The 'Why?'

To find out what this journey is about, start with the beginning, the 'Intro' post.

Monday, March 23, 2015

The Hunt for a Tire Rim

Today I'll be packing stuff and hunting down a tire rim and tire.  Seems like the Van didn't come with anything should I have a flat.  Eek!

We shall be headed out tomorrow, woot!!  :)

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

List of Lists

Gearing up to hit the road soon, it's list time.

But now I have a list of the lists I have compiled, haha.   Lists of things needed.  Lists of things to get done before taking off.  Lists of things to check in to.   List of towns I am aiming for that would need a basic route mapped out.  Lists of clothing to take.  Lists of food items needing to bring.   You get the idea.

Might just say to heck with it, toss some clothes in a bag and into the van, eat whatever is in the van and get fresh food along the way, and just keep paper handy inside the van for when something comes up I might actually 'need' on the road.  Have a pretty good basic set up already, some food, water, entertainment...    Should be just fine.  ;)

Taking the van to the shop on Thursday to see what they can tell me about the AC unit.  It runs, I can hear it, but on high it seems the output in the vent is barely there, like a door isn't opening to allow the air to come out.  That, and it isn't blowing cold, hopefully that is just a recharge issue.  We shall see.

Aiming to head out next Monday or Tuesday.  Hopefully the bulk of the spring breakers will have gone back home and it isn't so nuts down by the coast when we hit down there later next week.   Now, if those swimsuits will just hurry up and come in before I leave, that would be great.. 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

I really did get this in my fortune cookie last week.  Too perfect!!  :)



Saturday, March 14, 2015

The Title Finally Made It

Yep... bought the van January 6th, finally received the title for it on March 13th.   Bout freakin' time!  :)

Am pretty much ready to hit the road otherwise.  Have to wait til Monday to get the tags and such.  Pack some clothes, get fresh food.  Then it's Texas time!!  :)

Movie Time Part 2

So on this movie excursion, it was matinee day and me and the daughter were off to see The Wizard of Oz with James Franco in it.  It was just a boring day and it sounded like fun, no big deal.  We weren't anxiously waiting for this to open or anything, just nothing else sounded better.

We got there early, as usual, got our snacks, got a good spot, not many people in the seats, it was good.   A bit later a group of teens sat behind us, about 8 of them.  Great.  But hey, if they didn't bother us, we won't bother them.

But this one chick, ugh!   She sat about 7 seats in behind our row.  Back and forth she went through the whole movie, knocking our chair the entire time, texting on the phone so we could see her light, making sounds and just all together annoying us.  And on it went through the movie, nothing too bad, just enough that we noticed, is all.

Almost towards the end of the movie, the chick got up yet again, knocking our chair forward to get past, and again no apology or nothing, just rudeness in her haste.  Whatever, we were enjoying the show and snacks.  When she came back, yet another round of knocking chairs and stuff, this time my pony tail was hanging over the back of the chair and she grabbed the back of my chair to get past and yanked my head back.  No apologies, nothing, I looked her way, but said nothing.  Such a rude girl.

At the end of the movie, me and kid sat there like we usually do, letting the anxious people filter past.  We gathered our stuff and was going to wait past this.  Sometimes you get to see little glimpses of other stuff at the end of the credits, so it's not wasted time sometimes.  But that chick...  that annoying chick, decides to not wait for her row to filter out, she climbs over our rows of seats into our row, and over the next set in front of us to get out of there.   I made the mistake of mentioning to my daughter it was the same chick that pulled me hair.  She got cold, turned to me, said 'What?!'.  I said when she came back last time she yanked my pony tail.  The kid calmly said 'Get your things right now.' and she was off.  I quickly gathered my things and went after her.

