5 Fun Life lessons you should know

When traveling in a home on wheels, you can expect plenty of truck life lessons coming down the road. You’ve probably already done your research, watched a bunch of YouTube videos and mostly have a pretty good idea of ​​what to expect. We were in the same place when it came time to fly west to buy a Sprinter in Portland, Oregon. Our next step was to go straight to #vanlife and bring her (aka “Ace”) back to North Carolina. Andy didn’t drive a van of any kind, and I owned an ’84 Chevy for a little while several years ago, but it didn’t have a high roof nor a 170 wheelbase. So, just getting comfortable while we drove the long, long sports wagon was lesson #1 in the life of the truck.

We learned something every day during that two-and-a-half-week trip, and we’re here to share our first big truck life lessons – like how to get the gas, to crying out loud!

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Van Life lessons learned in our first week on the road

© Stephen and Andy

Lesson 1: Know where your gas tank is

I know what you’re thinking. Who does not know where the gas tank is? We weren’t expecting this head-scratcher either, until it came time to fill up the tank for the first time after buying a Sprinter. On most vehicles, as we all know, the tank door is visible near the rear, on either the driver’s side or the passenger’s side. We didn’t even consider that it might be somewhere else, let alone hidden in plain sight. When we got to the pump and got off, we couldn’t see the tank door from the driver’s side. Then we checked the passenger side and… nothing. Plus, our first fill-up was in Oregon, a state we knew at that moment only had “full service” gas stations. Remember those? Side note: You’ll find this in New Jersey, too. So, having to let someone else fill our tank, we had to show our true novice colors and admit that we just got this car and had no clue where the tank was. Imagine our surprise (and slight embarrassment) when the attendant opened the door to the gas tank, right next to where we were standing. It is located right behind the driver’s door! There is no release lever inside the truck or the button on the deck either. The driver’s door must be open to be able to open and close the tank door. It is not like on other vehicles where there is a square ‘hole’ visible in the body, clearly articulating the door. It’s embedded in a narrow vertical panel that spans the height of the truck, which looks the same on both the driver’s and passenger’s sides. Thus, hidden in plain sight.

Lesson 2: Run – Don’t walk from the winter weather

After buying a Sprinter in Portland at the end of October, we anticipated the possibility of some weather on our drive back to North Carolina. We had planned a semi-northern route, which would have taken us through some higher elevations, like the Rocky Mountains. When the time came, the weather forecast wasn’t great all this way. This wouldn’t have been a problem were it not for the fact that we were inexperienced at driving a high peak. We didn’t feel comfortable risking potential high winds and freezing roads while we learned how to handle our new baby. In addition, the diesel heater for the house was not working. It needed to be serviced every few years to be operable again—aka, keep us warm while we parked overnight without the truck running. On top of that, a blizzard was about to roll into parts of Oregon the next day. So we pivoted, re-routed, and hit the road at the crack of dawn to get past the snow. We were now taking an extreme southern route, all the way through California, before heading east. No complaints there, since Cali is our home and we are always so happy to find an excuse to come back. Not everyone is as warm-blooded as we are, or as experienced as driving such large vehicles as we were back then, so the thought of winter living may not make you uncomfortable. But if you’re like we were, you’d better play it safe and find another way. This is one of the things we love most about Van Life – the freedom to change things up when the unexpected presents itself!

Lesson 3: Dispose of fluids properly (gross!)

Our next quick spin was a lesson on truck life at dump stations. That’s right, the dirty part of living in a truck. There can be two different scenarios for the type of waste situation you will be dealing with, depending on your setup. One scenario would be a gray water tank for the sink(s), and a black water tank for all human waste – that is, if you have a flush toilet. The other scenario is a toilet without water, such as composting toilets and composting toilets (there is a difference between the two). Both are urine-diversion toilets, which means they keep urine in a separate tank from, well…you know. Since these toilets do not require water to flush or the plumbing system, there is no black water tank. This is the class we own This Separett Tiny compost toilet. You lift and close the urine tank and bring it to the dump station with the greywater. This is usually in the form of a large drain in the ground, with a lid that you step over to open and pour into. Most stations also have running water, such as a tap or hose, to rinse the tanks after emptying them. Or, if there is a toilet, you can simply pour the tank of urine into the toilet! Just please use secrecy when it comes to business you might stroll around, urine tank in hand, heading to the bathroom. And seriously, don’t be irresponsible and dump your stuff anywhere.

