Borrow Books -- Online Free

One of the nice things about the internet and technology is that now you can use a library card and free apps to borrow books online.

The OverDrive app is free to install. There are no hidden fees to use it. Another awesome feature is that you'll never have a fine for overdue books borrowed online. 

I found the Libby app (by same developers) was perfect to read and enjoy my library books and audio books. It made it much easier to download and read my books. 

Done with the book? Just hit return book and you're all done. This is perfect for those without cars or who travel or are shut in their own homes or hospital. 

All it takes is a library card from a participating library. While Las Cruces NM doesn't participate, I was able to easily use my library card from Quartzsite, AZ.

I've finished my first book, and I'm on my second. This came in just in time for the holidays when many places are closed.

So enjoy your holiday. Treat yourself to some books you couldn't afford to buy. The world is now open to you. 

Not all technology is bad. This is pretty user friendly. I was able to learn to use it well in less than a half hour. 

Happy Holidays. 

Good Coffee To You

Lou

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Adding Cash To Your PayPal Account

PayPal has stepped up to the next level in customer convenient services. Now instead of carrying a lot of cash, i can stop at many stores and add it to my paypal account.

I just took the service for a test drive.
I went to my bank and withdrew $120. I drove to a store that i found through the app.

In my case, i had started to go to Wal-Mart. This morning Wal-Mart was having network connectivity issues. After hearing tech support on the phone and realizing that Wal-Mart was not a good bet today, i returned to my van. Time for plan b.

Plan B was to open my paypal app and see what other stores in the area offered this service. I spotted a Dollar General nearby.

I opened the app, logged in, selected more from bottom menu, and selected add cash from the sub menu. Next i selected the store Dollar General. The app generated a bar code on my phone screen.

The clerk had never done this before so she requested assistance from another employee. They came quickly to the register. It was as simple as her scanning the barcode, asking me how much, and ringing it up.

I got a receipt but when i checked paypal...nothing. The receipt states it may take 30 minutes to show up on my account.

Twenty minutes later my PayPal app notified me that I'd added cash to my account. It shows in the balance and can be used now any way i normally use paypal.

Bravo paypal. Love this feature.

My recommendation...highly recommend it and will use often in the future.

See ya down the road
Good coffee to you

Lou

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Why Some Of Us Choose Vandwelling (living in a vehicle)

There are a lot of people out there who totally don't get what vandwelling is about, who vandwells, why they chose this way of life.

Truthfully there are almost as many reasons as there are vandweller and many types of vandweller.

I'll tell you about me first. I've never felt comfortable in a house, apartment, or traditional living situation.

I've recently found out I'm autistic. The hypersensitivity to noises, smells, and lights makes me uncomfortable around others.

I'm disabled and my social security disability is minimal. The places i can afford to live or those with subsidized rent are uncomfortable for me. I have had to deal with those who drink or use drugs. I remember not feeling safe getting in the keycard door, the elevator, or the hall to my apartment. And often you deal with the mentally unstable.

When I'm in my van out my travel trailer, even in a dark forest at night or in the desert alone, I'm comfortable, safe, and confident in my ability to handle anything. I can see all around me easily.

Another reason i choose this lifestyle is that living smaller, it's easier to be independent. I can clean, take care of me and my needs. It takes much less physical energy to take care of me and my house on wheels.

People equate living in a vehicle as free or very cheap. While it costs less than traditional housing, I've still got more bills than i want.

You need to keep your vehicle legal and on good repair. You need an address to register your vehicle, plate your vehicle, and insure it.

I pay my land payment every month. I'm buying little over an acre. I have my insurance for my vehicle. I've recently changed vans. Both the old van and the new hightop van have needed repairs. My travel trailer is currently in storage. It's just one thing after another like anyone else.

Even though I'm nomadic, i am part of the local community wherever i am. I might be the only person they see camping in my vehicle.

That means I'm strict with myself about how i present myself. No trash around me. If there's trash when i pull in, i clean it up. Human waste is handled safely for me and wherever i am. No poop in trash bags or urine filled bottles. I've probably got more education about safely handling human waste than most.

Regular trash...i live with less of an impact on the environment. Don't assume you can put bunches of trash in a businesses dumpster. They pay for their trash to be removed.

Gray water...it stinks when it is stored in on board tanks. I prefer to use the bucket method. Little to no chemical at all. I've learned to clean with vinegar or baking soda. Both are very earth friendly.

