Just saw this
https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/spo/d/olympia-warbonnet-ridgerunner-camping/7744907367.html
Ridgerunner with bugnet, WB tarp, lynx UQ and top cover for $350. Hammock and UQ by itself is over $400.
Disclaimer - this is not mine. But I frequently check CL as the best deals are generally found there.

Sionia
Chapter12
Map First Previous Note: Reddit Tech support fixed map bug. Use mouse wheel/ button to zoom and navigate
Standing inside the opulent chamber of the forth tower alone, I made sure nothing was left behind. Heading down to a parking area for carriages and carts off to the right of the main entrance to the keep where my people where gathered. They were mostly settling who could ride where and seeing to their personal gear and supplies. I had a cart specifically for baggage for my people with my cart only for my items and food supplies.
I shocked myself with realization that I had fully adopted a nobility's frame of mind as I now referred to those before me as my people. Looking over as Evito came trotting up slightly out of breath, I gave him a slight nod.
“Come as I must do as I was commanded.” Evito stated as he saluted me with a half bow before leading me to the ornate carriage.
The carriage was well made and really just needed a good coat of paint and some polishing as it showed signs of neglect and years of unuse. The Duke”s insignia had been removed which looked rough where it was sanded off. Evito opening the door motioned me inside.
Closing the door and making a grand show of the door lock before lifting up a metal reinforced window shade. Once the window shades on one side were up and locked into place, Evito then lowering another set above the windows that were louvered that allowed light inside the carriage but had a cheese cloth type of covering matching the deep maroon color of the inside of the carriage so no one could peer outside easily.
“The window shields should be used when under attack. You can open the upper view slots for light and can peer out without showing yourself. As you can see, there is even these three here where you can give orders to the driver. The back two you can give orders to the servants on the tiger perch. If you lift up the seat here in the back, you have storage space as you can see your property there. Here in the front is slightly different. You will notice when you lift up the seat, it looks the same as the back. However, if you reach here,this opens up and you can store high valuables. I would recommend storing your riding gear and overcoats in the front storage. Your Lordship should get a strongbox from the tradesman's guild and put about three silver, four sceats, twenty five koper and a few pelano and some mites in it. Store that strong box in the storage area of the back bench. All bandits and raiders know a noble has money. If you are caught and forced to submit, you can hand over this chest and not lose a fortune.” Evito explained the intricacies of the carriage Duke Boasag gifted me.
“I see. Very good advise. Thank you, Evito.” I said with gratitude.
Closing the upper louvers and then opening the windows, Evito then flipped a switch and lowered the glass window next to the back bench.
"All the windows have this lever as you can see. Slide the lever like this and you can lower the window for more air. Should you wish to close the window, just lift the window up and slide the lever back to keep window in place. You will notice two sword hangers set on each side of the carriage and a shield holder up there. I would recommend you get swords for them and not hang your personal one. Up in the front corner there is your personal water cask and silver cup. It it is strapped to the front right corner of the carriage where only the spigot shows inside. I have seen that it is already filled. Lastly, if you lift these two panels and flip the leg here, it becomes a travel bed. That is all I have to to show and have fulfilled my duty.” Evito stated with a salute and a bowing nod then opened the carriage door where he returned to the keep.
I stepped out and called to my soldiers, Razor and Meowth. I spoke to Lars asking him to place the guard around our party and to make a plan for when we would have two more carriages and two more carts by the time we left Trikath. I then spoke to Razor and Meowth asking them to take up position in the tiger stand of the front two carriages. I then asked Razor to inform the wolf kin brothers to take the tiger position on the third carriage as they would be responsible for guarding that carriage while traveling on the road. Lastly, Pamba was being spoiled by Rina and would be riding with her for the time being.
With everyone saddled and settled, I called out to Lars to head directly to Trikath's tradesman's guild as I entered the carriage. I immediately lowered two of the windows, the side louvers and one back louver as it was a warm day. About twenty minutes later, we entered through the gates of Trikath that looked like any typical medieval city in Europe back on earth. The only difference was that the city streets were much cleaner with a well drained baked brick road.
The tradesman's merchant's guild was similar to Id but larger. Once there, I was met by a thirty something man with black hair and blue eyes.
“Welcome to the Green Trading Company and tradesman's guild. Master Porgisl owner and Guild Master. I am Fronz the manager of this branch. You must be Count Wyatt. I have been informed by Evito to procure items and will help with any other transactions.” Fronz introduced himself with a formal bow and salute.
“Nice to meet you Fronz. I would like to get two more fully fitted out carts without florses. I also will be needing things from the storefront.” I requested with a slight nod.
"As you wish" Fronz stated as he led the way to the storefront.
In the merchant's building storefront, I had Tiana and Rana get the things they would need to do their work. I also had my head cook Big Jake an imposing man come with me. It seemed that size mattered with cooks as a sign their food was good. Anyway, I had Big Jake select cook and service ware for travel and six water casks which he was to fill and install on the carts and the two new carriages. I had Gus and Lorna select some personal grooming items along with towels, linens and mattresses for the Order of Knights that would fit in a cart. I also had them get any other basic items for the road trip that they could think of.
I picked up a very high quality strongbox that was longer but not wider or deeper with four keys. While there, I also picked up a couple of blank keys. Seeing some really nice looking padlocks which were definitely more advanced than what was expected, I bought the entire lot of ten which came with four keys each. Finally, I got several large soft marking chalk blocks with a slate board that was about a foot square.
Finished with shopping, I asked Fronz my wish to hire two stable hands, three drivers and a blacksmith since I did not see those trades previously when I was hiring servants. A little over a half an hour later, I hired two teenage boys and a very well muscled late twenties man named Luke Smith with blonde hair and green eyes. Luke's occupation oddly enough matched the meaning of his surname. The stable boys were both brown haired and brown eyed and around fifteen years old. The first was Brad and the other was Tim. Both were orphans and had no surname. All three were to care for and look after all the florses which I had a total of forty one now. Luke loaded up his anvil, toolbox and bellows in the back of the last cart the baggage one for our party. Both Brad and Tim would be riding a florse making sure the strings of florses were alright and deal with any issues that might arise on that front. The drivers were Matt a twenty four year old young man with brown hair and eyes. Doug a twenty five year old with lite brown hair and green eyes and Jace a twenty eight year old with red hair and green eyes. They were trained to drive carriages and carts for the merchants and guild and now would be driving the carriages with my footmen learning on the fly with the two new carts.
Back at the dock about an hour and half later since I arrived, Fronz approached me as he was writing on a type of clipboard that had a small inkwell attached to it.
“Lord Wyatt, your total bill will be twenty one eight six dinari.” Fronz stated as he read from his invoice.
“Very good.” I replied and took out three silver coins and handed them to Fronz.“Here is eight erytho and fourteen koper.” Fronz stated as he gave my change from his strongbox.
“Great and thank you Fronz.” I replied with a smile and pocketed the change as I was wearing my bluejeans.
“It is a pleasure to be at your assistance Lord Wyatt. We welcome your business anytime.”Fronz stated with a salute and a deep bow.
I then sorted our party again as I had the new carts fitted with mattresses for the Order of Knights. Old Maude would ride in the cart with Reagan and Guntar with apprentice doctors with Sir Jas and Cleef. I had my extra florses put onto four strings where two strings would be tied to the baggage carts. The girls were split up equally between the two new carriages with Lorna assigned with Freya, Illya and Rina in their carriage and Wynna, one of my chambermaids, in the other. The rest of my servants would split up to ride in carts except the cart with my earth items. Big Jake would drive my cart that had food rations that Evito provided and Luke would drive the baggage cart.
Retrieving my tool box, the power station, two swords and my shield which was transferred to my carriage. I also placed a padlock on the five crates that belong to myself that stored all the earth items. I ordered Big Jake to tie my crates down with rope so they would not shift while traveling.
Once everyone was sorted, I called everyone to load up with a grand gesture. However, I insisted Gus riding on the drivers bench with Jace rather than with me as would be normal for the first leg of the journey. I just did not want him to see and ask questions or what I planned to work on.
With a wave of my hand out the carriage door to Lars, our party began traveling out of Trikath and heading straight south on the King's Highway. While we were traveling, I transferred the strongbox contents to the new one as the old strongbox was almost over flowing as I had placed the contents of Shu's box into mine leaving that box with documents for the guild to deal with. Putting my new strongbox along with the power station in the the cubby hide just like my cart had but better crafted as the cubby was a false floor type rather than a blocked off section. I then began working on making a key for the first strongbox with a couple of files from earth. I cut a chalk block into thick pencils which I shaved for dust and used the slate board to help identify the key slot locations and depth.
“I am the man!” I cheered as I turned the key in the lock and it clicked after an hour and a half of work.
Placing in the strongbox five erythro, five sceates and four koper where I locked it up. It was unfortunate that I had no mites but I would resolve that later. I then secured the strongbox under the back bench and the toolbox in the cubby under the front bench. With a satisfied sigh, I drew the curtains of the carriage and laid down as I was still quiet tired from not enough sleep since I arrived in Sionia. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to peacefully nap.
A knock on the door wakened me where I raised up and pulled the curtain back.
“Lord Wyatt we have arrived at a good place to camp for the evening meal.” Announced Lars with Gus standing next to him.
“Very good.” I stated as Gus opened the door to let me out.
“Lord Wyatt, Lady Freya Thor requests to dine with your this evening.” Gus stated with a salute and bow.“ I see. Very well. Please inform the lady of acceptance.” I stated as Rana and Tiana came up.
“Would you like to wash up?” Asked Tiana with a flick of her left ear.
“Yes,that would be nice Tiana.” I answered with a nod.
“Would you like to change into something more comfortable, Lord Wyatt?” Asked Rana as she was seeking to be of service.
“Yes, I would like that. The dark green outfit would do nicely" I answered.
“Lord Wyatt, what kind of meal would you like this evening?” Asked Big Jake with expectancy.
I sighed and shook my head.
“Listen Big Jake, just be responsible with the rations we have. We are expected to be on the road for fifteen days. Just make sure that you do not cause us to run out of food. If we need to buy more or something else, then we will. If you need meat, ask Lars over there to have one of his men go hunting. Just show me what you can do with the rations we have. OK?” I explained as I was not expecting to have to directly deal with this kind of minute detail.
“Yes, Lord Wyatt. I so sorry to upset you!” Big Jake said with his lower lip quivering as he bowed deep.
“I am not upset. You are a very good cook. I would call you a grand chef given your qualifications. As to food questions, I do not know what rations we have. So, making any demand now is not something I should do. In time, you will learn what I like and do not like. But for now, just make the meals as good as you can but do not waste the rations as we have a long journey.” I explained hoping not to cause the gentle giant of a man to cry.
“Thank you, Lord Wyatt. No one has ever allow me to just make anything without direction. I promise to make you an amazing meal.” Big Jake said with pride.
“Very good. Will be looking forward to it. Oh, Lady Freya will be joining me and perhaps Ladies Illya and Rina too. Keep that in mind if the rations provided are to be divided. I would prefer that everyone eats the same general meal. Though, you can vary it for my guests and myself.” I continued to explain my preferences.
“Yes, Lord Wyatt. I will get to work right away.” Big Jake replied and scurried off toward where the cooking fires were lit.
