As you know, (or maybe you didn’t) Lorraine and I live full time in our 22 ft van. That’s possible all the time, wonderful most of the time, but occasionally inconvenient.
Living in a van has a lot of upsides to it, especially when you are “on the road” and able to see different things on a regular basis. Things you would not be able to see if you didn’t live in a van. In parts of the world you’d never get to visit if you didn’t live in a van.
And then you come “home” - or at least to the place you have called home for 25 years. Living in a van here for four to six weeks is still doable, but not quite as easy to manage.
People understand that, and occasionally suggest that they would like to help. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We really appreciate any and all offers.
Since it would be a little forward of us to come to your door and ask for any of these things, I’ll put a short list right here in black and white.
We have ways to do all of these things while in the van, but doing them elsewhere (as in “in your house” - lol) makes them a lot (as in “really really really a lot”) easier. In fact, they would be so much easier that I would classify these small gifts from you to us as a true blessing!!
First - a few things we DON’T need
- we don’t need a place to sleep. The van is our fully self contained home on wheels and the bed is comfortable. We have slept in it well over 400 nights
- We don’t need a place to plug in. We are totally off the grid electrically and as long as our solar panels catch the sun occasionally we are good to go
- We don’t need a place to cook or eat. See above about the van being our “fully self contained home”. (We would not be against an invitation to join you for a meal, but that’s a whole other thing)
So here they are: a few low cost (no cost) ways to “Bless the Browns”
- PARKING - offer them a FAIRLY FLAT place to park for two or three days at a time. (It’s a bonus - but not necessary - if that were to come with bathroom privileges.).
Remember - we don’t need to be sitting in your living room visiting with you 24 hours a day - or even 8 or even 1. We just need to park. If you want to visit we love that too, but we don’t need to be an imposition on your time
- POTABLE WATER - do you have a sink where we can fill up our four small water containers. BONUS if you are far enough out of town to not be on the town water system.
- SHOWER - Even if you don’t have room for them to park, offer them a chance to have a shower in your house, and mention a couple of times that would work well for you.
- LAUNDRY - Ask us if we need to do a laundry.
Thanks for reading.
And remember- even if you cannot do any of these things, don’t forget to say hello when you see us around town.
Life doesn’t have to be “prefect” in order to be beautiful!
There’s magic in the mundane
