Hello! Part timer here, hope that's ok.

[thehellend]

Hey, I'm Helen. My roots are planted into the soil here in Knoxville, with husband, house, and cats, but I am looking for a van that can become my wandering office/weekend escape. Just trying to figure out what I can get for my modest budget. Y'all are great. Thanks!

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Many of us part timers here, dreamers, full timers, next yearer's and everything in between. Welcome aboard. Great forum and great group of people. Plenty of info to digest and new info being presented daily. Enjoy!

 

[bullfrog]

I'm only part time at anything it seems!

 

[Wabbit]

I'm with BullFrog, lol. Also, I was here for 2 years(forum) that I was almost F\T sticks and bricks(S&B). Welcome to the forum and best of luck to you!

 

[cyndi]

Welcome to the CRVL forums, Helen! Everyone's welcome here. Glad you found us. We're good at enabling, shopping and advising and happy to help!

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.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the CRVL Forums    

Just shop til you drop for your best deal on a good Van (if a Van is what you want).   The fixing up the inside won't be that much of a worry,  but having a good solid rig will eliminate a lot of worries.    The more resourceful
you are the easier it will be to build out the inside of your rig.

You may build where you can pull out the interior and convert back to a Cargo Van quickly if you need it for that and store the interior somewhere...and then quickly reinstall and have a camper rig to use.  If you are still in your home this could make the vehicle have double value for you. 

This strategy could be handy come the long weekends for recreation, or day trips where you may pull over and get a few hours of sleep before driving on home.  When I worked Corporate I had a few of those 18 hour days where I traveled to different divisions  and I was glad to  be able to pull over on a parking lot and snooze a couple hours before getting back up and heading on home.   I really learned to appreciate my rig back then.

 

[Bud Smiley]

Welcome aboard.

I completely agree with eDJ_. A cargo van has immense value for a homeowner and you can do a bunch of different setups that can be easily moved in and out of the van. You can use it as a mobile camping setup and not permanently mount your stove, bed, etc. When you're fulltiming in it, it's worth it to set things up as actual living quarters.

What kind of wandering and weekend escaping are you thinking of doing?

 

[rvpopeye]

You won't find a more helpful bunch than there is right here.
Your plan sounds like it will be fun for you.
Anything you want to know about , feel free to ask then get ready for a lot of replies !
We got some experts and we got some idiots.
(Some of my friends always called me an idiot for wanting to live on wheels my whole life and some called me an expert when I actually did it . And SOME of them were actually the same people??)
Now , I guess I'm an exiot.....................

 

[thehellend]

OMG thanks everyone, such a friendly group of people. <3

Welcome aboard.

I completely agree with eDJ_. A cargo van has immense value for a homeowner and you can do a bunch of different setups that can be easily moved in and out of the van. You can use it as a mobile camping setup and not permanently mount your stove, bed, etc. When you're fulltiming in it, it's worth it to set things up as actual living quarters.

What kind of wandering and weekend escaping are you thinking of doing?

It will be my runaround daily driver, but I rarely go anywhere other than to the store or my thrifting circuit on weekends. I work from home, and I don't even leave for meetings, so this van actually will be an excuse for me to get out and go places. For that reason I'll be exploring the smokies nearby, the coast off to the east, and eventually I want to be able to cross-country it to California to see my old buddies. As long as I can get 4g or wifi during the regular 9-5 I can do my job. It's pretty awesome.