on chilly evenings.
Our campsite was a bargain at $200 per month. That included electricity at our site, plus flush toilets and showers 50 yards away, plus wi-fi in the campground lounge, where we spent our spare moments socializing with the owners and their trio of dogs.
It was not a lifestyle that everyone would enjoy, but we had a ball!
No comments:
Post a Comment