This is what I was greeted to when I finally got to the lobby.  My tiny kid, all 5'1 3/4" kid with her finger in the nose of a rude chick who stood a foot over her, she was giving the  talk down of her life of how you do and do not treat people and rudeness...   I was never so proud of her in my life!!   You do NOT hurt her mother!   I didn't know what to do so I walked casually by so I could hear some and that bigger girl just had a big eyed look on her and was not saying anything and then my kid just turned on her heels and marched to the front door.  We caught up in the parking lot and she was still livid in her anger.  It was spectacular!  Big or small, there is no excuse for rudeness.. or messing with someone's momma, dangit!   I was in awe.  :)

Movie Time Part 1

There were two incidents, actually, I am going to write about.  This is the first one.  Both are funny now, of course.  :)

Let me start off explaining the movie theatre experience for me.  I admit up front, I am a butt at the movies, I admit it.  I REQUIRE my own space.  Please keep your elbows and all of your possessions on your side of the armrests.  This is 'my' space, you have 'your' space.  It's not a difficult rule, in my opinion.  Some people have a really hard time with it.  Which makes it really hard for me to enjoy going to the movies with anyone that does not respect my space.  I avoid going with anyone that does not adhere to my rules.  Yes, it's true.  Sue me.

My daughter gets me, though.  She really does.  She is an awesome movie partner!!    We have a team approach to going to the movies that works for both of us. :)   One of us will wait in the snack line to get our snacks while the other goes to scout good seating.  The one scouting good seating texts the one standing in line the location of said awesome seats so they know where to go after procuring snacks.  It works great. (and yes, we are awesome at smuggling in candy from the dollar store before going to the matinee's)

What is good seating??  The optimal seating placement, in my opinion, haha, is near the aisle, with maybe a seat extra between us two and the isle, so no one wants to sit in that single seat, and we have room for either elbow room or a place to put our stuff, and for quick exit.  Not too high, not too in the floor.   The outer isle area only if you are able to exit from the sides of the isles, otherwise, no one wants to sit in the isle you have to walk and bump everyones knees of who you have to pass in front of during a movie in case of potty break or more snack procurement.

This time I will write about took place when Iron Man 3 came out.  I was anxiously awaiting it's release and we had agreed to go on opening day.  The matinee.  I knew it would be crowded, but gees!!

Okay, so we got in early, kid in line at snack counter, I went to get us seats.  It was already full and my heart sank.  Finally found a couple places in mid level near the end isle that was a few rows up, easy exit, if needed.  I took up 3 places, putting something by my left, right, and near the wall, and texted my daughter where I was.  The theatre was filling up really fast and I had to fend off our places a few times.  Finally she showed up, sat next to me, we were near the wall with one lone seat next to me.  Life was good.

Some people filled up the entire rest of the isle, up to the empty seat next to me.  Who would want that one seat, I reasoned, right?   Yeah.  

So the beginning ads were running, I thought we were in the clear.  She had room next to her between the wall and I had an extra seat by me.  Then I heard the dude next to my empty chair yelling to a guy at the bottom in the line of people filtering in, 'Here's a chair!', I could have killed him!  

The guy was walking with a cane, I noticed, what could I say.  I glowered at the dude next to the empty chair, but I doubt he could feel my looks.  The guy with the cane hobbled down the row of people already on our row and settled down right smack dab next to me.  Sigh.  Okay, fine.  Whatever, who can get angry at a guy having to walk with a cane.  I wasn't going to be one.

That is..  the dude started the first part of the movie with his elbow clearly over my side.  Okay, not a big deal, you say.. right?  Enough so that every time I leaned forward to put my drink on the floor or whatever I literally hit his elbow.  Did the elbow move?  Nope.  He moved it back further, like nearly touching my boob, I was starting to get ticked.  My daughter could see and could probably imagine steam coming out of my ears at this point.  I leaned forward, past his elbows, so I wouldn't be gouged with it, and she asked me if I wanted to trade her places.  'I'm fine' I said, though I wasn't.  It was nice of her, but I was trying to deal with it. 

