The tale of the three stoves

Ñu, our beloved camper van, is a one-fuel kind of affair: as long as there’s diesel in the tank, we have mobility thanks to its diesel-powered engine, we have heat thanks to its diesel-powered heater, and we have coffee and hot meals thanks to its fantastic diesel-powered cooker. Still, we’ve been carrying a camping stove as a back up, and also to cook outside on hot days… which we had never done until our trip to Big Sur and Carrizo Plain.

For reasons that I am unable to recall, I decided to use the camping stove to boil water for breakfast. We later left the campground for a few hours, but didn’t bother stowing the stove… after all, who’d steal stuff from a campsite? Well, it seems that an immaculate stove that has only been used to boil water in its maiden deed is too tempting for some people, because there was no signs of it when we came back. Stove 1: MIA. Or more precisely, missing after action.

Luckily, we still had our fantastic diesel cooktop, so at breakfast time next morning I went as usual… except that some weird and loud noises came from the cooker’s guts. I perused the manual, and to my horror I read that “In the event of unusual combustion noises […], it must not be reused until it has been inspected by an authorized technician”. Didn’t I just say it was a fantastic cooker? Oops. Stove 2: out of commission. But only after ignoring the manual for ten more minutes so that I could have my coffee.

Undeterred by my stove karma, that day, on our way to our next destination, we stopped at a Walmart to buy a camping stove. When it came the time to use it that night, I immediately regretted I went for the cheapest one: it required matches! Who in their right minds manufacture stoves without the ignition thinghy?! I guess Coleman does. Stove 3: inoperable (due to the operator’s lack of vision, I must admit). So, it was a cold-dinner night followed but a dreadful caffeine-free morning, followed by a trip to a convenience store to get a damn lighter.

Other than that, our latest road trips have been rather uneventful, so here you have some pictures to fill up the vast empty space below.