Happy Halloween

We decided to go all out for Halloween this year-we hadn't dressed up together yet, and Jim got a brilliant idea for this year. We love the Tintin comics and the animated series, and Snowy has been our faithful companion for a year and a half. We got most of our costumes from thrift stores or our own stockpiles, and it cost about $50 (mostly my shoes.) I think we pulled it off quite well!

Here are some pictures for reference:

We had a good time dressing up, but we didn't get to see too much of the parade. We ended up hanging out around astor place/union square from about 3pm to 3am. We met up with Olya (Jim's cousin) and then had an interesting conversation with an 18 year old kid in Union Square-rather intellectual. Then, because of Daylight Savings Time, we missed the 1:19 train about 3 times. I think they just cancelled it to avoid confusion. Penn Station was filled with costumed, tired, drunk people. It was very fun for people watching. Jim even ran into an old friend from College (dressed as Aladdin), and I got a hug from someone who used to love Tintin. It was a pretty good Halloween.

Home

After a positively grueling hour-long search on Craigslist and a drive into Cleveland, we came across this beaut'. It's a 1995 Chevy that was made into a camper van by Winnebago. It has Winnebago written all over it, which won't be conducive to stealth camping, so we have to do something about that. We welcome any ideas.


The Van has a kitchen, complete with Sink, Microwave, and Fridge. We will put a coleman camping stove on that counter so we can cook fresh things every day.


There is also a porta-potty. It hasn't been used as far as I can tell. There is a curtain that wraps around for privacy. This might be useful when we're out in the desert!



One thing I love about this van is that the bed folds out lengthwise instead of widthwise. In a regular conversion van, the bed takes up the whole back so there is no place for other things, like a kitchen. Not to mention those beds are too short even for me. We slept on this bed last night and it was one of the most comfortable we've ever slept in.



We moved in right away. There is a power hookup on the side and we are running a cable from the van into the garage. In fact I'm posting from the van right now! Snowy will be coming with us. Look for my "Snowy Round the World" series!

We are incredibly happy with the van. We got really lucky and found our perfect van in our city, within our budget, and without having to go to a lot of auctions. It is already set up exactly how we wanted it, so all we have to do it put in a few more storage bins and add a recreational battery and switch so we don't drain our regular battery during the night. In a week or two, we'll be on the road!