18/28 Car Truths: Familiarity

Source.

Familiarity

If you're planning on living out of your vehicle, whether to travel or as an alternative to four walls, get to know the place you're going to be residing, parking and or traveling through.

It doesn't require extremely detailed knowledge on the area, but just enough to try and stay out of trouble and avoiding inconveniences. An example would be rush hour in the morning, lunch time or five pm.

Where's the "bad" part of town? Are you near a school (especially if you have a van)? Are you in a heavy traffic area? Or a town small enough where an unusual vehicle would stand out? Are there strict parking laws (Colorado Springs vs. Fort Collins)? Are there higher rates for car accidents (LA freeways)

Knowing your surroundings is generally a safe idea anyway, but living out of your car is vulnerable. One break in, one car accident or the cops following you around can really mess up your experience.

Mishaps will happen regardless, try to action to avoid some of them.
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Third Night and The Man

The night itself went pretty smoothly. I got to sleep in a bit due to my schedule. In an attempt to stay stealthy, I set my alarm for sunrise. Unfortunately, when I woke up the sun shined brightly enough for my position to be more noticeable. I wasn't approached, but it made me slightly uncomfortable with the possibility.

The Rec Center is currently on a Winter Break schedule, which means that on weekends I don't have the time go to the Rec Center. So, this is the first day where I had to do a "bathroom shower" in the library. That went pretty smoothly, as the bathrooms at the entrance are single rooms and have plenty of privacy.

Not wanting to be stuck inside all day, when the temperatures appeared agreeably, I found a small park near my work to go and read. A patrol officer noticed me near my car. He said he wanted to make sure I was okay, because my head bowed down over a book, but I didn't really believe him. Then he asked if I lived in my car and I answered him honestly.

He then explained to me about housing options, gave me his card, and left. It isn't illegal to sleep in your car in the state of Colorado. Over the past three days, I've been approached by two police officers (albeit the first one is my fault). I honestly think the mattress in the back might be causing too much attention. Definitely need to get rid of it and just sleep on the seats.


FOOD!
An orange and four carrots for 50 cents each, tortilla and peanut butter for 30 cents, and a sausage biscuit for 1.07.

The First Night

Before I slept outside in my car, I first slept in the garage of the townhouse I use to live at. This helped me find a comfortable way to position myself in the car. The passenger seat is taken out, so I lie diagonally across with my head in the back seat on the driver's side and my feet by the passenger's car door. In the garage this worked out comfortably and in my hurry I didn't test it outside.

Most of this could of been prevented with planning ahead of time.

1.) Privacy
My first mistake was purchasing the reflective window covers right before bedtime. It took me much too long set up the window covers. I brought nothing in the car to hold them up, so I used sewing pins against the roof fabric. It wasn't ideal. KNOW

2.) Warmth
I did not plan how my night would go. After work, I stayed dressed in my business casual. The laundry that I had done earlier that day hadn't fully dried, so no sweatpants or sweaters to wear to bed for me.

3.) Sleep
Third mistake: I curled up in a ball. Almost every two hours my knees would be sore from shivering in a ball and I'd stretched them out for a bit to relieve the aching. Moving out of my huddled position, exposed my legs to the cold air of the car. Ergo, all night I was curling and uncurling and aching.

The melting condensation after driving to the Rec Center

4.) Condensation
Because the temperatures stayed at a chilly below freezing level, the condensation in the car, from breathing, froze to the windows. When I awoke, the frost covered every window. Not knowing what to do, I turned the car on… oh wait. The keys had fallen under the seat. I searched for the keys, in my light, casual work wear: my fourth mistake.

5.) The Man
Final mistake: I forgot to turn on my lights when driving to the gym. At five-forty in the morning, I got pulled over for not having my lights on. Fortunately, the officer just gave me a warning, instead of charging the $35 fine for driving with no lights.

That was my morning. Everything got better after that: working out at the gym was peaceful, the hot shower afterwards felt amazing and the 1.69 for a hamburger breakfast happen to be a nice treat.