It would be about 2 1/2 hours to take the expensive toll roads from where we live to the nearest Costco on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan. We had a long weekend, so instead, we decided to take the slow route that only added a few kilometers but took a few extra days. We went through remote areas of the Japanese countryside, took a ferry, and wove our way through the Amakusa Islands. We were trying out a new configuration for our van where I made a floating platform that went above the seats to sleep on at night. It was tight, but it worked. We finally arrived at Costco and bought many wonderful things, but that is a tale for another day.