New to RV Life

[BrianSmith1976]

Hi there,

My name is Brian and I was inspired to join the VanDweller Community Forums by Carolyn and her YouTube channel "Carolyn's RV Life. I am planning on getting a RV and going out on the road, but I just have to do a lot of research on which would be the best Van for me. I'm leaning towards a 2013 or 2014 + Sprinter Van but I need some advice on which one is the best and if there's any problems that I should be aware of.
Now a little about my history, I live in a very rural part of the world out in the middle of nowhere and I'm basically just tired of being stuck in one place and all the solitude. Now onto the sad part. My sister and brother-in-law just recently became meth addicts about 8 months ago and they pretty much got dis-owned by his side of the family (for good reason) and now that they can't go around them anymore, they are going around my parents and using them to babysit their 3 young children and using my mom for money. (My mom is in complete denial about their problem. I was suppose to spend Christmas with my parents, and that completely ruined it for me. So, needless to say, that was pretty much the straw that broke the Camel's back and I'm ready to get out of here.
I think everything happens for a reason, and I guess that was the nudge I needed to get out of here.

 

[hepcat]

Welcome to the forums. I'm new here too, but not to the RV lifestyle.

Crank is bad stuff. Sorry to hear about your situation.

Sprinters are nice vans, but they have their drawbacks as well. Keep your options open and see what comes available in your price range in an area that you can get to. Don't overlook Class C, B+, and B factory-built motorhomes either. There are some good buys to be had if you keep your eyes open.

Good luck!

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Brian! I can't help with your questions about Sprinters but this is a very good place to ask questions and get answers.
Hope the situation at home gets better.
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    

I have to agree with your well reasoned plan for going out on your own.   When you have a Parent who is in denial and allowing others of the family to exploit her, she'll just have to learn the hard way.  Worse would be that she would want you to stay and help straighten them out.   With Meth, Crack, Heroine etc there isn't much of a chance of winning and having a happy outcome.  (I doubt Mom has much experience with this stuff to know)  Sounds like his Parents already know.   Professional help needs to be involved in this.  

So let me welcome you to a better neighborhood and a "supportive" group of people who can be of a lot of help to you.   Given you are in such a rural area there wouldn't be much hope for you even if you didn't have this
meth addicted family members burden. 

I have a couple of websites below that I'd invite you to look through for any ideas you can gain from them.  The first is about setting up your first rig so you can get out some on the week ends or an extended vacation to get a feel for this life.   Then the others here can be of more and more help as you get some basic experience.

The second is for once you go on the road and wonder "What do I do next" ???  "It's getting late so do I sleep in this Van or go running back home" ???  "In the morning,  how will I know where to go" ???   There is information in the site that will give you direction for all aspects of being on the road. 

All the best and I hope you can get away as fast as you can.  

You might also want to look through this thread.   No need to leave one problem and jump into another one.
Take time to re-center yourself and get your feet back under you before you take on any risk.  Do something for YOU !


Choosing to be Single and on the Road

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Choosing-to-be-Single-and-on-the-Road

 

[BrianSmith1976]

Hey eDJ,

Thank you so much for the advice and those kind words. I started to think about buying one of those 8X12 cargo trailers and converting it to a RV instead of buying a stand alone Van because I already have a truck.
Another thing I see from a lot of Van Dwellers on here (and correct me if I'm wrong here) It seems like most of them are in the Southwest part of the country. Is that mainly due to the warm climate all year round or is there more to it than that?

 

[highdesertranger]

mostly they are in the south west this time of year. come summer they scatter like a flushed covey of quail. highdesertranger

 

[Vagabound]

... It seems like most of them are in the Southwest part of the country. Is that mainly due to the warm climate all year round or is there more to it than that?

Welcome, Brian.  Merry Christmas.

Warmer, drier climate, but also the largest concentration of land allowing free camping in the U.S.

Tom

 

[eDJ_]

Brian,  in that edjautoservice link at the bottom there is this link that shows the movement of 70 degree F temperatures.  Part of this nomadic life for the full timers is traveling with the decent weather as "highdesertranger" is mentioning to you.   The Vans are more livable in nicer weather conditions believe me. I've spent some freezing cold nights in mine,   enough to  know.  LOL 

What the Van's offer is better fuel mileage than Class C RV's or other larger vehicles. They are flexible and stealthy.

