The First Two Nights

At Hildebrand Winery, just outside of Gettysburg, PA

We recently spent our first two nights in the van. We used the Harvest Hosts app both times to find somewhere to park for the night.

On Saturday, we stayed at Hildebrand Winery just outside of Gettysburg, PA. Our parking spot was a the bottom of rolling fields. The host was terrific and gave us private tasting since the winery was closed. We ended up buying three bottles of wine, a jar of honey and a candle. The honey and candle were also from the farm as they also have beehives.

On Wednesday night, we parked in someone’s driveway using Boondockers Welcome, also part of Harvest Hosts for an extra fee. The house was in a really nice development along the shores of Lake Hopatcong, NJ. Though it felt kind of strange at first to be parked in front of someone’s house when they weren’t home, it was much better than, I' am sure, it would have been parking in a rest area or a Walmart parking lot.

Being in the van for those two nights was very enjoyable and extremely comfortable. We found the diesel heater to extremely efficient. Both nights, we filled up the fuel tank just before arriving at our destination and barely used any fuel, even with running the heat all night. We were also pleased to discover that our electrical system will certainly suffice for several days off grid, even with using a microwave to heat up food.

We can’t wait to get on the road full time.