Back to Van Life + a big announcement!

Off we go.

I think this is year three of making a video called Back to Van Life.

Yep. We are moving back into our van for a huge summer adventure.

That's flat. Not a great spot for this to happen.

In this video, we'll be making our little home livable again. Everything's gross. Everything's gross. Then we'll be driving many hours across the country, going to my neurologist for a checkup, then driving to our favorite state where we'll be sharing a massive announcement.

What we have planned for this year is, is no doubt going to be the most challenging.

So grab a cuppa and enjoy.

Thank you.

Always something to fix.

Home sweet home. A few minutes later, this just came out of nowhere.

Be glad that you cannot smell this smell. Just picture taking a trash can and filling it with sweat and dirt and then putting it inside an oven and baking it for a whole summer. That's what it smells like in here. I've been looking for this bag. The last time we were in this van.

Oh my gosh.

I'm looking for this bag too. The last time we lived in this van was November of 2023. We spent 36 days riding a three seater bicycle. The United States of America, living out of this van. And let's just say cleanliness was not our priority. So today my goal is to make it smell like a spa and get the brown layer of gro that has just caked itself on everything gone. Because we're leaving tomorrow.

Everything's gross. Everything's gross.

Everything is really gross. I have to clean it all. I've created a magic potion that is going to make all of my problems disappear. And I think it's technically chemical free. Basically mixed water, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, peppermint oil, and lemon essential oil. When I say I'm gonna spray everything with, I mean everything. The cushions, the floor, the window covers, the walls, the air. I don't know if this is how you clean cushions, but it's how I'm doing it today.

Check out our stash. Why do you have $20 worth of quarters, you ask? There was a day on the bike trip where we were desperate to do laundry. I think I might have to get $20 worth of.

Just been taking up this entire cup holder ever since. I believe these are from Mexico. Mucho pesos. I guess this is a sign that we should take the van back to Baja. I was just thinking we bought this van in 2020, thinking that we would live in it for the summer to wait out the pandemic. I don't think we ever officially said that, but, like, that was the plan, and we thought we would be in it through, like, August or September max. And here we are. 20 for the closest thing we have to a home. I really do love this van, but I especially love it in small doses. I think that light means it's ready for me to close the door. I'm almost done. Chill out. Get it.

Aww. Is our rear view camera ever gonna work again? Off we go.

I think this is year three of making a video called Back to van life.

Some would call it a tradition. Oh, we should have a vanivers.

I'm pretty sure when we bought it, it had 90,000 miles, and now it has 181,000 miles. So in the last four years, we've taken this van 90,000 miles.

That is nuts.

Oh, good. I get to the second ramp here. I think, wow, it's so shaky. I think we gotta get off. I think we gotta stop here. Well, it could have been worse.

Try and get as far off as I can.

20.

Yeah.

I don't want you on this side of the road. Right here.

21.

All these people getting off.

Oh, gosh.

Why can't it just be easy?

It's so crazy how much tire trouble we've had.

We are not far enough removed from Oman for this. I just can't help but laugh. Yeah, I mean, we're just so helpless.

How is this gonna hold air?

Oh, this is awful. We can't do it right here.

We have. We can't go anywh.

Oh, that's flat.

Not a great spot for this thing.

Do you see anything?

Not yet. Gosh. I went my whole life having zero contacts, and this is our fourth one since we've owned this van.

Thankfully, we've had enough tire trouble over the last couple years that I keep an air compressor in the back of the van just in case. I'm not sure if it will, but I'm gonna try to blow it back up and just get us up this ramp so I can find a better place to change.

It still works.

It's holy air. Which is a good sign. I still can't figure out what popped it.

All right, we're currently at 40 psi. It's almost go time.

Didn't work. I think it was filling up because whatever was stuck in there was still in it. And then at some point, all the air just started running out. I think we're changing the tire. Problem is, I think, closer to the road. Get the jack on solid ground to be able to Lift up the band. Like I can't do it here in the grass.

What were we at, 36.

You got for this card rail? Okay.

It's not great, but we did make it part of the way up the ramp. And the tire is completely flooded.

For all the car people out there who are yelling, you should have taken off the screws before you lifted it up.

I just remembered that.

Rock up and hit me in the neck.

Leverage is a beautiful thing.

This is stressing me out. Just giving everyone who drives by the death stare. Get over.

I'm just trying not to get all the way under there in case the jack falls.

Oh, God. Snake.

Problem is, I have no clue how old this tire is. And it's definitely flat.

The tire is a lot flatter than.

I thought it was.

Okay, now to see if this new tire will hold air.

Feels so good.

A few minutes later.

Shake it to about 70, I think.

Yeah.

You're at 50. Actually, you're supposed to be at 80.

All right. Our good friend Rusty just stopped to make sure we're okay. Tennis hands. You can't beat him. Oh, my gosh. What a sweetie.

Well, the spare seems to be holding air. And apparently there's a tire shop two exits up. So even though I'm very tempted just to drive on the spare the rest of the way to Dallas, smart thing to do is probably to get a new tire.

Parking brake, park and brake, park and brake. This big old truck pulled over behind us. This man gets out and he goes. Karen, mate.

So if anyone would like to learn a valuable lesson from my mistake. You're always supposed to unscrew the lug nuts before you lift the car up because it gets a little wobbly. And you gotta, like, really pull on the lug nut. You can actually pull the car off the jack. And it literally left a dent in the pavement where there was still weight on the car. And the jack. And the jack just went slowly like this. And it just dented the concrete.

It could have been your face.

You shouldn't trust jacks and should spend as little time as possible underneath the car.

Everything about that was so sketchy, but I'm so proud of you.

All right, let's go see if Firestone fix this.

All right. You punch it. Just hit it in the middle. All right. You hold it.

Nice.

All right. It is now 6:15, and we still have seven hours of driving ahead of us.

I just checked our eta.

I think we'll probably have to stop for gas twice. We still haven't had dinner.

It's dinner time right now.

Okay. And Kara's doctor's appointment is at 8am tomorrow, so we have no choice to do all the driving tonight.

Tennessee.

Tennessee. Tennessee. Tennessee. Tennessee. Tennessee. Tennessee. Tennessee. Arkansas.

It's been so long. Gosh. State line signs, in a weird way, kind of trigger me, because the amount that we biked towards doing that, there's a bike trail down there that's kind of triggering.

I will say I think the bike trip actually made me a lot more comfortable being on the side of the road to change the tires. Get so used to almost dying so many times every day.

Man, what a crazy day.