TGC

<r>Like a lot of people, after discovering #vanlife on YouTube I found myself trying to spot camper vans in real life. There were a lot of false positives (I was convinced every FedEx van was a stealth camper), but after a while I started seeing them at local campgrounds, the lake, and surprisingly,...

<r>Before I can talk about these shoes and how important they were to me, I have to first talk about shirts. Around the time I graduated high school I discovered “cool” t-shirts. In college I purchased an Edward Scissorhands shirt and a yellow shirt with a black zig-zagging line that resembled Charl...

<r>2023 was a year of change, a year of success, and a year of fun. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights! In 2023 our family unit saw a couple of big changes. In January, after many months of no updates, Susan’s medical retirement from the FAA was abruptly approved. After more than 25 years o...

<r>In this week’s video I did something a little different and recapped my vanlife experiences from 2023, and what to look forward to in 2024. In the second half of the video I went through the vanlife/camping-related Christmas gifts I received this year. I have documented every one of my van-relate...

<r>Brains are funny things. Studies have shown that human beings are pretty awful eye witnesses. The problem isn’t with our vision, but with the way our brain processes incoming information. Our fleshy pink memory banks would be filled to capacity if everything we saw every day was retained exactly ...

<r>For the past eight years I have been tracking every movie, documentary, and television show I’ve watched. I didn’t do as good of a job in 2023 of writing everything down as I have in past years, so I’ll need to be more mindful of doing that next year. The two categories of movies that rarely get ...

<r>After watching vanlife videos nonstop during the two-year pandemic lockdown, I made the leap in the summer of 2022 and bought my own van, a 2007 Ford E250. The van was a cargo van and a little rough around the edges, but once I removed the metal shelves and cleaned up all the scratches I […] The ...

<r>Some years it feels like doing the same holiday traditions over and over we is just going through the motions. Other years, the familiarity of those annual traditions provides comfort. That was the case this year for me. Our traditional events include baking Christmas cookies for Santa a few days...

<r>I have, more times than I care to admit, started building things without any plans. In our first home I built a gigantic computer desk which was christened Mammoth Desk 2000. I started without any plans or even a finished product in mind. I started with an unused kitchen countertop from a thrift ...

<r>The sorta-sequel to Winter Games by Epyx: it’s THE GAMES-WINTER EDITION! Support Sprite Castle at Patreon.com/RobOHara iTunes | RSS | Facebook | Twitter | WWW […]<br/> <br/> Source: <URL url="https://podcast.robohara.com/sprite-castle-088-the-games-winter-edition/"><s>[url]</s><LINK_TEXT text="ht...

<r>I learned a long time ago that some people are nostalgic and some people are not. I happen to be one of the ones who are. I think about the past. Sometimes I think about the past until it hurts. I get emotional over old places and things and people. I can’t help it; it’s […] The post <URL url="ht...

<r>In 2022 I bought one of those 12′ skeletons from Home Depot. Those skeletons are so tall and unwieldy that I had to call my buddy Jeff to come help me assemble it. We stood it up in front of my workshop facing the pool and strapped it to one of the porch’s support beams after a gentle wind blew t...

<r>In 2014, I put a down payment on an Elio, a three-wheeled car that promised to deliver 84mpg. had a 5-star crash rating, and cost […]<br/> <br/> Source: <URL url="https://podcast.robohara.com/ydkf-episode-231-elio/"><s>[url]</s>https://podcast.robohara.com/ydkf-episode-231-elio/<e>[/url]</e></URL...

<r>There are van projects I enjoy and van projects I do not enjoy. I love working on vanlife-related projects like building cabinets and installing gadgets, but actual vehicle maintenance is a real chore for me. They’re a necessary evil that take time and money away from projects I’d rather be worki...

<r>Every year, Oprah compiles and releases a list of items known as Oprah’s Favorite Things. I’ve looked at her lists before and question how many of the items she has actually used or even seen in real life, much less are her “favorite things.” I mean, maybe Oprah really does walk around her mansio...

<r>I suppose in a perfect world, the correct (or at least the most efficient) way to build a van would be to come up with a plan, build the van all at once, and then go out on adventures in your completely functional van. My brain doesn’t work that way. For me it takes sitting […] The post <URL url=...

<r>Car stereos have come a long way in a short period of time. The stock stereo that came installed in my 2007 Ford van had two knobs and listed “the ability to store AM and FM stations” as a feature. Modern stereos are essentially touchscreen computers that allow drivers to make phone calls, listen...

<r>It’s hard to remember a time I had more fun while being so miserable. The irony isn’t lost on me that I’ve been doing “all of this” — writing about vanlife here, posting pictures on Instagram, and uploading videos to YouTube — and have done very little camping in the van. I’ve slept in my […] The...

<r>On this week’s BigRobsVan YouTube channel, I did a Q&A and answered some hard hitting questions like “will you be adding air conditioning to your van?” and “does your van have a name?” I like talking about vanlife and I like making videos so this seemed like a natural fit. I got my first elec...

<r>I have a hard time parting with old laptops, especially when there’s nothing wrong with them other than the fact that Microsoft Windows has expanded past their capabilities. The typical response you’ll get from nerds like me when this happens is “install Linux on it,” which is not a one-size-fits...

<r>I was off work last Friday and so Susan and I had planned a day trip to Tulsa. While getting ready that morning I hopped in the shower and noticed there was no hot water. In one of our older houses we owned a hot water heater with a pilot light that was constantly going out, although we haven’t h...

<r>Getting a song stuck in my head drives me crazy. When I can’t remember where I know the song from, it drives me even more crazy. And when I can’t figure out the name or the song or who the artist is, it drives me absolutely bonkers! I mostly watch television these days on my computer, either usin...

<r>For Halloween in 2002, when Mason was only ten months old, Susan and I dressed him up in a costume (Tigger, I think) and took him “trick-or-treating” at the homes of our friends and family. For the past twenty years our Halloweens have revolved around celebrating with one or both of our children....

<r>Note: Below are Amazon Affiliate links to each of these products. This is not a paid advertisement — I paid for these items out of my own pocket. If you purchase either of these items by using these links, you get the normal Amazon price and I make something like 75 cents. Amazon Link: SUPERONE [...

<r>This beau-tee-ful game is way above par — from Access Software, it’s LEADER BOARD GOLF! Support Sprite Castle at Patreon.com/RobOHara iTunes | RSS | Facebook […]<br/> <br/> Source: <URL url="https://podcast.robohara.com/sprite-castle-087-leader-board-golf/"><s>[url]</s><LINK_TEXT text="https://po...