October 28th, 2016
Mood: Feeling good, but mechanical issues are- again — providing some gloom
#Vanlife tidbit: I’ve only been at this for three weeks now, but I’ve only experienced one person who didn’t react 100% positively to my journey. He was still kind to me and curious about the van/journey, but had that weird conservative old white guy look of “what are you doing with your life?” When I first made my decision to buy a van, turn it into a livable space, and travel around for an undetermined amount of time, I was a bit nervous with how people would react and if the judgment would get to me. It turned out that there wasn’t any judgment — actually quite the opposite. Pretty soon, even my mother was pumped on the idea. I’m just as prone to anyone when it comes to bowing to cultural and societal norms. But it was nice to see that I had the support of friends and family when I decided to chase an alternative lifestyle.
Currently thinking about: Utah. Freaking Utah. I’m just going to be completely honest about this place: it sketches me out. I’ll say that everyone is extremely kind, but still, there is something about a place that does not allow alcohol to flow freely and that punishes recreational drug use the way it does. From the perspective of those outside of the Church, LDS has an absolutely terrible reputation. But it’s the complete opposite from those inside of the Church. So….what gives? I don’t understand some of the moral judgments either. They just seem more arbitrary than other Abrahamic/Judeo-Christian religions. Ex) punish the living shit out of drug users, excommunicate for pre-marital sex, no warm drinks, no swimming on Sundays (seriously), yet Polygamy is cool, age gaps in marriages don’t matter, and sexual abuse clearly runs rampant. There’s hypocrisy in most organized religion, but LDS just frightens me. At least everyone’s nice though!
I left off last time with mechanical issues and am starting off with mechanical issues. The steering box actually turned out to be only part of the problem, and now, to get the steering back to prime condition, need a new steering pump as well. I’m going to try to replace the part myself to try and save money on labor because these mechanical issues are really adding up. The mechanic is being kind enough to let me use some of their space and tools if necessary. I’m sure they’ll be willing to help me with anything I get stuck with and go over my work at the end as long as I don’t bother them much. So, I have til Tuesday to do as much research as possible. I think it can be done, just may take a while.
These mechanical issues really, really suck though. They’re such a drain on morale (and obviously travel funds). Yesterday I was trying to stay positive about it, but hearing that the steering box wouldn’t be sufficient was another punch in the stomach. This is the part of vanlife that most people don’t hear about and most dwellers don’t want to talk about. It’s expensive, boring, and to be frank, even being in small-town Utah is sketchy for me (mainly because the van is not stealth and I have to find a legit place to camp rather than pulling over somewhere). It’s also the exact opposite of what you’re trying to do which is be active, explore, and see things.
But I’m trying to make the most of it. Yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon at the library getting the blog published and I was blown away by the response I got. People seemed to like the writing and commentary so I’ll keep it up. It’s also nice to slow down and go over the events of the previous few days to keep memories fresh. Medium also turned out to be a great place to host the photos. It just looked smooth and organized.
The forecast for the next few days seems bleak — not much going on, lol. I befriended a bartender and her friends at the local restaurant/bar (that closes at 10pm), and they invited me to go out with them tomorrow night to a bar across the Arizona border. That should be an interesting Halloween celebration. Then we’re going to go on a hike Sunday when we get up and moving. I think during the day tomorrow I’ll hit up the Kanab animal sanctuary…that should be another cool way to kill a few hours.
At any rate, I’ll check back in when I’ve got something to get off my mind. I’m going to head into McDonalds, order a McFlurry, and use their free Wi-Fi to watch basketball for the rest of the night. I was able to get an NBA League Pass username on the cheap :).
