On The Office, Dwight had Megadesk.
And now, we have Megatent. Here’s how things came to be this way.
As the weather started to warm up, we set up Melissa’s pop-up canopy next to the van. It’s several years old, and after a while, the nylon top ripped, rendering it useless. I bought a replacement top for it, only to find it absolutely did not fit. It appeared to be for a completely different design. So for just $10 more than the flimsy piece of nylon, we bought an entirely new pop-up canopy. Indeed, it was a completely different design than her old one, even though it was still an Ozark Trail 10×10 popup “just like” her old one. Admittedly, the new one is a much better design. But there was no indication on the top that cost almost as much as the whole kit ‘n’ caboodle that it wouldn’t work with the older frame, which was still in perfectly good shape. But at least we had a pop-up and a shaded area that expanded our living space beyond just the van itself, where we’d been cooped up all winter.
I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that we still had a perfectly good pop-up frame. I also had some tarps inside my trailer, including one very long one that I think must’ve been the side of a carport in a past life. I wondered if we could still put that old frame and some tarps to use to create an even bigger outdoor living space.
Here’s the end result. The new pop-up is in front, and the frame for the old one is in the back. My screw-in stakes secure both frames to the ground. We used the now-damaged pop-up roof that didn’t fit as a wall on one side of the back frame and got another tarp to use as a better wall on the front frame, not stretching all the way to the ground to let the wind (and cats) through. The long tarp covers both roofs, including the new pop-up in front. Most of the thin nylon top is covered, protecting it from weather, falling limbs, or cats that might somehow find their way on top of Megatent.
The long tarp angles down toward the ground behind the rear frame, but not all the way so that wind (and cats) can escape. This isn’t usable living space but is good for unlocked outdoor storage for things like camp chairs and tables we’re not using at the moment, but can get to quickly if everyone ends up hanging out down here with us, which happens occasionally. The green bungee cord hooks to a stabilizer jack under the back of the trailer. I can easily unhook it if I need to walk through there to get into the back of the trailer instead of the side door so I don’t trip.
We’ve set up the front section as an outdoor living room since we don’t have anywhere for the two of us to sit comfortably together inside the van. We bought a simple outdoor loveseat bench kind of thing from Home Depot, plus two cushions. Not visible is a combination lantern, weather radio, and Bluetooth speaker I bought a while back (thanks to Matty Van Halen for recommending it). Hanging it from the pop-up frame gives us light after the sun goes down and tunes anytime we want them. We’re still using my “Home is where you park it” outdoor rug, so Melissa got to choose the second rug for the extended living space. There is plenty of room behind it for us to expand the space for family hangouts and such, and we’ve even discussed setting up my projector to watch movies on the side of the van.
In addition, that rear area is about to temporarily become my motorcycle garage. I need to do several maintenance jobs at the same time the back wheel is off for yet another new back tire. (I promise I’m not doing burnouts and stunting. I just put on a lot of miles, and motorcycle tires don’t last like car tires do.) So I’ll put down an old ground cover tarp to protect the new rug, bring the bike through my living room (that’s perfectly normal, right?), and park it under cover in the back half of Megatent, allowing the front half to still be used as a living room. Since everything is taking much longer than they say it will to ship these days, the final parts I need should arrive at the same time as several consecutive days of rain begin later this week. Fortunately, I should still be able to do the work under Megatent and get the bike ready to go by the time it stops raining.
Megatent is something I’d never bother carrying with me while traveling full-time. It takes up too much space and is too much trouble to set up and take down frequently. But since we’re not traveling now, neither of these is an issue. It’s already proving to be a great way to more than double our living space now that the weather is warming up. I’m hoping it will make our lives more comfortable until the tiny house project is ready for us to move into.
Speaking of the tiny house, here’s a question for anyone who still bothers to read this now that I’m not traveling. Would you be interested in following the progress of the tiny house build here, even though I’d set this up as a van life and travel website? I’ve also pondered setting up a separate website similar to this one but specifically for the tiny house build and subsequent projects here at the “new” home. I’m sure that method would work better for SEO, Google Fu, and all that fun stuff. While there is some overlap between van life and tiny home living, people interested in one aren’t necessarily interested in the other. Maybe I could share links here to posts on that site that travelers might be interested in, like solar stuff, while leaving out things like site prep and utility hookups that don’t apply on the road. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Smokey Da Van 
Tiny house. Great idea!
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