No, not “It’s a trap!” as Admiral Ackbar said. It’s been getting hotter here, with temperatures regularly in the 80s and sometimes into the 90s. Even with the air conditioner running, it’s gotten hot enough inside the van to be uncomfortable. I think a lot of that has to do with the sun beating down directly on the south (passenger) side of the van and heating up the metal, which then radiates that heat inside despite the insulation. (The roof is mostly covered by solar panels, so I think it’s the side that’s the main issue.) So I decided to take down the pop-up, which has been great through the rainy season, and switch to the “Matty Awning” using the largest tarp I have. This is not so much for the larger shaded area outside, but to cast that shade onto the part of the van that’s catching the hot afternoon sun. I also flipped over my rear window covers to be shiny side out to reflect more sun since it’s not like I have to be at all stealthy here.
Typically, I would have used my shade cloth rather than the tarp for this. This is mainly because of the stronger winds out west and not wanting them to destroy the tarp or my poles, which is exactly what happened at the Ironwood Meetup. (I’m using the replacement poles for Melissa’s MoonShade since I still haven’t replaced my own tarp poles.) However, there’s not much wind where I’m parked right now. My weather station has recorded a high gust of a whopping 11 MPH for all of June, which is a perfectly safe wind speed for the tarp to be up. It’s much longer than the shade cloth and covers more of the van from the sun, which is the main reason for setting it up at this point.
It works well! During the hottest part of the day, it was 15º cooler inside than outside. While 78º may not be my ideal temperature, it sure beats 92º and is perfectly livable. My air conditioner is sadly not powerful enough to keep it quite as cool inside as I’d like, but the tarp and window covers are helping, and it’s certainly tolerable. It’s far more comfortable than some heat I’ve sat through in the van in the past, like 100º in Oregon or 105º in Montana.
Of course, we can still cool off the old-fashioned way. Melissa took us to Kings River Falls the other day, where we lounged for a few hours. She’d found incorrect information that the hike in was an easy quarter mile, so we overpacked, walked much farther than we expected, and ended up stopping about a five-minute walk short of the falls themselves. I’m out of shape and was worn out by then, anyway. The actual falls were full of people and screaming children, so I think our quiet little spot was nicer anyway. It’s rare for me to spend time by the river without the van accompanying me.
Work continues as I rebuild the bank account a bit. There’s still not much adventuring going on, but there is some comfort in not having to worry about exceeding 14-day limits or overstaying a welcome at a friend’s house. I’ve been constantly on the move for the past three summers, and I admit it’s nice to take a break from the road. Just to be clear, no, Melissa is not forcing me to give up life on the road. I chose to follow her to Arkansas and sit here with her for a while. We both intend to travel more in the future, together. I’m not getting rid of the van or trailer so we can continue traveling later, though by then I may need to reconfigure the trailer to carry two motorcycles… Travel is just not in the cards for us right now, so we’re making other plans instead.
Smokey Da Van 