sublime;

somewhere over texas last week

I’ve created a kind of a routine for myself. Once a week I eat out. Not in a restaurant, but in a nature. There’s a magic in eating in nature and I mean it. Each time I prepare breakfast in the evening and I know that I’ll have to get up at 4-4:30 am , it makes me excited. I know that there will be a colourful sky involved, that I’ll drive outside of Berlin and there will be hardly any cars and that I’ll eat in a beautiful location.

Whenever I am planning another breakfast outside, I have hundreds of pictures in my head. I imagine having it in a forest, in between fields, on a beach… I think it’s a summer thing. This time I’ve found a perfect location next to a field. It was one of these accidental discoveries, I saw it and it made me stop my car. But it was a week ago. It took me about an hour to find it again, bummer. I usually take a table and chairs, I actually carry them in a truck of my car constantly lately. This time there was no use for them. Just a blanket, pillows and what was already there. The only thing I didn’t predict were 12*C, which didn’t go well with a cold brew. Who would think that in July, when there’s 25*C during a day, it will be so cold in a morning.

It was wonderful anyway, so refreshing, helps to clear a head. There’s no computer, no music, just nature around. Kind of back to basics. We all need it from time to time, don’t we.

This time I made something really easy - breakfast in a jar. I mixed millet with red pesto (homemade one is amazing!), added baby salad, feta, tomatoes, boiled egg and wow! The magic happened!

You will need (for 2):

1/5 cup millet

4-5 tbsp pesto

1 tbsp olive oil

baby salad or spinach

feta

tomatoes

1 egg, boiled

salt and pepper

Cook millet as you usually do. When it cools down, mix with pesto and divide between two jars. Topp with salad or spinach, feta, tomatoes, pour a bit of oil over and finish with a boiled egg. Season with salt and pepper for taste.

He’s a walk through of my recently converted 170" Sprinter van. The idea was to make the layout as open and simple as possible. I wanted to be able transform the space from a bedroom to a living room/kitchen with the dropping of a bed that could easily latch to the wall when needed. To finish the wood a natural recipe of 2 parts olive oil, 1 part lemon juice and a few drops of essential oils was used. Here’s a list of the features 1. Vertical racks at the rear for shortboards, tripod, beach umbrella, fishing rods and yoga mat 2. Solar shower and shower curtain that spans the two back doors to create a private shower area. 3. Sink and pump faucet 4. Propane stove with propane container mounted on outside of van 5. Clothing storage and hanging rack 6. Top loading compressor fridge (energy efficient) 7. Food storage 8. 2 Glass water jugs with pumps- padded and secured 9. Clothing and backpack hooks 10. Fold up third seat 11. Ventiline vent with 12v high power fan 12. Fold up bed- underside is a white board and cork board for storyboarding, planning and note taking 13. Hammock mount and hammock desk- my most proud invention (game changer when working) 14. Longboard sling on inner roof 15. First aid kit 16. Kitch towel and paper towel rack 17. 2 sets of 32’ LED Christmas fairy lights 18. Compact wood stove 8” x 8” x 14” (yet to be installed) 19. Rear exterior mounted propane cylinder and diesel gas can My solar list 1. 2 Renology 100w 12v solar panels with voltage regulator ($330) 2. 2 100ah AGM marine batteries ($240) 3. Krieger 1500 watt inverter ($140) 4. 8 outlet energy saving power strip ($35) 5. LED christmas and white copper wire fairy lights ($40 for both) 6. A Whynter 45 quart electric top loading compressor fridge ($445) Tools used to build out the van

1. Circular saw- for cutting clean, straight and long cuts 2. Jig saw- for cutting rounded edges 3. Table/angle saw- for making short, precise cuts that need to be a specific angle 4. Cordless drill- for drilling and screwing 5. Drill bit and screw bit set 6. Tape Measure and chalk line for marking cuts 7. Angle measure- to check angles and mark for cutting 8. Clamps for holding wood together for drilling 9. Vise grips 10. Pencils 11. Ear and eye protection 12. Right angle 13. Hammer In total the build cost around $8,000 for solar, lumber, hardware, accessories and my friend Glen’s time. This wasn’t the most complicated build out but we used high quality materials and wanted to get it done quickly. The entire conversion would have taken nine solid days start to finish with two people. I took a few breaks during the finishing of the wood and installing the remaining features so it’s taken two and a half weeks. You could save a lot of money by doing it all yourself, using cheaper wood (only using plywood for the walls), and not having full-on solar system. A full history of my experience living in vans and a detailed account and exclusive photos of this project can be seen on reef.com/blog