As you might imagine, it is a monumental task to prepare one's home and life for a three month absense. There were lots of little things like turning the water and gas off, and some more challenging things like having the mail held (the post office only holds for thirty days maximum, so I had to make special arrangements to have my Mom pick it up and renew the hold several times while we are gone - hopefully it works). Bills will continue to come due, so it was necessary to setup automatic payments for those we could and then monitor and pay the remainder online when we can get internet access from the road. We had to build a self-watering system for the houseplants (an aquarium pump on a once-a-week timer was placed in a 30 gallon tub of water and connected to drip irrigation lines to each plant).
The Beast (our pet name for the Sportsmobile camper van we will live in for the next three
months) needed maintenance and modification before the trip too. In addition to a day at the garage for routine work, we created insulated window shades to keep out the cold at night (turned out very useful keeping out the HOT in Calif on our way North). We added a second water tank to give us 30 gallons total - enough for about 8 showers before refilling. And we installed a tire pressure monitoring system - to alert us if any of the tires lose pressure unexpectedly. It will be a 7000+ trip, so we'll even need to get the oil changed during the trip.
Just packing the right clothes was a challenge - We need enough clothes to go for 10-14 days before finding a laundromat, but we also need to handle the 100 degree days we'd encounter in Calif and Oregon, as well as the freezing temperatures we expect to see in Alaska and Canada late in the trip. Add in rain gear, biking gear, kayaking gear, and backpacking gear and you can imagine just how stuffed to the gills the Beast is.
Oh yeah, you'll notice in the pictures that the other final preparation for the trip was shaving my head! I did it at a party a few days before leaving - partly on a dare and partly to do something memorable I'll always associate with this trip. Having a bald head feels very odd - but I eventually got used to it. I'd recommend it once in your life.
The Beast (our pet name for the Sportsmobile camper van we will live in for the next three
months) needed maintenance and modification before the trip too. In addition to a day at the garage for routine work, we created insulated window shades to keep out the cold at night (turned out very useful keeping out the HOT in Calif on our way North). We added a second water tank to give us 30 gallons total - enough for about 8 showers before refilling. And we installed a tire pressure monitoring system - to alert us if any of the tires lose pressure unexpectedly. It will be a 7000+ trip, so we'll even need to get the oil changed during the trip.Just packing the right clothes was a challenge - We need enough clothes to go for 10-14 days before finding a laundromat, but we also need to handle the 100 degree days we'd encounter in Calif and Oregon, as well as the freezing temperatures we expect to see in Alaska and Canada late in the trip. Add in rain gear, biking gear, kayaking gear, and backpacking gear and you can imagine just how stuffed to the gills the Beast is.
Oh yeah, you'll notice in the pictures that the other final preparation for the trip was shaving my head! I did it at a party a few days before leaving - partly on a dare and partly to do something memorable I'll always associate with this trip. Having a bald head feels very odd - but I eventually got used to it. I'd recommend it once in your life.
American History X?
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