The New Year Starts with a Bang (or rather, a Crash!)

14 Mar, 2020,Vail AZ

"It's a beautiful day, I'll ride the Scooter!"

It started out as such a nice day; I thought I'd ride my scooter (Kymco People S250) into town.  Halfway to my destination, I found myself lying on the ground.  I still am unsure what happened - no other vehicle, no pothole, the bike just went out from under me.  Fortunately, even though I was in traffic, no one hit me.  Lots of folks stopped to get the bike to the side of the road, and help me up.  The result, one confused me, a slightly beat up scooter, and a broken collarbone and some scrapes and bruises.  Could have been much worse so I am very grateful.  The scooter is languishing in the garage contemplating it's sins until I recover enough to ride it to a repair shop.

Meanwhile, it's the end of the Escape Trailer Era

I've been thinking for awhile now that the type of traveling I will do in the next few years doesn't really fit with the trailer.  While I love it for extended travel and long stays where I can unhook and day trip around with just the car, I don't love it for quick getaways and trips where I'm staying only a day or two.  I'm less spontaneous with the trailer.  So, I decided to sell it (heart-breaking) and go back to something more like the VW Westfalia that I loved in my younger years.  

Getting the trailer out of storage, ready to sell, and showing it to prospective buyers while dealing with a broken collarbone and lots of bruises wasn't a heck of a lot of fun - but, as usual, with molded fiberglass trailers, like the Escape, selling them isn't really too hard. Within about 5 days, I had a buyer.  A very nice couple from California were upgrading from a Casita and are delighted with my Escape!

Goodbye to "en Pleine Aire"; I understand she's now called "Eager" and, after a few months in storage, I'll bet she is!

But, endings leave room for new beginnings

Meet the new blank canvass; a 2019 ProMaster 2500 High Roof, 159" wheelbase . . . . box.

I have an appointment with Wayfarer Vans, Colorado Springs,  in early April to install their conversion kit.  I expect that the kit will get me about 80% of what I want without me having to buy tools and do it myself. The conversion kit is a one day easy-peasy (easy for me anyway, I just sit in the waiting room and drink tea!) way to get all the insulation, walls, floor, bed, kitchen, fan and storage boxes installed.  The rest of the build-out is primarily buying stuff like the fridge, porta-potty, heater, and batteries.  Solar and swivel seats will have to be installed (hopefully by someone else).  Stay tuned for pictures of the new travel solution.

I'm playing with names; so far, I'm calling it "The Beast", or "Moby Dick" - it is kind of a great white whale.  Maybe, once it's fully outfitted, it'll feel more homey and I'll have a better name for it.