Blogs, random thoughts, travel

  • Not All Trips Are Pleasant

    by Dave McAda

    Not all trips are pleasant. Not all family relationships are harmonious. Not all stories have happy endings.

    Posted in Life, Van Life

  • The Push Home

    by Dave McAda
    That’s when I had words with our GPS.  To say we’ve had a contentious relationship is an understatement.  “She” is constantly telling me what to do, correcting my every move, or incessantly nagging me to turn.  
    Posted in Van Life

  • Ranch Life: Urban Cowboys or just City Slickers?

    by Dave McAda
    As the tractor carried her away to a suitable place (not the front yard of the house) the entire herd began to follow and moo as if they were sending her off.  Someone remarked “I’m not here for the funeral; I just came for the food.”
    Posted in Van Life

  • If the Van’s a Rocking…

    by Dave McAda
    About midnight we woke up to sounds in the parking lot and noticed a dense fog had enveloped us almost obscuring drug dealer vehicles a few spaces away.  (I may have told Jenni they were getting fishing poles out of the trunk.)  Same thing at 2am—vehicle sounds and fog.   About 4:30am the van began to rock.  
    Posted in Van Life

  • You Have to Start Somewhere

    by Dave McAda
    As we walked away, Jenni said she was confused about what had just happened.  I told her it was crystal clear to me:  a classic ‘wink, wink, nod, nod’.  We had our spot for the night!  
    Posted in Van Life

  • Packing

    by Dave McAda
    I, for example, am prone to pack things I will never need but do so under the premise that if we broke down in the Mohave Dessert wouldn’t it be nice to have our Washer Toss game? 
    Posted in Van Life

  • Awaiting Test Results

    by Dave McAda
    I also get distracted by loose shoestrings.  Not mine.  My wife’s.  She has this pair of shoes that she would have cursed if they had belonged to our children when they were younger. 
    Posted in Van Life

  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

    by Dave McAda
    I’m a big fan of using someone else’s square corners so I chucked all my cuttings to the side and embraced the recycling of this bookcase.  Throughout this build we have looked for ways to use existing lumber (aka stacks taking up space in the garage) as well as creative uses of other furnishings. 
    Posted in Van Life

  • Phase Two (or something like that)

    by Dave McAda
    We had just driven 2,400 miles fishing food, clothes, and toiletries out of plastic bins that had to be held in place with tension rods, wood slats, bungees, and other improvised tools.  Using a homemade toilet was fine but we needed some other conveniences!
    Posted in Van Life

  • Wanda is born

    by Dave McAda
    Research shows that people who drive vans must give them a catchy or pun-intended, sometimes symbolic, name.  We struggled with this greatly—evidently more so than naming our own children and one of them was not the gender the doctors told us we were having.  
    Posted in Van Life

  • Maiden Voyage (II)

    by Dave McAda
    This was initially the most stressful, anxiety producing trip I’ve ever taken.
    Posted in Van Life

  • Wrapping Up Phase One of the Build

    by Dave McAda
    Electricity—did I tell you how much I dislike working with it?  So here are the basics: You need positive and negative.  Positive is usually a RED wire which is counter intuitive to an accountant who knows that NEGATIVE numbers are always RED! 
    Posted in Van Life