Vanities - October 24, 2020
Back in the good old days when we could squeeze all six of us into a Chevy Cavalier – emphasis on the squeeze part – we scoffed at people who had minivans. We chuckled our way through the CBC comedy sketch “Minivan People.”
And then our oldest kid, Anna, went to Toronto for University and her Dad wanted and needed to move her down there (and back, of course.) Laur rented a minivan and off they went – initially leaving one of the back doors open, but that’s a story for another time.
Somewhere between Toronto and Sudbury a rock attacked the van’s front window. It left a tiny scar that Laur and I would have happily lived with for the life of the vehicle. The rental agency didn’t see it that way and we had to put out about $500 to replace the windshield.
That got us to thinking. Our car was nearing the end of its very long life – we had bought it second hand. We anticipated paying $2000 for our next vehicle. Why not buy a van?
Turns out there weren’t many usable second-hand vans for sale for $2000. In fact, there weren’t any. But a friend of ours, Bill, said he saw a white van for sale for $4000 in Espanola at the Alta Vista Motel. And he got the phone number for it.
Laur called. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS?! He called our mechanic, Kenny, with the details and Kenny told us that was actually a good price for Chevy van that old and with that mileage. After much hand-wringing and bank-account squeezing, Laur phoned the lad again and asked to take the van to our mechanic for a (free) evaluation.
The owner didn’t much like the idea of Laur driving the van a 60 mile round trip, but agreed to it – providing he could accompany Laur. Kenny gave it the thumbs up, somehow we got the money to the Alta Vista motel lad, and we both drove out in the Cavalier to pick up the van. Laur drove the van home. It was – initially – like driving a steamship. Or at least that is how it felt to us.
We’ve been minivan people ever since. This first van was nick-named Van-of-White because of its colour, though, given Sudbury winter roads, it was rarely white. When our mechanic declared it no longer roadworthy, it was replaced by a green van – which was nicknamed The Cat Mobile because of the cat rescue work I did with it, and because there were two prominent decals of cats on it.
Our green van declared itself no longer roadworthy by dropping its engine out on our driveway. This was a bit of a problem because we were about to start moving ourselves - using this van - to St. Catharines (and back to Sudbury for however many loads it took!)
Laur saw a gold coloured van on sale near our mechanic, and I told him to call right away. Imagine, us, in a gold coloured van. We’d be like royalty! It was gone by the time Laur called but they did have a 3 year old black one. OK, it would look like we were driving a hearse, but we were starting our move the next day. Needs must.
Our mechanic gave it the thumbs up and we emptied out ‘the emergency fund” account at the BMO. We actually paid $15,000 for our current van – the most we have ever paid for a vehicle. Our “Fifth Wheel” trailer in our seniors’ RV park in Arizona cost a heckuva a lot less than that – and we could sleep and cook in it!
And this brings me to Laur’s most recent purchase. You might be thinkin’ that my hubs has gone out and bought a camper van that we could travel around in. Heck, you can buy a functioning used one for less than $50 thousand dollars! Given real estate and apartment rental prices in St. Catharines, we could live on the cheap. Just park it in our kids’ driveways on alternate weeks. (You laugh; our kids shudder.)
So much cheaper than flying or traveling by car and staying in motels when we eventually can go to Arizona. Even when we go to Sudbury, we could just park it at the Walmart! People do that! There are two in Sudbury – we could just alternate.
One glitch in the plan. Yep, it’s me. I don’t sleep well. And when I don’t sleep well, if my hubs is smack up beside me – and in a camper van he’d have to be – he doesn’t sleep well either. Plus, even in our apartment, I find it hard to sit in the same room with Laur for more than 15 minutes without wanting to find a new use for my hubs of 43 years. (There is a reason why “man-shacks” have developed.)
The only way living in a van would work for us would be if there were TWO vans. That doubles the price of everything. Not only that, I don’t like driving. Scratch that!
So what did hubs buy? A Foresty Forest T-Shirt! It’s now his prized possession (until one of our ratlets discovers it.) Who is Foresty Forest you ask? You have to check out his videos https://www.youtube.com/user/forestyforest/videos My hubs and his twin-separated-at-birth friend Bob are devotees, and love to chat about each release.
Foresty is a 36 year old lad who lives in a minivan year round and travels all over the USA and Canada. He parks his van and then goes for adventures - hiking and biking. And his minivan is not just any van. He has set it up so he can sleep in it, cook in it, store his hiking and biking equipment in it, and and and… And he now has a gal-pal Kira who is also becoming a minivan equipper and adventurer.
Laur is not about to branch out to minivan living any time soon. Being an old Scot, it still makes him twitch to even think of buying another vehicle – even second hand.
