I realized today that it has been a long time since this blog has been updated. In case you're wondering where the old blog posts are appearing from today, I have a bunch of entries saved on my iPod, but I never seemed to have an internet connection to get them on here, and then they were long forgotten about. So I'm adding them on here today.
I'm not currently living in my van. When it came time to move to Colorado in November, I didn't know enough about heating and everything else to feel comfortable coming out here with just a van to live in. So I traveled to Colorado on Amtrak, and in mid-April, I'm heading back to Ohio, to pick up my van, and start our next adventure together. I'm not sure where we'll be going yet, but I know that my van will be coming with me.
2/28/12
12/9/11
Aspen
Well, I did it. I moved to Aspen (area). I moved in November 16th. I'm back to paying $525(includes utilities) for housing!! This makes me sad, but it is cheaper than I was paying in Ohio before moving into my van. I'm out of Ohio though, that's the main thing. I've rarely left Ohio in the past 25 years, and I knew it would be hard to leave for long term. Knowing that I had housing and a job all set up when I arrived here made it easier.
I have three roommates. I've only had roommates once in my life, they lasted a few months. I've lived alone for the past 4 years. Roommates are going to be a hard adjustment.
I have three roommates. I've only had roommates once in my life, they lasted a few months. I've lived alone for the past 4 years. Roommates are going to be a hard adjustment.
11/18/11
Amtrak
It started at 3:30am on Monday, November 14th. Mom and Dad drove me to a nearby Amtrak station, where I boarded the 29 Capitol Limited to
Chicago, IL around 5:00am. I had my own seat, so I was able to nap on and
off for a few hours.
At 8:45am (4hrs 23min later) I arrived in Chicago. I was about to be stranded in Chicago until 2pm, so I paid $9 to rent a locker for my luggage and wandered the streets for a five hours. I made sure to stop for cheap lunch at Subway, because train food is too expensive for me.
The California Zephyr ride to Glenwood Springs was scheduled to be 25hrs: 2pm Monday to 2pm Tuesday (with one time zone change). I was really hoping to have my own seat (which means two seats next to each other) but I was assigned a seat next to a guy heading to Denver (7am destination) meaning I was stuck with him over night. He wasn't even in his seat 10 minutes before he hustled off to the viewing car, never to be seen again. I knew he would be back at night time to sleep, so I started planning musical seats. Lucky for me, the couple behind me rented a sleeping car for the night, so I claimed their seats for my own.
I met a lot of people sitting around me. Justin, sitting across the aisle from me was the most entertainment. I also got a free drink from his loose change. I shared a bottle of wine with Chad from Virginia, sitting behind me. I learned the life story from one of the nice ladies sitting across from me who was from Cleveland. I never got their pictures or names, and they left us in Denver, before the party started.
After a nice night sleep, we arrived in Denver about 10:30 or so. We were 3.5 hours late, but stayed in Denver for 20 minutes instead of almost an hour, which cut our delay to 3 hours. I think the main reason for the delay was freight train traffic. We were constantly stopping to let them pass.
From Denver to Glenwood Springs I was used to the train, comfortable with everyone around me, and knew I would not be making it to my apartment that day, due to the delay. So we all had a few drinks, played some guitars, made a couple videos and welcomed everyone who passed to Car 9. I'm not sure what car we were actually on, but somehow chose Car 9. Fin joined us in Denver, and I met Tessa, who had been there since Chicago, and got to know Bill and Dan, from up towards the middle of the car, a little bit better.
We arrived in Glenwood Springs at 4:30pm (2.5 hours late). I had up to a 2hr bus ride ahead of me to the Aspen area, and my housing office closed at 4, so I wasn't going to be accessing my apartment Tuesday night. I took the bus to Aspen and stayed at the St Moritz Lodge. $32 for a shared room. Not bad. It is the off season, so there was only two females on the floor, and plenty of rooms, so I had my own. The price goes up during ski season, but it is still the most affordable lodging in the area. It was a super cute place, and if I ever come back to the area to visit, I'll definitely be staying there. They even had a heated outside pool open, and icicles were hanging outside my window. Only down side was carrying all my luggage up and down three flights of stairs.
