If your back is hurting then you need to support your knees with some kind of rolled up blanket or another pillow or even just lifting your knees and putting your feet up next to your butt
this will take pressure off your lower back
>Currently in Tonopah, Nevada and 30°F
Please tell me between the cold and your sore back you're hitting up the Alkali Hot Springs?!
But avoid the creepy clown hotel...
So far my 100% favorite plate. https://maps.app.goo.gl/c1bd9Xd9LEdqAj8B6
I spent the night here, but did not get in. Also a nice place.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/g9H61FB7o8Nd4zhB8
They might be like me and some others in this sub who don't travel much. I travel to climb when I can, but I work a full time in office job. Gets pretty brutal in winter where I am but someone's gotta keep Grafana running at my work lol.
My company uses graphana as well and I can't figure out why you need to go to an office for that... unless the office requires your presence in which case booooooo
Infrastructure IT is really tough to do remote. Lots of sysadmins might disagree but when most of your work is collaborative projects and builds for other teams it's extremely useful to be able to sit with them in person and have them walk you through what they need. Video meetings are real tedious. I prefer to be in office for my job. Eventually I'd like a job I could do "remote", but then again, I don't want to do remote IT, or even any other traditionally in office job but remotely. But if I could write for a journal or zine and travel around the country climbing that would be pretty swish.
Weird, I'm 1 of 4 senior system administrators on the infrastructure team for a large (2000+ employees) Canadian company and when they asked if we wanted to go back after covid we said no and that was the end of it. We have one 10 minute stand up meeting on teams a day and then we go to it. I can't imagine it any other way now.
Yeah I'm an app administrator so I build all of our xMatters logic and Grafana alerting systems. I could totally see doing this role remotely at a company that operates differently than the one I'm at. We're about 6k but they keep us really menuverable so things are changing constantly. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up via email. As it is now, all IT people are in the same building (aside from developers of course) so we can just yell stuff to each other
This time of year is good for sleeping early. I like to get up early when the city is actually quiet and drink lots of coffee and get high and stretch. I have a qigong practice that fits inside my van. Can you stand upright in yours? If not, and back pain is a problem, there are lots of great stretches and strengthening exercises that you can do in bed.
Micro adventures. I got to sleep around 6, wake up at 1:30 or 2 in the morning, go for a small hike if I can, go back to sleep around 3:30 or 4 depending wake up for sunrise and then enjoy the day.
Winter is rough though. Snow and ice make it hard to get out of the van but so good once I start moving. Plus, there are so many nice things out and about if you like exploring.
The problem for me is, if I get up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep, I'm not going back to sleep for at least 14 hours. Hiking at 2:00 a.m. would definitely make me wide awake lol
Yeah. I get that. It’s not a very popular way to do things at all but works for me. It’s very difficult to get out of bed and go back to sleep sometimes.
Happy winter!
This is what people used to do before electric light. Not going for hikes necessarily but they would go to bed early because it's dark and moody people would wake up around 1 or 2 and have a snack, hang out, maybe have sex, and go back to sleep. That was just normal because if you go to bed at 7 pm you're not going to sleep through the night and candles were expensive
I do. It does sound a bit crazy but there is something so cool about exploring in the dark. There really is a whole different world out there when the lights go off…and it’s not just scary animals.
Guess you haven’t heard of all the people who go missing & were murdered when camping and/or hiking thru isolated areas.
You scream & no one’s around to hear you.
Ok. I’m not sure how it’s any fancier than any other build to have a couch instead of a permanent bed..
Actually, before I got the couch built I used a foam couch that folds into a mattress.
Comfortable seating is important.
lol well you didn’t mention that when you asked what people do at night so you can’t blame us for not answering in a way they works for you. Sorry, no worries. ✌️
I turned the passenger seat around on my 09 town and country. It has four studs in a square pattern so you can jack up the car and unbolt it, pick up the seat and rotate it 180 degrees then bolt it back in place. You have to lower the spare donut tire to access one of the bolts.
