-21C and Vanlife
Ok so let me just say I am not a fan of winter!! But I am Canadian so I can handle it. I live for the most part in SOUTHERN Ontario! Although in the last week or so it has felt more like the Arctic! It started a couple weeks ago with a plunge to -27 C which is just stupid cold! Got better for a few days and then plunged again! Add a snow storm in the middle of that and you have hard living if your living in a van!
Now my van has all the luxuries of a home. But not the insulation. When it gets bitter cold, the cold will seep through the walls and come up from the floor. It is hard to keep warm. Yes it is an RV but not a 4 season.
Things I do not usually have to deal with happen. The water jugs will freeze. Including my apple juice! Darn! Nutritional note…Apple juice and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a day is good for your digestive system! Just sayin! 😁 My fruits and vegetables freeze! It’s bad when you take your banana out of your lunch bag and bang it on the table because it is frozen! Haha! Now maybe if I could get warm chocolate served with that I could deal! Lol! Everything in my fridge froze! Eggs, cheese, my milk for my coffee! It’s bad when you have to chip the ice in the water jug to make the coffee and then thaw the milk to go in it! Right down to frozen toothpaste. Haha! It’s just down right silly!
Boondocking is something that is very difficult to do for me in this extreme cold. The furnace has a hard time keeping up with the cold and the house battery has a hard time keeping up with the furnace. You mix in a 30 -50 mph wind and I am freezing no matter what I do. I have no generator so keeping an extra source of heat going is something I can not do. I went and got a 12v heated blanket. It is AWESOME!!! But, yup there is always a but…it wears the house battery down very quickly and add the furnace running. I would have run the van constantly to keep the house battery charged.
So I have to go find a plug. Unfortunately there are not a lot of campgrounds open at this time of year. There are 5 provincial parks open a year round for winter camping. None near my main office. Luckily I have friends in the area! I am not sure where I would be with out their support and right now their power. I will tell you I am not comfortable in the least with parking in people’s driveways. These people are like family to me but I still feel like a squatter! Lol! If there is one thing my parents installed in me was “Take care of your own dam self!” Even plugged in with these conditions it is difficult to keep it warm in here. But my warm blanky helps! 😊
The weatherman says we have 1 more day of this and it will break! There is a warm trend coming. Until then I will snuggle under my blankets, chip some ice for some hot chocolate and turn on a disaster movie. Life is not always laughter and sunshine but like my Dad always said.. Nothing that’s worth it is easy!
Thanks for tuning into this weeks Chipmunk Survivor!
See you all soon! Stay warm!
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