Of the Sea

We made it to the Bay de Chaleur where we are cottaging and relaxing for a few days in an old farmhouse with a trail to the beach.  Before we had been house broken again we truly felt like wildlings; sea bathing every day and fueled by a diet of fresh air and sun, raspberry cordiel, alpines and beans and pasta cooked by the seaside.

Canada has some awesome coastal and historical highways which can easily be followed through brightly colored signs of starfish or ship wheels and which make for scenic detours from the trans-canada which bypasses many charming sea-communies.

For over a week we'd spend the entire day zooming through so many vast ocean and Appalachian scenes.  The first few days when we closed our eyes silhouettes of forests and sea-scenes flashed rapidly behind our closed eyes like a video game you've spent the day playing.

St Lawrence Seaway, QC

 Westeros

Borden-Carleton, PEI

Dalvay Beach

 North Cape

Skinner's Pond

 Maisonette, NB

Spring and the Countdown

Spring arrived and changes to the van were rapid. We were able to take the barriers off the windows to see to work, let in some natural light and serotonin, and do interior and exterior work and 'want' projects without freezing our asses off.

Curtains

My handiwork.  I have been sewing for over a decade but hand sewing is a whole different thing.  Did some decorative edges and sewed all the loose canvas seams by hand.

General Maintenance

Early spring summed up.  New brake booster after an expensive trip to the auto shop that replaced our faulty brakes themselves but not the problem.  Onto more troubleshooting powered by Shawn's genius and my optimism. 

Oil changes!!

Kitchenette

Shawn modified a cabinet to be our kitchen complete with wooden elevated backing incase of backsplash.  The setup now has a sink and water reservoir.

                                                           

The Roof Vent

Possibly the most exciting and quality of life changing mod.  When the weather got as high as plus 15, it started to become slightly stifling.  We bought a roof-vent at an RV store for 60$ but the difference it has made is priceless.

It is so bright in there now its literally like having florescent lighting.  Amazing.  A cool breeze at night and a through breeze if you keep the front windows cracked.

De creepifying a.k.a. The paint job.

Before:  You can't see it but the rust was pretty terrible.  The grey is actually primer which the previous owner had done and it actually exacerbates rust problems you may have as it absorbs water. We appreciated it for its stealth city qualities but wanted something a bit more us and coast ready.

Hard workin' man.  Sanding off all the rust and doing the bondo which re-builds the body.

The excess rust protector is the dripping you see

Starting to paint

Finished!  What a beaut!!

Ready for the eastcoast, the westcoast, and cali.

Backlog

Part 3: Canadian Winter

The caption says it all, but I'll elaborate for those of you south of the 49th parallel.  Most people on earth endure a overcast day with the promise of sun in a day or more.  Canadians suspend their disbelief around September that this may still happen, informed as they are by television and pop culture artificial lighting and the general perceived cheerfulness of everyone not in this climate. But one day the sun disappears and DOESN'T COME OUT AGAIN FOR SIX MONTHS.  That, coupled with extreme temperatures and encumbering snow that reaches meters in height is enough to make anyone go crazy.  

This was the first year we had a vehicle in such weather, a vehicle very sensitive to cold and in need of constant power for the block heater when we had no such setup.  The winter was rough.  Bruiser is old, one year younger than me old, and he needs particular things to get through the season.  For financial reasons and reasons of distance, we could only give him what he needed to barely survive.  Cons, we spent the most time to date outside in the winter fixing him when he broke down which forces you to deal with winter in a zen-like way but is probably more like just barely holding onto consciousness and sanity.  Pros: We learned a lot about what he liked and didn't like and Shawn was able to save us thousands of dollars by fixing his old parts which got us and him prepared for huge distances.  

Despite the constant break-downs due mostly to not having access to block heater power, living in a van in the winter is not as bad as you might think.  In this level of cold, city dwelling and stealth camping was pretty much our only option for saving money reasons and also knowing the cafes, secret plug ins and places to go to escape the camping situation.  With the insulation and a little buddy propane heater which we ran very sparingly, it was fairly comfortable.  But aside from that, and I can't stress this enough, layering! Layering, and a duvet.  Your own body heat does so much to keep you warm and a duvet amplifies that.  Very similar to winter camping.  

We were so dependent on Bruisers state that any expectations we were ever slave to were shattered. We learned to be in the moment in a very real way through the couple months we canadian winter van-dwelled. Disappointment was no longer a thing, it's just dealing with the unexpected, which eventually becomes expected, and taking things as they come.

You leave it parked for one week and this is what happens...

bundled up for the first night!

The first fur, down and blanket filled make shift setup.

Back when Bruiser was grey....(stay tuned!!)

Shawn's weather beaten mechanic hands

First night plugged into wal-mart and an appropriate arctic BBC doc.  The blanket barrier behind the sceen had a down blanket within it and created an extra insulated bedroom and a cooler sitting room.

Crisp cozy mornings.