"vandura"

"vandura" is one of our prized vehicles. actually it's a crappy 30yr old van that somehow managed to get us 1000miles across the country. and for that we are very thankful!

currently vandura is being used as a shed. here's a few pics of the beast:



and when i say beast, i really mean beast. jambaloney's friends at work really killed themselves laughing when they saw this thing. it's our first vehicle...can you believe it?



here's some pics of the inside...ya gotta just love the 1980's burgundy! this baby was kept in mint condition by the previous owners...Canadian snowbirds who used it to drive to Florida every winter...ya gotta love them!



yep, that's more burgundy vinyl!



this is towards the back of the van. it has all kinds of shelves and storage built in.



here's the seats, a table fits in between them and these seats fold down into the most uncomfortable bed known to man. we know. we slept on that horrible bed. actually, no, we lay shivering for a few hours just outside of Rigaud, Quebec. jambaloney had just broken the new thermostat so that we had no heat. i was ready to scream.



mint condition. and be sure to check out the burgundy velvet curtains all over the place.



here's the porta potti in it's own little bathroom. we ripped the bathroom door off because the bathroom area provided more storage space.



here's the stove for cooking on the road:



the fridge:



the sink next to the stove (see the velevet curtains?):



sink and stove again:



the counter with storage and a plug:



the loft...teehee...it was pretty squished up there but the cats spent most of their time up there on the drive.



one last look inside:



so that is what we drove to get to our destination. looking back - we should have just flown. but we were worried about how our cats would react to flying. plus the fact that we both hate flying. i have flown pretty much around the world and if i never got in an airplane again it would be too soon. jambaloney hates flying too. so we got vandura and he drove it 1,000 miles, in the winter, in a 6 hour snow storm, in the dark...with only about 45hrs of driving experience. he is a trooper, my jambaloney!

anyway, if you are wondering why we chose to come to this remote little place...here's why:



that's our piece of the Framboise River. and sky. and there is no one around to bug us. isn't it beautiful?

in the near future you can expect posts with us melting snow to flush the toilet, boiling snow and running it through our Berkeys (thank you Berkeys!) for drinking water, washing laundry by hand (thank you Jennifer!) and a whole pile of getting the yard cleared, re-clearing the road (thank you Jimmy!) and a bunch of other fun. hey we got 9 months of fun stuff to fill in on. we hope you enjoy the ride. we did. well, no, not at the time. well okay it pretty much sucked. but we laugh looking back and hope that you will too.

sincerely,
kymber
(p.s. - jambaloney promises to put down the husqvarna, fishing rod, re-curve, throwing knives, shovel and wheelbarrow and a bunch of other stuff in order to start posting soon!)