A package I’ve been waiting for from New Hampshire arrived yesterday. There were even more goodies inside than I expected.
The one I didn’t expect was a goodie bag from The Badgers, with everything I would’ve received if I’d gone on their Route 66 Passport Run. They sent it in gratitude for the help I gave planning the route and suggesting interesting places to visit based on my own Route 66 trip in October 2021. While I haven’t been there and done that, I still got the T-shirt. It even has my logo on it.
Rather than following a strict route, the group took a week to ride from Pontiac, Illinois, to Victorville, California, with established overnight stops along the way. Otherwise, riders were free to explore the sights that interested them most. This book is where they could collect their stamps at the overnight stops. It also described a few highlights of each day’s ride. I suggested those highlights and wrote those descriptions. I think I even recognize some of my pictures in the book, which I gave them permission to use. As a writer/editor, it’s pretty neat to have a copy of the final product.
And now, for something completely different. One of the only things I didn’t like about this particular van was that it has the most basic head unit available, without the Apple CarPlay support I’d gotten used to with my previous van’s aftermarket unit. There are many reasons why I hate the modern trend of head units and navigation displays looking like someone glued a cheap tablet to the dashboard. Mainly it’s because they’re ugly, but also because it makes upgrading them extremely difficult. Where it was no problem to swap a CarPlay-compatible head unit into my nearly 20-year-old Ford E250, it’s a huge deal in the Transit. So I went with a workaround instead.
It’s the same idea that I use on my motorcycle, a standalone unit specifically for the job. While I’ve been using my phone in a dashboard mount (you can see it next to the screen), it’s small and fiddly to use while in motion. Many apps don’t automatically rotate from portrait to landscape mode, either, which makes it hard to select music when the menu is sideways. This screen is bigger and easier to use since CarPlay gives you just the most basic apps and controls while driving. I’d ordered it during my stay in New Hampshire, but the projected one-week delivery turned into a month on a slow boat from China, causing it to arrive after I had to start my drive west.
This is not the same unit I used on my motorcycle, though I considered that one. This one is much bigger, with a seven-inch screen, and is not weatherproof, which is fine because I’m only using it inside the van. I adapted my existing RAM mount I’d used for the Garmin GPS to hold this screen instead. It includes mounting hardware that seems to work pretty well, but since I already had a mount exactly where I wanted it, I used it instead. I haven’t driven anywhere with it yet, so we’ll see how well, or not, it actually works.
While getting my late arrivals to me was important, the main reason for the shipment was for my personal copy of Cook Small, Live Large! She isn’t kidding — I really am the reason behind the book. It started as some notes to help me cook for myself after the breakup with Trisha, who voluntarily did the cooking. One thing led to another, and it evolved into this. While I did get to read it while I edited it, none of the information sank in because my focus was on editing at the time. Now I can put the book to use as Ally originally intended, to help me become a better cook on the road. It’s for sale on Amazon if you’re interested.
Even though it was over 100º last week, it got down to around 50º just before the sun came up this morning. I would’ve been fine without my heater, but since I fixed it, it was a good time to put it to the test. It fired right up, and soon it was comfortable enough inside to get out of bed and get motivated for the day. In addition to my comfort, this will increase my productivity as well. While I can still stay in bed until the van warms up, it takes far less time for that to happen than with the Olympian Wave 3. It doesn’t hurt that I can turn it on without even getting out of bed because sometimes I’m lazy.
Although the weather has been wonderful, I haven’t been taking any real adventures this week. I’ve picked up some extra work for my main gig, and might as well put a little more money in the bank while I have the opportunity, especially while I’m parked for a little while. Besides, continuing wildfires in the PNW are stopping me from doing a lot of the traveling and exploring I’d hoped for. The area around Bend and Sisters has particularly poor air quality these days because of the smoke. While I’d hoped to spend a couple of weeks out that way on this journey, I also like to breathe clean air, so I may end up skipping it. While we’ve had a few days of smoke here, clean coastal air tends to keep the air quality pretty good where I am.
Smokey Da Van 