A typical day on the road
Wake up
Do I feel rested or in need of more sleep? What time is it? Is there light outside? What woke me up?
I feel good.
It's 4 am :(
Yes there's light... There's more light in the morning as I progress Eastward.
#1? #2? Noise outside?
None of that. It's cold. Glasses. Where did I put my glasses? I must get better organised to be able to retrieve the critical things of my new life within seconds. Found them. Pick them up without putting the fingers on the lenses. It's always hit and miss. Foggy. 13ºC.
Now I feel the cold.
Start up the diesel heater. Hide under the blanket.
The air around the top of my head gets warmer within 10 minutes. The thermometer climbs to 18ºC. I open the door to the cabin. #1. Feels better.
Back to my sleeping quarters. Close the door to the cabin to let the fresh air out. Shut down the heater. Switch off the lights. Back under the blanket.
Do I feel rested or in need of more sleep? I might need more sleep, but the trucks are already moving out of the parking place. Let's get breakfast.
Eat breakfast
I move to the cabin area and sit on the driver seat facing the passenger window.
I put my breakfast tray on the toilet. I prepared it last night. It's a routine now.
I unlock the table from the wall, and bring it down. I open the passenger door a little bit for the table to pass the armrest of the door. The table falls in position. I close the door and lock it again. Ignition. I bring down the passenger window by a few centimetres.
I put the tray on the left of the table, and the camping gas stove on the right. I eat my fruits. I put oil in the pan, and heat the pan on the stove for my fried eggs. While the pan is heating up, I pour water over the oats in the sauce pan. Eggs in the pan. Swap the pans. Eat the eggs. Stir the porridge until ready. Stop the gas. Add jam. Get it down. Yum. Add a little bit of water to clean it. Throw the water out of the window. Add water again. Gas on. Prepare the espresso: grind the beans, transfer the ground coffee to the Staresso filter. Add the boiling water to the glass and the pressure tank. Close the tank. Empty the glass in the eggs pan. Pump the espresso. Add more water to the pan for my wash. Drink the coffee. Clean the espresso machine. Pack breakfast stuff in the food box.
Wash
The shower is not ready yet. It is work in progress. No excuse for not staying clean.
If too cold, I put the heater on once again.
I make space in and around my shower box. I grab the clothes for the day. I bring the saucepan with the hot water and a water bottle in the shower box. I close the door between the cabin and my quarters. I undress and get into the shower box. The air is warm. I mix cold water to the hot water. 3/4 liter is all that is needed to get a good body wash. I go up to 1 liter to have enough for a shampoo.
I'm not sailing the oceans: free water is not that easy to get by. No more taps in the service stations. I have foldable 5 litres water bags that I can get in the rest room, fill up at the tap, and bring back to the truck. The idea is to remain discreet and tolerable, without pushing any limit. Between washing, drinking, eating, and cleaning the dishes, I use 5 litres every couple of days.
Wash, dry, clean up the shower box, dress up, put the towel to dry, put the PJ on a coat hanger to aerate, open the bed for the bedsheets to release any excess moisture, attach the futon mattress to the bed, switch off the heater, bring the water back to the cabin, clean the saucepan for the next meal. Switch off the light in my quarters.
Store away the blinds made from the cloth provided by Marie-Noël. Store away the reflective material I use for the windscreen. Full light.
Get to the next stop
I plan my route in the morning. I tend to avoid the big cities, unless I am looking for a well stocked hardware store to fix something, or for a bulk food organic store, or for a Too Good To Go bag of fruits and veggies. I aim for routes where I can travel at an even pace. 80~90 km/h is the most fuel efficient for my truck. I aim for stops where Park4Night gives me good chances to find a nice landing spot. At the beginning of my trip, I was going on the free bits of highways, and getting out to find a place where trucks would stop and nest among them. I also stayed in service stations. A more noisy option, but my thermal insulation also acts as a very decent soundproof shell. There are options for an inconspicuous 20 year old battered van like mine.
I select a podcast, and I get started.
When tired, I stop and I have a nap.
That worked for 2 weeks until my sleep pattern was really out of sync, so I made a point of finding a parking spot earlier around 7 pm, and sleeping till 6 or 7am. Before that smart decision, I was driving until 10pm and having dinner after. There's nothing wrong about finding a parking spot late, but the dinner and all the rest of the organisation as to be cleared in during day light. I do not want to refill the tank of the diesel heater when it's pitch black. Murphy's law got me a very cold night on an empty tank. I learned my lesson.
The parking spot is where I prefer to have my dinner, and prepare both my breakfast for the morning and my quarters for the night.
Lunch
I tend to nibble on non-salted peanuts, as well as toasts with peanut butter or tahini. That keeps me in good health. So, no real lunch.
Dinner
I run on a combination of beans and 250 ml preserves that I prepare myself when I have both enough empty jars to fill up and a big bag of cheap veggies to cook and preserve. I make couscous soup, biryani, masala, and other meals that go with beans, chickpeas, lentils, pasta, and semolina. I try to rotate all these regularly. I soak beans and chickpeas overnight. I picked up Rose Elliot's Bean Book after reading Voyaging on a small income. Works very well on the road too.