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October 20, 2021October 18, 2021

Dealing with Cold Weather in the Van

With Fall comes colder weather. And that means if we want to keep traveling, we need a few strategies. Our plan for October and November is traveling towards warmer places but also having some necessary cold weather upgrades. When we left, it was summer, everything was on fire, on we were dealing with managing 100 degree days in some places. This time around, we are dealing with rain, wind, and some nights that are down to 29 degrees.

Bend, Oregon

Before we left Washington for this leg, we did some maintenance work on the van. We got the oil changed, had the new struts, and got new all-season, all-terrain tires. We are hoping the tires/suspension work would improve the ride over all of these various roads. We also had to fix the gear shifter because it kept getting stuck in park.

We first headed to California to see some our kids. And then we picked up a full-size electric mattress pad. A lot of the cold weather we are encountering is at night, so staying warm while we sleep will be important. So far, I love it. It does take about 30% of our battery power, which means we need to plan on charging while we drive and maximizing solar opportunities. The other thing we picked up was some basic base layers to wear to bed. They are pretty thin, so you don’t think they will help, but those plus wool socks made a big difference.

Snow in Great Basin National Park

The last thing we picked up, we had talked about for a while. We got the Mr. Heater. It runs off of propane and we were hesitant to use it in the van. We do have a carbon monoxide detector and the fan, but we think we will stick to using it in the morning versus while we are sleeping, just to be safe.

We had the chance to try out the stuff we bought while traveling through Nevada this week. And the biggest surprise was how warm we were with the electric mattress pad and base layers. We also use our Marmot backpacking sleeping bags, but all of that was pretty effective. We haven’t even needed the Mr. Heater. But our coldest night is coming up with lows predicted to be 29 overnight. So we may need to use it in the morning to get dressed. Fingers crossed we have enough!

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