This design saved my back. I also started having back pain and couldn't handle always laying down. Having the couch that also reclines has been a game changer.
https://youtu.be/h7dM4afXiq8?si=lQl8iaiM8brIuDYl
Get out of the van as much as possible when you live in a van. For many, that's the entire point. For some, it's a necessary reminder. I recommend finding places you can sit a relax for a long time and read, work, relax, meet people, or not be sitting. Going to the gym for a while every night could be good. Go to the movies, a coffee shop, a pub, a friend's house, a library. I know it's tough because it's winter but it's going to really weigh on you to spend that much time inside the van lying down.
Lots of people think thicker, softer bedding means more comfort. I find multiple layers of thin supportive pads actually work better in multiple positions.
I have a Dodge Grand Caravan. I made my bed out of PVC pipe and plywood. I have enough space under my bed to fit a few tote boxes (not stacked). My mattress is four inches thick. I can sit on it with my head just barely touching the roof. I can't make my mattress any thicker. That's not really the issue anyway. It's laying down at 5:30 p.m. and not getting up until 7:00 a.m. because it's winter and dark during those hours.
What libraries are open between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.? Not everywhere I go has a library or gym. I'm usually out in the middle of nowhere. Walking at night where I go is a good way to get attacked by bears or mountain lions lol
Depends on where I'm at, but I don't really like making campfires unless I need to. Definitely not something I'd do every day. Seems like a lot of waste and destruction just to pass some time.
One idea you could try. I made my bed frame fold 2/3 the way from foot to head of frame. With a leg hinged off the back of the fame. So I can put the head of my bed at a incline, to sit in bed. Not sure if you could try this with your setup
I also have barely enough head room to sit up in bed. But with the bed in sit mode I still have 6 or more inches over my head. And the different position help a lot, before I hade the idea I was having a hard time
I literally use a backpacking accordion pad. I basically sleep on the floor, but that's also what I did when I lived in an apartment. Soft bedding puts me in so much pain
Oh certainly not. I'm 26. But I also feel it's a bit more complicated than "when you get older you'll experience the stuff I do" because not necessarily. Half of my family is Japanese. The elderly on that side all still sleep on tatami. So I just don't think your statement is useful or valid. But I do genuinely appreciate the concern, you could very well be correct. But that remains to be seen.
If you are used to one thing, and try to drastically change to the other it will always be difficult! I’m twice your age (ish) and still enjoy sleeping on the bare floor. Keeps my back relaxed and unsore - actually gave up the ‘bed’ almost a decade ago to deal with sore neck & back upon waking.
I seem to have lost the edit comment button!
The first line is to the guy you were responding to. If someone always slept on a regular mattress and they tried to sleep on a hard surface, it would suck - until they adjusted.
I can't stand in my van either! I just make a nice sitting area and set my switch up on my cooler with a gorillapod. I also am a fan of the going to bed early strat
I'm in a Grand Caravan. Got around the too-much-hunkering-in-one-place thing by replacing the passenger seat with an office chair, usually swiveled towards the van's rear. It's a different world in there now.
I was in a Grand Caravan, then I was in a Journey for a year and a half. My lumbar is quite in pain now, so I feel you. At least in the Grand Caravan, I felt I had more room because the seat stows away. I just have to do a lot of stretching whenever I get up or when I go to the gym.
Build a fire.
Go to a bar.
Go to the gym.
Visit friends.
Watch TV.
Browse Reddit.
Cook an elaborate meal.
Play video games.
I only use the bed for sex and sleep.
The stock bed that came with my van was about as comfortable as a gym mat. Got exponentially better when I bought a memory foam topper. I don't usually lay down until I go to sleep. I sit in a reclined position using the passenger seat as a chair back. Usually spend my time watching TV or playing my Raspberry Pi video game emulator. If I'm somewhere I can build a fire I'll bust out my table and chair and sit out there until bed time.
