My Van Life: Day 54
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Port Lavaca, TX
Well, the brief (and sudden!) mosquito infiltration last night made for another rough night's sleep. It didn’t disturb me too much, or at all really, while I was sleeping that is, but waking up to dozens (!!!) of bites in the morning was a different story. Ugh. It’s such a Catch 22 experience, Van Life. It’s actually quite pleasant outside with the wind, especially at nighttime as we’re winding down and getting ready for bed, but in order to enjoy any of that the doors need to be open. And by doors I mean the slider and the back doors. However, having both of those, well, even just one of those doors open means a welcome invitation for all the bugs. Not ideal. You can’t have one without the other it seems. How do you pick between getting eaten alive or sweating to death? Sounds like the plot for some dark and twisted horror film doesn't it?? Personally I’m fairly confident I would take the bug bites over profusely sweating but I guess easy enough for me to say now. Now that I'm currently experiencing both, in tandem, on any given day.
We've come to realize in our 2+ months of traveling that the circulation in the van is just non-existent. It’s definitely been a big learning for us (as you already know) and something we’d certainly change as we think about renovating the van once we’re done. The back of the van especially feels like an actual sauna when the doors are closed. It feels so claustrophobic and uncomfortable. Like you’re trapped in a room with the heater and your winter clothes on while it’s also 85 outside.
Anyway, today was a bit hotter than yesterday. The sun was out for most of the day too which as much as I don’t want to be the case, our energy levels in the van have dipped quite a bit so we kind of need the sun to be out in order to charge our solar panels and thus charge our van. See, another Catch 22! Isn’t that funny?! I genuinely do NOT want the sun to be out but without it our van is rapidly losing power day by day which could mean big trouble for us. What a funny and strange little life we’re living.
Today progressed much the same as yesterday – as weekdays tend to do – although we did have a little excitement with a midday trip to Walmart. Driving the ten-ish miles to Walmart reminded us how “remote” we really are out here. A good thing and a bad thing no doubt but we were grateful to not have to drive too far to run out and pick up a few things. Plus, to be quite honest it was getting to that part of the day where I’m kind of just antsy from sitting in the back of the van staring at my computer screen and need to do something other than just walk outside in the heat to get the blood pumping once again. Sounds like a great excuse to run up to Walmart with the air conditioning blasting to me! I also managed to finish the book I started a couple days ago, Then She Was Gone, which I would HIGHLY recommend. I love finding a new author (Lisa Jewell) who turns out to have a bunch more books published that you can dive right in to after finishing (and LOVING!!) the first book of theirs that you experience. Definitely adding some of her books to the cart.
At the end of the work day we did our traditional beach walk, enjoying the fresh air and cool, gentle breeze before heading back to the van for showers. Of COURSE the one time I would be okay with our freezing cold van water the water decided to be moderately cool to warm even. You couldn’t even give me that, Van?!? Anyway, I feel so much better after having showered and given my hair a good conditioning. Well, not sure I would call it good but my hair is clean...Cleaner, let’s put it that way. We’re only about two days into this work week and I’m already in awe of the fact that we did this as long as we did. It’s really no joke. I think it would be much different if we had AC in the Van that operated without it being on and/or we didn’t both work traditional jobs but Van Life is not for the faint of heart. We’ve certainly gotten back into the rhytmn of a lot of things fairly quickly but at the same time, a lot of the not so fun Van Life things have come back as well and reminded us of why we didn’t like them in the first place. However, this place really is beautiful and I’m grateful for the time we’ve already shared here in Magnolia Beach, Texas, especially my early mornings spent outside, listening to the crashing waves, writing and reading. Both of us keep forgetting we’re even in Texas to be honest.