3/11/18 Sunday
After a week of being parked outside my friends’ house (just a half a block away from my old house), I’d been asked to move along by my friends’ landlord, which hurt my feelings just a teeny tiny bit, but didn’t surprise me at all. I’d been reflecting over the previous few days how I’ve been at their house ever since leaving mine, probably 30% out of convenience and 70% out of insecurity & wanting to be somewhere familiar. Work on the van is progressing, with Rich and me attaching the siding on the walls, installing the (very laaaaarge) bed platform, installing all the solar power equipment under the bed, and installing the marine hatch in the rear roof. The van felt waaaaay more livable than it did even just 5 days previously. The weather got very spring-like for a day or so, and the soft, slightly cool breeze wafting through my hatch in was a welcome change from the bone-chilling cold of the previous week and a half.
I opted to bring my car down to SF for my girlfriend’s birthday last Saturday instead of the van because I’m feeling scared of having something happen to it in the wild & unpredictable city. I’m gonna have to get over that. I got up at 5 AM Sunday morning (and with that goddamned daylight savings time that kicked in last night meaning I actually got up at 4), to drive back to Ukiah, switch stuff out of the van and into the car, and head back south to Sonoma County to work on the van more with Rich.. At some point I’m going to have to stop relying on my car so much and dig into the fact that this is my home and my transportation now. I think it’ll make me happier in the long run.
Things I’ve noticed
People look at you strangely when you open the sliding door and step out of the van in front of them. Not sure what the look is, but its probably something like the you’re-homeless-so-you-make-me-uncomfortable kinda thing. Also, it’s nice to wake up somewhere that’s not someone’s front yard.
Not someone's front yard