Lukas and Stephan set up a walled curtain enclosure bought by Gus to allow bathing and dressing while on the road that sat between the first two carriages. This was done so the girls group could wash up in privacy. While Freya was washing up, I decided to check on Sir Jas and the knights and see to my own constitutional.
“How are you doing Sir Jas, Cleef, Gunthar and Reagan.” I stated as I walked up to where they were lying before a fire.
“Actually not too bad. We thank you for the mattresses. It was a godsend for us. We rode very comfortably.” Sir Jas stated with a smile and a salute from his lying position.
“Yeah, it is more than what we would have gotten from the Order.” Reagan stated with sour look and a salute.
“He is not wrong. We thank you.” Stated Guntar with a nod and Salute from where he was sitting.
Cleef just made a grunting yes nodding of his head, mouth and cheeks were still swollen and speaking was excruciatingly painful.
“I am glad. Let me know if you need anything.” I stated as I rose from my squatting position near Sir Jas.
“Wait, Lord Wyatt.” Pleaded Sir Jas as I was about to leave.“Yes, what is it?” I replied with curiosity.
“We have all been talking and how we are now traveling confirms our decision. We would like to join your House as Knights. We will have to ask his Grace Duke Avondale who is Lord Marshal for transfer. General Bondi who is over all of the Knight Orders is away in the east reinforcing and insuring the defenses at Caladan, Norrbotten and Red Keep with the third, forth and fifth Order of Knights.” Sir Jas requested with a salute and nod which all the others did as well.
“I am touched. However, you know I do not have any lands or manor. I cannot in good conscious accept.” I replied with a shake of my head and sad look.
“Should you be awarded with a manor or lands would you accept?” Asked Sir Jas hopefully.
“If and I do mean “IF” and I have enough room and can support you properly, then yes, I will accept your vows of fealty.” I promised with a smile.
“We look forward to serving you for we are certain you will be amply rewarded.” Stated Sir Jas with another nod and salute.
After meeting with the Knights, I talked with Old Maude who was resting as the apprentices from doctor Zalzworth were doing most of the work. I allowed her to see to my wounds and apply the elven salve. Next, I sought out the guards to insure the posting of the watch so that everyone had a break and ample time to eat. After this, I met with the wolf kin brothers Conan and Connor. The only way to tell them apart was their eye color. Conan had gray eyes and Connor had olive eyes. I asked them to take the watch equally over the females to ensure no one bothers them. With Razor and Meowth, they said they would stretch their legs then head back to get food and rest up a bit which I agreed with.
Back at my carriage, I was met by Tiana who had set up a bronze bowl next to my carriage and proceeded to remove my shirt and wash my upper body with heavily scented water and soap. When finished, Tiana applied a similarly scented oil with extra attention to my underarms. Rana brought me the green outfit with excitement. Gus and Tiana helped me donned the outfit and Rana quickly went to wash my shirt for it to be ready in the morning. Gus combed my hair and placed the beret hat on my head. I then belted on my sword and gun belt and headed to a table set aside for me to eat the evening meal.
Just as Freya and the girls were finishing up and streaming out of the enclosure, Meowth came jogging up.
“Meow Lord Wyatt, do not be alarmed but there is three people watching our group. Razor Tom is keeping close watch on them. They are made up of a tom kitten, an old tomcat and a meowther. They are in the trees before the fluff fields.” Meowth said as she nodded toward the forest belt and the cotton fields beyond.
“Good to know. Where is Razor?” I asked as I stood up and was waving at Lars to get his attention.
“Razor Tom is over there up in the big meowoak tree, meow Lord Wyatt” Meowth said with a flick of her right ear and stiff tail that actually was pointing in the direction of Razor.
“Well done. Keep watch on the women and restrict them to near the carriages until we sort these guests out. Let Lady Freya know so she can keep the rest calm.” I ordered with a slight nod of my head.
“Purrrfect, meow Lord Wyatt.” Meowth replied as she jogged off to speak with Freya.
“How can I be of service, Lord Wyatt?” Lars asked as he approached followed by a short bow, salute and chest bump.
“My body guards Razor and Meowth spotted three people watching our group. Razor is up in the big oak tree behind me keeping close watch on them.” I stated and paused because of the horrified shocked look on Lars' face.
Lars took a knee with a deep bow of his head said, “I apologize for my failure along with the men under my command. Our first day to be so tainted! I beg for your forgiveness.” Lars said as he groveled before me.
“There is no harm done this time. See that you post your men better and have them do a proper scouting of the area in the future. Last thing I want is to have to go into battle from a surprise attack that was preventable.” I admonished with a stern look and a pointing finger.
“Yes, Lord Wyatt. We your house guards will show you our true worth from this day forward!” Lars promised with a double fist bump to the chest and a salute.
“Good enough. Now, have six men flank them and find out who they are. If they are locals, ask them to return home. If they are not, bring them to me but do not harm them unless they become violent.” I replied with my orders.
“At your command, Lord Wyatt.” Lars said with fist chest bump with salute and immediate ran to where five of his men were relaxing before a fire.
Lars with the five men split up into two groups of three. They then made a very wide circle to get behind the trio watching our party.
Big Jake at this point brought some warmed up bread and a type of green herb dip along with sliced apples and some lamb slices mixed with onion, garlic, two types of squash and a variety of herbs.
“Lady Freya, I am glad you are here. Lady Illya and Lady Rina you too are most welcome.” I stated with a formal bow and sweeping arm as the ladies approached.
“Thank you, Ryan for this little pleasure.” Freya said with a nice smile.
“Yes, we thank you too.” Said Illya quickly also speaking for Rina.
We then seated ourselves and began to eat the bread with the herb dip that was incredibly delicious as Lorna and Gus were pouring a nice sweet vinqua made from berries. The herb dip was amazing as it appeared to be a butter, garlic and herb mixture. However, it also had the undeniable taste of olive oil too.
Just as Tiana was plating out the main dish for our group, Lars approached with the trio. The first was a middle aged man of lite brown hair that was beginning to gray. The second was a late forties to fifties woman with heavily graying hair. The last was a boy of about six to seven years old with brownish red hair and bright green eyes.
“These are the ones watching our camp, Lord Wyatt.” Said Lars with a double fist chest bump and a salute.
“Very good. Well done.” I replied with a nod and a return double chest fist bump salute.
The trio looked very scared especially the boy who was beginning to tear up to cry.
“I am Count Ryan Wyatt. Who are you and why were you spying on our party?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I am Robert Duffy. I was chamberlain and steward to Count Charles Appleton who was assassinated by rogues. This is Hazel Radcliff Housekeeper for Avalon fortress. The little Lord here is Charlie Appleton the rightful heir to the title of Count of the Avalon Western Region and the fortress of Avalon. We humbly ask for your protection." Stated Robert with the begging request.
“I see. Well now. Who is specifically after the young lad?” I asked for this intrigue was something I did not want.
“I suspect the House of Skafhoggr but not the Viscount himself. He is, well, not a person who can strategize. It is more than likely his wife Lady Ludmilla or his mother in law Dowager Baroness Grogda Wode. Their home was Fossberg a small mountain village east of Red Keep that was destroyed by the Empire. They were staying with Viscount Skafhoggr at his manor in Dorn before they came to Fortress Avalon. Viscount Skafhoggr married Lady Ludmilla after only one month introduction. Almost two months after they arrived at Fortress Avalon, my Lord Avondale fell ill after drinking vinqua and died within a half span. Only poison kills a healthy and strong man as my lord was in such a short span. Two days after my lord's death, Lady Beatrice Appleton also fell ill and died within a span. A week later, the young master was attacked and his bodyguard fought to the death to protect him. Hazel grabbed our young lord and fled into city. I received word and joined them. We were attacked again by a mercenary known to do assassinations. I was able to wound him but not before the young lord was stabbed. We fled the city and have been on the run these past three months. It was only a week ago we learned that Viscount Skafhoggr was awarded the title to Fortress Avalon. Please, I beg of you! Help and protect us!” Robert explained with his pleading request.
“ I see.” I said as I sat quiet for a moment to consider what I should do.
“That is clawful!” Said Meowth with her tail straight and hair raised in an angry display.
Pamba jumped out of Rina's lap and climbed onto my shoulder where she whined and rubbed her check against mine. Looking over at Freya, who had the look of fury in her eyes, made my blood run cold. I suspected Freya wanted to kill whoever would harm a child. I also had the urge to do extreme violence against these villains.
“Very well. I Count Ryan Wyatt grant you protection. However, know what you see here is all the retainers I have. I have no home or lands because of the Empire. I am now on my way to see the King who summoned me to appear as soon as I can get there. I must go to Avalon and present myself to Viscount Skafhoggr to see if I have any new messages from the King.” I stated my travel plans to the trio who had the look of horror.
“We can not return to Avalon. The young lord would be killed on sight.” Protested Robert with Hazel clutching the boy tightly as he began to cry.
“Lord Wyatt. You can not take them to Fortress Avalon. It would almost certainly bring attack and more attempts of assassination. I know you can win a battle against a small force. However, you can not protect against an arrow from an assassin who creeps in the shadows unseen.” Freya stated as she breathed her anger despite a calm voice.
“You are correct. However, I have no intention on taking them to Fortress Avalon. I believe that they should travel through the city in a cart with guards where we will catch up to them within a day. Know, I will not stay in Avalon more than one night as etiquette requires as Viscount Skafhoggr will host me for a night's rest from travel.” I stated the plan and I saw Freya sigh a bit of relief with Pamba making a quiet approving barking noise.
“Tell me Robert, do you know of an adventurer party that is honorable in Avalon that I could hire for this journey? I have the feeling that I will need more fighting men. I do not want to select mercenaries as they are only loyal to who pays the highest coin and I can not compete given my circumstances.” I asked as I looked toward Lars with Razor now standing beside him.
“Yes, Zack Talley's party. He is an A ranked adventurer with seven members mostly C ranked with two B ranked.” Robert stated as he recollected the party I had requested.
“What do you think about hiring them to protect the cart you will be riding in disguised as commoners traveling south to the capital? You three would have to change into clothing of commoners with the story of fleeing from the devastation of the Empire. Maybe say you are going to relatives near or in the capital. Could you do this?” I asked explaining my plan further.
“Yes, that would work. I do not think Zack Talley would recognize me as I have only met him twice. His reputation is very good.” Robert stated with renewed hope and relief.
“Alrighty then. That will be the plan. Will need to send a floxis message. Can we do that in Trino?” I asked Robert.
“Yes, there is a small adventurer guild office there. They will take the request and can have them meet you a few millo outside Avalon's main north bridge barbican. The cost of hiring is expensive of at least an erythro maybe as much as a silver if they have recently completed a difficult job.” Robert explained.
“I see. That is good to know. Now, get you something to eat. Once finished, you and Hazel ride in the third cart. Charlie, you can ride in the carriage with me after Hazel cleans you up.” I stated with a sigh and was thankful for the information Robert provided.
Freya took it upon herself to look after Charlie and made sure he had plenty to eat. Charlie was enthralled with Pamba as he fed her some lamb pieces. After dinner, I had Old Maude check on Charlie's wound that turned out to be a deep cut between his side and under his left arm at the bottom of his armpit. Old Maude cleaned the wound and redid the stitches as they were too loose and was the cause for the wound to not been healing.
About an hour later, our party was back on the road. The travel was quiet and Charlie fell asleep with Pamba curled up next to him. Over three hours later, we arrived long after dark in Trino. We went to the inn called the Resting Unicorn where they had walled enclosures for large parties to camp and be well protected. I forbid all from going into the tavern but allowed the tavern owner to bring a cask of ale of and some mutton stew as some in the party stated they did not eat much at the last stop. Lars impressed with setting the guard as he was making sure nothing else would go wrong. I set up the bed platform where I could stretch out to sleep. Gus slept sitting up with his feet up next to Charlie on the front bench. When I laid down, Pamba came and rubbed my cheek with hers before curling up in the crook of my arm. It was easy to fall asleep as I was mentally and physically tired.

