“This is how you fold up the futon to make a couch.” He lifted the mechanism to create a couch from the bed. He turned and looked at her. “And when you are ready for bed, just do this.” He converted it back to the bed.
She smiled with relief. “My back thanks you, Ethan.”
He barked out a laugh. “You’re welcome. You ready for the other updates?”
She nodded and grinned.
He moved the futon to the couch position and then walked to the side of the van. “There is storage under the seat of the couch. I moved a better and bigger cooler here. So when you guys are boondocking, you’ll be able to keep your food cold.” He lifted the seat and showed her.
She looked at him. “And there’s still room for other stuff.”
He nodded. “You have your clothes in the small cabinets above the bed, but you could move your first aid kit down here.”
Elana frowned. “We have a first aid kit?”
He grinned and pulled a kit out from beside the cooler. “You do now. Yet another item that your grandmother asked for.” He put the kit back and let the bench down. “If you are thinking you want to make it solar in the future, you’d be able to do so. You could have a functioning refrigerator and some small lights. But for now, you can survive with what you have.”
She arched her brow. “I don’t think Grandma Cecilia will be taking any more trips in this van.”
He cut his eyes at her. “What about you?”
She stepped inside and sat down on the sofa. “Me? I don’t think I’m cut out for road tripping.”
He studied her. “I don’t know. You made it this far.”
She looked down at the floor of the van and for the first time noticed the new item. “There’s a rug.”
He shrugged. “Not exactly new. Felicia found it at the thrift store in town. She picked it up today. She said she thought it might be just the thing to make your van seem more cozy.”
Elana studied the green and blue rug. “It’s beautiful. I’ll have to thank her.” She looked up at him. “Tell her she should be an interior designer. She has a great eye.”
He grinned. “I will.” He moved away from the side of the van where he was standing. “And now let me show you this.”
Her mouth dropped. “That’s a sink. How in the world can a van have a sink?”
He opened the cabinet underneath, revealing a large plastic water container. “It’s self-contained. You just must be mindful of when you need to fill it up. Let me show you how it works.” He turned the tiny handle by the faucet and demonstrated.
“That’s great. Now to figure out how to heat my water for my coffee in the morning,” she joked.
His eyes sparkled. “I put in a small water heater for future use. You still need to connect to electricity. But it’s not for your coffee. It’s for your outdoor shower.”
She slowly stood up. “Shower? How is that possible?”
He slowly pulled out the extendable faucet. He stuck it through one of the jalousie windows. “Come outside.”
She followed him around the van. He pulled out a plastic shower curtain from a bag on the ground.
“You attach the shower curtain to these hooks I put up. Once you step behind the curtain, you turn on the faucet and enjoy a shower.”
She laughed. “That’s incredible. I guess all I need is a fire to cook.”
“Come with me.” They walked back inside the van. He opened a cabinet under the sink. “That’s what this is for.” He pulled out a small gas tank and a portable stove. “This is a portable two-burner propane stove. You can use it outside, but once you guys get into the mountains and the temperatures drop, you’ll want to make your coffee inside.”
A smile stretched across her face. “As long as I have hot coffee, I think I can handle anything.”
Ethan nodded in agreement. “I want to talk to you about something.” He stepped out of the van. She followed, and he shut the van door.
“Okay.” She shoved her hands in her jeans pocket.