But check this out, movement of 70 Degree F temps

 

[Vagabound]

Brian,  in that edjautoservice link at the bottom there is this link that shows the movement of 70 degree F temperatures.  ...

eDJ,

Lots of cool links on your webpage. I'll have to go back sometime and check more of them out.
 I went to the 70 degree link on your web page. Great idea, but I'm a little bit confused. Why would something like that be a static YouTube video, instead of a normal website? In my case I won't be watching videos very often, but I would visit a website.

Tom

 

[BrianSmith1976]

Welcome to the CRVL Forums    

I have to agree with your well reasoned plan for going out on your own.   When you have a Parent who is in denial and allowing others of the family to exploit her,  she'll just have to learn the hard way.  Worse would be that she would want you to stay and help straighten them out.   With Meth, Crack, Heroine etc there isn't much of a chance of winning and having a happy outcome.  (I doubt Mom has much experience with this stuff to know)  Sounds like his Parents already know.   Professional help needs to be involved in this.  

So let me welcome you to a better neighborhood and a "supportive" group of people who can be of a lot of help to you.   Given you are in such a rural area there wouldn't be much hope for you even if you didn't have this
meth addicted family members burden. 

I have a couple of websites below that I'd invite you to look through for any ideas you can gain from them.  The first is about setting up your first rig so you can get out some on the week ends or an extended vacation to get a feel for this life.   Then the others here can be of more and more help as you get some basic experience.

The second is for once you go on the road and wonder "What do I do next" ???  "It's getting late so do I sleep in this Van or go running back home" ???  "In the morning,  how will I know where to go" ???   There is information in the site that will give you direction for all aspects of being on the road. 

All the best and I hope you can get away as fast as you can.  

You might also want to look through this thread.   No need to leave one problem and jump into another one.
Take time to re-center yourself and get your feet back under you before you take on any risk.  Do something for YOU !


Choosing to be Single and on the Road

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Choosing-to-be-Single-and-on-the-Road

Brian,  in that edjautoservice link at the bottom there is this link that shows the movement of 70 degree F temperatures.  Part of this nomadic life for the full timers is traveling with the decent weather as "highdesertranger" is mentioning to you.   The Vans are more livable in nicer weather conditions believe me.   I've spent some freezing cold nights in mine,   enough to  know.  LOL 

What the Van's offer is better fuel mileage than Class C RV's or other larger vehicles.  They are flexible and stealthy.

But check this out,  movement of 70 Degree F  temps

Thank you for that link ... It looks like the very Southern tip of Texas would be a nice place to stay. But the nice thing about living in a RV is that you can move with the comfortable climate. I've been thinking awhile about the whole Van vs trailer thing and it does seem like a van makes more sense. I noticed that you're a mechanic. Do you know any major problems that the Sprinter has and what's the difference between a Dodge, Mercedes and a Freightliner Sprinter? I really like the fact that the Sprinter has a diesel engine because they're so much more reliable than a gas engine but someone said they have a big problem with the DEF system. Is that true?

Thanks again,

Brian

 

[eDJ_]

On the Sprinters and their variants,  I've not owned one nor had any experience with them.  So it would not be prudent for me to speak to the question you are asking.   But there ARE others here who have some experience with them.  

You may want to take a look at this thread

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-w...ose-the-Sprinter-vans?highlight=Sprinter+Vans


If I were to replace my 90 Ford E 350 extend high top....which I hope runs for some time yet.....and I may even
be willing to replace an engine/transmission to assure that.......I would consider one of the Sprinters if I could buy it right.   I know (or have heard) about recalls regarding brake warning signals in the instrument console.  But other than that that's what I can tell you.

_______________

Brian,  I'm waiting till the first of the year when I have more time to rework that website.   It's possible I could embed that Youtube video so it will display right on the website page.  I'm wanting to better organize the links
into categories so that they will be grouped together for easier use.  I may even add additional pages to make that page more of a Portal.  Much of that will depend on the resources I can find to put on it.

I had originally seen a need for that kind of info to be all in one handy place for anyone to use.  Thus my reference to the "Swiss Army Knife" with all of it's many components in one handy place.

As for the gas station image:

The gas station garage was where I worked as a kid and into my later teen years.  Then I rented a place when I was in UNI with a two stall garage behind it where I ran my own service facility.  I started with the extra business my boss couldn't take care of so he would call me and send it to me.   Sadly, the place was hit by a drunk right between the two garage doors a year ago and the roof caved in.   Then back in the earlier fall of this year the whole building was torn down...so now it's a vacant lot. 

Just a few years ago a Mosque was built right across the street from the old gas station.  I figure they will want to buy the property for their parking lot if they can get it.  It's all paved and with a little work could make a 130 X 110 parking lot.