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2004 Toyota Hiace van, 3L aspirated diesel engine, 5speed manual, 132000 km, tinted windows, alarm, engine immobiliser, 140W solar folding panel, 105 ahm AGM battery, CTEK 250S Dual charger, 600W full sine wave inverter
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It'll be a few more days yet before I'm listing the van on the car sales websites, but the van is for sale.
Big changes are afoot. It is not new year resolution stuff. I've been thinking about this for the past few months. Just have been sitting on the idea and thinking a lot. Also, with Christmas and New Year happening, I thought that it was not the best time to be selling. I have used some of the time to start cleaning up. I've just spent part of today going through all the stuff I've accumulated, (How'd I get so much?) sorting it into heaps - going with me, going to sell, going to give away, going to trash.
So, selling the van - what next? A return to the bicycle and the tent. Time to hit the road again and keep exploring the country.
Why?
When I bought the van, I'd decided it was time for a change. I'd thought long and hard about it. Bike touring isn't always bliss and pleasure, sometimes its really hard. At the time, weighing up the data, giving everything equal weight, a van seemed the best decision.
Where I failed, was the weightings of those decisions comparing living in the tent and the van. It was hard to weigh some of them without having had lived in a van before. Now I have, and looking back on those decisions, I weigh them differently now.
There are many good points for living in a van. Certainly some people are very happy living in a van. But for me, I don't want to keep doing it.
If home is where the heart is, then my heart isn't in the van. Its outside, under the sky, in the wind, rain, fog and sun. Hearing the birds, and the rustle of wind in the trees. Feeling the rain drops on my face. Inhaling the sweet honey smell of the eucalyptus, sensing the cool riding into the morning mists. Its outside, active, being in the environment, rather than watching it pass by out the window.
I miss riding my bicycle.
Where I failed, was the weightings of those decisions comparing living in the tent and the van. It was hard to weigh some of them without having had lived in a van before. Now I have, and looking back on those decisions, I weigh them differently now.
There are many good points for living in a van. Certainly some people are very happy living in a van. But for me, I don't want to keep doing it.
If home is where the heart is, then my heart isn't in the van. Its outside, under the sky, in the wind, rain, fog and sun. Hearing the birds, and the rustle of wind in the trees. Feeling the rain drops on my face. Inhaling the sweet honey smell of the eucalyptus, sensing the cool riding into the morning mists. Its outside, active, being in the environment, rather than watching it pass by out the window.
I miss riding my bicycle.