The lady working at St. Moritz Lodge at night offered me a ride to my apartment the following day, to avoid the busses with my luggage. She told me her extension, which I forgot, and the guy working in the morning would not give to me. So I had to walk to the bus stop, take two busses and walk up a winding road to my apartment. I made it probably 100 feet, in like 10 minutes. I was rolling one stack of luggage up a ways, parking it, going back for the other, rolling it up past the first, going back for the first, etc. It was impossible for me to roll it all at once. A nice guy stopped to pick me up. (They only rape and kill you in the movies) He drove me the rest of the way to my apartment. He dropped me at the housing office, and after checking in, 4 workers helped me bring my luggage to my room. I think I needed those 4 helpers with my luggage the entire trip.
I arrived in my apartment at Noon on Wednesday the 16th.
I'll have three other roommates here, in a 4 bedroom apartment. One of them has moved in already. I've been here two days and have not met her yet. She must be out of town. I feel like I've broke into someone's apartment and I'm living here while they're gone. She has the whole place decorated and furnished. Looks like she's lived here a while. Maybe she'll return one of these days. The other two should arrive in the next week or two.
These are some photos taken out my bedroom window. Beyond the tennis courts you can see the lifts up the mountain. The mountains don't seem as large as I expected. However, I decided to compare them to Ohio's Snow Trails, the location of the only time I've ever skied, probably in Jr. High.
Snow Trails vertical rise: 300 feet
Snowmass vertical rise: 4,406 feet
Snow Trails longest run: 2,000 feet (0.38 miles)
Snowmass longest run: 27,984 feet (5.3 miles)
So, I've come to the conclusion that this mountain is actually pretty big, and I've just been watching too much TV of back country skiing.
At 8:45am (4hrs 23min later) I arrived in Chicago. I was about to be stranded in Chicago until 2pm, so I paid $9 to rent a locker for my luggage and wandered the streets for a five hours. I made sure to stop for cheap lunch at Subway, because train food is too expensive for me.
The California Zephyr ride to Glenwood Springs was scheduled to be 25hrs: 2pm Monday to 2pm Tuesday (with one time zone change). I was really hoping to have my own seat (which means two seats next to each other) but I was assigned a seat next to a guy heading to Denver (7am destination) meaning I was stuck with him over night. He wasn't even in his seat 10 minutes before he hustled off to the viewing car, never to be seen again. I knew he would be back at night time to sleep, so I started planning musical seats. Lucky for me, the couple behind me rented a sleeping car for the night, so I claimed their seats for my own.
I met a lot of people sitting around me. Justin, sitting across the aisle from me was the most entertainment. I also got a free drink from his loose change. I shared a bottle of wine with Chad from Virginia, sitting behind me. I learned the life story from one of the nice ladies sitting across from me who was from Cleveland. I never got their pictures or names, and they left us in Denver, before the party started.
After a nice night sleep, we arrived in Denver about 10:30 or so. We were 3.5 hours late, but stayed in Denver for 20 minutes instead of almost an hour, which cut our delay to 3 hours. I think the main reason for the delay was freight train traffic. We were constantly stopping to let them pass.
From Denver to Glenwood Springs I was used to the train, comfortable with everyone around me, and knew I would not be making it to my apartment that day, due to the delay. So we all had a few drinks, played some guitars, made a couple videos and welcomed everyone who passed to Car 9. I'm not sure what car we were actually on, but somehow chose Car 9. Fin joined us in Denver, and I met Tessa, who had been there since Chicago, and got to know Bill and Dan, from up towards the middle of the car, a little bit better.