Sorry if this isn't the place for this kinda thing, but I saw something similar to this posted earlier and thought I'd share!
2015-2016: 1997 Acura 2.2CL
Was given this as a hand me down from my parents when I was 16 as my first car. I remember the amazing feeling I had when my dad gave me the keys and said "it's yours, be careful with it." and I really wish I had taken that advice more solemnly. The engine had JUST been rebuilt, strong transmission, AMAZING on gas. It was everything I needed. I kept it smelling and looking good by taking it to the car wash often. I wrecked this beauty in January of 2016 when I pulled out in front of someone; wreck was my fault, I had a stop sign and couldn't see. Ultimate lesson, don't cross if you can't see. Car was totaled beyond recognition, but me and my passenger (gf at the time) were (mostly, i had a couple of scrapes mostly on my face and fingers, passenger totally unharmed) unscathed. I miss that car, I bet it would have lasted so much longer had I not wrecked it.
2018-2020: 2007 Ford Focus SE
Bought this car for myself off craigslist for $1700, and man, what a rip-off. It needed a new power steering pump (I think that's what it was called? power steering just straight up didn't work at all until it was replaced), a new motor mount, and something in the air conditioning system to make it able to blow cold air. probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $800-1000 in addition to the inital 1700. It was good on gas. It got me through most of college, and a few cross country trips even (DCI camps, iykyk) Ultimately, I drove this car into the ground; it had like 180k on it when I got it, probably had like 240ish when it finally died; serpentine belt snapped and I decided that was it. I was CONSTANTLY pumping money into this car. Brakes, transmission, AC/heating, spark plugs, engine started knocking at one point (but stopped?) so I decided I was joining the rest of my family in a Toyota. Traded it in for $500 (yup lol) towards my next car.
2020-2021: 2015 Toyota Corolla S
I MISS this car; first one I got through financing. Easily my favorite car I've had to this point. Was great on gas, looked sporty enough to satisfy that lil itch of mine (had the paddle shifters and everything), and I just love how it looked and felt. The touch screen wasn't calibrated well at all was my biggest issue with it. I finished college in this car, and started pilot training in it. Unfortunately, on the way to a dr appointment, I got hit in the side by a lady on her phone in a parking lot. Body shop took it and I got a loaner for about a month, only for the body shop to tell me that because of where the lady hit my car, they had to total it because it wouldn't be safe. So that was the end of that car and I miss it every day.
2021-present: 2015 Toyota Camry LE
This car may not be as COOL and compact and great on gas as the corolla that came before it, but man does it get the JOB DONE. This car has given me 0 issues aside from normal upkeep (oil changes, wiper blades, tires, etc) Just plain old reliable. Not as amazing on gas, it's a bigger car, but hey, it's a good car. I hope it lasts me a long, long time (which it should, it's only at like 114k rn)

Hello, I've been looking at trucks for awhile now. From the semi recent Ridgelines or Frontiers like 2015-17, but the price range is a bit steep (2017 AWD Ridgeline for $20k or 2016 RWD Frontier Desert Runner for $22k) for what I want it to do with it, ie loading equipment for my side gigs, fishing at the beach, or going camping in nearby Yosemite.There are some 1gen Ridgelines here in NorCal for cheap. I'm talking 2007-08 with 120k to 180k miles on with work done or not I've seen on Carguru, Caredge, and Craigslist for $8-10k. It wouldn't be my daily, but driving up to the mountains and working out of my 17' Lexus es300h is getting tiresome. No room really.
Are these okay deals? I understand that these trucks are hella old and of course would need some repairs or fixing up. Rust is a big issue so I wouldn't want to ship a vehicle to me from the Northeast or up in Washington. I have a mechanic I trust who can inspect and make repairs and maintenance. But I just sat in a grey 08 Ridgeline RTL with a tano cover ($9k 180k miles) today and it was clean and would fit my needs. Didn't get a chance to drive it though. Should I even be considering 1gen? I don't mind the look.
My first vehicle was a hand-me-down 2002 Frontier XE i drove for a few years back in '09 after HS. I ended up selling it on CL and got a 2003 VW Golf. Both vehicles were great to me and in hindsight I wish I didn't sell em. But here we are 2024 and I've been ooking at getting a utility vehicle since the Ford Maverick came out.
What do y'all think? I'm a bit torn between Ridgeline and Frontier. I love the storage and room of the Ridgeline and don't care about it being unibody. And the Frontier is a solid truck too especially the recent refresh looks aggressive AF. Newer ones are def the way to go, but expensive. I wanna stay in the Japanese market, but no Toyota. I don't plan to tow or climb a mountain maybe some light overlanding up in Yosemite or snowboarding in Tahoe.

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Just because you are broke doesn't mean that you can't get some stress relief. Here are some vacay ideas that cost under $500. If you have any more ideas, please comment.

1. Camping Trips Head to a nearby campground and spend a few nights under the stars. Camping is a budget friendly way to enjoy nature and explore new areas. Just pack your tent, sleeping bags, and some camping gear, and you're all set! If you lack the gear, check out Craigslist and buy some on the cheap.
2. Road Trip Plan a road trip to a nearby destination that you've always wanted to visit. You can save money on lodging by camping or staying with friends or family along the way. Pack a cooler with snacks and sandwiches to avoid eating out too much.
3. Staycation Explore your own city or town like a tourist! Visit local attractions, museums, parks, and restaurants that you haven't tried before. You might be surprised at how much there is to see and do right in your own backyard. Just try to think like a tourist.
4. Beach Getaway Look for budget friendly beach destinations where you can find affordable accommodations. Consider renting a beach house or booking a hostel near the coast. Spend your days relaxing on the beach, swimming, and soaking up the sun.
5. Visit National Parks Many national parks offer affordable entrance fees and camping options. Pick a park that's within driving distance and spend a few days exploring the natural beauty and outdoor activities it has to offer.
6. Volunteer Vacation Look for volunteer vacation opportunities where you can give back to the community while also enjoying a change of scenery. Some organizations offer affordable volunteer programs that include meals and accommodations.
7. Explore Small Towns Take a weekend trip to explore small towns and rural areas near you. You can visit local markets, shops, and attractions, and experience the charm of small-town life without breaking the bank.

Hi y’all… I’m looking to buy a car later this year and want to look into my options. I want something cheap (sub 7,000 with minimal repairs ideally), small, and ideally a hatchback. For context I live in the middle of the Central Valley in California.
The recs I’ve seen from browsing reddit are a Toyota Yaris, a Prius (but not a 2010?), and a Honda Fit. My husband drives a 2023 Subaru Impreza Hatchback and I enjoy it… but maybe something even smaller? My friend drives a Chevy Spark and it’s pretty cramped but.. I like the size and honestly I think it’s cute.
I’m new to driving, and I want something small since I have bad spatial perception. I also am hoping to get a job that involves a fair amount of driving around rural areas, but I also want to be able to navigate downtown. I don’t need the car to be comfortable or nice… I think as a new driver I should go through a shitty cheap car rite of passage and I’m fine with that. My one amenities related request is I want a working AC because it gets really hot here.
One thing that appeals to me about the Fit is the storage space. I like to go camping and I camp pretty light but having wiggle room is always fun. Not a must, though.
I like the idea of the Yaris, but I’m not seeing any sold anywhere near my area on Craigslist. I don’t know anything about cars. I don’t want tricky or stressful repairs that I have to know a lot about to navigate. I want a manual. I would like good gas mileage (who doesn't) but I think most important to me is that the car lasts a really long time and is easy to care for. All the cars I’m seeing around me in my budget are 100k plus miles. Are any of these cars reliable enough that buying one at this mileage is a relatively safe bet? What do you guys think? Looking at this list, basically I want everything.. am I asking for too much? Lol. Thanks in advance! I appreciate all the advice y’all give :)
P.S. Are used car dealers a good idea? Is it ever worth it to get a salvage title?

