Storm chasing with Deli. Here be dragons!

Origin date: 7/10/26

I went thru most of my life and never owned a van. Only really thought about it once when we had the second kid, but for the most part, vans were just for stoners and Scooby Doo fans. Or so I thought, until I actually parked one in the garage.

It’s a whole new world. It makes a person feel mobile. Untethered. Alive. Most of all – FREE. The ability to go anywhere, and virtually take all the junk you think you need but should have been dropped off at Goodwill years ago.

In most cases I’ve seen, people load up all their personal burdens/worries from the real world they are running from, and drag that baggage across the country. All the while taking selfies in National Parks to prove they’re happy. What is that song about freedom? Something to lose?

But that’s not me. When I started getting involved with other Delica van owners on forums, looking for info on parts and service, I found a crowd that really isn’t my style. Kind of like when you pass a fishbowl at a couple’s house party of a friend of a friend, and immediately drop your car keys down a storm drain in the street.

But I tell you what I have become: a storm chaser! And Deli is not afraid of neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night. Maybe that is why I have seen so many of them turned into rural postal vehicles because they love scary weather.

Sometimes I get out of bed on a day off and have to size up what Glacier is going to give (or take) from me. Don’t feel like kayaking. Don’t feel like hiking. It might be a weather day. So why not turn the key, warm up the glow plugs, and make that old diesel sputter and take me away?

For being such a tall and narrow vehicle, the Deli isn’t as tippy as most would think. Of course, when you go into a traffic circle with a 20mph sign, you’d best keep just a little under 15. Just saying. Either way, you will still spill your coffee.

Hearing that wind and rain on the windshield and roof, all while you are cozy with the heat on inside. Watching nature unburden herself from comfort and safety makes just being an observer so much fun.

When the sun comes and goes, you get those hard contrasts of total darkness and absolute light. Like being in a tempest, continually breaking thru the eye of the storm, only to stumble upon it once again.

The Delica acts like a little life pod. An observation fish bowl that allows you to see the world and be fully immersed in your surroundings. Yet you get the time to reflect in comfort without having to chase your hat down the shoulder of the road.

There was a moment I almost thought Glacier Park was giving Deli some kind of spiritual blessing. A sign from above that this is where my foreign minivan was destined to be. But that sounds kind of silly. Any Catholic will tell you that low sun and van from Japan does not a blessing make.

This is why it’s called the Swiss Army Knife of minivans. All functionality, a touch of cheesy 90’s fashion, and ample space to cram all of the stuff you don’t need.

I have paddled St Mary Lake a few times this season. And this is what I have always feared. Some of the worst winds you could ever imagine for a day on the water. Rangers advise you to have a craft that can handle a 2- to 3-foot wave. So choose your paddle day wisely.

A picture can’t really capture the feeling and power of the wind. Check out the patterns the wind forms on the surface of the lake in this short video

The single sliding door on the Deli is, as Goldilocks once said, juuuuust right. Not too wide, not too tall. Doesn’t let in too much wind. And when you spin the 1st-row seat a full 90 degrees to the left, it lines up perfectly for watching the elements outside twist in rage.

And with the front and back heaters roaring, you can really kick back with the door open on a chilly day. After all, my Deli has the Chamonix winter package. It was built for the cold and harshest winter conditions Japan could dish out. Sapporo (where it’s from) has snow on the ground for over six months a year.

Of course, the best part of chasing the storm dragon is that you never know when the journey will end. Will it be a three-day slow-moving summer soaker? Or is it a lightning & fire show blowing off the Great Plains? Maybe a thunder-boomer express dropping over the continental divide? There is always blue sky above the clouds!

So although I didn’t really get much accomplished on a coveted day off, it was fun spending a little time in the Delica. No need to hurry thru the summer. It’s okay to slide the van door open sometimes. Enjoy where you are at that moment and in that place.

GoatBoy out!

And Patrick sucks. But his hair, in this wind, would have been nothing less than magnificent!