When you clean your van, your natural human instinct
is to fill it up all over again in your gung-ho vacationing
mind set. The fact of reality however means that to save
money, you'll probably need to sleep inside a few times
at least, so it needs to be neat and easy for that. It can be
very comfortable if you apply a few tricks.
Use soft cloth and not hard cloth clothing carriers
-they're easier to manage and can fit in smaller areas
or around the areas you need to stay relatively clear.
We placed our big, stocked cooler in the holding area
behind the second back seat, and were able to put
all our clothing there too. Our small tool satchel
stayed behind the front seat, and our pillows
and bed sheets were neatly folded at one end of
the back seat. Our bag of dried food stuff was behind
the front passenger seat, and a box containing
a camera, and any literature we would acquire
was to the side by the sliding door on the passenger side.
This left room for resting or sleeping: one person
on the back seat , and one person either reclining
in a front seat, or on the floor of the van between
the two seats. We made sure the windshield guard
was handy under one of the front seats. We will talk
about setting up for sleeping in rest areas a little
further on, but first a few notes about breaking up
the ride.
LEARNING HOW TO BREAK UP THE TRIP
Once we had secured our house for our absence,
we had great energy and excitement to begin our trip.
Although your energy can seem boundless at mile
one, the human body was made to move and after
two hours of cement pounding. Roads are wearing
on any driver. On any major road you have rest stops
and using them wisely can save you a fortune in
money and stress.
Ten days before our trip, I had obtained many free
travel guides from triple A along with our outbound and
inbound trip tiks. I noted on the trip tiks where all the
free rest areas along the routes were.
Since I did not drive, I took the role of rest stop tour guide
and traffic director. As rest stop guide, I was constantly
scanning the trip tik map for the symbols ahead that
could offer my husband a break. Sometimes I would ask
if he was tired, and he responded "not really". Let's
put it this way, men don't like to ask for directions either,
even if they're really lost. When I saw signs that his eyes
where heavy, he was restless behind the wheel,
I just ignored the "not really", and told him that in two
miles we were pulling off into the rest area. Or if no
rest areas were yet in sight, I'd have him pull off into
an exit with a lot of services, where we could park in the
corner of a lot for a moment or two, get a cold drink or
coffee, and recharge him a little. I tried to make sure there
were exits with the services within .02 miles of the ramp-
so there wasn't extra driving to get there. On route 95.
this was not a problem.
Rest areas not only provide bathrooms, vending machines of
snacks and drinks and guide maps, but offer you the chance of
the cheapest motels around: your van laid out for
sleeping. We spent a total of 5 rest times inside the van
and learned how to make it more sleep friendly in
a lot where noise and action is all around.
PREPARING TO SLEEP IN YOUR VEHICLE
Try to pull in where there is shade if it's a hot summer day.
Try to pull near to the center of the rest area but not right next to a vehicle on either side (although this changes)
Rest in rest areas that have security, and bright lights at night.
Check for where the security is located, before nodding off
Secure your sun guard to the front windshield to cut sun rays or neon /day light.
To block light from side windows, close the window glass over a draped piece of clothing, or towel. We did this for both front side windows and used the clothing hooks on the inside of the passenger windows to drape materials.
When you are tired enough you can sleep anywhere.
Make sure you have bottled water or a snack that can
be had in the middle of the night or before you fall asleep, so
that you don't have to leave the vehicle, if you have a craving.
We spent about three over nights like that in our van.
It saved us an average of $44.00 per sleep session.
When we awoke, our bathrooms were right there;
for usual morning wake up activities. And a cup of
coffee was at the machine waiting.
What we saved by using our van in place of a motel
room: about $140.00. Of course there is no replacement for
a real honest to god, hot shower in a clean motel room, but if you plan to bring some
towels, use clean wet ones over your body followed by a fresh change of clothing
and you get a decent substitute for the typical shower. We actually stopped
only once to rent a motel room for one night.
