ACE

the cleanest Ace has ever been. Notice his millions of sun roofs- very nice until its 5am and sun is pouring in your face.

toiletries and kyle's idea of a dresser

one of the features that sold us on ace... this awesome table/headboard

this is living

Ace, prior to the staging job we did for this photo shoot. the bed is used more for storage than anything else

no campervan love 

down by the river

laundry day

checkin the engine

kitchen... notice mainly canned goods

thank god for pictures

driving the bus

Our van is a 1986 Toyota Town Ace, and therefore is officially named Ace. (Do not fret, his engine is from 1999 making him a little less of a death trap.)

Fun Facts:

·      Ace is always on empty… no matter what

·      Ace has a unique musk- some might call it a damp odor. It does not dissipate, even after driving for hours with all the windows down.

·      Ace has to be forcefully coerced into starting up and often refuses if he has been neglected for a few days.

·      Once Ace does start up, he shakes uncontrollably until he is officially warmed up.

·      Ace tops out at about 100K which is equivalent to 60MPH. Oddly enough he feels like he could take off flying at this speed and we often have to remind ourselves we really aren’t going that fast.

·      Ace gets passed by big rigs… regularly.

·      Ace has a coolly bin that claims to make ice… pretty sure it has never worked.

·      Ace is Japanese and all of his writing is therefore in Japanese.

·      Ace likes to claim he has AC but after his shaking attack the AC button pops out.

·      The engine is under the passenger seat… probably not the safest engineering idea.

·      Ace’s back door only opens from the inside (good thing there are two of us to coordinate this move)

·      Ace possibly has very impressive brights. That is until Kyle forgets to turn them off and we get honked at.

·      Ace’s windows are beyond tinted- you literally cannot look into the back.

·      However, he is lacking curtains, which means that although people can’t look in, we feel as if we have no privacy.

·      All in all Amber could not have said it better: Ace is the perfect candidate for pimp my ride.

Ok so here is a little about our campervan experience thus far:

            Driving on the other road comes somewhat naturally. With just a little extra concentration we have been able to avoid making horrendous mistakes. The roundabouts have not been as scary as we thought. The trick is to always stay in the outside lane. The hardest thing so far has been that the blinker is on the wrong side, this often results in windshield wipers as opposed to signaling. Parking on the wrong side is not exactly comfortable but living by San Fran gave us a little prior practice.

            Driving Ace feels like driving a school bus. His steering wheel is huge, he does not willingly accelerate (it’s a leg work out to say the least), and his turning radius is just embarrassing. We try to use hills to our advantage, gaining as much speed as possible on the downhill to ensure we actually make it up the next hill. We probably average 30 MPH or less on hills. Given our stunted speeds you would think that we get amazing gas mileage… wrong. Gas here costs the equivalent of $6/gallon. Gas adds up quickly and we are trying to plan out our roads as efficiently as possible.

            The bed is made of plywood and creates ample storage bellow. We keep our food in two plastic bins. All of our clothes and backpacks are stored underneath. Ace came with a grocery basket, which is the perfect toiletries organizer. The mattress is a little thinner than one would like but it certainly beats camping. The bed is as close to luxury as we could get: with the two pillows Ace came with, plus the down pillow we brought, the two airplane blankets we stole, a wool blanket, a huge sheet, and of course our two sleeping bags- almost as good as a real bed!

            All things said, we are undeniably in love with Ace. He is quirky and has a huge personality, which only make us more enamored. We are already emotionally attached and incredibly protective- he feels like an old friend or as Kyle puts it, “one of the homies”.  Kyle is already looking into bringing him home with us.

            (Cooking and food are a story within themselves, which will be coming soon.)