We arrived in Glenwood Springs at 4:30pm (2.5 hours late). I had up to a 2hr bus ride ahead of me to the Aspen area, and my housing office closed at 4, so I wasn't going to be accessing my apartment Tuesday night. I took the bus to Aspen and stayed at the St Moritz Lodge. $32 for a shared room. Not bad. It is the off season, so there was only two females on the floor, and plenty of rooms, so I had my own. The price goes up during ski season, but it is still the most affordable lodging in the area. It was a super cute place, and if I ever come back to the area to visit, I'll definitely be staying there. They even had a heated outside pool open, and icicles were hanging outside my window. Only down side was carrying all my luggage up and down three flights of stairs.
The lady working at St. Moritz Lodge at night offered me a ride to my apartment the following day, to avoid the busses with my luggage. She told me her extension, which I forgot, and the guy working in the morning would not give to me. So I had to walk to the bus stop, take two busses and walk up a winding road to my apartment. I made it probably 100 feet, in like 10 minutes. I was rolling one stack of luggage up a ways, parking it, going back for the other, rolling it up past the first, going back for the first, etc. It was impossible for me to roll it all at once. A nice guy stopped to pick me up. (They only rape and kill you in the movies) He drove me the rest of the way to my apartment. He dropped me at the housing office, and after checking in, 4 workers helped me bring my luggage to my room. I think I needed those 4 helpers with my luggage the entire trip.
I arrived in my apartment at Noon on Wednesday the 16th.
 |
| This is the best shot I got of the abundance of room Amtrak provides in each seat. Even when the seats in front are leaned back, it doesn't affect you at all. |
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| Colorado River? |
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| Red Mountains? |
 |
| This is my favorite picture from the trip |
 |
| The front of the train starting to weave up the mountain |
 |
| You can barely see him, but during a 5 minute smoke break in Winter Park, CO, we came across my first snow of the season! Another non-smoker helped me build a 5 minute snowman! |
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| My turtle traveling companion |
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| These are the 7 items of luggage I dragged with me. Car to train to Chicago station to 2nd train to 1st bus to 2nd bus to taxi to hostel, up three flights of stairs, down three flights of stairs, 4 blocks to 3rd bus then to 4th bus and up a winding street, into strangers car, and up to 2nd floor to my apartment. Not fun. The largest two were 54lbs and 34lbs. The rest were not much lighter. |
I'll have three other roommates here, in a 4 bedroom apartment. One of them has moved in already. I've been here two days and have not met her yet. She must be out of town. I feel like I've broke into someone's apartment and I'm living here while they're gone. She has the whole place decorated and furnished. Looks like she's lived here a while. Maybe she'll return one of these days. The other two should arrive in the next week or two.
These are some photos taken out my bedroom window. Beyond the tennis courts you can see the lifts up the mountain. The mountains don't seem as large as I expected. However, I decided to compare them to Ohio's Snow Trails, the location of the only time I've ever skied, probably in Jr. High.
Snow Trails vertical rise: 300 feet
Snowmass vertical rise: 4,406 feet
Snow Trails longest run: 2,000 feet (0.38 miles)
Snowmass longest run: 27,984 feet (5.3 miles)
So, I've come to the conclusion that this mountain is actually pretty big, and I've just been watching too much TV of back country skiing.
10/20/11
Bathroom Problems
It is starting to get pretty cold at night. My down comforter has kept me pretty toasty though. I struggle to hang out in my van in the evenings after work. I don't want to just sit curled up in a blanket before it is time to sleep. So I have to find heated places to eat, read, or hang out for a while.
My major problem in my vandwelling experience has been going to the bathroom in the morning. It is something I have to do as soon as I wake up. For the first month or so I was throwing on glasses, speeding to the gas station (almost next door) and using their bathroom to brush my teeth, and I would buy a morning coffee. Buying a coffee every morning was not very friendly to my budget.
To fix this I would try not to drink anything after 9pm, with my last bathroom stop being around 11pm. It worked pretty well. I've started having time in the morning to change my clothes and put in my contacts and make it 5 minutes to work before using the bathroom.
