I have decided to get my old camper van out of storage. It has been sitting in my dads garage for the last 5 years. I want to use it to travel down to Rosebud for the coming exhibition. The van has been stored in my fathers garage all her life so she has not had to undergo the harsh Edmonton winters outside.
Today I paid to get the registration up to date ($72 CAD) a while back I did the insurance as well. I got a new battery for the engine and am getting a new battery for the camping section of the unit (water pump, fridge, lights). Yesterday I got some help from the AMA to get it started, today after installing a new battery ($102.99 CAD) I got it started on my own. I then took it for a wash, the poor girl was covered in dust and even have had loads of spiderwebs around the front right wheel (sort of like an old horror movie when a spooky carriage is found in the barn).
Surprisingly when I got the van on the road to get the wash she ran well. There is a sluggishness in the gears when changing, that might be transmission related but overall the engine sounded good and worked well. I am taking it to be be looked at by a local garage on Tuesday. I want them to change out all the fluids and look for other issues and problems with the vehicle. Sitting for 5 years is NOT a good thing so I expect a rather hefty bill. I would have to pay over $600 in hotel bills for the coming 5-6 nights on the road to Rosebud to deliver-hang the prints plus the opening night and Saturday talk. I would much rather spend that money on van repairs, than on hotel costs. I can live in the van much cheaper than 5-6 nights in hotels.
If I can get my camper van running near 100% again I can also use it extensively next year and the year after that. Not sure how much longer I can run it, as it is 1989 unit, getting older fast. There are not a ton of miles on her but still 1989 was 26 years ago. Another 5 decent years of use another 5 years of fun and camping would make me very happy. I love being out in nature making pictures, even thou I generally find those type of photographs, redundant, trite and rather boring to look at.
The other possibility of course would be to have the van for transport-camping to future exhibitions outside of Edmonton. That is assuming of course someone, somewhere might be interested in showing future work. It would be great to have shows in other parts of Canada or the Northern States and be able to use the van to transport the work down there camping along the way to save money on hotels.
Update* The van is all washed up, the waste water tank cleaned out, 2 new batteries have been installed and it is at the shop getting its engine looked over. I hope to have my camper vehicle back by next Monday so that it can get loaded up with food-water-clothes-pictures and be on the road by Tuesday for the Rosebud exhibition. Everything seems on schedule, hopefully the mechanical bill will not be too scary.
Today I paid to get the registration up to date ($72 CAD) a while back I did the insurance as well. I got a new battery for the engine and am getting a new battery for the camping section of the unit (water pump, fridge, lights). Yesterday I got some help from the AMA to get it started, today after installing a new battery ($102.99 CAD) I got it started on my own. I then took it for a wash, the poor girl was covered in dust and even have had loads of spiderwebs around the front right wheel (sort of like an old horror movie when a spooky carriage is found in the barn).
Surprisingly when I got the van on the road to get the wash she ran well. There is a sluggishness in the gears when changing, that might be transmission related but overall the engine sounded good and worked well. I am taking it to be be looked at by a local garage on Tuesday. I want them to change out all the fluids and look for other issues and problems with the vehicle. Sitting for 5 years is NOT a good thing so I expect a rather hefty bill. I would have to pay over $600 in hotel bills for the coming 5-6 nights on the road to Rosebud to deliver-hang the prints plus the opening night and Saturday talk. I would much rather spend that money on van repairs, than on hotel costs. I can live in the van much cheaper than 5-6 nights in hotels.
If I can get my camper van running near 100% again I can also use it extensively next year and the year after that. Not sure how much longer I can run it, as it is 1989 unit, getting older fast. There are not a ton of miles on her but still 1989 was 26 years ago. Another 5 decent years of use another 5 years of fun and camping would make me very happy. I love being out in nature making pictures, even thou I generally find those type of photographs, redundant, trite and rather boring to look at.
The other possibility of course would be to have the van for transport-camping to future exhibitions outside of Edmonton. That is assuming of course someone, somewhere might be interested in showing future work. It would be great to have shows in other parts of Canada or the Northern States and be able to use the van to transport the work down there camping along the way to save money on hotels.
Update* The van is all washed up, the waste water tank cleaned out, 2 new batteries have been installed and it is at the shop getting its engine looked over. I hope to have my camper vehicle back by next Monday so that it can get loaded up with food-water-clothes-pictures and be on the road by Tuesday for the Rosebud exhibition. Everything seems on schedule, hopefully the mechanical bill will not be too scary.
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| My 26 year old camper van, she is still beautiful. |
