After watching hundreds (thousands?) of vanlife-related videos on YouTube I can tell you they can all be sorted into roughly half a dozen categories. In some videos people work on projects or perform repairs, while in others people share video of interesting things they’ve seen or places they’ve visited. In this video I did “all of the above.” It starts with a modification to my bed using a reciprocating saw, packaging up a failed power station for FedEx to pick up, and then concludes with me stealth camping in a very ridiculous location… the middle of a fireworks display.

Mustang, Oklahoma is one of the few towns I know of that legalizes fireworks for one week a year. The week of the Fourth, people are allowed to pop fireworks from 3pm-11pm, and all day on the Fourth of July. The end result, as you will see in this video, is madness. If you have ever heard someone light an entire package of fireworks all at once, it’s like that for about four hours straight.

There’s a park in the middle of town, Wild Horse Park, where a lot of people go to shoot fireworks, but the reality is people shoot fireworks from every yard and every parking lot in town. I parked across the street from Wild Horse Park in a big grass field next to a fireworks stand. I was told that people were not supposed to shoot fireworks within 500 feet of a fireworks stand, but as you’ll see in the video… they did. For hours. In all fairness, the Mustang police and fire department have their hands full all night long both trying to keep people safe and help those who weren’t.

Speaking of fireman, my friend Andy is one, in Mustang. In this video you’ll get to briefly meet him. Those guys work double-hard when it comes to keeping the community safe.

I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting when I decided to park my van in the middle of a fireworks display and sleep there for the night. It went exactly how you think it did. It was loud, it was annoying, I got very little sleep… and turned it into a hopefully entertaining video.

In this video I fixed a design flaw with my desk. I needed to remove a superfluous 2×4 on each end and was going to remove the desk to do it when I realized I could get to the offending piece of wood with my reciprocating saw. Once I had cut out the extra 2×4 support I sanded down the area and touched up the paint. I can now easily slide storage tubs and camping chairs underneath the desk. More storage is good storage.

Ryobi Reciprocating Saw (PCL515B): https://amzn.to/3upOR3A
Ryobi Random Orbit Sander: https://amzn.to/3umNMJA
Ryobi compatible 6.2Ah Batteries: https://amzn.to/3Gdqzw6

I hope each of you had a safe and fun Fourth of July. If I do this again next year, remind me to bring earplugs!