Faith in Humanity Restored

After my rough stay in Pennsylvania I was not in the best frame of mind. I was stressed, scared and frankly exhausted. I had to find a few campgrounds on the fly to bide my time in Ohio before my repair date at Drifter. The facilities were fine, but it was rainy, cold, and dreary. That combined with some everyday van life annoyances like dropping and cracking my water filter, freezing my fingers off dumping my grey tank, and not being able to find a place tall enough to wash Lucy who was covered in mud just put me in a crap mood.

After a long couple of days, I got up at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning to drive into Detroit. I was not up for tackling rush hour traffic in a big city so early was my best option. Once I pulled into the Drifter parking lot, I immediately felt better. Just like during my first visit to Detroit, the folks at Drifter welcomed me with open arms and support. Billy (foreman for Drifter), met me in the parking lot to go over my list of repairs and upgrades. Once that was finished he settled me and my dog into their office space so I could comfortably work for the day while they worked on Lucy. Billy told me they were hopeful that all the repairs/upgrades could be finished in a day putting me back on the road before the bad weather arrived.

Garrett and Billy are The Best!

To say that Billy and Garrett did an amazing job on my van is and understatement. They worked for 11 hours straight to get everything on list done and then some. In addition to my list of repairs and upgrades, they noticed a few things that I had broken during my first few months of travel and fixed them. They also took pictures of how everything in my garage and under my sink was stored so that when the work was done they could put everything back exactly like they found it. Who does that? During the day, they spent hours educating me on the electrical and heating systems in my van and answering all of my questions. I literally had a notebook full.

When I initially picked Lucy up, I didn’t know enough about van life to even ask the right questions. But after a few months of travel, I had a long list of them. I am the kind of person that likes to know how things work, and Billy and Garrett were happy to teach me. As a woman asking mechanical or electrical questions , I am often made to feel small. It’s the “silly little women doesn’t need to know about those things” mentality that I often face. But that is not how I felt at Drifter. Billy, Garrett and the rest of the team were happy to teach me and help me better understand how Lucy works while respecting my independence. It was one of those experiences that makes you realize that the world is full of good people despite how it feels sometimes. I guess to some that may seem overly dramatic, but to this solo traveler it meant the world.

The repairs and upgrades were complete by Tuesday so it was time for me to try and outrun the snow. Before I hit the road, Billy gave Lucy a bath in the 40 degree rain to get all of the mud off of her, and Garrett filled my tires, blew all the leaves off of my roof, and filled my water tank. With a heart full of gratitude and tank full of gas, it was time to go.

Thanks Drifter!