That description (last post) requires a bit of elaboration. Cars don’t shrink. But space within them can. Especially if you fill the space up yourself. Continuously.

So, that might be a partial answer right there; as I continue to personally expand (like the universe), I occupy more space. Ergo, when I enter a fixed space, the fixed space has less space available for other things. Logical. I am part of the problem. Quel suprise!

But it is not just me. Sal, of course, is not expanding like the Milky Way that is me but she is remaining her original (17 year old) size. So she is not the problem. But she is a taker-of-space, consistent as she might be. There are the dogs, of course. They average another ‘Sal’ in weight and volume but another Sal and Dave in space requirements (although we have, at times, encroached on their space to a point of absurdity; Megan more than once riding on Sal’s lap!).

But the real culprit is our lack of a garage. That means that the car carries tools, ropes, blankets, water containers, electronics of various types, maps, books, telephone books, flashlights, spare changes of clothing including shoes and sometimes, a spare battery. And a spare tire.

I carry some spare oil in the engine compartment along with some antifreeze and windshield cleaner. There is the ‘jack’. We usually have ‘jumper cables’. There is the tow-hitch that lives ‘inside’ the car so as not to be stolen. And we have the dog toys, of course, jammed into the front-seat back pockets along with a towel, the windscreen wiper, Armor All and ‘wipes’.

And that is the car when it is ’empty’.

When we leave the house to go somewhere in the storage-shed-on-wheels-we-now-call-the-car, we fill it up some more, naturally. Firstly, with the aforementioned life-forms some of whom are also sentient. Then their ‘personal bags’, purses, phones, walkie-talkies and VHFs, computers, traveling bag, dog parephenalia, lunch, thermos, water bottles and, if traveling in the winter, more clothes, some extra tools and occasionally the chainsaw (for fallen trees). Whew!

If we are going for more than the day, we also bring luggage, gifts, wine, food and dog food at the very least.

And then we bring in the empty totes and coolers for the shopping that will take place on the trip. They are space occupiers empty or full (so we fill them going out and coming back. Different stuff, tho). And we may have the garbage, the recyclables and the other ‘take-backs’ (items that need to be returned to stores, friends, movie stores, libraries and various waste management bins).

NOW we are ready to shop!

And people don’t think we need an SUV! Truth: we need a 5 ton step van with four wheel drive and air conditioning, freezers, roof racks and a diesel engine. A footman or swamper would be a nice addition.

Plus a winch!