SURVIVING CORONA LOCK DOWN IN A VAN — WeRollWithIt

Off to a flying start

This year our season start has been somewhat of an anti climax but we are still in good spirits! We had a tight deadline on our van build with TouRig and it was all hands on deck the last few days before racing from Colorado to California to make it to the seasons first event in Orange County. That drive was the WORST! We had an electrical issue on the van which caused us no end or grief and stress sweats, late night stops at random highway mechanics and had us crawling all over our rig with a voltmeter searching every wire and fuse for the problem.

We finally made it to California the afternoon before the event. But we weren’t done yet, we were trying to meet some packages there containing one first ever Backwoods Adventure Mods side ladder and two beautiful brown Scheel-Mann seats. Of course those packages had us on a wild goose chase, so after a few pleading phone calls we were able to intercept a delivery driver (who grabbed a quick happy snap of our van) and we were off to the event.

Bruce Banner on display at the 4x4 Adventure Expo in Orange County CA

The first event of the season

We rolled into the Orange Country show grounds late in the afternoon and were checked in by some familiar faces who we had worked with last season (hi @okienomads) But no time to relax! With the sun setting fast behind us we pulled out the tools and got to work installing the Backwoods ladder. To our sheer delight the ladder install was a piece of cake!

Considering the Backwoods team was also rushing to make our deadline and had to design it all on CAD without any time for a test fit we were super impressed by the perfect fit and easy install of the ladder.

Now onto the Scheel-Manns…. just kidding, by now we were exhausted so we saved the seats for the morning of the event and along with our scheduled presentations we did a live install of the Scheel-Mann seats. People loved it! They had lots of questions for us and even came back around in the afternoon to ask if they could have a sit to try them out. Overall the event was great! We had perfect weather, engaging questions and made some new friends. It made all the cross country stress sweats worth it. A successful event under our belt it was back to the tedious search for the electrical fault….

We were headed to San Diego next so we looked ahead for a sprinter specialist. We had seen one specialist in LA, we had switched out alternators and we were very tired of searching for answers. We found Sprinter Pit Stop who were soon to be the heroes of this story. We rolled in with no appointment and were welcomed with big smiles, they told us to come back tomorrow and they would have results! We liked their attitude and sure enough by lunch time the next day we were up and running full speed! They tried a few different things but it ended up being a bad ground connection.

Next up we had our first Weekenders Tour sponsored by TouRig. in spite of the rainy weather we had a great turn out to meet us at Fiesta Island. We loved showing the group one of our favourite camp spots in the area and it seemed one night was not enough as the whole group joined us the next day to see the outdoor sculptures at Anza Borrego.

The group taking the trail out of the campground Sunday morning

A screeching hault

Our van running smoothly, our events being well received, life was good! But we had Covid looming behind us. On the road we stay in contact with the office team at TouRig. The team was keeping a close eye on the news and was already making preparations for what was to come. We had more events planned for the West coast, client meetings, tours and photoshoots and it was a sad decision we all had to make to postpone these things. The core values at TouRig are People, Position, Product and the team stood by these as they pulled us from events and told us to find a safe space.

Our vans have always provided us with such a feeling of freedom but suddenly we found ourselves feeling overwhelmingly lost. This was early days but we could see what was coming ahead. Our concerns were that the states would close boarders and that travel would be difficult. We were worried that camping areas would close or become over crowded making it difficult to move between them as we usually do. Levi’s parents live in Alaska where he grew up and his grandparents live in Michigan, his Dad, not knowing how bad things may get, had already gone to stay in Michigan to take care of the grandparents. They told us to join them there and with the van as our home that was easy for u s to do.

Taking precautions

We had our van open at events so we did a deep clean washing all surfaces to disinfect everything. We did a big grocery shop in California and hit the highway. With our van having all the ammenities on board, (kitchen, shower, bathroom, enough power that it doesn’t need to plug in) we didn’t have to expose ourselves except to get gas. We were cautious at these stops being sure to wear gloves, pay with card at the pump and wash our hands thoroughly after.

What we noticed as we travelled was that the places we stopped at which normally would be empty were overflowing with rigs. BLM lands were packed in with campers of all shapes and sizes. Primitive camp spots too were all overcrowded on weeknights when even on weekends in the past years we had found just a few people making use of them. It felt weird. Our rig normally gets a lot of attention, people waving, smiling, asking questions or taking photos. We still saw a little of this on the journey but far less than normal. People kept their distance, their faces were focussed, filled with concern. It was eerie making that trip. We listened to the news as we drove and each town we passed was closing its doors. We passed Denver the day before it stated its lock down.

We normally like to take our time driving, we often choose slower winding scenic routes or even dirt roads instead of the highways. This time we opted for the fastest route and slept in highway rest stops to save time. As we drive further we saw less commuters on the roads, now it was just us and the big truckers.

A month into Covid

We made it to the grandparents property! They have a beautiful 3 acre block which even has a creek running through it, of all the places to be sheltered place this is a pretty lucky one. They are located in a rural area and the neighbouring farms are owned by family. We didn’t want to have to drive into the main town too often so we made a trip to stock up on things like rica and pasta. We normally shop small for fresh local ingredients so we had to change our eating habits to minimise our contact.

Our rig holds 40gal of water which we use for cooking, showers and dishes. Our heater and stove run on diesel so we make a trip about every 10 days to a gas station in the small community near us to fill up both of those. The property has well water so we prefer to fill up our own tanks so as not to drain theirs. The grandparents have a cute little house that they built themselves. We have parked in the driveway and stay in our van, we cook together in the house some nights and others we cook in the van. This gives everyone their own space. We can certainly see that we are very lucky to have a safe space to stay long term and to have a loving family to share this time with right now.

Apocalypse puppy

Last year we met a very sweet chihuahua named FiveNine owned by our friend Burke (check out some of the work he does here) ever since then Levi has been talking non stop about how he’d like another dog. Puppies are a lot of work so this time when we are not travelling seemed the best time to train one up to be an adventure pup! Meet Uke the newest member of our little van fam. He’s been keeping us all very entertained and Jitsy has been teaching him the ways of the good boy.

Working

A lot of our work revolves around meeting up with people or hosting events so we have faced some losses of workload. However we do also work online, we run the social media for a few companies and we write articles and edit videos and photos. We also do build consultations for TouRig which we are now doing over the phone or with video chat. (drop us an email if you’re thinking about having a van built and would like a consultation! experiences@mytourig.com) With our WeBoost and hotspots we are still able to stay connected and producing work for our clients which we are really thankful for. (See our internet set up here) We are focussing more on writing during these times and we also have some new t-shirts coming out for those of you who would like to support us. (Find them on our shop)

Going crazy?

With the vanlife we normally wouldn’t stay in one place for more than about 4 days so this is certainly new for us. Vanlife often isn’t as glamorous as it looks online, living in such a small space can have its challenges. In normal times these challenges are vastly outweighed by the ability to travel and see such beautiful locations, so much so that we often don’t even notice them. Staying still is certainly weighing on us BUT we are safe, we have family, we have two adorable dogs, we have a big yard for everyone to play in. We know that soon the van will adventure again, we just have to be patient!