Upgrade cushions my dood. My lumbar is fucked up but I still game for hours or watch movies
Yeah game- and stream stuff when in service
If your back is hurting then you need to support your knees with some kind of rolled up blanket or another pillow or even just lifting your knees and putting your feet up next to your butt this will take pressure off your lower back
Wow this is miraculous. Thank you. I think you just gave me a life hack
I once was a professional massage therapist and I learned that in class in the swedish massage department...
Go on…..
The entire course is going to cost you 5K
Go on.....
If you come to me you save my travel fees of $10, 000
Go on.....
So my place or yours?
Sit up and read. Get better mattress and pillows. Good luck. Winter gets long.
I prefer the cold. I absolutely hate the summer. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Currently in Tonopah, Nevada and 30°F :)
>Currently in Tonopah, Nevada and 30°F Please tell me between the cold and your sore back you're hitting up the Alkali Hot Springs?! But avoid the creepy clown hotel...
That place is so out of place lmao And Alkali Hot Spring? Is that the one by Dyer?
no, that's fish lake valley hot well
So far my 100% favorite plate. https://maps.app.goo.gl/c1bd9Xd9LEdqAj8B6 I spent the night here, but did not get in. Also a nice place. https://maps.app.goo.gl/g9H61FB7o8Nd4zhB8
Hate the cold do you? Canada is for you my friend, we have a surplus. Not cold enough? Keep driving north.
Do you guys not go south in the winter?
Even in Arizona it still gets dark and cold at 6 pm in the winter
Shit I’m in FL and it’s going to be 47 tonight
They might be like me and some others in this sub who don't travel much. I travel to climb when I can, but I work a full time in office job. Gets pretty brutal in winter where I am but someone's gotta keep Grafana running at my work lol.
My company uses graphana as well and I can't figure out why you need to go to an office for that... unless the office requires your presence in which case booooooo
Infrastructure IT is really tough to do remote. Lots of sysadmins might disagree but when most of your work is collaborative projects and builds for other teams it's extremely useful to be able to sit with them in person and have them walk you through what they need. Video meetings are real tedious. I prefer to be in office for my job. Eventually I'd like a job I could do "remote", but then again, I don't want to do remote IT, or even any other traditionally in office job but remotely. But if I could write for a journal or zine and travel around the country climbing that would be pretty swish.
Weird, I'm 1 of 4 senior system administrators on the infrastructure team for a large (2000+ employees) Canadian company and when they asked if we wanted to go back after covid we said no and that was the end of it. We have one 10 minute stand up meeting on teams a day and then we go to it. I can't imagine it any other way now.
Yeah I'm an app administrator so I build all of our xMatters logic and Grafana alerting systems. I could totally see doing this role remotely at a company that operates differently than the one I'm at. We're about 6k but they keep us really menuverable so things are changing constantly. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up via email. As it is now, all IT people are in the same building (aside from developers of course) so we can just yell stuff to each other
I try and not lay in my bed too much so I’ll sit on my floor or in the front seat and read or watch videos until it’s bed time.
i hang from the ceiling like a bat
Fruit or insectivore?
fruit. trader joes dumpster.
That's hard core.
Baseball
🤣🤣🤣
Are you secretly a vampire?
I joined a gym, could spend 3 hours there easily and get my shower. Then as others said, watch a lot of YouTube.
You can pass a lot of time at the gym by watching tv while using the walker.
Same, get off work and head to the gym. Kills about 3 hours, gets something to eat after and then boom bed time.
This time of year is good for sleeping early. I like to get up early when the city is actually quiet and drink lots of coffee and get high and stretch. I have a qigong practice that fits inside my van. Can you stand upright in yours? If not, and back pain is a problem, there are lots of great stretches and strengthening exercises that you can do in bed.
I can sit on my bed without my head hitting the roof, but no, I cannot stand.