And seriously, the dude kept moving and knocking me with his elbow, not apologizing once.  His cane was across where my feet were.  I was trying to be nice, I really was.  After about the third knock with his elbow, I very pointedly looked over at him, with zero response or apology or move to correct his rudeness.  I was really steaming this time, and my daughter kinda loudly asked me again (in part to make sure he heard it) if she wanted me to trade places with her, to which I said no.  I was fuming at this point and in no way enjoying the movie I had waited for a while to see.

The final straw was when I had settled back into my seat to avoid his elbow, yet again, ever inching forward toward my leaning forward back.. I had sat back to give his effin' elbow room and was crouched next to my daughters seat giving him plenty of space and this is what happened..  He literally leaned back and elbowed me hard right above my boob.  That was it!!  Mr. Cane be damned!  I literally leaned forward, turned my head toward him and said loudly 'Really?   Would you like me to sit on my daughter's lap to give you some more room?!'  I was livid!     It was met with "Oh, sorry" and a sort of eye roll and he moved back in to his own space finally.  How can some people be so oblivious to their own surroundings and those of others??  I sat there fuming the entire rest of the time, not enjoying any part of the movie, I still don't remember it and will have to re-watch it again some day to see what happens.  But really?  My daughter kept asking me to switch and I kept assuring her I was fine but we both know I was barely holding it in. 

At the end of the movie, we waited til most were gone, but truly, we were waiting til Mr. Cane was out of there so I didn't have to blow up yet again.  I feel bad for my daughter because my experience was so horrible.   I wish they had bigger elbow rests to separate people so they can enjoy the movie better, they might go more often.  But in their greedy quest to cram yet more people in, they sardine them in and ruin the experience for some.  I am one of those.  It's not one of my finer points, I admit.

Next, the time at the theatre someone hurt kiddo's mom..   to be continued on Movie Time Part 2...

Friday, March 13, 2015

Myself Explains... Myself

Being an introvert in an extroverted world has it's challenges.  Seems the world is geared more for extroverted types.  I happen to not be the extroverted type.  Let me explain some things about my introverted self, I'll include some pictures if it helps. :)

The fake smile can only be worn for so long, and when it's wearing thin, it's time to hibernate.

  And that's okay!
 
 
I ignore texts, I let the phone ring.  It's nothing personal, but some people need to realize that sometimes I don't feel like talking.  Calling for a reason and getting to the point is one thing, but idle chit chat is kinda torture for me.  Texting is way better.  One of the best inventions ever!  Right up there with Netflix and online ordering.  :)
 

"Why are you so quiet??".   Ugh!  I've heard this my whole life.  Want to know why I am so quiet??   I usually listen and take things in, and unlike a lot of people, I really think out what I want to say.   Then I have to wait around for other people to finally shut up and then?  ....

 
Severe pet peeve of mine!!  It takes a lot for me to actually say something around people, please don't interrupt.
 

Being around people drains me.  Imagine a glass of water.  When it is full and I am around people, my glass starts to empty.  When it's empty I need to refill it.  If I am unable to fill it I get grouchy.  The way I refill my glass is by being alone.  It does not mean I hate everyone.  It does not mean I was not having fun.  It means I have to be by myself to recharge my batteries, to fill my glass back up.  Extroverted people get their glass filled by being around other people, their glass drains being alone.  Each type should be allowed to recharge in their own way without being made to feel inferior.  If a person makes you feel inferior over how you recharge, maybe limit your exposure to those judgemental types.



Introverts experience things different than extroverts.  Introverts like to experience and enjoy things in their way, they process the experience internally.  Extroverts want everyone to enjoy the experience, a group, a ton of people, everyone must experience their experience.  Neither way is wrong.  Again, respect each others differences. 

Seriously, if you want to torture me, stick me in a car with a lot of people for a week long trip filled with 24/7 people time and no alone time, and you will get someone at the end of the week who has ripped everyone's heads off, burned the bodies, put the heads on a stake and growls at anyone that comes near them.  It'd be like nine kinds of hell, for me.  I. don't. do. group. vacations. or. events.   End of story.  Other people like them, and that is okay, I am just not one.  Not everyone has to think the same.



