Bob Wells - down sizing for FREE traveling

[twomountainlions]

lol!!! I had a Hondabago according to my son. A 1986 Honda Civic Hatchback we could easily take out the driver and rear seats and set outside to sleep inside the car at night. 44 MPG in town and 54 MPG on the highway pretty important when you are counting pennies for gasoline to travel!

One thing about camping out of a small vehicle, which I did a lot in the past is that sleeping space setup inside takes up and wastes a lot of room. I always just slept in the tent.
Can't beat the good feeling of sleeping on the ground and so much space is freed for storage.
Camping in rains - it wasnt super comfortable, but I wouldnt tent camp in really rainy areas anyway because it just always sucks, in a tent, in a truck, in RV or in anything else.
I ended up with great cheap no name pop up typical dome tent with full attached rain fly that performed no worse than any glorified brands in rains, and had super quick take down and instant setup and it had plenty of room.
Slept in grizzly bear country in a tent just fine too, my tent never had a bit of food in it ever of course to contaminate it.
Roof tent is another option but climbing up to it is not for everyone.
I would not want to waste small vehicle space on the sleeping platform.

 

[LargeMarge]

...Cargo trailers aren't a good choice...

... pickup with a topper..., climbing into that truck bed...

.
a)
2003, I fabricated our toy-hauler on a commercial chassis.
Originally, I built it with a fifth-wheel hitch, but torched that off, then mounted a goose-neck hitch for greater articulation.
For us, our 7x16/2m x 5m cargo-trailer is the best decision.
.
b)
To get into the Dodge bed:
... I drop the gate,
... I set my tuchus on the gate,
... I swing my legs onto this raised platform.
.
If I was less nimble, I suppose I could fabricate long shallow drawers, and mount their frame into the pickup bed.
I guess I could stuff my stuff into the 'OUTED' drawers, then secure them in the 'INED' position for travel.
.
.
[edited to add]
Our introduction with plenty of portraits, plus our reasons for our decisions:
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/expeditionvehicle-build.44908/#post-576110

 

[maki2]

I would say that Bob Wells’ downsizing choice from the ambulance was more “carefree” versus free

 

[maki2]

I would say that Bob Wells’ downsizing choice from the ambulance was more “carefree”

I wish travel was free of costs. Hitchhiking would be about the closest to being cost free travel by vehicle.

 

[twomountainlions]

There are some youtube channels of people living out of landrovers and small army vehicles with pop up tops, pretty cool stuff, but they are broken down a lot and leak water a lot. New suv/minivan is a good choice. I heard it's hard to find good low mileage toyota now so may be that's why he didn't get a used RAV. I think he is tired of being stuck with repairs and unknowns of a used vehicle too

 

[LargeMarge]

... Bob...'s about 70 now and if his health & logevity holds...But when you get up in years you begin to...

.
a)
I turn 73yo in a few weeks.
We are frequent house-sitters, and we cannot, in our most lurid nightmares, imagine settling for a stand-still house [shudders involuntarily].
The darn things give me 'the creeps' [shudders involuntarily again].
.
Accordingly, I sure hope my health and logevity holds...
.
b)
One day, I might get up in years.
I could begin to, and I might continue to...

 

[Matlock]

I caught Bob's video last night. He didn't mention why he's no longer in the Ambo. He did explain clearly that this is what he needs to be in now. Mostly based on where he travels and how much time he spends there. The 2024 Subaru/trailer fits his current and future lifestyle.
I believe your bank account and ideal travel area has everything to do with choosing what living accommodations will make you the most comfortable.
The western half of this country is far different than the east even though almost any vehicle will work. It's all about finding the right balance for where you choose to live your life.

 

[Sky King]

I posted the new YouTube here this morning but it was deleted because it won't show on this site

 

[maki2]

^^^Bob Wells explained why he switched in a different video than the one you just viewed. He has made a couple of videos about switching vehicles. There is now a raffle going on that you can enter to win his ambo. That raffle benefits HOWA. Sorry but I do not have the link for the raffle. Slow connection speed today. Check on the HOWA website for details and links.

 

[Sky King]

Bob said his Subaru got 34 mpg. We had a 1985 Subaru 4wd wagon that got 34 mpg also. Did great off road but lacked the ground clearance of a truck.

 

[bullfrog !]

Bob said his Subaru got 34 mpg. We had a 1985 Subaru 4wd wagon that got 34 mpg also. Did great off road but lacked the ground clearance of a truck.

I think the big concern will be how well it tows. Even though he will be doing limited towing he might be better off renting a vehicle to tow the trailer the limited amount he will be towing to save wear and tear on his Subaru. He indicated he would mainly be staying in one area like LTVA or his base camp when not traveling to Alaska during the summer.

 

[rruff]

I caught Bob's video last night. He didn't mention why he's no longer in the Ambo.

When he bought the ambo he said he needed more space and seating room for guests and meetings. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. He had a GM van before and spoke very highly of it.

The ambo has been endless trouble, mostly with the diesel emissions. Diesels made after 2006 can be a money pit that way, and a vagabond absolutely needs a reliable vehicle... or at least a simple and easy to repair vehicle.

 

[abnorm]

Here's a link.............His Ambo and $10K

https://howa.rallyup.com/bobsambulance/Campaign/Details?

 

[maki2]

I think the big concern will be how well it tows. Even though he will be doing limited towing he might be better off renting a vehicle to tow the trailer the limited amount he will be towing to save wear and tear on his Subaru. He indicated he would mainly be staying in one area like LTVA or his base camp when not traveling to Alaska during the summer.

He said he is not going to take the trailer along on trips to Montana. His vehicle is rated to tow the weight he is pulling. It is rather like a donkey, they can carry more weight for their size than one might think by looking at them.