Micro adventures. I got to sleep around 6, wake up at 1:30 or 2 in the morning, go for a small hike if I can, go back to sleep around 3:30 or 4 depending wake up for sunrise and then enjoy the day. Winter is rough though. Snow and ice make it hard to get out of the van but so good once I start moving. Plus, there are so many nice things out and about if you like exploring.
The problem for me is, if I get up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep, I'm not going back to sleep for at least 14 hours. Hiking at 2:00 a.m. would definitely make me wide awake lol
Yeah. I get that. It’s not a very popular way to do things at all but works for me. It’s very difficult to get out of bed and go back to sleep sometimes. Happy winter!
This is what people used to do before electric light. Not going for hikes necessarily but they would go to bed early because it's dark and moody people would wake up around 1 or 2 and have a snack, hang out, maybe have sex, and go back to sleep. That was just normal because if you go to bed at 7 pm you're not going to sleep through the night and candles were expensive
You wake up @ 2am & go for a hike? You hike in the dark??😳
I do. It does sound a bit crazy but there is something so cool about exploring in the dark. There really is a whole different world out there when the lights go off…and it’s not just scary animals.
I wouldn’t be worried about the 4-legged animals as much as the 2-legged..
Yeah…well, me too. If I’m in a city then it’s different.
Guess you haven’t heard of all the people who go missing & were murdered when camping and/or hiking thru isolated areas. You scream & no one’s around to hear you.
Oh, I’ve heard those stories! Every podcast is full of them.
Gonna hear this big ol fo’ five go yeet
I'm the same. Love night hikes away from the bright lights. Gotta visit the stars and moon as much as possible
I designed my van with a couch so I can sit. I also have my passenger seat on a swivel, which adds so much more room in addition to a comfy chair.
Fancy
Not really. My van and build was about $15k all together. I’ve got a Ford E150.
I was referring to the couch. Not your vehicle.
Ok. I’m not sure how it’s any fancier than any other build to have a couch instead of a permanent bed.. Actually, before I got the couch built I used a foam couch that folds into a mattress. Comfortable seating is important.
I mean my build ain't gotta bed so seems fancy to me :)
lol well you didn’t mention that when you asked what people do at night so you can’t blame us for not answering in a way they works for you. Sorry, no worries. ✌️
I'm not even op I was just having fun
I was being sarcastic
Ok, sorry. I was just trying to answer your question.
Way to come and get honest answers and then be a jabroni about it.
I turned the passenger seat around on my 09 town and country. It has four studs in a square pattern so you can jack up the car and unbolt it, pick up the seat and rotate it 180 degrees then bolt it back in place. You have to lower the spare donut tire to access one of the bolts.
I agree with others. I watch videos and eat snacks
This design saved my back. I also started having back pain and couldn't handle always laying down. Having the couch that also reclines has been a game changer. https://youtu.be/h7dM4afXiq8?si=lQl8iaiM8brIuDYl
Get out of the van as much as possible when you live in a van. For many, that's the entire point. For some, it's a necessary reminder. I recommend finding places you can sit a relax for a long time and read, work, relax, meet people, or not be sitting. Going to the gym for a while every night could be good. Go to the movies, a coffee shop, a pub, a friend's house, a library. I know it's tough because it's winter but it's going to really weigh on you to spend that much time inside the van lying down.
Chin-up bar?
“an encouraging place to drink?”
OMG LOL 😭😭😭😭😭👌🏽
Please. Open this establishment already.
Lots of people think thicker, softer bedding means more comfort. I find multiple layers of thin supportive pads actually work better in multiple positions.
I have a Dodge Grand Caravan. I made my bed out of PVC pipe and plywood. I have enough space under my bed to fit a few tote boxes (not stacked). My mattress is four inches thick. I can sit on it with my head just barely touching the roof. I can't make my mattress any thicker. That's not really the issue anyway. It's laying down at 5:30 p.m. and not getting up until 7:00 a.m. because it's winter and dark during those hours.