Lesson 4: What’s the deal with AdBlue®?

If you are new to driving a diesel vehicle, you may be asking what AdBlue® is. It is diesel exhaust liquid, which is a solution of urea and water that converts harmful emissions into water and nitrogen. If your diesel is 2010 or later, it uses AdBlue®. In the case of the Sprinter, we need to put it somewhere between every three to five diesel fill-ups. Fortunately, this is one of the many indicator lights and messages our system flashes at us on the dashboard, long before we run out of power. We can’t say for sure, but it’s probably a safe bet, as most other bets offer some kind of warning as well.

As for adding liquid and knowing when it’s full enough, this proved surprisingly difficult. The owner’s manual says to fill it until you can see the liquid near the top neck of the AdBlue® tank. But, there are so many caveats about not spilling, touching, or breathing it in that it makes us newbies nervous just to handle the container. That’s because we were using store-bought jugs of AdBlue, and it’s hard to raise them high enough to pour through the long, continuous gooseneck without spilling. Some gas stations have AdBlue pumps, which sounds much easier, but we haven’t yet had a chance to try this method. Fortunately, we were able to rely on the message in the dash off to know that it’s full enough for the time being at least. We are still working on this life lesson.

Lesson 5: Expect the unexpected

no escape. Weather, vehicle maintenance, broken heaters, running out of water, road closures — you name it, it’s bound to happen at some point. Most of our surprises were nothing more than hiccups, and in fact, they were mostly great. These annoying but helpful warning messages popped up, for example. They caused us to abort our Roswell plans and make a direct line to the nearest Mercedes dealership instead – all the way in El Paso. Apparently, when the “Ace” was last serviced in Portland, the shop ranked first in oil. Once we hit warmer temperatures in the southwest we got ominous messages that some oil needed to be removed! Excuse me? Luckily we had a flexible schedule to do the detour, the dealer squeezed us in without an appointment, charged us very fairly, and left with peace of mind.

Then there was an urgent warning message from the DEF 30 miles outside of Marfa, Texas. Not wanting to accidentally wait, we pulled over our shoulder near a building in the middle of nowhere. It turns out to be the world famous art installation – Prada Marfa – that we’ve been wanting to see for years! If it weren’t for that message, we would have just skipped it. We got out of the situation we did A silly movie about “melting” in a world-famous art facility. Sound activated!

There was another unexpected turn when we were driving through our home state of California and saw signs of the famous Morro Bay. Despite living a few hours away in Los Angeles for decades, neither of us have ever been gone. After a few minutes Andy said “Do you want to go to Morro Bay?” So we turned back and took a 12-mile detour, arriving just in time for the gorgeous sunset. The way it unfolded was perfect, and we vowed to always take that turn in the future. be seen? Van’s “unexpected” life lessons aren’t always a bad thing!

wrapping

Living a non-traditional lifestyle like this naturally offers a lot of freedom and different types of lessons compared to other lifestyles. We’ve been lucky so far because none of our fan life lessons have been too hard, and we also know that it won’t always be that way. But we’ve learned something new every day since we bought our truck, and we’ll be learning every day for a long time to come. And we’re here for all of it, because we… #LIFE!

just for fun

Check out our profile Get a fun video version of these top 5 lessons on the life of a fan!

important point:

If you’re wondering where to find free overnight parking while you’re out on the road living your best life, read this post for another van life lesson: Free Overnight Parking: A Guide for Van Livers Beginners.