Snow Day
Few words strike more joy into the heart of a kid than ‘Snow Day’. Decades make no difference when it comes to the heart of a kid, 6 or 60, learning you get a ‘snow day’ is like getting an early visit from Santa. This morning OurRamblinVan woke up in a beautiful blanket of snow and the cherry on top of all that frosting was learning that work was canceled for the day for Mr. OurRamblinVan. Joy, Joy, Joy!
When people in our lives learned that we were moving into a van, in Colorado, in the winter, we got the same reaction over and over; “What are you going to do when it snows??” Well, today we found out.
First of all, we are staying cozy. We are ever so happy with our Espar Deisel Heater. Works like a charm and sips diesel right from the tank. One important tip we learned on our first chilly night, always make sure your gas tank is full in cold weather. If the fuel level slips too low in the tank, the heater will shut off. This is a protective feature, so you don’t use all your fuel heating your van and then wind up stranded with an empty tank in the middle of nowhere, in the cold, without heat. Hats off to that engineer. So, keep the tank full and your heater will keep your van nice and toasty and mobile.
Of course, heating a van is different than heating a house. We are figuring out temperature control as we go. The heater is beneath the passenger seat, right above the floor, and the bed is in the upper half of the van, pretty darn close to the ceiling. If you were paying attention in science class, you know that heat rises. Therefore, if your thermostat is next to the floor, where it is cold and you set the temp for 70 degrees, you quickly find out what it is like to sleep in an air fryer.
We are finding a few keys to coping with the temperature difference between the floor and the air fryer. Cozy socks and slippers are important for keeping your feet warm during your waking hours. The floor stays cold, no doubt about it, so keep your fluffy socks and slippers close to the bed and put them on first thing. We have found that adjusting the temperature a few degrees down at night keeps the bunk area comfy, so far setting the thermostat at 62 degrees at night and 64-5 degrees in the day is working well for us. We also invested in a small 12-volt electric blanket that we put between the covers on the bottom half of the bed. We set it on low and let it warm the bottom of the bedding for a few minutes before we climb in, then turn it off once we’re settled. Feels good to put your feet down into that nice warmth.
So, besides being cozy in OurRamblinVan, what else do we do with a snow day? Just whatever we want is what we’re finding so far. Bonus days are tailor made for reading, Bible study, catching up on YouTube Videos, cat napping with Butch Catsidy, having pumpkin waffles for breakfast, sipping hot coffee and watching the snow fall. It’s the perfect time to take a minute to relax and reflect and maybe write a blog entry. Those seem like pretty worthwhile activities to me.
Stay cozy.