It's Our Vanniversary!!!

So it's hard to believe but on March 27th, it will be our 2-year anniversary of being on the road. Gosh, where does the time go?

So I wanted to dedicate this post to a few of the things that we consider "game changers" for us as we continue living as nomadic van dwellers. 

First, we could not have done this if it weren't for our medical insurance through the HealthCare Marketplace. What a blessing that has been since we are both under 65 and not eligible for Medicare yet. Choosing our RV mailing Service in Crestview Florida has given us a permanent address in Okaloosa county Florida which has enabled us to have a Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare policy with in-network nationwide coverage. 

Another huge benefit of being 62 or older is the America the Beautiful interagency lifetime senior pass.  For a one-time fee of $80, we get into most national parks for free and usually receive 50% off at most federal campgrounds including the Army Corps of Engineer & national forest service campgrounds. I used the word "usually" because some Federal campgrounds are run by concessionaires and they have different fee schedules & compute our discount differently. 

So our list continues of "game changing" items: diatomaceous earth ranks way up there as a must have item for us. It is non-toxic and in certain campgrounds in certain areas of the country, there is an ant issue and this stuff is great because it will prevent these little creatures from even entering our tiny home on wheels if we puff the powder around our tires and on our electrical cord and water hose. We carry a little bellows type puffer to apply the powder. 

Other "must have" items for us are: a weather radio, moisture eliminators which are little containers with calcium chloride that pull moisture from the air and are only a dollar at the Dollar Tree. In the humid Southeast, these containers do wonders and keep items in our cabinets from getting moldy or musty. Our little rechargeable USB fans are also great at keeping the air circulating in our back bedroom area and are wonderful when we boondock without electric because they will run for quite a few hours and can be recharged with our battery packs or connected to our cigarette lighter (12 Volt) when driving. 

Another game changer is fat lighter which Jim collects at different campgrounds that allow you to pick up dead & downed trees/ branches.  Jim finds dead pine stumps or logs that have a great amount of pine resin and he uses pieces as a fire starter when we have a campfire.  Jim takes pride that we have never paid for wood since we started this journey 2 years ago. Some state & national parks do not allow you to pick up any wood due to their philosophy on forest management while others allow and even encourage you to do so. The one important policy that nearly all parks promote is not to move firewood from one geographical area to another due to invasive insects that can literally destroy a forest so we only accumulate wood at the campground that we are visiting & use it all or give it to a fellow camper when we are leaving. 

So we are not big TV watchers but do have a newly acquired small TV that was given to us and has proven to be useful for us to "cast" movies and such from our phone to a bigger screen. In areas where we do not have internet, we do enjoy watching some classic TV shows and local news and weather with the help of our little 3 inch TV antenna. 

 Other important "game changing" items are:  the reflectix inserts we made for our windows which really help to retain heat inside the van when it gets cold & our portable solar panel. 

I'm sure I forgot a ton of other things but these items stand out in my mind for now and have helped us immensely.

As we reflect back on these two years, we are so grateful for the opportunity to be living out our dream. We still love "collecting" adventures & waking up to new vistas & going to sleep after watching another amazing sunset.

Our sunset 2 nites ago on the Alabama River