Insulation

9/25/23

Jackson, WY

This trip seems to be teaching me less about the spirit of adventure, or rock climbing, and more about the expectations, and reality of, living on the road, in a van, with another human. Overall, not a bad thing to learn about. Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

1. How insulation works, and does not work. In my defense, before building out the van, I texted Paul, the only friend I know who lives out of a converted cargo van. Something along the lines of “what are some things I should know before building a van?” He never texted me back. Then I proceeded to do absolutely no research of my own, and hope for the best. With a “we’ll figure it out as we go” sort of mentality. The reality is that insulation is kind of the only thing you really need to do when building out a van, in addition to ventilation, which I am still thinking though how to accomplish. But, now I know a good deal more about the three types of heat transfer, thermal bridges, and insulation material, than I did several weeks ago. Because of that, most of my mental energy the last couple days, and quite a few hours of my time, have gone to a) avoiding being cold, b) condensation forming on the ceiling, which can lead to rust, c) availability and affordability of materials, d) materials that are not chemically hazardous to humans, e) the installation of said materials.

2. Planning. Planning more than 24-48 hours in advance is either pointless, or limiting. Either those plans won’t happen, or you will frustrate yourself by making sure they happen, at the expense of your individual freedom. This includes making plans with people who live along your assumed travel path. Or, for an even greater challenge, you can make plans with people who will be passing through places on your assumed travel path, but do not live there. So, the best way to live is with no plan. However, no matter how many times you come to this realization, you will probably continue to make plans.

3. Food. Low cost eating for two, while avoiding gluten, meat, and anything perishable, if very difficult. It also doesn’t always taste that good. A solution I’ve discovered is to skip meals (intentionally or not), and the remaining meals will taste even better. Black beans and rice taste really good after skipping breakfast and lunch. If anyone has suggestions, please send them my way.

4. Fun. Literally anything you do has the potential to be fun, or not fun. Being cold is not fun, but being too hot is also not fun. Trying not to spend money is not fun, but spending too much money is not fun either. I’m not sure what I’ve actually learned about that. It’s more of an observation.

Anything else I could come up with would purely be in order to make the list longer.

An unexpected treat today came in the form of a random run-in with an old friend from Washington. After taking a shot of whiskey in Beepy (our van) with all of the window shades up in the middle of a crowded park around 5pm, I stepped out in the direction of a public bathroom. Talking to myself, as I sometimes do while on an outing following a shot of whiskey, I saw a person that caught my eye. Saying to myself “that person looks familiar.” After looking at them for about two seconds, I thought “the chances are very low, but not zero” and then I thought “no that is definitely them” and I said aloud “John.” He looked at me, recognizing me immediately, which doesn’t always happen, and said “no way” giving a characteristic wrist snap. The wrist snap confirmed any doubt, as John is the only person in my life I’ve ever seen do it.

Forgetting all about the bathroom, I spent the next hour and a half or so hanging out with John, his wife Alexa, their two kids, and Alexa’s parents. And that was a nice change of pace.