PLEASE READ THROUGH THIS WHOLE POST BEFORE COMMENTING

* * * PRICE IS REQUIRED ON ALL SALE POSTS * * *

The official thread is here! If you have tickets, shuttle passes, camping passes, etc. that you are looking to exchange or sell for FACE VALUE, do it here. Please read the following rules before posting:
RULES/THINGS TO KNOW

• DO NOT SELL TICKETS OVER FACE VALUE* – This is against 's rules, convictions, philosophy, morals. We're about the music... man. See Craigslist or StubHub if you're trying to make some cash. You will be immediately banned if caught selling above face. Please report any posts that are above face value and MESSAGE THE MODS!! We don't get report notifications on mobile, but we get messages. Also, no one monitors very often, so message us via the link above. *Note: This is FV from the Coachella website (see link above) NOT necessarily what you paid. If you bought on StubHub/another 3rd party site, are international, etc. this may be less than you paid.
• DON'T POST YOUR PERSONAL INFO - Please don't add your phone number or email in this thread, if you end up getting a buyeseller send all that info through DM's. This is only to protect you and is a site-wide rule!
• REMOVE YOUR POST OR MARK IT AS SOLD WHEN YOU'VE SOLD OR TRADED.
• BUYER SAFETY - Report anything that seems fishy/scammy. We’ll update this with some tips on safety! And please read Protect yourself. We'll keep a running list below of all known/potential scammers. Message us with anyone you think should be added.
• If you're selling tickets consider tagging your screenshots so no one else can use them.
• All wristbands, camping passes, shuttle passes, parking passes, etc. are physical wristbands or cards. If someone is asking for your email address to "transfer" them to you they are not legit. The only things that can be sent via email are lockers, I believe.
• WAITLIST AND EXCHANGE - Consider putting yourself on the Official Waitlist. Just make sure you take yourself off if you find tickets elsewhere as it will automatically charge you once it finds tickets for you.
• You can also sell tickets or swap weekends via the waitlist above.

Any posts about 2025 ticket/pass sales or exchanges outside this thread will be removed.
Notifications for this post will be turned off. So if you need to message the mods use the link above or tag one of us!

I’ve been in my sedan since may 22. For the first few months I did many configurations of trying to sleep half way in the back/ half Way in the truck, but being a side sleeper, it was pretty difficult to get any good sleep as well and becoming incredibly sore and unrested the next day. Having previously van dwelled in a sienna, I know vehicle dwelling can be very doable.
So I found a big foam pad for free on Craigslist. It was very hard but much better than the thin camping blow up pads I was using. I finally resolved to throw out all the seats and commit the car fully to sedan life. So I cut that foam pad to be thin enough to fit half way in the front passengers side and half way in the back. A real thin bed. I later came upon a decent memory foam pad to put on top and once I finally decided to make a wooden frame panel underneath in spring of 23’ I was really starting to make my bed work.
Fast forward to two months ago, I threw my bed out because it had become pretty gnarly. In feb and march I actually lived in air bnbs. Thought I might do myself a favor and toss the old thing out.
Well, I noticed there were these foam camper mattress pads in Fred Myer and about 1.4 months ago I went back to full time sedan dweller. So I bought a few of these pads to replace the old bed. But it hasn’t been great. My sleep has definitely been affected. It’s just not as good as my old bed. About a week ago I bought an $80 mattress topper from target thinking I just needed to recreate my old too firm bed combo, but it’s just way too soft. And it messes up my shoulders and my back and neck.
Does anybody have any experience with finding the right type of bed for vehicles/sedans? Is there a good bed I can buy at a physical store that I can shape to fit?
I’m waking up more and more wrecked. Yesterday I really tried to make it more firm in the right places, shove pillows underneath to make it balanced ect. Today I woke up better than the last 7 days but definitely still not as restful as I feel like I should be.

I'm looking for something up to 6,000$ that'll be reliable up to at least like 200,000 miles. I would love if the seats could fold down so that I could have space to sleep if I'm camping or traveling but also something that's not huge (like SUV size or equivalent). Just not sure what types of cars to plug into facebook marketplace and craigslist etc... Thanks for any suggestions !

I'm 6'1", 195 pounds. Was going to try and get back into bicycle camping. I'm in my 50's with arthritic damage. I'm the past, I'd use a tent, thermorest backpacker cot and pad. All very comfortable, but was hoping to be able keep the comfort but pack less. Heard good things about hammock camping (lighter weight, smaller packing space, excellent comfort) Was thinking of switching to a hammock set-up, maybe buy used off Craigslist or eBay.
Oh, I'm also in the Pacific Northwest, lots of rain with temps in 40's at night in the spring and fall. Summers are dry with temps from 50's to 70's.
Any recommendations for hammock setups that would fit me?

(If this isn’t allowed, mods can remove it! )
I see a lot of posts about people wanting to start a shared homestead or like find a community with shared land, however you want to phrase it. This was my experience.
In December my partner & I answered an ad in Northern California, to come live on 25 acres. Complete with solar, a green house, chicken coup being built, shared yurt & bath house. This seemed absolutely idyllic for us, we have been on the road for 2 years- kinda searching for a place to call home. We went through a very long, personal & thorough questionnaire, before moving onto a FaceTime “interview.” We seemed to all be on the same page, the owner of the land and buildings was an older lady that seemed to be relishing this new chapter, she is 4 years on in this adventure. Rents out spaces on hip camp, etc. We were encouraged to get out there as soon as possible and settled on the beginning of February. Her land mate, who she said was a permaculture engineer, very friendly, communal living expert was due to return back from overseas in March.
Immediately upon arriving we were directed to a different site, not the one advertised. The one advertised & pictureed was a flat RV site with a deck, fire pit, chairs, it’s own pickle barrel pooper, and a spot to hook up power and water. Near enough to the communal bath house. We ended up spending the first 3 weeks on the bottom edge of the property, on the most miserably severe angle, with no power. We tried to make the best of it. But it was odd and off putting. When we finally did move up top to the space we came for, we were immediately displaced for a week. She “forgot” to take it off hipcamp and didn’t want the bad review of cancelling them. Granted we had paid rent, for the month for that site. It wasn’t a discussion, we were just informed under the guise of it being for the greater good of the homestead. We also were told we’d have 30amp power, which was false. We were told we wouldn’t be able to run our RV AC, and that summer might be unbearable. And that we should be using our own solar, even though the sites shade sails blocked 75% of our panels. We were not allowed to adjust them.
We came very ready to jump into tasks, be it weeding the beds, starting seeds, assembling the chicken coup, trouble shooting the solar. Whatever. Instead we were put on hold till about mid March. When the infamous land mate returned and finally deigned to meet us. Surprisingly we found out later it was actually his idea, to bring in more people. In the end I think it was just a money grab. He was one of the most uncommunicative, terse people I’ve ever tried to work with.
We brought seeds and trays to start them and were informed he orders everything and decides everything, we weren’t allowed to do ours as they weren’t his preferred brand. Any project was some thing he had started the previous year and not completed, or rushed and threw together to “satisfy” the land owners needs. But the solar panels were not all wired properly, and were not supplying the power they could and should. He micro managed everything, in the garden as if we were toddlers.
There were also a lot of passive aggressive moves like if we said we were going to go get woodchips in the morning, or do a dump run, he’d disappear with the farm truck for most of the day and not respond to texts.
The yurt was supposed to be communal area, but he set up a desk, computer, a number of large and small stringed instruments and the last weekend we were there moved a baby grand piano in.
To say we learned a lot, but not in the way we anticipated is an understatement. Like I learned I don’t want to pee outside like an animal and poop in a hamster bucket as a long term solution. We learned we do want mail delivery and trash service! I think we also had to call time of death on communal living for us, I am very eager to learn but a fabulous green thumb and animal tender on my own. We also hoped it would sort of be a learning experience for them as well… it was not. The exact same ad is back up on Craigslist.
So I guess, I want to warn others. Let me be your cautionary tale, because I truly hope no other poor SOB answers that ad.

Please feel free to make additions.
Resources Garage sale Craigslist GoodWill Shop Consignment shop Military Surplus store Walmart Amazon / Ebay
Cutting Paring knife free Mora $15 Axe $10 Pruning Saw $15 - $50 Homemade bow saw Fork/ Spoon
Cordage Jute twine $2 Bankline $5 Paracord $1/10 ft.
Cover Black trash bag / drum liner Budget Blue tarp 7×9 $5 Amazon camping tarp $30 - $100 Used wool blanket $15 Groundcover -Tyvec, old shower curtain - free Poncho $1 - $100
Combustion Bic lighter $2 Ferro rod $5 Candle Wax soaked cotton pads Butane stove $12 Butane (sm.) $6
Container Walmart stainless cup $5 Old frypan Backpack / Rucksack $25 ebay Walmart mess kit $15
EXTRAS Headlamp energizer $5 Knife sharpner $5 Foam sleeping pad. Rolled or folding $15 HydroBlue Water filter $20, Iodine $3 Multitool $20
STUFF YOU CAN MAKE Backpack Kuska (cup) Fork, spoon, spatula Bowl, plate Waxed cotton pads Hobo stove from tin can Bow saw Mallet