Please, let me drive my own wheels!  Preferably alone.  And don't make a huge issue about it for pete's sake!  I don't give two shits about gas, I give two shits about my sanity, okay?  There are many reasons why I like driving my own car.  1) I really don't like your driving.  2) I don't want to hear you bitch about my driving.  3) I may need to escape before I kill someone and don't want to wait for a ride.  4) I like my own kind of music, I can't stand yours, and I want to sing as badly and as loudly as I want to.  And no, I don't want to hear your singing.  5) Silence can also be golden.  I don't want to have to keep up small talk, I HATE small talk.  It's draining.  6) I can be on my own schedule.    So there, you go, reasons why I like driving my own wheels.  It does not mean I dislike anyone.  I just like 'me' more.  ;)

Introverts also get labeled as anti-social, snobbish, or depressed.  We're not.  We basically just have no patience for bull shit.  Sometimes I won't have an expression because I am listening and processing and thinking, that's all.  It does not mean I am judging what you are saying, I am just thinking.  I don't like crowds, but that doesn't mean I am anti-social, I really just don't tolerate stupid sometimes.  Small talk, gossiping, drama, fake people, small minded banality, ugh...    Maybe I should carry these around in case of emergency, haha..



But bring up a subject I find interesting and I won't shut up! haha  :)  Unless that means you are one of those types of people that make you have to look at them while you talk.  I have no idea why, but I really dislike looking at someone while I talk, lol.  It makes me downright uncomfortable.  Maybe that's my own little quirkiness, haha.

~~“Quiet people have the loudest minds.” Stephen Hawking   Love that!!  
 
Here are some other quotes that I love:
~~“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ~ Plato
~~“Better to keep quiet and let people think you’re an idiot than speak up and confirm it.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield
~~“I restore myself when I’m alone.” Marilyn Monroe
~~"E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone. As far as I’m concerned, I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it.” ~ Tom Hanks
~~“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
~~“I don’t hate people, I just feel better when they aren’t around.” ~Charles Bukowski
~~“Sometimes quiet people really do have a lot to say … they’re just being careful about who they open up to.” Susan Gale
~~“A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.” ~ Oscar Wilde
“Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking you are boring somebody.” ~Helen Gurley Brown
~~“I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.” ~ Audrey Hepburn



So if I appear shy and quiet, this is just my nature.  I've always been this way.  I will probably always be this way.  And ya know what?  That is fine and dandy with me! :)  I've always been the quiet one, the one that can amuse herself and didn't have to have someone else for entertainment.  I don't need to be fixed, either.  And I've been called weird my whole damn life, but know what?  Who gives a shit?   :D  I don't really need constant acceptance, thanks :D






My Lazy VanDay

Ever have one of those days when you get things done fairly early and don't have anything else pressing to do?  That was yesterday.

The sun was out, light breeze, and it was low 70's, just a gorgeous day!!   So what'd I do?  I hung out in the van. :)  Had a weak moment and got a book off Amazon to read on my iPad (halfway through it and the $4.40 was so worth it!) and just wanted to relax and read.

One of the back doors open, the side door open, it created a nice gentle breeze.  There was an owl hooting and some birds chirping.  I stacked a few pillows behind me on the bed and just had myself a grand time with my book.

Ahhh...   Sure was nice.  :)

Still stuck waiting on the stupid *^%$#$%^&* title...    *grumbles and shakes fist into air* but until then, will try to enjoy the van while I can.  :D

Monday, March 9, 2015

The Unfortunate Jelly Bean Incident

This sequence of events happened to me at a new job in January, 2008.

We had moved to south Texas and I had gotten a job at one of the biggest hospitals there in Corpus Christi, Tx as an xray tech.  It was my first week, I was very nervous. 

