Glad you two were able to enjoy some of San Francisco and Pacifica. From the looks of things, you were staying in Pacifica overnight, with most of your exploring in The City (San Francisco) during the day. For other van people who watch this to learn about van life around San Francisco, it's kind of important to know. In San Francisco at the beach, the park rangers clear out those areas at night. Around the Pacifica area it is a different story. Happy to hear that you found spots.
We stayed in Pacifica two nights and at the beach area in San Francisco for three. We only really show shots of legal rest stops on the channel and keep residential spots private as we don’t want to show peoples homes. It’s true that there are restrictions for rigs over 7ft or 20ft in length near the beach area. Although we do park in residential areas and can’t pretend that we don’t, we only recommend legal rest spots. iOverlander is a great resource.
Of your check engine light came on , you can always go to an autozone or oreilly’s to get a free diagnostic test to see what the code reads . That way you gauge with your mechanic if the cost is going to be expensive or not to fix the heck engine light. Good luck 🍀 guys
I’m SO glad you trusted your gut about leaving your van. It’s sad to see SF like this, but unfortunately it’s super dangerous atm. I went to school at Berkeley, and still have lots of friends in the Bay Area. If you guys need a place to leave your van for the day, I can reach out to my network to see if someone can help. Then you can take the BART into the city. The east bay (Berkeley and Oakland) are great places to check out, as well as Petaluma and Napa. I don’t recommend LA atm for the same reasons sadly. If you do plan on going, make sure to take the coast. The 5 is faster, but boring farm land and smells like cow poop for a lot of it.
Following your gut is always the best choice - even though we wanted to do some fun touristy things, it definitely would have completely depleted the fun out of us if we had to get a window repaired. Thank you so much for that offer and the advice. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you two. Hope your engine issue was resolved. Enjoying the smooth videos, no more bouncing =) Your parking vows reminded me about our last visit to Seattle where we parked in a lot downtown to visit some art galleries and all the gallery owners warned us we should not leave the car there for too long so we rushed back and saw a suspicious looking guy standing near the car, so we quickly left.
Happy New Year!!! We are working on the engine issue - will update! Kind of freaky to think that people are scoping out your vehicle.... but sounds like you were able to keep your car safe in Seattle - we are lucky!
Looking forward to following this adventure, be aware of your surroundings but don't let unnecessary worry about what could potentially happen affect your enjoyment. Travel always has some risks.
I grew up in the Bay Area many years ago. I loved it but these days am happy to be away. One thought is to sleep across the bay in the Oakland hills / Berkeley hills but not in the flats.
Living through your vlogs this year :) Happy new years guys! Have you thought about installing a car cam or dash cam for theft?? Not that it would really stop them if they wanted to badly but for ease of mind maybe a live feed cam could make you feel better while traveling!
Thank you for watching! Happy new year! Such a good point. We have some new security measures that we’ve installing and incorporating in the van this year :) will be sharing them as we go.
One of the things I love about your vlogs is all the delicious food you prepare and eat in the ambulance. I do have a question though: how do you keep the food smells from permeating every thing you own!?
Well our clothes are tucked away so our clothes don't stink but we have to run our fan whenever we're cooking (since we cook with propane, it's a necessity even when it's very cold) so the air does get sucked out of the van almost immediately! Some smells linger for a bit, like coffee, but once we open the windows the air escapes quickly!
very informational van life videos. man F san fran!! welcome to MURICA! Thanks for the heads up now I know I will never leave my car without a human being in it out there... and even that could be dangerous! Id skip the area!
What mechanic did you utilize? And what spots felt safe for overnight?
Glad you two were able to enjoy some of San Francisco and Pacifica.
From the looks of things, you were staying in Pacifica overnight, with most of your exploring in The City (San Francisco) during the day.
For other van people who watch this to learn about van life around San Francisco, it's kind of important to know. In San Francisco at the beach, the park rangers clear out those areas at night. Around the Pacifica area it is a different story. Happy to hear that you found spots.
We stayed in Pacifica two nights and at the beach area in San Francisco for three. We only really show shots of legal rest stops on the channel and keep residential spots private as we don’t want to show peoples homes. It’s true that there are restrictions for rigs over 7ft or 20ft in length near the beach area. Although we do park in residential areas and can’t pretend that we don’t, we only recommend legal rest spots. iOverlander is a great resource.
Nick being a dad about the cost of parking. Nick sounding like a dad about the car he used to have.
You're gettin old, peaches!
Looks like a blast
You sounding like a dad by saying “looks like a blast”. We love ya ❤️
Something that I'm doing in my build you might want to add to yours; a hidden engine killswitch, and a divider to the back that you can lock.
Of your check engine light came on , you can always go to an autozone or oreilly’s to get a free diagnostic test to see what the code reads . That way you gauge with your mechanic if the cost is going to be expensive or not to fix the heck engine light. Good luck 🍀 guys
Happy New Year Nick and Rachel have a good winter -8 here in Chilliwack ..cold today..nice video I enjoyed watching
Happy new year! Stay warm!! xxx
I’m SO glad you trusted your gut about leaving your van. It’s sad to see SF like this, but unfortunately it’s super dangerous atm. I went to school at Berkeley, and still have lots of friends in the Bay Area. If you guys need a place to leave your van for the day, I can reach out to my network to see if someone can help. Then you can take the BART into the city. The east bay (Berkeley and Oakland) are great places to check out, as well as Petaluma and Napa. I don’t recommend LA atm for the same reasons sadly. If you do plan on going, make sure to take the coast. The 5 is faster, but boring farm land and smells like cow poop for a lot of it.
Following your gut is always the best choice - even though we wanted to do some fun touristy things, it definitely would have completely depleted the fun out of us if we had to get a window repaired. Thank you so much for that offer and the advice. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you two.
Hope your engine issue was resolved.
Enjoying the smooth videos, no more bouncing =)
Your parking vows reminded me about our last visit to Seattle where we parked in a lot downtown to visit some art galleries and all the gallery owners warned us we should not leave the car there for too long so we rushed back and saw a suspicious looking guy standing near the car, so we quickly left.
Happy New Year!!! We are working on the engine issue - will update! Kind of freaky to think that people are scoping out your vehicle.... but sounds like you were able to keep your car safe in Seattle - we are lucky!
Looking forward to following this adventure, be aware of your surroundings but don't let unnecessary worry about what could potentially happen affect your enjoyment. Travel always has some risks.
Totally!!
I grew up in the Bay Area many years ago. I loved it but these days am happy to be away. One thought is to sleep across the bay in the Oakland hills / Berkeley hills but not in the flats.
Living through your vlogs this year :) Happy new years guys! Have you thought about installing a car cam or dash cam for theft?? Not that it would really stop them if they wanted to badly but for ease of mind maybe a live feed cam could make you feel better while traveling!
Thank you for watching! Happy new year! Such a good point. We have some new security measures that we’ve installing and incorporating in the van this year :) will be sharing them as we go.
One of the things I love about your vlogs is all the delicious food you prepare and eat in the ambulance. I do have a question though: how do you keep the food smells from permeating every thing you own!?
Well our clothes are tucked away so our clothes don't stink but we have to run our fan whenever we're cooking (since we cook with propane, it's a necessity even when it's very cold) so the air does get sucked out of the van almost immediately! Some smells linger for a bit, like coffee, but once we open the windows the air escapes quickly!
Sweet rig. Lil peep represented
Peep forever ❤️
very informational van life videos. man F san fran!! welcome to MURICA! Thanks for the heads up now I know I will never leave my car without a human being in it out there... and even that could be dangerous! Id skip the area!
Get a pitbull, or trained German Shepherd.