FIRST TRAVEL DAY IN THE VAN (Florida to Georgia) #vanlife

After what feels like days of packing the van, which seems ridiculous considering how small it is, we are finally headed out. We're leaving Florida. The long-term plan is to make it to Wyoming for the Airstream International Rally, but right now, in this video, our goal is to get from Florida to Nashville, and we have, hmm, like, 18 hours to do it, but it's a 10-hour trip, so this is going to be fun. So what's your role in this trip, D? My role is to get this van to Nashville, Tennessee. Lauren's role is to get Baby Dash and some of our camping supplies that we'll be using for the Airstream Classic out to Nashville. Which means I'm responsible not only for the most precious cargo, but for driving the truck, which we're selling, which sounds very confusing considering Daniel just said we are keeping the Airstream, but we'll keep you on your toes. And to do that, we're going to sell her in Nashville, because that's where we have her registered. So BGW, if anybody would like a Ford F-250, we have a really beautiful blue one for sale! Alright, feeling good about driving this baby for the next little bit? Yeah, I'm feeling great about it. Probably not in that seat, though. Not in this seat. There's no steering wheel, so I'll have to change seats here, and first stop, gas. Okay Dash, what do you think about this road trip? It's been a while since you've been on a road trip. You've been doing a whole lot of like, airplane trips. You feeling good about this? I think that's a yes, folks. Big, beautiful truck! Oh, we do love her. Does it make sense in our next phase of life? Woo! We gotta get some air conditioning up in this you-know-what, because it is hot as all get-out-here-in-Florida. We are not disappointed about leaving this weather. Apparently, next week, it's supposed to be in the 90s. You ready for the ride, Dash? Yeah! Well, it's no longer a shiny hiney, but it is a cute hiney! True story. So, we're filling up. Diesel is $3.89 and nine-tenths here in Tampa, Florida today, so it's not as bad as it was before we left for Spain, but considering we're driving two big, honking vehicles, this trip is not gonna be cheap. Yay, gas! Alright, have you filled up the van yet, or is this the first time? It's the very first time, which is why I didn't know how far to pull forward, because I just assumed the tank was in the front access. You assumed it was on the back. I thought I assumed it was on the back, so I kind of left some room in the back, when in reality, it's right by the driver's door. So, do you know how big the tank is? Nope, but considering it only had less than a quarter tank, we're about to find out. Okay, so this one's probably like 20 to 25 gallons, maybe? Yeah, that's more or less. On the other end, apparently the truck has a bigger gas tank. Alright, there we go. Or I just ran the truck down a lot lower than Daniel was willing to run the van. Refreshment secured, and we're hitting the road. Nashville, here we come. It doesn't feel any different. That's a good thing. Means it won't take us too long to get to Wyoming, maybe? No, I mean, I don't know. As long as Dash can tolerate, I think that's pretty much the only limit we have. Yeah, that's a real thing. We'll figure it out. Okay, sun is starting to go down, so that means you're a car on the road, which is absolutely fantastic. The goal is that we are going to Nashville, because I was supposed to have a day off tomorrow, but I had some really exciting meetings that I didn't want to miss, so we're trying to get to Nashville before noon so I can take said meetings. So, hence why we're doing this last minute trip. Or not last minute, but trying to do this kind of fast. So, I got... So I opened the doors, the back doors, to fix the camera. The backup camera was a little bit crooked. Easy fix, but I forgot to close the doors all the way. So, yeah, there's that. And now I have to pull off the next exit so I can close them properly. Okay. Oopsies. Yeah, oopsies. Okie dokie, well, I'll follow you. Okay. Okay, bye. I don't think we're going to make it in time. Especially not if we keep doing stuff like this. At least it's really easy to pull in anywhere with this thing. Definitely could have done that with the trailer. Welcome, Shane! Alright, so what prompted this originally, like I was trying to say on the phone but I was a little distracted, is that the camera that's in your rear view mirror got a little bit wonky. Next thing you know, the horizon was like this. And that's not very functional. So I figured, let me just hop up there and straighten out that little thingamajig up there. And I did. Just didn't close the door all the way. Luckily, nothing popped out in the road. Because that would be bad. That would be bad. None of that happened, so we got lucky today. He's a mess, y'all. Baby Dash, are you awake, buddy? It's a little late and the sign's not lit, but we just made it to the Cracker Barrel. Closing us in for the night. Now it's time to figure out how to make a bed. We've got some blinds here from Airstream. That are going to cover the front windshield. I've got the front cabin