I am looking to buy my first SUV (and first car not bought off of craigslist) and I am at a complete loss. I've been looking for almost two months and I still have not come to a decision.
Needs:
-Small SUV/Wagon/Crossover (We have a small garage and do a lot of city driving, so something bigger isn't feasible right now)
- Some towing capacity (small flatbed trailer to move the motorcycle, or furniture occasionally)
- Decent room in the back seat
- Safe and reliable. I usually drive my cars to 200k miles or more.
- Good in the snow
- Under $35k and under 50k miles
- This will be a daily driver about 80% of the time and will occasionally be used to go camping / kayaking / hauling things in the trunk
What I've driven so far:
Volvo XC40: Before I started test driving, I was convinced that this would be my next car, but it just didn't seem to live up to my expectations. PROS: I've only owned Volvos, so I am used to the maintenance. It is a super fun and responsive dive. High towing capacity for what I need (3500lbs). Luxury. These cars are tanks and I know that they are safe and good in the snow. CONS: Not a fan of the infotainment system and it felt like there was a lot of blind spots. Less cargo space than other options.
Toyota RAV4: I was able to get this as my rental after my car was totaled, so I had a week long test drive. PROS: Toyota has the safety, reliability, and longevity that I am looking for. Still has buttons! (I hate when it is all one giant screen). Decent cargo space. CONS: Again, the blind spots. Finding the availability around me is difficult. Just something about it that I didn't love.
Subaru Forester: So far I think this is my top contender, but I still don't love everything about it. PROS: The AWD system is top notch ( I live in NH, so bad winters are to be expected). The visibility is unmatched. I don't feel like there is a single blind spot in this thing. The cargo space is great and the doors open to 90 degrees (something I have never had in a Volvo). It is a comfortable ride and the touring trim has all the features I want. Mix of screen and buttons. CONS: It feels underpowered and the towing capacity is a tad low if you don't go for the wilderness model.
Subaru Outback: Specifically the 2019 3.6r version because it still has the 6 cylinder and is the last year before they put in the giant screen in all of the outbacks. PROS: Safety and visibility is the same as the forester, it has the power I am looking for and has a 2700lb towing capacity. The interior was really nice and it was a comfortable ride. Most cargo space of any of the options. AWD system. CONS: Its the largest option I am looking at, so It doesn't have the same maneuverability as the others. Older year and hard to find with low miles. Gas mileage isn't great.
Mazda CX-5: I was pleasantly surprised by this car, but I don't know much about them long term. PROS: Did feel more like a luxury car for not being one. Pretty affordable for the features that you get, especially in the higher trims. Really smooth and quite ride and it felt responsive. Really wide view back up camera. CONS: Less cargo space. Towing capacity is neutral for me. Without the backup camera, rear window visibility is pretty bad.
BMW x3: I loved the look of this car, the power, and the towing capacity. I will admit that it was really fun to drive, but I took it off my list because of the reliability, and for a luxury car, I did not find it that comfortable, and the automatic seatbelt tightening bugged the shit out of me.
The dream car would be if I was able to combine the XC40 with the Forester. Does anyone ever find a car that they love everything about? Or do I just accept that I have to compromise in some areas?
Any insight or recommendations for what other cars I should look at is very appreciated!

This past winter we rented a 32ft Class C for a week and camped at various sites around southern NV, CA and AZ. Some sites had hookups and others had none. We put on about 700 miles during our trip. Our whole family absolutely loved the experience!
We have 4 children, ages 10, 8, 4 & 3. My wife and I can both work remotely most of the time. We typically rent a cabin a couple times every summer, go tent camping, and spend lots of days at State Parks. We'd be using the RV for a lot of 3-4 day weekends and maybe a couple of week long trips every year. We live in MN, so most areas around us are pretty flat but cold weather is a definite factor.
I think an RV makes a ton of sense for us. I'm just not totally sure what we want. We don't have a big truck to tow a trailer. We have a Ford Flex and a couple of smaller cars. A Suburban or Expedition is +$30k plus cost of a trailer and that's just not in the budget right now.
Our budget is $25,000. We don't want to be cramped so I think we want 30ft or longer with slide outs. We need sleeping and seatbelts for a minimum of 6 people. Class C's seem to have an advantage in sleeping spaces with the front overhead bunk. Class A's seem to have more storage.
I've been watching Craigslist and RV Trader for about a month now and there are always a dozen-ish listings within our budget that look to meet our needs. They're usually years 2000-2008, and most are class A.
We can park it at home and have enough space. I'm used to driving big vehicles and towing (used to drive semi), so the size or style (A or C) isn't a concern in that regard.
What should I be looking closely at? What are some mistakes others have made that I can learn from? I know our budget is a limiting factor. Depending on how much we actually use our first RV and what our experience is like, we would likely replace it in a couple years with a newer one.
Thanks in advance

I LOVE HOW NICE BEND PARKS AND RECS AND THE CITY MAKE OUR PUBLIC SPACES LOOK, ALWAYS SO BEAUTIFULLY MAINTAINED. MY WIFE IS OUT OF TOWN FOR TWO WEEKS SO I CAN LOAD THE DISHWASHER HOWEVER I WANTED WITHOUT HAVING TO WATCH SOMEONE I WON’T NAME TAKE THEM ALL OUT AND REORGANIZE IT. BOARDING AND BIKING WITH MY NEIGHBORHOOD PEEPS IS SO MUCH FUN, SIMILAR ENOUGH IN SKILL LEVEL WE CAN PUSH EACH OTHER AND NO WAITING FOR SLOW PEOPLE (UNLESS IT’S A LONG CLIMB, THEN EVERYONE HAS TO WAIT FOR ME). I TREATED MYSELF TO A CAMERA UPGRADE FOR MY BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR AND IT’S ENABLED ME TO GET SOME REALLY NICE SHOTS I COULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN BEFORE. SOME RANDOM LADY ON THE DRT OFFERED TO CARRY MY DOG’S POOP BAG TO THE GARBAGE CAN SHE WAS HEADED TOWARDS AND I WAS HEADED AWAY FROM. I HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE WITH A LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER, BUT THEY FELT SO BAD ABOUT IT THEY ACTUALLY CALLED ME AT HOME TO SINCERELY APOLOGIZE WHICH ALMOST MADE ME CRY. MY DOG HASN’T EATEN ANYTHING THAT WOULD REQUIRE WAKING UP AT MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT TO LET HIM OUT IN ALMOST 3 WEEKS HOURS. I LOVE THAT ALE APOTHECARY IS HOSTING MORE BANDS AND MUSIC NIGHTS, SUCH A GREAT PLACE FOR IT. I MANAGED TO SLIP THE WORD GOUT INTO 4 DIFFERENT POSTS IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS WITHOUT GETTING SCOLDED BY THE MODERATORS HERE. PROJECT XERISCAPE THE YARD IS IN THE FINAL STAGE AND I FOR ONE CANNOT WAIT TO NOT HAVE TO MOW THE YARD ANYMORE. I’M SECRETLY GIGGLING INSIDE KNOWING THAT THE FORMATTING OF THIS POST WILL TRIGGER AT LEAST ONE PERSON. THEY’RE HALFWAY DONE WITH THE NORTH 97 BYPASS, SO GLAD THEY ARE TRUCKING ALONG ON THAT. I GOT TO SEE DUNE 2 IN IMAX (AGAIN) AND I WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE THEATER LAST WEEK. I HAD SO MUCH FUN BACKPACKING AND CAMPING THIS WINTER, PRETTY AMAZING HOW REMOTE FEELING IT CAN BE ONLY 20 MINUTES FROM TOWN. IT RAINED AND WAS GLOOMY THIS WEEKEND SO I GOT A TON OF NEW MUSIC WRITTEN AND RECORDED. THE QUALITY OF EVEN THE CHEAP WEED AT GREEN CROSS IS AMAZING, SUCH A GOOD DEAL. I’VE BEEN HEALTHY AND UNINJURED FOR ALMOST 2 MONTHS NOW, WHICH MIGHT BE A NEW RECORD. SUMMIT LAPS IN THE SUN WITH NO LIFT LINES, NICE. I SOLD ALMOST EVERYTHING I WAS TRYING TO ON CRAIGSLIST AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY SHOWED UP WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD, SHOCKING. IN A WORLD WHERE SERVICE AND GRACIOUSNESS SEEMS TO BE DECLINING, WE HAVE ONE OF THE NICEST STAFFED AND MOST EFFICIENT DMVS ANYWHERE. I LOVE GOOD DOG! I’M TYPING THIS WITH MY LAPTOP UPSIDE DOWN SO MY RIGHT PINKY GETS AS MUCH OF A WORK OUT HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY AS MY LEFT PINKY DID ON FRIDAY’S RANT THREAD. TACOS PIHUAMO GIVES YOU WAY TOO MUCH FOOD FOR WHAT THEY CHARGE, AND I’M NOT COMPLAINING AT ALL ABOUT IT. ABE’S WON BEST PIZZA IN BEND ON YELP, BUT CIBELLI’S WAS ON THE LIST 3 TIMES INCLUDING SECOND PLACE SO CLEARLY YELP IS BROKEN. I WASHED MY CAR LAST WEEK AND GOT IT ALL DETAILED AND PRETTY LOOKING AFTER WINTER AND IT STAYED CLEAN ALMOST TIL THE END OF THE DAY FOR A CHANGE, I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT MADE IT LONGER THAN AN HOUR. THE ALPHA 90 HOODIE I GOT FROM LOCAL CLOTHING COMPANY MAGNET DESIGNS IS AWESOME, SO WARM AND COMFY FOR HIKING IN. I WON A FREE HYDROFLASK AT WINTERFEST AT DESCHUTES BREWERY ON SATURDAY, THANKS TO MY MAD PRO RING TOSS SKILLS.

