Ever since we started this trip, people have been asking what our vehicle is called. For the record, neither Liz nor I are in the habit of naming cars. My first car, a grey 1990 Honda Civic, was “My Civic”. My second car, a silver 2003 Volkswagen Golf, was “The Golf”. Thus far, our current vehicle, a 2006 Gulf Stream Vista Cruiser on a Freightliner Sprinter chassis with a Mercedes Benz engine that’s white with beige RV accent paint, has been the “The Van” or “The Rig” or “The RV.”

The Van had 23,000 miles on it when we bought it in 2014, meaning it had been driven very little. It was in very good condition, with everything working properly and with few signs of use. It had a few quirks from the beginning, the most notable being this wood storage container mounted to the dinette table.

We have made good use of it, as you can see, but from the beginning called it “Grandpa’s box.” There was also a little wastebasket screwed into the side of the passenger’s seat and empty holes from where who knows what used to be affixed, our guess mainly for organization. So began the theory that an elderly gentleman had bought the RV new, intended to use it for weekend fishing trips with or without Mama, and then died.

We ran the Carfax report and found a story rather consistent with our fabricated one. Someone bought the vehicle near LA with cash, owned it until 2013, and then it went to auction. At some point, it traveled from California to Arizona where we purchased it.

Meanwhile, in Mexican culture, an old man, both literally and a husband you’re forced to keep around, is called “Viejo.” Liz’s stepmom called her father, Jim, viejo all the time, as in “Come on, Viejo, get your own pills, you silly man” and “Ay, Viejo!”

While driving down the road, talking about Jim Moore, thinking about our rig, we realized (OK, I said it because I can’t help but come up with horrible names that are puns, like our dog L.B., thus named because he was both a “lazy butt” and from the pound. I’m so clever!) that we might call our RV “ouR Viejo.” So, for the time being, that’s what he is.