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Old 01-25-2021, 10:50 AM   #1
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Smile Living in a VAN! Down by the river!

I just read this article about a guy from Brooklyn who decides to rent a camper van to try out van life for a weekend in January. He's a complete newbie, and it cracked me up how he discovered what we've ALL discovered when we first got our RV's.


https://www.insider.com/weekend-stay...per-van-2021-1
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Old 01-25-2021, 12:07 PM   #2
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What did he expect in January?
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Old 01-25-2021, 12:12 PM   #3
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Heat maybe?
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Old 01-25-2021, 12:30 PM   #4
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Great read!

HAHAHA!

(gasp, breath!)

HAHAHA!

That was great, Kris. Thanks.
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Old 01-25-2021, 01:09 PM   #5
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If you had never driven a car in your life, and based your decision on motorized transportation with a Mitsubishi Mirage, how impressed would you be with the whole idea of automobiles?
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Old 01-25-2021, 01:45 PM   #6
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snowflake
his only skill may be writing
glad he will not be taking a spot in a campground
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Old 01-25-2021, 02:02 PM   #7
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That's an amusing read.
The guy doesn't understand that there is a difference between 'van life' and rv life.
In a van, he would have been able to do the sightseeing that he expected. Of course, he would have been even more disappointed in the living space of a regular size van.

You just can't take a city mouse into the country and expect a good outcome.
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Old 01-25-2021, 02:23 PM   #8
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I don't know where he got the NASA cap that he's wearing in one of the photos, but clearly he didn't earn it as a rocket scientist.

The solar panels didn't work on the cloudy days in the photos? Go figure!

And over $1,700 to rent a "massive" van for the weekend? He could have done as well at the Ritz, but probably still wouldn't have figured out how to turn on the lights.
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Old 01-25-2021, 02:41 PM   #9
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Yea, this guy was doomed from the start...

Quote:
I learned I could never live in a camper van full time because they're not real homes with working systems.
Quote:
I've covered van life and the tiny-house movement for over a year now, and almost everyone has told me that the space is small but that doesn't matter because you're outside most of the time.

I tried to follow their lead by eating outside. But what these outdoorsy tiny house owners didn't tell me is that this practice isn't exactly doable during the winter.
Um... DUH! If it took spending almost $2000 for him to figure this out, I'm surprised he's able to dress himself every morning.


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I vaguely remember him saying to press this button when I need water pressure and then this button when I need warm water. I couldn't press the button next to that one because something bad would happen. I had to remember to turn off this button or else something even worse would happen.
And this story is also a great example as to why so many people say to NOT rent out your RV to complete strangers.
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Old 01-25-2021, 02:47 PM   #10
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snowflake
his only skill may be writing
glad he will not be taking a spot in a campground
Disagree completely! I could entertain myself for days watching this guy in a campground!
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Old 01-25-2021, 03:23 PM   #11
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His mistake was not consulting with motivational speaker Matt Foley
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Old 01-25-2021, 03:49 PM   #12
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Disagree completely! I could entertain myself for days watching this guy in a campground!

This is true. If you're lucky enough to see one in the wild with NO experience and from the city, there would be no better way to spend time. But then I feel sorry for them sometimes, and have to fight the urge to render advice. As wife says, "Keep your tongue behind your teeth!"


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His mistake was not consulting with motivational speaker Matt Foley
Can you even imagine ol' Matt Foley on that little toilet in the closet?? That would be a great skit by itself!
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Old 01-25-2021, 07:52 PM   #13
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That guy is hilarious! The van was "too big" to drive in the city? Hmm, I wonder how my mother managed a 37 ft. motorhome we borrowed from a friend to use on a family vacation.

We had gone to Memphis, TN and had to take the motorhome to go sightseeing as we had no other transportation. I can recall my mom parking the van on a city street where we had to put money in either 3 or 4 parking meters to cover all the spaces that thing took up! And that was everywhere we stopped to sightsee in the city! And then her parking that thing on the levee (I think that's what it is called) so we could go to see something down on the Mississippi River, and us all wondering if the motorhome was going to tip over and fall in the river due to the steep angle of the parking lot!

Then, my parents hadn't bargained on how much fuel was going to cost, they did not have a major credit card back then, and had to have money wired from their bank back at home to some bank in Memphis to have money to put gas in the motorhome to get us home! This was back in the early 1980s. Yes, that was my parents' first and last venture in a motorhome (we only had popup campers before that) but I've now owned half a dozen campers as an adult and was not turned off by that experience all those years ago!

I too, would love to sit in a campground and watch that guy just for sport!!
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Old 01-26-2021, 06:22 AM   #14
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It’s a good thing he did this in cold weather, less chance of melting a snow flake.
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Old 01-26-2021, 06:29 AM   #15
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Down by the River

“Down by the River” — my absolute favorite Neil Young song.

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Old 01-26-2021, 07:15 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by NJKris View Post


Can you even imagine ol' Matt Foley on that little toilet in the closet?? That would be a great skit by itself!
I believe we got to see this skit in Tommy Boy where he was in the airplane bathroom
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Old 01-26-2021, 11:32 AM   #17
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good laugh

It is a gloomy cold day in Ohio and I am at work. not fun. This article and the comments are great! Just what I needed to make me smile. Thanks everyone for sharing.
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Old 01-26-2021, 11:44 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by MCTroy View Post
It is a gloomy cold day in Ohio and I am at work. not fun. This article and the comments are great! Just what I needed to make me smile. Thanks everyone for sharing.
Airplane bathroom scene from Tommy Boy:
https://youtu.be/Rsu1O9lvHFY
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Old 01-26-2021, 01:12 PM   #19
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Despite the derogatory comments from experienced campers, that article is exactly the kind of reality check that a lot of people need. How many barely-used RVs do you think will be on the market this year, from people who learned their fantasies were exactly that?
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Old 01-26-2021, 01:18 PM   #20
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If I had not utilized this forum, YouTube videos and other sources before making my first RV purchase -- I would have been that guy.

Still a newbie, but went into this knowing this would be a learning experience.
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