About 6 months ago I bought my second ever Suburban, a 2004 Z71. I immediately took out the rear bench and middle captains chairs and they’ve been in a storage unit with a few other accessories while I figure out what to do with them. I’m building out the truck to be a full time overlanding/camping rig and just have no use for them. They’re in great condition albeit one hinge is broken on the back cover of the drivers side captain. I cannot imagine throwing these out but I don’t know how much to sell them for to get rid of them quickly (the storage unit is gone in like 2 weeks) or if there’s anywhere particular I should list them like Craigslist or Facebook marketplace or if there’s a community here for listing stuff like that for sale, I’m in Orlando FL btw. Just looking for any helpful advice besides the obvious taking them to the junkyard and paying to get rid of them

I never owned a car until after I got married. My husband was still going to college (I graduated) so we were low on money. We found someone who was selling a 1980 Toyota Tercel, and bought it for pretty cheap which then enabled me to get a job delivering newspapers. (This was Appalachia, there weren't very many jobs if you couldn't get one at the university. Everything else was working at the grocery store or restaurants, etc). This was 2012. It was 10 years older than me and my husband. Luckily it was automatic. It didn't have power steering. Because we just bought a Raffi CD at salvation army in anticipation for future kids, we named that car Willoughby Wallaby Woo. Willoughby for short. It had a partial paint job so looked kind of funny.
Delivering newspapers in a rural area puts a lot of miles on a car so it broke down A LOT. We got pregnant and it was too small in the back for a rear- facing car seat, so sold it and bought a early 90's Honda Accord from someone who cleared properties after someone dies. It was a lot more reliable. It was also a stick shift. Which meant both my husband and I had to learn how to drive it. It was one of the most stressful things we've done in our marriage. Because I like Jane Austen, my brother-in-law thought we named our first car after Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility. He joked that we should name our next car Colonel Brandon. (Willoughby broke one of the main character's heart because he was about to propose then found out he'd be cut off from his fortune so then married a rich woman. Colonel Brandon then eventually marries her.) So we did.
We decided to buy a second car. We found a hybrid Honda civic (I think?) from Craigslist and bought it on Pi Day (March 14) so named it Radian. It leaked a lot of oil and we just dealt with it by topping it off. We probably shouldn't have bought it, it wasn't in very good condition.
Colonel Brandon ended up leaving our lives because when we got an oil change, they didn't cap it or something and it ran out of oil on the highway and overheated too long. We probably should've gotten compensation from the company that changed the oil but didn't know how to deal with it. Radian also left not soon afterwards because we forgot to top off the oil and it also overheated on the highway after camping. My husband was very against the idea of oil changes after this, and Nissan leafs were turning 5 so a bunch of them were pretty cheap for their age, so we got 2.
The first was white, so we named her Eglantine. (Get it, egg?) I was exposed to that name through the movie Bedknobs and Broomstick. We kept her for a long time until her range got very low (below 20 miles) and we needed a minivan.
The second was blue, and we named him Earnest. Still have him. He's named after "The Importance of Being Earnest" as my husband and I watched that the day he proposed to me. For quite some time there weren't companies wanting to change electric car batteries, just hybrids. And Nissan didn't want to change any more so they made it very expensive. A couple years ago we finally found a company that would do it for a reasonable price and are very happy about that.
Our most recent car is a hyundai entourage 2007. We named it eVANgeline. After Evangeline Lilly because we had just watched Ant-man and the Wasp and the whole family was into that movie for awhile. The minivan is fun because it has a 5 CD changer and a cassette player, so my kids have exposure to old tech. Also a DVD player.