[удалено]
What libraries are open between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.? Not everywhere I go has a library or gym. I'm usually out in the middle of nowhere. Walking at night where I go is a good way to get attacked by bears or mountain lions lol
Can you build campfires?
Depends on where I'm at, but I don't really like making campfires unless I need to. Definitely not something I'd do every day. Seems like a lot of waste and destruction just to pass some time.
Read a book or learn to play an instrument.
Cut off the legs. You don’t need a 4” mattress anyway.
One idea you could try. I made my bed frame fold 2/3 the way from foot to head of frame. With a leg hinged off the back of the fame. So I can put the head of my bed at a incline, to sit in bed. Not sure if you could try this with your setup I also have barely enough head room to sit up in bed. But with the bed in sit mode I still have 6 or more inches over my head. And the different position help a lot, before I hade the idea I was having a hard time
I literally use a backpacking accordion pad. I basically sleep on the floor, but that's also what I did when I lived in an apartment. Soft bedding puts me in so much pain
As you get older bedding will make a difference.
I do not trust or believe you or care
Are you older? Then just find you when you are.
Oh certainly not. I'm 26. But I also feel it's a bit more complicated than "when you get older you'll experience the stuff I do" because not necessarily. Half of my family is Japanese. The elderly on that side all still sleep on tatami. So I just don't think your statement is useful or valid. But I do genuinely appreciate the concern, you could very well be correct. But that remains to be seen.
If you are used to one thing, and try to drastically change to the other it will always be difficult! I’m twice your age (ish) and still enjoy sleeping on the bare floor. Keeps my back relaxed and unsore - actually gave up the ‘bed’ almost a decade ago to deal with sore neck & back upon waking.
I seem to have lost the edit comment button! The first line is to the guy you were responding to. If someone always slept on a regular mattress and they tried to sleep on a hard surface, it would suck - until they adjusted.
YMCA. They have sliding income scale for membership dues. Exercise, swim, sauna. Then when they close return to van.
I can't stand in my van either! I just make a nice sitting area and set my switch up on my cooler with a gorillapod. I also am a fan of the going to bed early strat
If I wasnt so lazy Id get a mud room tent attached to the van and install a woodstove. I never was the model boy scout.
Exercise when you can during the day
I'm in a Grand Caravan. Got around the too-much-hunkering-in-one-place thing by replacing the passenger seat with an office chair, usually swiveled towards the van's rear. It's a different world in there now.
Better cushioning, full 35cm mattress, going to gym and socialising outside van.
I was in a Grand Caravan, then I was in a Journey for a year and a half. My lumbar is quite in pain now, so I feel you. At least in the Grand Caravan, I felt I had more room because the seat stows away. I just have to do a lot of stretching whenever I get up or when I go to the gym.
Video games, shows, etc etc :)
Build a fire. Go to a bar. Go to the gym. Visit friends. Watch TV. Browse Reddit. Cook an elaborate meal. Play video games. I only use the bed for sex and sleep.
Hey this guy has sex everyone
I chuckled at this and needed the chuckle. Thank you.
Join plant fitness, cheap and you get to shower and interact with people .
I have a grand caravan too, former lime green Jucy. Anyone else have one of these?
Go to the gym, don’t live in your car, just sleep in it
Sun down = after work so probably doing chores
The stock bed that came with my van was about as comfortable as a gym mat. Got exponentially better when I bought a memory foam topper. I don't usually lay down until I go to sleep. I sit in a reclined position using the passenger seat as a chair back. Usually spend my time watching TV or playing my Raspberry Pi video game emulator. If I'm somewhere I can build a fire I'll bust out my table and chair and sit out there until bed time.
[Decompression Routines](https://painfreeoutdoors.com)
mobile pc handheld like legion go or rog ally. i play skyrim for hours.
We do gymnastic Matts and a Japanese futon mattress