Vandwelling 101 : Leaving No Trace Behind

Let's talk about how things look when you pull out.

It's called Leave No Trace.

When I pull out of a site whether it's for one night only or boondocking for two weeks (the usual legal length of time allowed by law in national forest or BLM), I check before I leave to make sure the only thing left behind is a few faint tire tracks. Leaving a clean site behind starts the minute you pull in.

Let's talk gray water. Gray water is water you've used to wash yourself, your clothes, your dishes, or any other thing.  Gray water also refers to any liquid left over from cooking.

We are talking vans here, not camper vans or an rv with a gray water tank. Vehicles that have gray water tanks should only be dumped only at a dump station.

Take an old t-shirt and use it as a filter to get any food particles or trash out of the water. I filter it into a bucket. Find a tree or shrub at least 200 feet from any body of water. Pour the filtered water at the base of a tree. The root system of the tree helps filter and clean the gray water.

Please please please watch the use of soaps and any chemical cleaning product. Never use any soap or shampoo in any body of water.

You'll need a few supplies and some good habits to do this.

I carry a folding rake, some plastic kitchen sized trash bags, and an empty cat litter pail.

Cans: cans are rinsed out of any food, you can also burn them in a fire pit. Rake then out, flatten them so no animal gets their head stuck into them.

Plastic beverage rings: easily the nastiest trash ever. Using knife or scissors cut them so that they are just plastic strips. Make sure they go in the trash you take with you.

Using the plastic cat litter pail. They have a lid that snaps down tightly. Use it for trash. I've had squirrels or possums take and scatter trash left in a plastic bag before. You then get to enjoy hours picking up that trash. Also plastic trash bags blow and are hard to chase down.

Left over food. Dig a small hole and bury the food. Again always at least 200 ft from any water source.

Now, you've packed up everything you brought out with you. The rake and the trash pail are sitting next to the van. You've raked the fire pit out, made sure any fire is out, and poured water into the fire pit.

Take the rake and gently rake your area leaving behind no papers, plastic, or trash of any kind. Pick up any remaining trash that may have blown around and put it in your trash (the lidded cat litter container). Be sure to rake up any broken glass.

If the site had signs of humans before you got there, clean that up too.

I keep a box of disposable rubber gloves in my van. They are cheap at dollar stores or Wal-Mart. Toilet paper doesn't decompose like people think. Don't bury it or leave it on the ground. Either burn it in the fire pit (safe and sanitary way of disposing of it) or put it in the lidded trash can.

When you pull out, all that should be there are a few faint tire tracks. If you got stuck and made ruts, use your camp spade and a rake to level the dirt back to how it should be. Don't leave piles of brush and sticks laying around.

If you follow these guidelines, others won't object to people enjoying public lands as intended.

Vandwelling 101 - Mornings & Comfort

I'm in my van and even in New Mexico it's really chilly in the morning.

Tip # 1: park facing east. Passive solar helps heat the van in the morning.

I always wake up having to pee in a cold van. No problem, my windows are covered at night for privacy and it helps keep heat in.

If I've parked at Wal-Mart or another business, I move the van to a daytime parking spot. It can be a park, Starbucks, McDonald's, or even a non residential street parking spot.

Next my Chihuahua goes out on her leash attached to the van.

Now, time to warm up van. I pull out my two burner Ozark trails propane stove and put coffee on. I always unscrew the propane canister from the stove. I've had one leak in the travel trailer from movement. It only takes a moment to take it off or put it on. I always stow my stove before moving the van. It literally takes about one minute.

While my coffee heats, I make breakfast for Mona the Chihuahua. My breakfast is usually a pastry or empanadas.

I leave the stove on, a window cracked half an inch.

This morning I'm being lazy. Most mornings I've already made bed and neatly folded the lap quilts I use to cover/insulate windows.

Trash bag gets tied shut, potties next to the door. Next is go to a park with vault toilet or portapotty.

Trash gets taken out, potty jugs emptied. I'll cover safe sanitary methods of dealing with human waste in a separate blog post.

I love the difference in pace that vandwelling offers me. I'm sipping my coffee, Mona is enjoying her sun nap and it's a good morning in Van Land.

Getting Ready For Night Time

A lot of the nights in the city, I go to Starbucks for some WiFi, do a little Facebook, watch a video or two. Then it's time to pull into my sleeping spot.

Where I currently am, there's no crime in sleeping in your vehicle. I tend to prefer legal parking spots only.

I have a routine that makes it easy to go discreet for the night.

I pull in and put up my windshield cover. It's one my dad gave me three vans ago.

Mona gets let out on her leash for a last goodnight potty.

I have lap quilts that I use with oversized clips to cover the front Windows. Up goes the drivers side window cover first, then the passenger's side ones.

