October 31 – November 28, 2018.
In Tucson, we got into a bit of a routine. Up in the morning, turn on the propane heater if needed, fold up all the blankets and sheets, turn the bed back into a couch, dress, and drive up to a nearby park to use its bathrooms for our morning potty business and to flush the contents of our pee bottles from the previous day and night. After a quick breakfast in the van, we’d head off to the library for research, go shopping, or go back to Julie and Jason’s where we were staying to work on van projects. Around 3:30 Julie and Jason would be done working (from home) and we would get showers at their house, then eat dinner in the van, watch ‘sodes on the computer, bed, sleep, do it all over again.
We were living the moochdocking life. Usually when we in Tucson we did this at our friend Deanna’s place, but Cabbagetown friends Julie and Jason moved to Tucson last year and they have a big old lot in front of their house. It seemed more convenient than hogging Deanna’s driveway.
It was the very longest we had stayed in one place while living in the van. Julie and Jason’s lot was perfect with enough distance from their house we didn’t feel intrusive (although I know they’d tell you we were intrusive at all. I think they liked having people living a hashtag (#vanlife) phenomenon camped out in their yard) – except for those showers and some laundry – and on days Deanna worked all day we could use her house for our bathing and Interneting – it was like having a totally stealth life.
We stayed in the lot for 23 days (not counting our 6 day trip to Los Algodones to visit the dentist – more on that next blog) while we prepared for our journey to Mexico. Despite all my research over the summer we still had lots of things to figure out about where we were going, what documents we needed to get there, how we would get money, where we would stay in Mexico City. We needed to buy new clothes and stock up on all our favorite foods we wouldn’t be able to find south of the border. And the van needed just a few more tweaks to make our van life the best!
The to-do list was long, but our stay wasn’t all drudgery and shopping. When we arrived in Tucson our friends David and Michelle were already there visiting Deanna. There was lots of hanging out the week they were in town. There were dinners with Julie and Jason and with Deanna and her parents, Merideth and Ed. There was lots of effort put into getting Julie and Jason’s dog Pearl to stop growling at us and like us. And Greg managed to catch that amazingly awful cold that was going around.
Tomorrow, October 29 (maybe at the exact moment you read this!), we will once again repeat our morning routine, but this time after we dress we won’t head to the park, we will drive out of Julie and Jason’s lot and head south to Nogales – and finally cross the border to Mexico.
Viva dios de los muertos!
Hola Capitán Roberto! Espero que todo esté bien con tus viajes! Vaya bien.
There is always more to do on a van! I didn’t realize you guys didn’t have a bathroom (or even toilet?) in your van. Doesn’t that get old when spending months in it, traveling around? You guys are more flexible than us, since that was a requisite for our van life. 🙂 And, not having to convert the dinette into a bed. We are spoiled. But, that’s why it took a while before we found Zesty, and why that was the only kind of camper that we wanted.
Moonchdocking. I love it! It’s the best of both worlds, as you find a level spot to park and live, while being able to use the facilities of a house and not intruding (too much). And, the option of socializing and having fun with friends is always there as well. We have done that on occasion (I remember one specific two weeks in Belize in 2005), but never for this long. That being said, we did recently spent ten days with friends in their house to catch up on things.
I hope you got most of the projects done and that you are enjoying Mexico!!
No, we do have a toilet in the van – a composting potty – it is just less poo in the van is best and the park was so close we just went straight there every morning. Greg didn’t think the toilet was that important at first, but I insisted.
Moochdocking was great. It was very odd one evening when we were shopping at Walmart at some Tucson “suburb” to come out of the store and see lots of campers but to get in ours and drive back to our vacant lot.
Mexico is good so far!