I've had people come up to me thinking I'm homeless. They offer many things. I try to nicely explain I'm not. That one you take each incident on case by case basis.

Don't get me wrong, right now I'm broke and in debt. Like anyone else. You don't go out to eat or buy that impulse buy, or buy things that aren't necessities. I pay my bills first. I fill my gas and propane.

I buy my Chihuahua her good dog food and milkbones. My dog loves the van. She can see all around her. She's with me all day every day. She gets walked and goes to parks. Dogs best life in her opinion. I make sure that I've heat for cold times and fans for hot days. She comes first.

So that person living in their vehicle, may be there by choice. It's a different lifestyle. It could be the millennial who values experience and travel over possessions. It could be that disabled person who prefers travel and quiet. Some are retired. Some work on the road. Some commute digitally. There are so many different types of people.

Being in a van gives me the time and privacy i need to write. I like writing.

So, the next time you see that vintage hightop van...it's very comfortable and has all i need or want.

See ya down the road

Lou

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Good Coffee To You

It's 36 degrees in southern New Mexico this morning.

Coffee is made and in hand. I love Taster's Choice instant coffee with turbinado sugar and Half and Half creamer.

The pups have pottied. It's too cold to sit outside on the porch steps. They are eating their breakfast in bed (off the cold floor). As usual, teddy wants to eat food from one of the other's dishes.

Today TEDDY will probably be rehomed with a very nice person. That'll leave Kira and Shorty with me. Shorty's original owner contacted me. Shorty was given to me by someone who had no right to give him away, a member of the family. 

So the plan is to reunite shorty with his family as soon as they've moved out from the uncle's house. I'll miss him but it's what is right for shorty. They've never stopped loving him and missing him.

I'm getting my new to me van, a 1973 Chevy hightop camper, ready to go on a trip. I'm thinking that I'll do a couple of near to the trailer overnights while i wait for the 1990 Chevy g20 mark 3 to sell.

It feels funny to have so much time to get a van just right. Usually I've got an hour to change stuff over from van to van, drive off and find a park or place to arrange it. 

It's nice to do it slowly, but there's also something to be said for the shove it all in and rearrange down the road method.

Now to enjoy my coffee.

See you down the road

Lou and the #2pupcrew

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Exciting new changes ahead

I'm setting up my own website and domain. Soon I'll move all things Lou to my own site.

I'll also be able to design websites, host your website. I'm planning on a section just for us full time vandwellers and rv-ers.

I'm writing a couple of books. Available soon.

So many exciting changes ahead. Stay tuned.

Welcome to New Mexico

You're bundled up in sweaters and jackets in the morning, and in the afternoon you're running around in tank shirts and sundresses.

I never thought that I would see the beauty of the desert. I'm a Michigan girl...grass, trees, lakes, forest, snow.

Yesterday it was so hot that all i could do was lay there and breathe. This morning, I'm huddled up in my blankets with hot coffee.

On a big prickly catcus sits a single yellow flower. The tall thin octillos sport beautiful orange flowers.

Mesquite trees offer shade and almost always have a sticky sap running down the tree attracting tons of ants.

Acadia cats claw trees have really tough spiked thorns.

In the  desert, sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. I love the way you get sunset colors reflected off clouds and mountains.

It's a desert so there are rarely mosquitos. You do get mosquitos and gnats by the Rio Grande.

The mighty Rio Grande is often a slow trickle. The government has harnessed it into water for irrigation.

Alfalfa is a water intensive crop. There is a better natural method of agriculture here. You plant a ground cover. Trees or plants are built up in a dip with a natural earth basin around them to funnel and hold the water near the plant or roots. You plant things that are less water intensive. There is a lot of container gardening.

I've learned to be very conservative with water. Water can be used a couple of times for different purposes.

In the van, i do dishes with a spray bottle of vinegar and water. Water from cooking goes into my gray water (a folgers plastic coffee can.

Bathing can be very simple too. A soup pot half full of water is enough to wash hair and all of my body. That water then becomes part of the gray water.

In New Mexico, gray water can be poured on trees. Gray water is any water used except for human waste purpose.

My "pottie" doesn't flush...it's a large plastic coffee can with lid. It's taken to any portapotty or vault toilet and disposed of safely. Baking soda or a plain charcoal briquitte control any odor. 

Safe travels and Good Coffee to you
Lou

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Imaginary Invisible Lines

Let's think about something for a minute.

Imagine there are no imaginary lines denoting

-countries

-states

-county

-city

Would you really know if you were somewhere "different"?