I was to have two weeks of training.  The hospital was so big it took up two city blockes, with seperate xray departments on each block.  The first week I was to train on the older side, the second week on the E.R. side.  It was then end of my first week there, on a Friday afternoon, thank goodness, that the jelly bean incident occured.

It had gotten pretty slow that after noon and some other co-workers suggested we go downstairs to check out the gift shop.  I tagged along.  Was looking around for something light to just pass the time with and spied some Jelly Belly Jelly Beans that looked like it would fit the bill.

I had downed about half of the not so big bag when I started to not feel so good.  You know, that deep in the gut grumbling feeling that is like a warning that something is about to go down.  And I still had about an hour and half to go until the end of my shift and a 40 minute drive after that before I would make it home.  I knew this was not going to turn out well.

Thankfully, THANKFULLY, I was turned out early as it wasn't busy we were caught up.  I did not argue in the least and made haste to get out of there before I embarassed myself, things were about to get really bad, I could feel it.

White knuckled and sweating profusely, I made it home in time and barely made it to the toilet.   Oh my gosh it was bad.  Horrible bad!  I seriously thought something was terribly wrong.  If you've ever seen the movie 'Bridesmaids' just picture Megan on the sink yelling 'It's coming out of me like lava!' and that pretty much describes the scene in the bathroom.

I was stuck back there in the bathroom for a while.  I was back there when John came home from work.  I let him know that things were bad and to steer clear of the bathroom area.  Then I yelled at him that I didn't know how long it would be, so if he got hungry I had some jelly beans in my purse he could snack on to tide him over.  He said thanks and hoped I felt better.

A few minutes later I could hear him laughing very loud from the living room.  He had to read it out loud for me.  Here is a picture of the warning label.


Ummm... yeah.   No wonder!!!   Start with eight?!   Lol..  oops.

And they sold those in the gift shop.  Holy moly, here was sick people, and relatives coming to see them, and looking for a sugar free snack to try to get them to feel better.  And instead they give them monstrous stomach cramping and explosive diarrhea.  Gee, thanks!!

So if you ever need a good, errr..  cleaning out..   I know what I can suggest for you.  Your mileage may vary.


Thursday, March 5, 2015

Shower Idea

Just tossing around ideas in my head the other day on showering.  Here is what I may try out in the future.

I already have a solar shower bag, have not used it yet.  Just fill with water, throw it on the dash when you are driving and let the sun through the windshield warm up the water.  Easy enough.  This is the one that I got.  Looks like this:

Okay, so that part is done.  But where?  Have two ideas, can use one or the other depending on the outside weather.

One idea is to rig up the back doors with a rod and shower curtain between the top of the open doors and let the water just fall to the ground.  This would work when it's decent weather outdoors and not too many people around (okay, no people, haha).  Will work particularly well in the summer time.

For bad weather and use indoors, my other thought would be utilizing a big cooler.  I read about someone doing this yesterday and though it was a great idea.  Would put where my big plastic bins are on the back passenger side area.  Will store dry food inside, would also provide a good extra seating area.  When needed for a shower, remove food (have them inside their own plastic bins for easy removal), hang up shower curtain, set my little folding step stool inside the cooler to sit on, and hang up the solar shower to use.  Then just drain the water from the spigot out the door on the side of the van.  Seems very do-able.  If I wanted to get real fancy I could try to fashion a drain from the spigot out through the holes that were left from the seat removals.  Just open the spigot and let the water drain under the van. 

Well, those are the two options I have come up with so far.  :)


Monday, March 2, 2015

Why a Van?

For my traveling while driving to most of the 50 U.S. states, I chose a van as my mode of transportation.  This post is for those who may wonder, Why a Van?

I will start off by saying that I will be living out of the vehicle while traveling, for a few reasons.  First off, hotels can get expensive.  To be able to do this journey I will need to do it on the cheap, so nightly hotel expenses are a no-no.  Secondly, ease of camping.  Lastly, will meet all of my needs.