I was living on the West Coast and knew I wanted to move back to the east coast. I had a car a Mazda Miata and I had a small storage area full of boxes mostly of painting of papers and other things that I just didn't want to give up because they were a lot of the history of my life including work experience etc. I looked at multiple ways to move these things across the country including shipping getting my car shipped driving my car Etc and what I quickly realized was the cheapest way to do it was to buy a used van in Los Angeles and get a tow bar and tow the Mazda Miata across the country and fill the van with boxes and sleep in the van as I want to cross.
So I scoured Craigslist for Vans and what I noticed is the ones that were really inexpensive went within a day. If you wanted to get a van under $1,000 you had to be able to identify the vehicle ID from the owner call the California department of highway whatever and make sure it was not a stolen van and didn't have a lien on it and go there and look at the van with cash in your hand and be able to identify whether the man had any serious problems and pay in cash immediately because I missed one van because I was going to be there an hour later and somebody else got it.
So I happen to hit one that was good it was a large box van not a high top and I paid $600 cash.
Even though it was my plan to move I didn't do it right away and the funny thing was I was parking the van on the street along with my other car because the apartment didn't have enough room for my girlfriend's cars and mine and hers was the nicer when she got the inside parking space so I parked my van on the street. Well one day I quickly realized that I could fit all the stuff that I was paying for in storage into the van and one afternoon I moved it all into the van and started parking lot on the street again. It's a very quickly the van was paying for itself just as a temporary storage place for my stuff. And none of this stuff was things that if somebody broke into the van they'd want to carry out. So the man started paying for itself as a mini storage unit the whole time I had it while it's parked on the street. And that was probably for 6 months.
Anyway finally the decision was made and I left bought a tow bar at harbor freight and got a special adapter to hook to the Miata which I learned about from me out of club and loaded the van 6,000 lb total weight and drove it across the country towing me out. I slept on top of the boxes in the van and just had a wonderful time going across the country. The van was obviously higher up than the Miata or a normal car at the time although SUVs now equal this. And had a wonderful view and I took my time coming across the country and detoured quite a bit telling me out of behind me sleeping just wherever and sleeping on top of the boxes inside the van and never had a problem. The only thing I did coming across the Rockies was I put high octane gas in and a little octane booster so that the engine had plenty of octane and would knock when I was going over the high altitudes in the Rockies and I didn't have any problem. I didn't race across the country and I just had a great time. And that was an eye-opening experience for a guy who would always have little sports cars and to have basically what I realized suddenly was a small apartment on Wheels was just mind blowing. I mean I had always laughed at the old 1970s Vans and the shag carpet and all that kind of stuff and suddenly it was a revelation to me just how amazing that was. So the man I ended up with was a 1991 with a V8 Dodge ram cargo van and just metal inside and it definitely had its dings and that sort of thing but it ran and it was dependable and the fact that it was somewhat dinged and ugly is one of the reasons I got it so cheap.
Anyway move back to the east coast park the van in the garage for I guess 8 years
One day I got a wild hair to try to start it up I had to change the battery I think I had to maybe squirt some gas or oil into the spark plug holes to loosen it up and it cranked up and worked. I own the house that I had the van parked in and saw the neighborhood was changing in the HOA was getting to be impossible to live with so I sold the house at what I thought was sort of the peak of housing prices about 2 years ago and I don't think I was really off. I did not enjoy owning a house. You have tremendous expenses air conditioning and heating large spaces that you don't need you keep a lot of stuff that you wouldn't otherwise keep you have insurance you have a mortgage payment and in most places you have an HOA which when they go bad they really go bad and I could fill a story with that story. So long and short of it was I decided by to sell the house and I bought a boat. And the boat was inexpensive and I lived on the boat for about 2 years on a lake and I moved all the stuff I wanted to keep into some storage which cost me a few hundred dollars a month but the boat expenses were extremely minimal it was a very low cost Marina and I enjoyed living on the boat for about 2 years and didn't really use the van much. I did drive the Miata for fun.
So after about 2 years I'd spent two years on the water and gone through two seasons and the winner was coming up and I just didn't want to do it again I photographed all the wildlife I had experienced everything that was there and I was ready to venture out more so I fired up the van a few times and I went out and about in the local areas found some parks to park in found some mountains to park in and just loved it and just suddenly quickly realized that I didn't even need the boat.
And you know really my only concern I guess was would I be hassled if I parked the van at night what was that really like for some reason it seemed a little scary. There was no real reason to feel like it was scary but you know you see these stories and you wonder. I'm not a criminal so if the police knock on my door they're not going to you know want to arrest me for some other reason and I don't keep contraband in the van.
So I just started Park in the van and living in the van I say living sleeping in the van is the correct real thing cuz you really live doing what you're going to do during the day. And a planet fitness membership you know changed everything because suddenly you have a shower and I've never seen a planet fitness that will run you off for parking overnight. Probably even less so now since they're probably hurting for some memberships since the whole controversy happened which I won't get into. But it's been wonderful. And since that time I started taking some part time jobs and I was able to park near those jobs and not have to drive back at rush hour to a house or an apartment. Of course I was saving money on mortgages and rent but the big thing that you save money on too is you don't have to pay for a water connection you don't have to pay for an electricity connection you don't have to pay for gas heat connection and all those other utilities that they force you to pay for even if you're not going to use a lot but you do use a lot cuz you're heating and cooling a big space.
I did buy some used solar panels online off ebay. You can look for you solar panels and you'll find that they're quite available and they're very inexpensive. I had previously hooked some up on my boat so I was able to live independently on the boat with the solar panels. And so then I made a rack and put 600 watts on top of the van.
That means I can charge my phone charge my laptop and run a fan all day in the heat. So I do not have to run the engine to do that and that makes a big difference. You can buy new solar panels that are flexible for $400 that will put out about 300 watts. But I'd suggest used. I bought used batteries from junk yards. If you take a tester with you you're going to find the batteries they take out a half the wrecked cars are still good you can pick them up typically for 15 or 20 bucks each. Even if they last half as long that's still a very good deal.
Anyway that was probably 8 months ago. Since that time I've driven several places in the southeast. I spent a good month in Florida watching rockets take off. Had no real trouble there and met a lot of other van lifers although I did have the police knock on the door when we had 20 Vans parking in one spot and they told us to move along but they were very pleasant about it.
I'm taking a part-time job sometimes works in different areas of different cities and when I go there I don't have to worry about commuting home and all the other people that are working might have to drive 30 miles home. Instead I get to know the new area find the new parks around learn the new planet fitness learn the new Walmart etc etc.
The way I handled the cold temperatures was I wore long underwear. You get the thermal underwear that has the waffle pattern and suddenly all your regular clothes make you feel 20° warmer and if you sleep with a good thick comforter or two if it gets to 20° outside your van even without heat will stay about 40 degrees and even if it gets the 30° inside if you've got thermal underwear on and regular clothes on and too comforters on you you're not going to be cold at night.
Overall it's just been an amazing experience and I was in some cities before like Los Angeles where I'm not sure how doable it would have been but I do know a guy who did it there. He lived in an apartment complex I lived in and he had a Dodge sportsman that was like from 1980s and he showed me the inside and it was kind of mind blowing. I met a lot of the people who had the RVs that you used to see in Venice on the side of the streets that people started to complain about but most of them were pretty nice and it was just amazing how efficiently they were planned inside so you had a kitchen table and a bedroom really a whole apartment in just a tiny space. It just makes you realize how much space you waste when you're in a regular apartment. And it makes you realize how ridiculous it is to go into a living space and want more space. People go into a living space and they want a big living room or a big kitchen or a big thing and really what you realize is you don't need big in fact big is bad. And I'm not that much of a conservationist but it's just a twisted sense of value that you get when you first are kind of looking at apartments. And the funny thing is the reason I believe people want bigger houses and bigger apartments is they know they're stuck in that space. And they know they're going to go home to that every night and they know that that window view that they have is the only view they're going to have so they can't live in a small space that's tacked to the ground in one spot.
But when you're in a van you are not tied to the ground in your view is wherever you park and right now I'm looking at some beautiful mountains and I just spent the day in a beautiful open air place and I have a tiny little space to sleep in the back which is all I need to sleep but that's not where I live. Where I live is what I see out the windows and when I park where I walk around. And I have a fold-out chair and a fold-out table and I mostly canned food I do not heat stuff up. I went to boy scouts I'm a camper at heart I know most of the things that are can you do not have to heat up. And in France cold soup is considered a delicacy and it's called gazpacho.
I do keep eggs and I have a microwave and I will microwave poach eggs and you do not need refrigeration for quite a few things like salted butter and regular store-bought eggs. They've gone it long as 2 weeks and I've eaten them. I do cook them very hot and hard though. Anything I am cooking I do cook very hot and hard to make sure to kill any bacteria.
So I've been doing this now since October and it's now march. And I just love it. And every time I move to a new workplace with my job and have a new area to explore I just realized how mind expanding this is.
it's just so hard for people to wrap their head around it when you're used to living in a fixed box on the dirt. If you're living in a house or you're living in an apartment every adventure every time you step outside the door it seems risky to you and you're worried about your safety and you're worried about your sense of where am I going to rest my head. And it takes a long time being in a van and parking and not having a hassle in multiple areas and experiencing what that life is and getting over the fear to suddenly realize that being outside of an apartment and outside of a house is total freedom. You bring what you need with you and you no longer think of the time you're in your van as being risky and away from a safe space. Instead you feel like you've got your safe space and wherever you park it is safe and you go to sleep at night and these proven places that you just not going to get hassled and you sleep very soundly and you don't worry about it. And that takes a little while but once you've made that transition it's just amazing.
Do I wish I had done this before. Yeah definitely if I had known that this was a possibility and I'm not sure it was when I was much younger the amount of money I would have saved and invested and put into stocks and things it's just unfathomable how much more investment I would have now.
Also I think I would have lived more places would have been able to negotiate for jobs that paid more just wherever I wanted to work without any feeling of all I've got to get out of my lease which is 6 months long and I can't move until I do that so I've got to look for a place to work here or it's going to be a hassle.
So I do think it would have changed my life a lot.
Anyway that's my story.
You know the only other detail I guess I've left out is I did have a bear cargo van and I wash the whole thing out with a pressure washer and what I did to insulate it was I went to a bed bath & beyond kind of place and bought a bunch of king size bedding quilts comforters that were on sale that were all the same color and I just screwed two or three wooden strips inside the van to the metal bracing and then I thumbtacked or stapled actually at stapling is the best way I used a hardware staple gun and staple those comforters to the wooden strips. The other great thing is you can use magnets to hold stuff up so go buy yourself a bunch of neodymium magnets off Amazon and suddenly you can hold up a temporary window covers or little hooks or little clips or comforters or just about anything. You can glue them to little Dollar tree three battery lights and suddenly they'll go anywhere in your van and you can move them around. If your man is metal on the outside and you don't have a lining on the inside then you can use magnets to put anything anywhere. And some of those neodymium magnets are so strong that it takes two hands to pull them off but of course those really big ones are expensive but man let me tell you you could hang anything from your roof with a couple of those. Anyway I get the bar neodymium magnets you get about 10 per package and they may be $15 I don't know but they really hold. The little ceramic discs ones that you can get at Walmart or office supply stores or nowhere near strong enough so don't even bother.
You learn to use public bathrooms. most places these days have those seat covers. If you're paranoid you can buy some seat covers and carry them with you. Get some flushable wet wipes and that really alleviates the need to take a shower everyday. Remember it is not good for your skin to be standing in chlorinated fluoridated water everyday. It washes all the oils off your skin and that stuff gets absorbed through your skin and it is not good for you. So you know some flushable wipes when you use the restroom keep you clean back there. A few wipes on your under your arms and stuff do just fine. And you also don't need to wash your hair everyday. I took the wearing a cap so I don't have to worry about my hair being comb perfectly. In the Southeast a lot of people wear caps and I realize now a lot of people wear caps so they don't have to worry about their hair.
I do have an emergency toilet set up in the van so that if I have to go number two I have a means to do it. The best way I found is to get yourself a couple of very strong flower pots. Put other stuff in them have a whole bunch of bags and just double bag it. you know it's a doggy bag kind of situation it's exactly what you do with your dog if you're walking your dog. Double bag it double seal it double tie it toss it away. Remember there are millions of adult diapers thrown away in the garbage every single day. Don't try to get some fancy toilet with coconut fiber you're going to leave in your van and you're going to hope it doesn't smell. And get a separate P jug. That's what people use on boats. That's what people using multi-million dollar private airplanes that are flying over your head. What do you think the women in those planes pee and when they got to pee every half hour. They pee in little pee bottles. Get yourself a good pee bottle that doesn't look like a pee bottle and keep it in your van. what I found works very well is an empty cat litter plastic jug. They're very tough. If you take it out of your van no one is thinking oh that's a disgusting P bottle. You can also use big thick laundry liquid laundry detergent jugs. They have a wide mouth and they feel extremely well so they will not leak if they fall over. If somebody sees you carrying a laundry detergent job they're not going to think oh that's a disgusting thing coming out of a van.
Anyway planet fitness has all the showers you want there are other ways to wash. You can get one of those little garden pump spray bottles if you want. You can shower with one of those standing outside of your van. It takes a remarkably little amount of water if you're just spritzing it on you to rent stuff off. I also keep a water bottle that is like one of the you go to the hardware store and you get an empty plastic water bottle with a good plastic trigger on it it's not pressurized and I keep that full of water and if I want to rinse my hands off cuz I've got something sticky you just spray your hands with that water. Use almost no water.
Anyway it's just been eye-opening life-changing mind expanding.
I think if I was old and decrepit and had a physical handicap so I couldn't move around anymore then I would probably find a piece of land somewhere and build a shack put a shack on it if I couldn't move you know and I was ready to die but until that time I just I can't see doing that.
All the talk about buying a home and how it increases in value and it's a good investment in all these things when you start looking at HOAs and all the things that you have to pay and the problems with being a landlord and the legal changes that are happening in the real estate business quite frankly my decision has been to take my money and keep it in stocks and crypto and things like that which have appreciated very well compared to real estate at least keeping up with real estate. So I don't think that's a reason to become a landlord and own rental property. I know people who are friends of mine that have rental property and it is a job and many of them are very dependent on things like Airbnb which can cut them off at any minute and suddenly they're asset becomes a huge liability that they're going to have to fire sale and that does happen more than people like to hear about.
