Boo Hoo... We Miss Blue

We do miss Blue... at least when we're camping. Our last camping trip to Death Valley was enjoyable, but camping without Blue took lots of getting used to. We had a place for everything and everything was in its place in Blue. Not quite so with our Kia Sorrento.

When it was time to take off for a long trip in Blue, we just put our freshies in the fridge, packed some clean clothes, changed the sheets, refueled and off we'd go... for months at a time. No matter where we decided to stop for the night... in a campground, at a dispersed camping site or in a WalMart parking lot, we just parked and climbed into our comfy bed when we were tired. We had lights, fans and we could brew hot coffee in the morning without ever leaving the van. Not so in the Kia.

We're tent camping now, so pitching the tent, moving gear into it and setting up are required. WalMart frowns on tent camping in their parking lots. We have no fridge in the Kia (though we may eventually), so we have to ice pack the cooler and bring only a few days provisions at most. Blue had lots of room for storage and everything stayed in place when we returned from a camping trip. All the cleaning supplies, condiments, cooking pots and utensils and even firewood could stay in place till the next trip. Again, not so in the Kia. All must be packed and unpacked for each trip. Blue's composting toilet was nice, but a Lowe's bucket with a toilet seat works fine for middle of the night pee requirements, though it's not quite as convenient.

We forgot lots of stuff on our last camping trip... flashlights, a lantern, our sleeping pads among other essentials. We'll need to make a better prep list in the future. And unloading at the end of the trip was a pain. We have to store everything in a closet when not in use and reload again whenever we want to go.

So you ask, why didn't we just keep Blue? After all, David worked for two years getting him 'juuuust right'.

Well, having a second vehicle is just not reasonable for us. We have a 2-car garage. Mary has a car, Paul has a truck and a motorcycle which leaves one parking spot in the driveway for us since Blue was too tall for our garage and so is Paul's truck. As it is, there's always a driveway shuffle when one of us needs to leave and someone is parked behind. Plus, the added expense of maintaining two vehicles and finding a place to park or store Blue (on-street parking is not allowed in our community) when not in use just didn't make sense... and it still doesn't.

So... when don't we miss Blue? When we're driving around town and doing errands. When we're in cramped parking lots. When we're trying to get into a parking garage. When it's time for a fuel fill-up or the DEF light flashes on. When we're in winter conditions, it's freezing cold and we have to add anti-gel to the diesel each time we refuel. When it's time to renew the vehicle registration and all diesel vehicles in Nevada must undergo a smog test annually.

We definitely do not miss Blue when it's time for maintenance or repairs at a local Ford dealer. All four Ford dealers in Las Vegas are incredibly slow, costly and offer poor customer service at best.

So we're opting to car-tent-camp with the Kia for awhile. David is working to make things easier and more comfortable. We're still, however, looking into other options we might try. Our love affair with camping and travel far outweighs any aggravation or inconvenience we might feel in the meantime. We have another camping trip planned soon. We’ll see how we fare next time.