My needs on this journey will be:  a comfortable place to sleep, a way to cook meals to avoid spending on eating out, a way to store items, a way to go to the bathroom, a way to clean myself, and a way to keep myself in a safe environment.

So what are the options besides hotels?

Why not a tent?  Tents are cheap, that's true.  You can throw them into any vehicle you already own.  I dismissed it for a few reasons.  Pain to unload everything, set up, and not very comfy for nightly sleeping (rain, hard ground, etc.).  Plus, it might be hard to find a safe place to pitch a tent every single night out on the road.  Then undoing everything in the morning and loading it back up again.  That is a lot of time wasted unloading, unpacking, repacking and loading up... every single day.  Seems like there is a ton of gear needed for this type of set up.  Least, to me, anyways.  If you were going to a place and staying in one spot a week or two this is would work great.  Just won't work for me, I'll be driving to a different place every day.  And, not really safe, in my opinion.

Sleep in your car.  That's another option, that is for sure.  I do have a little car that would be good for sleeping in.  And it's good on gas, too.  Yet, there are a few other considerations to think about with car camping, at least for me.  I wanted to have enough space for cooking, adequate storage, and place for portable potty and ability to shower.  I didn't see how all of these things could be accomplished in my small wheels.  The biggy deal breaker for me, though, is the fact that you literally have to get out of the drivers seat to get in to the back.  If you are stealth camping, that would pretty much give it away that you are sleeping in your car.  Also, for safety reasons, you can't easily get into the drivers seat and take off for whatever reason.  Car camping in my car might be okay for a night or two here or there, but I'll be traveling for weeks at a time in the future for this journey.

RV, how about this option?  I do already own one (still up for sale).  It's a class 1995 C model, it's about 29' long.  There are good and bad things when I considered this option.  True, it has everything in it, a very comfortable queen size bed, nice sized shower, plenty of space, I can stand up in it, tons of storage, 3 way fridge, house battery, generator, heating and cooling, and drives fantastic!  All pro's in it's favor.  The con's, though, outweighed the pro's for me.  It gets 8 mpg, the length makes it hard to get around easily (especially in unfamiliar places), it's tall so you are always concerned about height issues, most of the appliances are inefficient, you would pretty much have to stay at RV parks which are getting more and more expensive, it's too big for me since I'll be doing most of this alone, and it's just a huge thing to be driving for that many miles.

I settled on a van for my mode of transportation.  I chose the full van size over a minivan after careful consideration.  Reasons were:  I did want some level of comfort while on the road.  A minivan would give me better mileage, but about all of them didn't have the higher top roof.  Plus, they seem to make the minivans anymore on the inside that reduces the interior cargo area with it's molded wall cup holders and such that I couldn't see having anything besides a mattress in the back of one.  The gas mileage is better in a minivan, that's true.  But for the difference of a few dollars more at gas fill up time, I chose more space instead.

When I was researching for this, I was looking at the differences in interior cargo dimensions to compare and the differences in gas mileage.  I was looking at the differences in an Astro minivan, a Dodge Grand Caravan, or full size conversion van.

Van:                                                 MPG/ highway   back door to seat   width     height  
Astro Minivan                                 18mpg                        7'3"                   4'3"        3'7"
Dodge Grand Caravan                     24mpg                        7'                      4'2"        3'9"
Ford E150 w/raised roof                 16mpg                         9'5"                  5'5"        5'2"      

These vary slightly with the year models, this is just a general example of the three I was considering this past January. 

Let's use my upcoming Texas trip as an example of comparing fuel mileage to comfort.  Round trip and places in between, I plan on driving about 1400 miles and will be spending a week on the road.  My current van, the Ford E150 gets about 16mpg on the highway.  Gas right now in Texas is around $2.35 average (average of a few cities in Texas on Gasbuddy.com), so that will be about $205.62 in gas for this trip.  Let's compare that to the Dodge Grand Caravan's gas mileage of 24 mpg.  It would only cost $137.08 in fuel costs, $65.53 less than the bigger van.