And I’m certainly not. Not enough room for my spin-bike and treadmill which – since we can’t go to AZ this year - I’ll need in the wintery weather.
And then our oldest kid, Anna, went to Toronto for University and her Dad wanted and needed to move her down there (and back, of course.) Laur rented a minivan and off they went – initially leaving one of the back doors open, but that’s a story for another time.
Somewhere between Toronto and Sudbury a rock attacked the van’s front window. It left a tiny scar that Laur and I would have happily lived with for the life of the vehicle. The rental agency didn’t see it that way and we had to put out about $500 to replace the windshield.
That got us to thinking. Our car was nearing the end of its very long life – we had bought it second hand. We anticipated paying $2000 for our next vehicle. Why not buy a van?
Turns out there weren’t many usable second-hand vans for sale for $2000. In fact, there weren’t any. But a friend of ours, Bill, said he saw a white van for sale for $4000 in Espanola at the Alta Vista Motel. And he got the phone number for it.
Laur called. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS?! He called our mechanic, Kenny, with the details and Kenny told us that was actually a good price for Chevy van that old and with that mileage. After much hand-wringing and bank-account squeezing, Laur phoned the lad again and asked to take the van to our mechanic for a (free) evaluation.
The owner didn’t much like the idea of Laur driving the van a 60 mile round trip, but agreed to it – providing he could accompany Laur. Kenny gave it the thumbs up, somehow we got the money to the Alta Vista motel lad, and we both drove out in the Cavalier to pick up the van. Laur drove the van home. It was – initially – like driving a steamship. Or at least that is how it felt to us.
We’ve been minivan people ever since. This first van was nick-named Van-of-White because of its colour, though, given Sudbury winter roads, it was rarely white. When our mechanic declared it no longer roadworthy, it was replaced by a green van – which was nicknamed The Cat Mobile because of the cat rescue work I did with it, and because there were two prominent decals of cats on it.
Our green van declared itself no longer roadworthy by dropping its engine out on our driveway. This was a bit of a problem because we were about to start moving ourselves - using this van - to St. Catharines (and back to Sudbury for however many loads it took!)
Laur saw a gold coloured van on sale near our mechanic, and I told him to call right away. Imagine, us, in a gold coloured van. We’d be like royalty! It was gone by the time Laur called but they did have a 3 year old black one. OK, it would look like we were driving a hearse, but we were starting our move the next day. Needs must.
Our mechanic gave it the thumbs up and we emptied out ‘the emergency fund” account at the BMO. We actually paid $15,000 for our current van – the most we have ever paid for a vehicle. Our “Fifth Wheel” trailer in our seniors’ RV park in Arizona cost a heckuva a lot less than that – and we could sleep and cook in it!
And this brings me to Laur’s most recent purchase. You might be thinkin’ that my hubs has gone out and bought a camper van that we could travel around in. Heck, you can buy a functioning used one for less than $50 thousand dollars! Given real estate and apartment rental prices in St. Catharines, we could live on the cheap. Just park it in our kids’ driveways on alternate weeks. (You laugh; our kids shudder.)
So much cheaper than flying or traveling by car and staying in motels when we eventually can go to Arizona. Even when we go to Sudbury, we could just park it at the Walmart! People do that! There are two in Sudbury – we could just alternate.
One glitch in the plan. Yep, it’s me. I don’t sleep well. And when I don’t sleep well, if my hubs is smack up beside me – and in a camper van he’d have to be – he doesn’t sleep well either. Plus, even in our apartment, I find it hard to sit in the same room with Laur for more than 15 minutes without wanting to find a new use for my hubs of 43 years. (There is a reason why “man-shacks” have developed.)
The only way living in a van would work for us would be if there were TWO vans. That doubles the price of everything. Not only that, I don’t like driving. Scratch that!
So what did hubs buy? A Foresty Forest T-Shirt! It’s now his prized possession (until one of our ratlets discovers it.) Who is Foresty Forest you ask? You have to check out his videos https://www.youtube.com/user/forestyforest/videos My hubs and his twin-separated-at-birth friend Bob are devotees, and love to chat about each release.
Foresty is a 36 year old lad who lives in a minivan year round and travels all over the USA and Canada. He parks his van and then goes for adventures - hiking and biking. And his minivan is not just any van. He has set it up so he can sleep in it, cook in it, store his hiking and biking equipment in it, and and and… And he now has a gal-pal Kira who is also becoming a minivan equipper and adventurer.
Laur is not about to branch out to minivan living any time soon. Being an old Scot, it still makes him twitch to even think of buying another vehicle – even second hand.
And I’m certainly not. Not enough room for my spin-bike and treadmill which – since we can’t go to AZ this year - I’ll need in the wintery weather.