Tuesday evening I managed not to drink anything after 6pm, and didn't have to go to the bathroom at all yesterday morning. This turned into a new problem. I over slept and was late to work, because for the first time my bladder did not awake me and rush me out of my covers. I think I need motivation like that when it is down to 30 degrees in the morning.
So now I think the $.99 for coffee may be worth it, especially on these cold mornings, to coax me out of my toasty sleeping heaven and get me to work.
The past two days it has done nothing but rain. Cold rain. Which brought to me my second problem. How do I dry my huge umbrella at night? I decided to keep it closed up tonight. There is not really room for both of us in here. Hopefully it is raining in the morning so it doesn't seem strange when I bring it into work to dry it out.
The libraries here close at 9, and Barnes and Noble (an extra 3 mile drive) closes at 10 or 11. I'll be located in one of these places most evenings for at least the next few weeks.
My major problem in my vandwelling experience has been going to the bathroom in the morning. It is something I have to do as soon as I wake up. For the first month or so I was throwing on glasses, speeding to the gas station (almost next door) and using their bathroom to brush my teeth, and I would buy a morning coffee. Buying a coffee every morning was not very friendly to my budget.
To fix this I would try not to drink anything after 9pm, with my last bathroom stop being around 11pm. It worked pretty well. I've started having time in the morning to change my clothes and put in my contacts and make it 5 minutes to work before using the bathroom.
Tuesday evening I managed not to drink anything after 6pm, and didn't have to go to the bathroom at all yesterday morning. This turned into a new problem. I over slept and was late to work, because for the first time my bladder did not awake me and rush me out of my covers. I think I need motivation like that when it is down to 30 degrees in the morning.
So now I think the $.99 for coffee may be worth it, especially on these cold mornings, to coax me out of my toasty sleeping heaven and get me to work.
The past two days it has done nothing but rain. Cold rain. Which brought to me my second problem. How do I dry my huge umbrella at night? I decided to keep it closed up tonight. There is not really room for both of us in here. Hopefully it is raining in the morning so it doesn't seem strange when I bring it into work to dry it out.
The libraries here close at 9, and Barnes and Noble (an extra 3 mile drive) closes at 10 or 11. I'll be located in one of these places most evenings for at least the next few weeks.
10/6/11
One Month Down
I just downloaded the blogger app for my iPod. I thought I would have a lot more free time then I have been having. Using my laptop is. Lot less convenient than my iPod, so this app might help.
I'm moving to Colorado next month. One month of van done, one to go. I decided on employee housing for a Colorado Mountain winter. I'm super excited to go. I have never even been west of the Mississippi before. I decided to take Amtrak over driving. Bought my $140 ticket yesterday. My last day of work here is November 4th, then I hop on a train November 14th. Time to get out and see the world.
I'm moving to Colorado next month. One month of van done, one to go. I decided on employee housing for a Colorado Mountain winter. I'm super excited to go. I have never even been west of the Mississippi before. I decided to take Amtrak over driving. Bought my $140 ticket yesterday. My last day of work here is November 4th, then I hop on a train November 14th. Time to get out and see the world.
9/20/11
Eating and Driving
I need to figure out a budget. I should be saving practically every cent, but I don't seem to be. Food and gas are my main expenses. Plus $300 a month for loans. I'm trying to keep food down to between $7 and $10 averaged a day. I know this is a lot, but until I get settled in and feel more comfortable cooking in here, it is hard to do any better. If I figure out refrigeration some day, that would help a lot too. I'm currently shopping daily, which doesn't mess with my gas at all because there are 3 grocery stores across the street from my parking place.
As for driving, I've been trying to limit myself to 10 miles a day. Work is 2.6 round trip, and the gym is 2.6 round trip. If I visited them both together, that would cut out 2.6 (they're next door to each other). The gym is open until 11pm though, and I don't like to waste my after work daylight hours there. I drive a lot more on weekends.