HOWEVER..   look at the interior room difference.  My bigger van choice for the #vanconversion has a full size permanent bed set up at the back, I can stretch out very well back there.  I can also stand up when I put my pants on, albeit with a slight head bending, but still.  I won't have to worry as much cooking inside with the higher top compared to a low ceiling on a minivan.  I can take things with me that I may not otherwise been able to with a smaller vehicle.  For example, extra food, water, outdoor furniture or equipment, and the ability to travel with someone without feeling like we are Siamese twins.  More space also makes it feel not as crowded to me, feeling claustrophobic makes me anxious.  Since I'll be spending about a week in Texas on this first trip, the ability to live comfortably while inside the van is very important!  There was no way I would have been able to put a bed across the back of a minivan and lay comfortable, so I would have had to put a bed on the side, and a small one at that, which would have meant it could only sleep one.  The bigger van, I can sleep two.  Since my daughter is going with me on my Texas trip, and the bf will hopefully go with me to some states, this ability to sleep more than just one is a plus.  And when I am traveling alone, the space will be just down right heavenly.  I consider the difference in gas prices the cost of having more comfort while on the road. 

Everyone should evaluate for themselves what is more important.  These are just my own reasonings.   Cheers!

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Best Shower Ever!!

This is a little story about the best shower I ever had.

It was a hot summer day, a weekend we decided to go visit the Little Saraha sand dunes near Waynoka, Oklahoma.  It was probably around the year 2003 in the summer.  We had drove the old little class C RV that I named Betsy and pulled the dune buggy on a trailer behind it to the dunes, it was a few hours from where we lived..

Betsy was only 21' long, so there wasn't a ton of room inside her.  She consisted of a pretty good sized bed over the cab, a small dinette table that converted into a bed, a wet bath type toilet plus shower, a small kitchen and a couch across the back that converted into a bed.

We had been out on the dunes that Saturday.  It was horribly hot, and the winds were pretty bad that day.  When you add both of those, heat and high winds, and you then in add John's complete inability to drive slow on the dunes you end up with a sand monster.  That's what I felt like.  Sand in every orifice, in my teeth, in my eyes..  everywhere!!

And of course, we broke down again.  Thankfully, that weekend we were able to get a camping spot that had hookups, so we were able to plug in and run our air conditioner, so the camper was a welcome blessing from the heat. 

Okay, heat taken care of.  But the sand, ugh!  Time to take care of that.  Even if it meant facing the wet bath.

Let me describe the wet bath...   Imagine tiny closet.  Like, less than the space of a closet.  Maybe a coat closet.  You open the door, and have to step up inside a plastic raised shower bottom, there is a tiny sink in the corner on the left, you turn counter clockwise and sit and your butt will be sitting on the toilet.  If you tried to extend your elbows out I am not sure you could extend it all the way, your elbows would be hitting the walls.  That is how tightly enclosed it is.  But hey, you have a shitter and a shower if you have to have it.

After I went outside and lit the water heater than ran off propane, I waited a few minutes for the water to heat up.  Didn't really have to wait long because I wasn't needing a super hot shower, not with the hot weather and how hot I was already, anyways. 

So now it is time to brave the tiny shower.  I get in, toss my clothes out the door, pull the curtain all the way around so that it is covering the door and toilet paper that's on it's holder and proceed to take a shower.

O...M...G!!!      Best freaking shower anyone has ever taken,  EVER!  I don't give a crap that it was cramped, or didn't have great water pressure, or that our water resources was limited to our 30 gallon water tank that was to last us the entire weekend..   I sat on the toilet and had the most awe inspiring shower of my entire life.  All 4 minutes of it.  It was just heavenly!

Never did I gripe about it's cramped conditions after that.  It would have been sacrilegious.  Who ever invented that little set up to combine function, space saving, water saving, and a multi-purpose facility all in one was a genius!  I salute you!!

I didn't get a picture of the one we had, but here is a close enough picture so you get an idea.