A.C. cranking, but I'll kick on the A.C. overhead in just a second. I wanted to talk to you before we kick that on, because it gets pretty loud in here with that turned on. It's not the quietest A.C., but man, does this thing crank out some ice, cold air, and quickly, too. So, really cool when you're running a battery pack, because you don't have to run it that long to get ice cold in here. So we're going to get that going. We're going to get this bed converted. Just like YouTube magic. Gosh, are you so excited to not be in the car anymore? I mean, technically, I guess you are still in the car. But you're not in the car seat. That's a win. Alright, so here are the blinds. Let's see which blinds these are. These are the side windows. Apparently... Are they magnetic? They're magnetic, so they should just pop on there. Let's see how easy this is. This looks like it's for this window. Hold on. Let's see how well these work. Well, that... First time doing it, so... Oh, okay, I gotcha. Just have to put it on the metal part of the door. That's the magnets. Okay, so let's move it higher here. There we go. Okay, that's decent. It's functional? It's functional. I'm sure there's a better way to put it on. We'll figure that out next time. I think I probably have these on backwards. Yes, I definitely think I have these on backwards. That probably goes over there. I think the reflective part is for the outside. Oh, yeah, that goes on a lot easier. I say that, and then here I am trying to put this thing on. Come on! It looks so easy when you're watching them do it on video. I think that's good. Or as I like to call it, G is good enough. You helping out, buddy? You helping out? I heard that was a yes. Okay, big windshield. This one's falling out. It's going to take some practice. Okay, this looks like it goes obviously around the window. What am I doing here? Okay, here we go. It goes like that. Van life skills. They're strong, y'all. Alright, life skills to the rescue! What were we doing wrong? I know, sometimes the simplest solution. There's no magnets needed for this because you just use these and then bam, it's set up. So, what about our sad ones? I don't have an answer for that. Dash, what do you think of all of this silliness? Say, I love the driver's seat. Yeah, your favorite. First night of van life! Yay! Now for figuring out the bed. The bed is down, so now I'm just going to see if sheets actually fit on it. Okay, so not the prettiest bed I've ever made, but totally functional. Dash, what do you think, dude? How do you think? Did mommy do okay? Say, I just want to pull all of the handles. This is so fun. Dash, you want to see something cool? You want to see something cool? Check this out, Dash. Look! Whoa! Look at the toys! Look at Dash's toys! Dash has his own drawer! Oh, yeah! Score! Okay, D. Initial thoughts. First night in the van. The mattress is firm, which I actually prefer. I don't like those big, squishy, like your whole body falls into it kind of mattresses, so this is better for my back. A plus there. I feel like we're still, it's still so new. We're still trying to figure out everything, so I feel like after maybe a couple of weeks, we'll be gelling like Magellan and we'll have the setup and breakdown so easy, but right now, we don't even know what all the buttons do. Dash is like, I like the buns. So, D., you remember the very first night in the Airstream trailer when we ate frozen mac and cheese and you didn't actually back it up? Yeah. This you just pulled through. I know, we've come a long way. I mean, here we are parking in a Cracker Barrel parking lot rocking some jorts. I mean, a lot's changed. A lot's changed in the last couple years. The jorts sadly have not changed. But this little guy is just as cute if not cuter than Mickey Mouse! Oh, here's an interesting stat. Let's hear it. So, I was wondering what the mileage would be like now that we have this thing pretty much fully loaded and over the last 200 miles or so, we're averaging about 13.8 miles per gallon. So, in case you were wondering, highway miles are at least 13.8 miles per gallon on this trip so far. Dash, you were wondering, weren't you, buddy? Is that the A.C.? Fancy. Well, in true Warren and Daniel fashion, a.k.a. Wander Local fashion, we didn't do what we always say to do and learn a rig before you go on a long trip. So, we're gonna go figure out how to brush our teeth and, you know, just how to function in the van. It's gonna be great. We've been camping for years. It's fine. Fine. Okay, but we're signing off because we need to get up early tomorrow morning. We have back on the road and try to make it to Nashville tomorrow. I think we've already ruled out that we're not making it on time. But, if you haven't already tonight, make sure you wander local because as you know, go for the soul. You know what else would be good for the soul? If babies didn't love remotes so much. He is like a bug to a light. Wherever there's a remote, he will find it and he will push all the buttons. All the buttons. Okay, Dash, you wanna tell everybody bye? Dash, you wanna wave bye-bye? Button. Say bye-bye, Dash. Oh, he figured it out. Wish us luck, y'all.