My shoes are left up front in the driver's seat floor. Often I'm charging either a phone or a tablet. I have a battery operated three way light on a hook. I turn that on and get my pillows set up right.

Getting into bed with a Chihuahua always involves some cuddle time. She has her own bed and blankie that supposedly tell her where her part of the bed is. Good joke. Her part of the bed involves being as close to me as she can.

Then it's time to recline, either read on my kindle, watch a video, listen to an audio book, or enjoy some writing.

I keep ear buds handy so others don't have to hear my books or shows.

The potty is handy. It gets emptied in the morning at one of the numerous portapotties that are around town. Never ever is it emptied on the ground.

Trash is emptied in the morning and before I go park for the night.

These things are part of being responsible and respectful of others. To be neat, quiet, respectful, means being welcome to park places. It also means other dwellers behind me don't have issues.

See you down the road
LOU

Vandwelling 101 - Learning How To Cook Healthy

One of the big things about vandwelling is re-learning old skills (or in the case of some learning for the first time).

Food and diet has lots to do with health. Poor diet has everything to do with bad moods, depression, and sickness.

When planning what I'm going to eat, I try to use several colors and textures.

In order to eat healthy, you'll need some basic tools.
This is my personal list.
-6 quart aluminum pressure cooker
-2 cast iron skillets
-2 quart stainless steel saucepan with lid
-stove top coffee perculator
-stainless steel steamer basket
-set of utensils (metal) at dollar tree (spatula, serving spoon, slotted serving spoon, ladle)
-good paring knife
-good chef's knife (I use my camping knife)

The above list stacks into a compact pile. I can cook almost anything in the van that most people do in a full kitchen.

My groceries include but are not limited to:
Rice, dried beans, barley, split peas.

I love using fresh veggies, and any root veggie does fairly well in the van. Buy local and what's in season.

I also cut veggies up and dry then on a paper plate for later use. After they are dry, I store then in jars or in zip lock bags.

I have several methods of cooking.
-a two burner propane stove
-homemade alcohol stove
-Coleman dual fuel two burner stove
-camp fire
-solar

I use one of the containers that fried chicken came in for solar oven. Works like a charm. Put food in it, put lid on. Put on dash while parked facing into the sun.

One of my favorites is to fry some canned meat and some rice, add various veggies, then scoop a hole out on one side and scramble an egg in it. Spoon into a tortilla, and voila...Food with its own plate

Another of my favorite meals is simply making wraps. Any available meat, cheese, fruits, avocado, and sometimes even cole slaw.

Properly seasoned cast iron skillet wipes clean easily.

I do get a little teasing for the amount of canned and dried foods I carry. They come in handy on those months that repairs or unexpected repairs come up.

See you on the road
LOU

Vandwelling 101 - A Van Is Not A House...Really

Once again I've run across newbies or those who failed in their first attempt at vandwelling and their unrealistic expectations.

A van is not a house. It really isn't. You learn how wasteful you used to be living in a van. Forget unlimited electric power, lots of appliances (that goes for beauty and hair appliances too). Forget unlimited hot water and unlimited running water.

Power costs money. And if you need unlimited power and running water and can't do without them, then I suggest you either stay in a house or get a rv and live in an rv park forever.

I have one deep cell battery in my van. I'll be adding an extra starter battery to my set up simply because I'm scrapping my old van and had just bought new battery for it.

I have two laptops, a smartphone,  a tablet, and various electronics like GPS and Bluetooth speakers. I have no problem keeping things charged. I have two small solar phone chargers. My deep cell is currently being charged by an electric battery charger when I have legal access to electric or by jumper cables off my van when I don't. Eventually I'll add a way to charge it off my starter battery.

I've got a 400 watt inverter, a 600 watt inverter, and a 100 watt inverter. I rarely use any inverter and when I do, it's mainly the 100 watt inverter.

Average deep cell battery is about 80ah  (amp hours). Average smart phone uses 1 amp for about 4 hours to fully charge it.

For those who need blow dryers and such...usually you take a shower in some sort of facility...a truck stop, a gym, or similar. Use your blow dryer in the facility on standard electric.

If you must use these items in your van, look at 12v appliances in a truck stop. Road pro makes a variety of good 12v products.

Get a car charger for your laptops. I actually have two universal laptop car chargers. They work great.

Instead of interior electric lights, I have several battery operated flashlights and lights. I also carry a lantern that operates on lamp oil.

I use an Ozark trails two burner propane stove. No electric needed.

Bottom lines
1. Break the dependence on unlimited electric.
2. If you want to use power in your van then there is no alternative except to learn about power systems and their costs.

I see more newbies try to make their van into a house or a huge rv. And I shake my head at the unrealistic expectations.

See you on the road.
LOU