Scott D. McLean, MD

Gap Year – Week 13

I am a quarter of the way through this gap year, the 12 months between fanatical obsession with exome sequencing and full-time dedication to the writing life.

The past few weeks we have focused on a new adventure – Van Life. My wife and I have been thinking about this for a few years, weighing the pros and cons of Sprinters and Ram Promasters and Ford Transits. New, Used, Custom, Elegant, Rugged, Full-Time, Part Time, electrical systems, water, shore power, awnings, light bars, solar, uplifts, bed systems, inverters, lovers, haters. A couple of friends have done this – one in a Transit, another in an Airstream. There are a million hacks: a dually gives a smooth ride; a dually does not work in snow, put string lights under your RV all night in Arizona so the mice don’t climb up your tires and chew the electrical cables, be careful with your water, be careful with your electricity. Oh and by the way, you go to amazing places. And it’s fun.

We found a 2023 Transit Trail at a local dealer – not clear if they knew what it was, a version of the work-a-day Transit that has been factory-upfitted with some of the bling and engineering that accommodate a more extensive build out. The interior has driver’s and passenger’s seats and not much else. The wheelbase is 148 inches and it’s 20 feet long. We took it to an empty parking lot and practiced turns and backing up. Understanding where the front of the vehicle is turns out to be trickier that knowing where the back is. Amazingly, no dents. Also amazing, my wife can back it up better than me.

The day I bought it I called up our insurance company and said, “Hey, I have a new vehicle and want to add this to my policy, please.” This is something like vehicle number 27. I’ve been with them since 1982. “Yes, sir. What is the make and model?” “Ford Transit Trail,” I replied. “Right now a shell, but we will soon be upfitting it with the usual – bed, shower, refrigerator, racquetball court.”

Pause.

“Well, sir, I’m afraid we can’t insure that.”

Que?

“No, we can’t insure that vehicle because we only insure automobiles, and this is an RV.”

So that was that. (I thought for a moment that they would have given in if it had been a squash court. Old school.) I pivoted briskly and found an alternative insurer and all is well.

Then I needed to park it somewhere, preferably some place where the Texas hailstorms could be kept at bay. The clear first choice for us would be at the RV Parking Area at Ft Sam Houston, actually now JBSA, as both my wife and I are retired Army. So I drove on post and found the Outdoor Recreation Center. It was a quiet day; the gentleman there said, “Well, it’s a 3 month waiting list right now. What is your vehicle?” “Ford Transit, soon to be upfitted,” I replied.

“Well, sir. We can’t given you a spot on the waiting list because your vehicle does not qualify. You see, we can only store RVs on our lot, and we consider that Transit to be an automobile.”

Meanwhile: The eclipse is coming, the eclipse is coming!

Yeah.

~ ~ ~

My nephew and his wife will visit us in San Antonio next weekend, expressly to see the solar eclipse on Monday. We have the special glasses – apparently these are the same spectacles that are mandated for continuous wear by politicians and certain influencers.

We will hike along the River Walk and to the Missions, visit our favorite restaurants. So grateful for out-of-town guests! It’s our chance to drive downtown and get lost. We also are bemused at the prospect of much-needed rain, which most assuredly will fall during the Central-Texas totality: mid-day next Monday. This is the way.

~ ~ !

Something I read and recommend: A book review by Adam Gopnik in the March 25 edition of The New Yorker. Yes, I’ll read the book, too – Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power, by Timothy W. Ryback. “Ryback details, week by week, day by day, and sometimes hour by hour, how a country with a functional, if flawed, democratic machinery handed absolute power over to someone who could never claim a majority in an actual election and whom the entire conservative political class regarded as a chaotic clown with a violent following.”

Many have observed that history doesn’t repeat itself but often rhymes.

Were it only couplets.

Now go. Write the next line with your life.