Or would you find that people are just people?

I've lived in Europe as a young woman.

You get up in the morning, open the Windows (they swing out like doors)

You make coffee, enjoy pastries

You put the bed covers to air.

You grab your string shopping bag and go to market to see what's fresh for the day.

You planned your meals for the day or two based on what was fresh and seasonal. It's actually a very healthy way to eat.

It didn't matter that i didn't speak the language.

At that time i could convert from one currency to another including figuring out buying power.

You smile and nod to people in greeting. You take time to look at the world around you, enjoying the weather, the birds, and the sights.

Now, let's look at something crazy. We fight over imaginary lines, over what someone has said, as if we are three year old children at a playground arguing over who gets to ride the merry-go-round.

We fight over what people wear, where and how they pray, and many other silly things.

We fight because someone has something we want or because we don't want them to have something.

We're like over-tired hungry quarrelsome three year olds who need a nap and cookies.

If there is intelligent life in outer space, the first thing they'll do when we make contact...is quarantine our planet.

Why not try to get along with others.

As a vandweller and nomad, i often hear contempt for those who have a traditional house and home.

I'm a land owner myself. I generally prefer not to build on my land, enjoying it as it is. Others prefer different. There is nothing wrong with that.

As a land owner, I think that I'm actually more inclined to keep the area I'm parked in neat. I also clean up where ever i pull in.

Unlike many,  I'll pull into a spot that is full of trash, get out my gloves and a bag, and clean it up. I'm living on mother earth. I like where i live to be clean and pristine, as if no humans had been there.

Maybe that's why I love New Mexico. There are many people just like me. It doesn't matter who's trash it was. The wind takes it where it wants, and I am the one who has to look at it. It's just as easy to just clean it up myself as to complain about it.

When you travel in New Mexico, you'll find people welcome you. There are portapotty or vault toilets many places. Dump your human waste there...not on the land. Dumping pee jugs or human poop on the land spreads disease. 

There are many places with dumpsters and generally no one complains if you put a bag of trash in there. Pick it up and dump it.

Be a good guest, respectful of the land and clean. Enjoy the vistas. New Mexico has some breathtakingly beautiful vistas.

Good Coffee to you

See you down the road,

Lou

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Change Continues

As i wake up this morning, haven't even finished my first cup of coffee (sacrilegious I know), I continue on the van repairs and modifications.

We went to the park and dumped the potties in the toilets. You don't put human waste in dumpsters. Repeat, in the city, the proper place to get rid of human waste is either a portapotty, a vault toilet, or a toilet. Human poop spreads diseases, e coli and hepatitis come to mind. This is preventable by being responsible.

Today, that clutter spot known as the front passenger seat was taken apart and the clutter sorted and unneeded things thrown out. We'll be taking the dog house off to change the air filter and a few other checks.

We're currently at Home Depot so that a friend can make a few modifications in his counter and storage setup.

Then we'll move to a more appropriate spot for my mechanical fixes. Today is the day we replace the air filter and the oem gas filler neck. My oil was changed yesterday at Wal-Mart. I used mob1 full synthetic. Older vehicles benefit from full synthetic oil. There's also not supporting any oil pipeline as a side benefit.

After today's few repairs, it's a good meal, feet up, and streaming videos on Netflix or Hulu.

See ya down the road,

Good Coffee To you

Lou

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I buy my land on payments from Hannelore at LandIsHome.com

Van Modifications

OMG my van is a total disaster. I'm in the middle of making several changes.

The middle seats were removed. The cartop carrier has been put back on. The front passenger seat is being removed and switched to the driver's side (seat had springs come through it), the propane bulk tank has been put back in, the auxiliary (house) battery installed, and the dog house has to be removed to do a few minor repairs.

The van has gotten to be a total disaster with all this being done. I can use the heater, stove, find my bed, my coffee fixings,and my electronic devices. I can charge up all my electronics.

It's totally normal for a vehicle to look like a disaster during renovations. Mine takes a little longer because of the lack of energy and strength while recovering from the flu.

I'm starting to see under all the mess where things will start becoming the way they should be in the near future. I get overwhelmed and wonder if it will ever look the way it's supposed to look. That's pretty normal.

You learn to stop comparing your work in progress van to the fancy Instagram and YouTube videos. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Soon enough my gasoline powered tipi will be in order, but i really wish it was now. However, it meets my needs, a warm bed, fairly reliable, and comfortable.

See ya down the road
Good Coffee to you

Lou

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