Hello all!

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

The two of us have been living in a 1994 Ford E350 Club Wagon XLT.  We purchased it from a local church through craigslist for $2400. It was a 15 passenger van before we gutted it. 190k on the 7.5L gasser but runs great aside from it never starting the first time cranked.  The cockpit has remained as is with the 11 feet behind it having everything removed (wiring and speakers remain). Full size 4" foam matress fits nicely width wise by the back door. Flooring is half inch styrofoam sheets cut to fit and then colored rubber mat puzzle pieces on top.  Reflectix in the windows.

This may be a very temporary rig so we are holding off before cutting out a roof vent or other major modifications. I dream of owning a 2500 Sprinter but circumstances dictated I get a serviceable rig for now and upgrade later with the money I am saving.  I would love a high top but am more than happy with current set up as well as future potential. I don't plan on doing an extensive amount of travel in this thing with the poor mpg it gets. Mostly, rent is flat ridiculous here and this move is saving me $1000/mo in rent and utilities. I am in school full time and trying to live a greener more enjoyable lifestyle. Plan to have a newer van by the time i graduate and travel from then.

I intend to start with 225ah flooded 6Vs and 200 watts of solar (if I need more of either later I will upgrade). We are pretty severe minimalists, I don't think we will be using a lot of power.

Enough about the van, the other part of our forum name is Healthy. We strive to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible. We do this in many ways but like to follow a whole body/mind/soul connection philosophy so as to not leave any areas too neglected. We are in to meditation and yoga, we follow a plant based diet (Samantha is working on becoming a vegan chef), we use natural/herbal remedies as opposed to pharmaceuticals as much as possible, we try to reove as much toxicity from our life as possible and therefore try to use natural products for cleaners and hygiene use. We strive for minimal stress and drama, part of that includes accepting others for who they are and noth pushing our personal beliefs on others (though we are happy to share when asked).

We have already learned a lot from this site and look forward to learning more as well as sharing some of our adventures. Thanks for having us.

-Aaron and Samantha

 

[RollinWOT]

Welcome Aaron and Samantha! Sounds like you two have quite a nice stable van for the time being. Let's see some pics when you get the chance to post some. I like how you mention removing toxicity from your lifestyles, I think that getting away from the city and eating healthy is a great start. Welcome, and cheers!

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Aaron and Samantha! How long have you been van dwellers? Where are you living? Let us know how you're handling extremes in temperatures. And we do enjoy seeing pictures of everyone's set up! :-D

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[akrvbob]

We're glad you are here!! You sound like a perfect fit!
Bob

 

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

Thank you for the warm welcomes! We do enjoy escaping the city when we can but are still tied to it for the time being. I (Aaron) am currently enrolled in school full time, and being that we live in Colorado, city life could be much worse. I do enjoy the trips out into nature to "recharge" though. I was inspired by the author of "Walden on Wheels" by Kenneth Ilgunas, who talks in his book of graduating from Duke with his master's degree and no debt by living in a van in the campus parking lot. My experience is probably much more enjoyable than the tales from his book as I have a companion as well as the means to move around and not stay parked in one spot (creating quite a bit of paranoia for Ilgunas it seems).

Van dwelling is a new experience for us that began when our lease ended the 1st of August. Samantha had no experience, I have lived in a couple cars, a class C, and a class A for a combined total of maybe a year. The van is such a nice compromise in terms of size yet still being able to stealth and get (slightly, in our case) better mpgs. I wouldn't feel comfortable parking the Class C or A I had in most of the locations I tend to park around here in the city. Colorado extremes so far have only included heat, which we deal with by being inside as well as parking in shade as much as possible. Samantha works full time keeping her out of most of the heat peaks. If I am not in class I can most often be found at one of the local libraries avoiding the 90*+ temps. We do have a membership to the local big fitness chain where we get our showering done and indoor exercise which helps when it is 90+ at 9am or when it will be ~40 as the high come winter months.

I look forward to browsing the Tips and Tricks and sharing photos soon!

 

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

Photos as requested.  First two are from the craigslist posting and indicate how the interior was when I got the vehicle.  One shows the gutting of the van (the headliner/roof vents were also removed *not shown*).  The other shows us camping in the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  Apologies for the image quality, my skills at resizing photos are rudimentary at best.  I will add some pics of the newly designed (extremely impermanent) interior soon.

 

[Almost There]

You did fine on resizing the pics!

Are you guys planning on staying in the van through a Colorado winter. Maybe start now doing a wanted ad on C/L for a driveway with electrical hookups to park in through the winter.

 

[RollinWOT]

Looks great, you two!

 

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

We are planning to stay in Colorado through out the winter. Electrical hook ups would do me no good at this point. I don't have any kind of electrical system at this point. More importantly, most areas around here have laws making it illegal to live in a vehicle even on private property, even with the owners permission, I would be putting someone in legal jeopardy by doing that. Insulation, LP heater, subzero sleeping bags, and maybe electric blanket if we end up with a battery bank and solar system that can handle it. Otherwise, not actually being in the van as much as possible when it is that cold is the plan. We average 300 days of sunshine here though so I am not overly worried about the winter here. I can do cold, it's the blistering heat I don't much care for.

 

[highdesertranger]

welcome, sounds like you have done your home work. good luck. highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

It is nice to hear of a couple so in tune, having a shared vision of an alternate way of living. Thanks for sharing and the pics. Looks like you had a decent amount of room to work with.

 

[Baloo]

Welcome, and I love your van! Great size for a couple! Can't wait to see what you do to the inside over time.

 

[ramblingvanman]

Welcome to you both. I like your rig.

 

[Patrick46]

Welcome and Hello from the Oregon Coastline!!

 

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

@highdesertranger - homework is one of my specialties I think. Thanks for the welcome.

@WriterMs - we appreciate the kind words. We are quite in tune and have been since we met (she was only in town visiting a friend on the way to move to California, I swept her off her feet and talked her into staying within a weeks time).


Thanks to everyone for the warm welcoming. I will have to get a recent interior photo up, lighting is an issue with the reflectix. May just pull a panel or two down.

 

[Healthy Van Dwellers]

Got motivated enough to clean up and take interior photos. Camping chairs are bungeed to wall for now. 6gallon jug to refill our Berkey water filter. Bed is 4 inch matress topper on top of plywood cut to size at the store sitting on a bookshelf (we already had) laid on its back. The bed tended to tip towards the front of the van so we put a plastic storage bin (also already owned) under it, in between the wheel wells, overfilling the bin with winter clothes and linens helps it be high enough to hold up the bed. The bookshelf gives ample storage under the bed. Not perfect but cheap and used what we had on hand mostly. Between the front seats is another bin we already had, that one stores all the food and dishes. Laundry basket is in the passenger seat floor.

 

[RollinWOT]

Wow, looks really clean and comfy.