I get restless, and find it hard just being in my van in the same spot everyday. Most vandwellers move around the country at their leisure. That is what I look forward to doing. It is lots of gas between towns, but it would be a lot easier to entertain yourself in a new town for a while. Plus, it would be worth the gas costs if you're traveling the country. For now though, I have a nice full-time job, a place to sleep, and a place to shower, I'm going to stick with it.
I applied to a job in Aspen, CO starting in November. I had an interview with them, but have not heard back. This location won't be very good for vandwelling, but if this is what gets me out of Ohio and starting to travel, I'm okay with that. Once I'm out of Ohio for a while, it'll be easier to stay out. If I get the Aspen job, I'll return to my van and a warmer location in the spring.
As for driving, I've been trying to limit myself to 10 miles a day. Work is 2.6 round trip, and the gym is 2.6 round trip. If I visited them both together, that would cut out 2.6 (they're next door to each other). The gym is open until 11pm though, and I don't like to waste my after work daylight hours there. I drive a lot more on weekends.
I get restless, and find it hard just being in my van in the same spot everyday. Most vandwellers move around the country at their leisure. That is what I look forward to doing. It is lots of gas between towns, but it would be a lot easier to entertain yourself in a new town for a while. Plus, it would be worth the gas costs if you're traveling the country. For now though, I have a nice full-time job, a place to sleep, and a place to shower, I'm going to stick with it.
I applied to a job in Aspen, CO starting in November. I had an interview with them, but have not heard back. This location won't be very good for vandwelling, but if this is what gets me out of Ohio and starting to travel, I'm okay with that. Once I'm out of Ohio for a while, it'll be easier to stay out. If I get the Aspen job, I'll return to my van and a warmer location in the spring.
9/6/11
Going Great
Vandwelling has been going pretty good. I've spent three nights in the van now. Labor Day weekend I drove to visit my parents and spent 3 nights at their house.
First two nights (last Wednesday and Thursday) my van was a mess. I just threw all the left overs out of my apartment into it. Over the weekend I was able to organize, and now it is a lot cleaner. I also got rid of three seats, so only one back seat remains.
I'm pretty sure my parents have no idea. I can't believe they wouldn't though, after telling them all about it, and them freaking out about it back in February.
All I did for stealth is velcro a green fleece throw in front of the back window, and using safety pins, pinned two other throws along the drivers side windows, using safety pins on the seat belts. I have two large buckets on top of each other behind the back passenger side seat, and it blocks the view of me through the windows on that side. All my back windows are tinted pretty well already, unless light is coming through the other side, you have to put your nose up to the window to see. So it is mostly all for my comfort. It actually might attract attention, because if the blankets are touching the window and have a pattern in them, you can see it easily from the outside.
I bought some type of black fabric that doesn't seem to let light through. I need to find the time and location to cut that to size and velcro it. I can't decide exactly how I want it though. I want to make sure it does not let any light through, because I want to be able to turn on my book light or laptop while inside the van at night.
First two nights (last Wednesday and Thursday) my van was a mess. I just threw all the left overs out of my apartment into it. Over the weekend I was able to organize, and now it is a lot cleaner. I also got rid of three seats, so only one back seat remains.
I'm pretty sure my parents have no idea. I can't believe they wouldn't though, after telling them all about it, and them freaking out about it back in February.
All I did for stealth is velcro a green fleece throw in front of the back window, and using safety pins, pinned two other throws along the drivers side windows, using safety pins on the seat belts. I have two large buckets on top of each other behind the back passenger side seat, and it blocks the view of me through the windows on that side. All my back windows are tinted pretty well already, unless light is coming through the other side, you have to put your nose up to the window to see. So it is mostly all for my comfort. It actually might attract attention, because if the blankets are touching the window and have a pattern in them, you can see it easily from the outside.
I bought some type of black fabric that doesn't seem to let light through. I need to find the time and location to cut that to size and velcro it. I can't decide exactly how I want it though. I want to make sure it does not let any light through, because I want to be able to turn on my book light or laptop while inside the van at night.
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