After an early start (Monday morning traffic woke me up) and working for the morning, I left Chris and Knoxville after lunch and got back on the road. I stayed off the highways, and Google took me on some interesting state and county roads with a 55 mph speed limit, but that there was no way I could possibly maintain 55 around the corners, they were so twisty and hilly. The van handled it like a champ, even though these roads were much better suited for a motorcycle. I crossed into Virginia, and spent the night at Chateau Walmart in Lebanon. It’s not one of the nicer Chateau Walmarts I’ve stayed at, with nowhere to park next to grass where Lister can play. But when I’m just passing through, all I need is a place to park overnight, so it was good enough.
That’s not the interesting discovery. While restocking my food supplies, I noticed that this particular Walmart just happened to have the folding stepstool I’d wanted to pick up in Florida, except none of the local stores there had it. It’s a big step to get in and out of this van. I have long legs and can handle it, but we couldn’t get Genie’s friend Sandy inside to check it out when I visited. Also, one of the places I tried to park at the campground in Tennessee had a big dip in the ground right by the side door. Even I had trouble getting in and out, and ended up moving. Now, that won’t be a problem.
The discovery was how well it fits on the floor between my bed and my table that I’d intended to use as a desk. If I move the cat food and sit on the stepstool, my feet can go next to the wheel well, and I’m at just about the perfect height to use the table as a desk for my laptop. I can even plug my TV into it with an HDMI cable to get a giant second monitor. The bed makes a good backrest. I only test fit it, but I might have to make some space and try a morning of work here to see how it goes.
The problem becomes where to put Lister’s food and water. This place works great for it, but I can’t put my feet in the same place while it’s there. Maybe when I build the enclosure for my electrical system, which will be narrower than the table I’m using now, the cat food can go behind the driver’s seat, out of the way so I won’t kick it. I had it between the front seats in the previous van, but there’s a big hump in the floor in this one, and it won’t work very well there. That’s something I’ll work on once I get to New Hampshire, I think.
Smokey Da Van 