In retrospect, it’s amazing that the outdated panel van lasted for as long as it did.
When I bought the van from my Uncle Pete it was already ten years old! Pete had taken wonderful care of it, so it ran well, however it didn’t have too multiple wonderful years left in it.
I drove that big van everywhere, and when things went sour with my parents I turned it into my home. It was big enough to sleep in, and got me away from their house; This turned out to be a awful idea, because although the town of Philadelphia, PA is enormous, it’s darn near impossible to find a long term parking spot… Once the Philadelphia cops find out you are residing in your car they will make sure you can’t park anywhere for more than a few hours, and after the second time the Philadelphia cops made me transfer from under a bridge, I was getting exhausted of it. I found an RV park on the outskirts of Philly that let me park and sleep there at night. This was a stroke of luck, because it’s also where I met the owner of a cannabis dispensary who offered me a job. At this point cannabis had just been legalized, and current dispensaries were popping up all around Philadelphia. This woman needed workers, and I needed currency, so it was a match made in heaven. I stayed in Philadelphia and worked at the cannabis dispensary for six months, then I paid to service the van and hit the road to find a current home.