Getting Ready

The open road starts to beckon once more, but the siren song of Q's laboratory makes it tough to leave without first tending to a few items. And Mrs. Q's cooking only further exacerbates the situation. It's all part of the seasoned nomad's leisurely approach to getting ready to roll.

An unsung benefit to living in a tiny space is that even the smallest of tweaks will result in a noticeable improvement to one's day to day life. Take shift rod bushings, for example, something I was completely unaware of until recently. That's me above installing a new pair – a mere $20 worth of parts, but the spaceship now shifts as smooth and solid as the day she rolled off the assembly line.

Another example – the $36 accumulator tank I've added to the plumbing setup, and after two years of living in the van, the faucet finally runs as it should – in a continuous flow at all levels, and much more quietly now that the water pump cycles less often.

Finally, the $17 LED swivel reading lamp that I finished installing this afternoon. Nabbed from an ambulance parts supplier, of all places, my thinking is that ambulance parts must be more durable than RV parts. No, that's not necessarily saying much, but this light does instill confidence.