Anyway you know if that helps somebody it's good to get it out there. All I can say is that the mind expanding change that happens to you when you realize you have your bed with you wherever you go. The idea you do not have to get on the highway and commute in the morning and an evening is unbelievable the idea that anywhere you park becomes your backyard. You kind of own everything. Some people own a small lot in a neighborhood. When you're in a van and you have a place to sleep you kind of own everything around you in the world. Because you can park within 5 minutes of that area and then you can go out and park in the daytime and open up your doors and so many beautiful places and for that day it's basically yours for all practical purposes. And you're not paying for a you're not paying to have a bathroom and you're not paying to heat Walmart and you're not paying you know to do all that other stuff and it's just incredible. And having solar panels on your van so you can charge your devices without running your engine and without going into some place to plug in it it that's also incredibly important. you don't have to have them permanently attached to your roof I think there's a good case to be made to have some foldable flexible ones that when you park somewhere you throw them on your roof and you have a method to temporarily tie them down so the wind won't blow them off. I happen to have some used very sturdy framed solar panels that I can drive down the road with at 70 miles an hour and I've never had a problem. I paid very little for them and that's why I have them. If I didn't have them I would have the fold out flexible panels and I would rig a tie-down system for the roof so that when I park during the day I threw them up there and tied them down maybe with magnets and during the night I took them off and driving down the highway they weren't on.
Edit:
Couple of other tips I would add. One is clothing. I grew up when everybody wanted to wear cotton clothing and you had to go get it pressed and that was the stop. Living on the boat I quickly realized that 100% polyester Dacron type fabrics were the thing. If they get dirty you can literally rinse them out in the shower you can wash them when you're in the shower they dry out incredibly quickly because they're plastic and water doesn't get absorbed in the fibers. They also always look neat they don't need to be pressed the colors are color fast for the most part. If they get a little dirty and you spill something on them you take your water spray bottle and it's clean and an instant. None of that is true with any natural fibers. The only exception I would make is that did have a good wool sweater for the winter time. But other than that I had literally plastic shorts and I don't mean underwear but plastic shorts that I wear as underwear under plastic long pants which can be like pressed khaki looking pants or gym kind of pants or any other kind of pants. And it's the layers that keep you warm. The thermal underwear I talked about was of course cotton so that was the one exception to it all and at the end of the season I just threw that pair away and at the next season I bought another pair. It's like a $5 for the pants and $5 for the shirt.
You can buy polyester and Dacron clothing that looks really nice at thrift shops. That's probably the best way to do it and you don't need a lot of them. Since you're not going to be doing a big laundry cycle with these you really only need two pairs of pants and two shirts but I have several. But when they get dirty you literally while you're standing in your shower instead of taking your clothes off you soap up with your clothes on and you're washing your clothes and then you take them off and you throw them in a plastic bag and you put your new plastic pants and shorts shirt on when you get out of the shower and then you spread the plastic pants in the plastic bag out inside your van and they dry out in an hour. unlike cotton clothes which would take a long time to dry and you have to pay for a heated dryer and they would shrink and they would change size and if they weren't pressed they would look wrinkled etc
The other thing is I don't wash socks. I buy six pairs of socks at a time and I'll wear them for a couple of days each and I just throw them out. Since I'm not washing other clothes I'm not going to go to the laundry and spend an afternoon paying coin laundry places to wash my socks. They're so cheap these days I just throw them out.
The other thing I do is I keep a spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol. And I spray my hands with it anytime I come in from any public place. I started doing that during the you know what and I think it kept me from getting sick. I do it now as a method of sterilization. Now rubbing alcohol has stuff in it so you can't drink it it can make you go blind and make you sick but I have sprayed it on the inside of a dish or cup that I didn't really think was that clean and I let it dry all out and then I wiped it out and I sprayed it with some water to like really sterilize that but for the most part I just use it on my hands.
So between plastic clothing a spray bottle full of water a spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol that really takes care of most of your needs. I find a bar of soap is much better to take in the shower than all these plastic containers with all these weird soaps. And if you actually look at the contents of all these soaps no matter what you pay for them and what brand they are they're all the same stuff. Just look at the back of them you'll see they're all the same stuff. When you get a bar of soap you're getting real soap and you rub it on your clothes you rub it on your body you rub it on your hair and it's just so much better and it's not going to spill in your van and you're not carrying around weird plastic containers that can pop open and frankly it turns out to be a lot less expensive as well.
Oh I do have some beach shoes that are wearing the public showers. If I'm taking a shower at planet fitness I walk into planet fitness with my beach shoes on and my clothes on that I'm going to wash and I go into the shower and I soap up with my clothes on and my beach shoes on and I take them off the closing off in the shower and leave my beach shoes on all the time. And when I'm finished I dry off and I put my new clothes on after the shower the beach shoes never come off. They're going to be a little wet when you walk out of the shower but not enough that's going to be a problem and you can just walk right out and do whatever you need to do and planet fitness and you're fine.
Edit2
You are interesting thing that has happened is the value of my old cars has gone up. If I fix the dents and repainted the van it's highly like I could get 5 or 10,000 for it and I paid $600 for it so it's not been a declining asset it's been an increasing value asset. I did keep the Miata which I pay to store and I was lucky enough to find a cheap place to park and store it. I do occasionally hop in it and drive it around cuz it's really fun but long-term I don't know what I'm going to do with that. Probably would be wise or to give it a good quick paint job and resell it and invest that money. But I'll tell you there is no car that is more fun for the money than an early 90s Mazda Miata which you can pick up very inexpensively and I cannot say enough good things about that particular car. They're very dependable the motor is notably known as being pretty bullet proof. You do have to stay away from motors kids have modified and overrebed and other things but they sell very inexpensively and there is nothing more fun in life than taking the top down on a little car that gets 30 miles to the gallon and going driving around on some country roads. That is all the entertainment you need for that whole day.
Edit 3
To convert or not to convert. I have to tell you because of the quick decisions and the decisions that I made on the spur of the moment to take my van out and just start driving around and parking that I did not do a conversion although I considered it. Mine was an empty metal cargo van from the 1990s before high tops existed and I had lived on a boat for about 2 years and kind of knew what I needed and didn't need. And I see all these videos of these people trying to rebuild small apartments inside their vans. And one of the things they do is they build a big bed and they put a lot of fixed wooden cabinets in their spaces and you end up with not really as much living space although it kind of maybe looks nicer. I didn't do that. I don't think that that's the way I would ever go. I think when you have fixed attached cabinets and things to your van it limits what you can do with your van. To me it was always important to be able to pull all the stuff out of my van and use it as a cargo van to move stuff around if I ever needed to. So what I did was I went and I got a stack of those plastic shelves that you can buy at Walmart for about 40 bucks and I stack those on one side of the van too high too long and attach them to the wall with some zip ties put my microwave and some clothes on there. And I considered buying a bed and I considered making a wooden bed and really was trying to figure out the sleep problem because I was sleeping on my floor which is another issue I'll tell you about in a minute but I wanted to change that I wanted to be up higher so I could see out the windows at night and see what's going on if I wanted to and it suddenly dawned on me that the fastest way to get a bad situation that would be comfortable was go to a sporting goods store and I went to academy sports and for $30 I bought a steel framed canvas fold out camping cot that's about a foot off the ground and I open that up in the van on the other side opposite the shelves I put a good sleeping bag on top of that as the padding in the winter I did sleep in the sleeping bag for a time but it mainly was the mattress. And it was very comfortable the canvas sling in the middle of the metal frame is very comfortable all on its own. It's much more comfortable than starting with a hardwood base that you didn't have to put a mattress on. You don't need to do all that because the canvas sling is almost like a hammock and comfortable almost all on its own. If space under it to store stuff it's very lightweight you can fold it up and take it out of the van if one day you want to pull your junk out of the van and use the van for cargo space. Theoretically you can take the the fold-out caught and put it outside if you want to camp outside if it's a nice day and you want to lie down outside somewhere you can pull it out and lie down. I have a fold-up canvas chair like a stadium chair. I have a fold-up dining room table that I lash to the back of my passenger seat. The flooring is it I have some of those foam play tiles that they use in children's play areas that I got at a yard sale from somebody I got a whole box of them for something like five dollars and I just hooked them all together and threw them down on the metal floor. I then went and bought a very inexpensive thin carpet at something like Home Depot for about 20 or 30 bucks. Then I went and bought another nicer kind of stylish piece of carpet for the open area that was left and put that on top so between all that I could actually sleep on the floor and it was comfortable enough.
I just see all these people spending all this time doing these big construction projects in their van and it's almost like they really don't want to live the van life they just want to build out a van. And what you really need to do is get whatever you need to be minimally happy in your van and go out there and park in Walmart parking lots overnight for a couple of weeks and get used to it and realize the freedom it gives you and then you'll suddenly start to say gosh I really don't want to drive back to my apartment I really don't want to drive back to my house and I don't need to. I can stay right here I can park somewhere else tomorrow I can go out and do things I could drive a hundred miles up the road if I want to and I don't have to worry about driving back to my house or in my apartment and after you've done that for a week or two then you can start deciding what you want to have in your van but don't make your van a building project. Don't try to replicate an apartment in your van. I think one of the most useless things people do is to spend a lot of time building a sink and a bathroom in the van. You're not going to need a sink. If you get yourself a spray bottle and some alcohol you're not going to be washing dishes in your van you don't want to have ceramic dishes. You want one or two metal plates that you're going to wipe out with paper towels after you finished using them. You're not going to want to wash stuff in a sink you're not going to want to have to fill a jug full of 5 gallons of water and have a gray water tank. You're going to want to have a pee jug. You going to want to have an emergency flower pot that you can sit on if you can't make it to a bathroom one night. But you're not going to want to have all this stuff you don't need it. You don't need wooden cabinets. If you're trying to do a show and tell and replicate a small apartment in your van well I understand people like doing that but that is not living the van life. And that doesn't mean you have to be a rough camper in the van life like I am but please don't delay getting out there because you're trying to build your van. Get your van get some comforters if it's cold line your van with comforters. Get a cot for $30 at academy sports take a couple of plastic clothes with you and go out and park and learn what it's like to be free. Then if you want to and you say oh I really want a real bed with a mattress and sheets that I have to wash and all that other nonsense that's going to take up the whole back of my van and I'll lose all that extra space and I won't be able to haul things in my van if I have a need to I won't be able to fit a bicycle in there if I want to well then you can do it but I just I don't see the purpose in it.
Now about high top vans. I know a woman who has a beautiful high top van. She pays $1,000 a month for it she bought it used I think it was $50,000. She has made a beautiful style apartment inside like women often do. She has nice paintings on the wall and things and it's just it's a wonderful living area I have to say. It looks like a small New York efficiency apartment inside. And she can stand up in her van. Mine is not a hot top. They didn't even make them in the 1990s and mine does not have a roof extension. And I would never get a roof extension. Mine is a low top van but guess what. When I'm in the van I'm either sitting or lying down. I am never standing up. Ever. And I put my clothes on I put my pants on I lean over push my back against the roof to steady myself and put them on. The extra hassle cost expense and aerodynamic drag you have from having a high top van going down the highway is not worth the fact that you're going to stand up two or three times during the day in my opinion. Having a low top van with a roof rack on it that looks like it might be a worker van for painters or other kind of hardware people is very advantageous. Everybody knows those high top Vans now or half the time used by people who are living in them. when people see my van it just looks like I might be a guy who's going to paint your house tomorrow or I might be a guy who's going to do some hardware or some carpentry tomorrow. I've had workers come up to me and say what a nice work van. And I think that's really good. I do have an older engine and it doesn't get quite as good gas mileage as the newer ones I get about 12 miles per gallon with my V8 and the newer ones get maybe 15 to 18 but not as much as I expected. I don't drive long distances a lot. There's no need to you learn what's nice and little area wherever you are and then if you get tired of that area or work moves you you move to another place but you don't have to commute 30 mi during the day so you don't have to drive more than maybe 5 miles during the day so gas mileage is not that big a deal after you kind of settle in one area. Having an older man like I have which has the thing called The dog House in the middle means that if my engine has a problem I can open up the dog house the inside the van no one sees that I'm working on my engine and I can fix 90% of it. The newer Vans like the sprinter vans and things you cannot do much work on it yourself and if you're going to be working on it yourself you're going to be outside and everybody's going to see your broken down on a parking lot. I highly recommend older low top Vans with a simple and engine set up as possible. And I highly recommend if you're going to go out and travel that you find out what size radiator hose your van needs and all the other hose sizes that you might need and you go to AutoZone or one of the other places that will sell you raw hose and you get them to cut your five or six feet of both sizes can you buy yourself a bunch of hose clamps and you always carry extra fluids with you like oil and coolant and park and brake fluid and you keep those in your van as well as a tire whole patch kits which are about $10 and have those plugs you can put in your tire. And you have some kind of air compressor to fill your tire if it gets flat. and that's really what you need and I had a breakdown in the mountains because I had that stuff I was able to fix a hose change a hose it was very easy I had an extra bit of coolant so I was able to top it back up and go right on my Merry way. And I think that kind of stuff you can only do and older vans. I think it's much harder to do that than the newer ones but I don't know. I also know the older Vans are built like tanks.

So, I'm always on a budget. I am trying to prepare for road-trips and car camping excursions and need to get my stuff together little by little. I know I am going to need a cargo carrier for my roof. The soft ones have iffy reviews and the hard ones are crazy expensive. So I started looking used. I found on Craigslist an unnamed hard side cargo carrier for $25! I can afford that! But then I noticed that on Amazon they sell these other bar things that go with the hardside carriers. Can anyone tell me if I'm going to need to buy and install more junk on my roof if I buy this? I haven't gone in person to look yet but the photos show a very cared for box and nothing else. I drive a Jeep Compass.