New to the life, looking for community.

[Grayminno]

Hello everyone! , My name is Gray. My best friend, Bean, and I are about to start our journey into van life! We have family all across the country that we just can't be away from full-time ever! We are excited to try to find community in caravans and do solo adventures! I am currently in East County San Diego looking for a livable conversion stealth camper. I've found a few, but, if anyone has any advice for what I should watch out for I'd love it!
As soon as I find my van I'm going to drive to Illinois making stops in Nevada and Colorado along the way. I've done this trip many times before but never stopped along the way. If anyone has any good stop recommendations or knows of meets happening along the route I'd love to know! I found one group here in California I'm planning on meeting with and hope to continue traveling with in the future.

Spoiler

This is how I take notes haha these were the very first notes I took on my first night of researching. I'm trying to have fun with it! I just ordered more fun colors of post its

 

[user 22017]

Hello everyone! , My name is Gray. My best friend, Bean, and I are about to start our journey into van life!
<snip>
This is how I take notes haha these were the very first notes I took on my first night of researching. I'm trying to have fun with it! I just ordered more fun colors of post its

Love your notes, Gray. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Sleep]

Welcome, Welcome!! So much you can learn here, everyone is great. Good luck on your search for your ride!

 

[WanderingRose]

Love your post it notes, I am also addicted to them.

 

[Morgana]

Love the post-it setup. It looks just like the bulletin boards/white boards you see in cop shows on TV, only smaller and more portable. Perfect for van life!

 

[skibumone]

Bienvenidos...Noob here too, I dig ur notes. All the creativity here is impressive.

 

[Marc]

Hello everyone! , My name is Gray. My best friend, Bean, and I are about to start our journey into van life! We have family all across the country that we just can't be away from full-time ever! We are excited to try to find community in caravans and do solo adventures! I am currently in East County San Diego looking for a livable conversion stealth camper. I've found a few, but, if anyone has any advice for what I should watch out for I'd love it!
As soon as I find my van I'm going to drive to Illinois making stops in Nevada and Colorado along the way. I've done this trip many times before but never stopped along the way. If anyone has any good stop recommendations or knows of meets happening along the route I'd love to know! I found one group here in California I'm planning on meeting with and hope to continue traveling with in the future.

Spoiler

View attachment 33302

This is how I take notes haha these were the very first notes I took on my first night of researching. I'm trying to have fun with it! I just ordered more fun colors of post its

Hi. I to are new to going to gatherings. I have camped have lived in trailer as travel work. But would like to head south this winter. Interested in finding some others to learn the desert ropes from. Have scamp trailer for this adventure. Starts?!?!

 

[NctryBen]

Welcome Gray... even if you don’t find the van of your dreams in the next couple months. Or do and don’t have it set up...
San Diego isn’t terribly far from Quartzsite Az... January here there is the RTR beginning with a W (women’s) RTR I believe the 7th. People will be gathering, connecting and sharing. RTR = Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
Guessing you’d meet the right group for your interests. Sounds like you have a big scattered family. But with enough post it notes, you’ll have a well put together route with plenty to see and do. Hopping off the interstate and traveling the more back or side roads you’ll run across some great things you’d never see otherwise. Enjoy, and safe travels!

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the Van Living Forum.

As soon as I find my van I'm going to drive to Illinois making stops in Nevada and Colorado along the way. I've done this trip many times before but never stopped along the way. If anyone has any good stop recommendations or knows of meets happening along the route I'd love to know!

How familiar this sounds....driving the same route frequently without taking side trips to see and experience interesting places. I guess when one is working and their time is limited such that they have to fall into that way of traveling. But once with the luxury of free time one can take those roads less traveled to encounter variety previously unavailable to them.

There are a couple of links to websites below in my signature lines. The bottom one is a portal of info for traveling to offer as much comfort, convenience, and safety
as I could list. In the list of links, at the upper left side there is a topic for "Trip Planning" websites. Some of these will offer you to enter your starting point and where you want to end up. Then, it will ask how far off the route you are willing to travel to see interesting sites. When you enter your request it will find things along the route for you automatically. You can even use the "Google Map" in this to take a virtual tour using the orange "pegman" feature to see if it is interesting enough to plan to see it. This can save a lot of time,
travel, fuel, and mileage on your rig. A lot of us use the 2-2-2 system of travel so part of one of the 2 days in camp can be devoted to this virtual travel in planning the intinerary when you go back on the road. (with the price of fuel as it is now this can make Van life more stimulating and enjoyable.

Good Luck & all the best.

 

[PineyCruisin]

There are a couple of links to websites below in my signature lines

Would love to take a look at your info/links but I don't see any signature at all in your post. "Good luck..." is the last line of your post.

Is it just on my end?

I also clicked on your username to see if it would take me to the links you are providing, but also a no-go.

Edited to add: Found the problem! The signature doesn't show up on my mobile browser so I had to turn on switch in browser for "Desktop Site". Thanks, edj, for providing the info!!

 

[bullfrog]

^^^Lol!! I remembered a long ago comment that was made “Turn your smart phone horizontal to get much more information” duh, it just took me a while to remember!

 

[eDJ_]

Piney, That seems to happen from time to time but people generally get it to work for them. Hope you find lots of useful stuff in it that makes your travels more enjoyable & rewarding.

 

[wayne49]

"2-2-2" refers to two hours driving, arriving by two pm, and staying for two weeks.

 

[RearViewMirror]

Hello everyone! , My name is Gray. My best friend, Bean, and I are about to start our journey into van life! We have family all across the country that we just can't be away from full-time ever! We are excited to try to find community in caravans and do solo adventures! I am currently in East County San Diego looking for a livable conversion stealth camper. I've found a few, but, if anyone has any advice for what I should watch out for I'd love it!
As soon as I find my van I'm going to drive to Illinois making stops in Nevada and Colorado along the way. I've done this trip many times before but never stopped along the way. If anyone has any good stop recommendations or knows of meets happening along the route I'd love to know! I found one group here in California I'm planning on meeting with and hope to continue traveling with in the future.

Spoiler

View attachment 33302

This is how I take notes haha these were the very first notes I took on my first night of researching. I'm trying to have fun with it! I just ordered more fun colors of post its

Hello Gary,

I'll try to answer to the best of my ability how we did it. I understand that this might not be for everyone nor in the best interest of everyones budget. But this is how we ended going the route we did.

I retired as a Professional FF at 48. My wife is going to retire at the same age because we don't want to be in the position of me being 70 and her being 65 and not being able to enjoy the things that we would like to do "right now". We chose a 2022 Mercedes Benz 4WD Sprinter and it is converted with every single option you could want for off grid / on grid living. We plan to do this full time until we either can't do it anymore or we decide that we have had enough. But it will allow us to go to all of the places we have wanted to go and see out West with no timeframe in mind. Granted, our van cost upwards of $170,000 and I understand that is a lot of money. And there are many people that do it for way less money. But we wanted a new Mercedes 4WD and for 2023 Mercedes is switching to an all new engine and AWD powertrain. AWD will not work for us. We "must" have 4WD. So if someone wants a new 4WD Mercedes Sprinter, there are a very limited supply of them left and once they are gone, they are gone for good (unless you look on the used market which we weren't willing to do).

Your van needs may not match up with what "we" wanted and I completely understand. That is just the route we chose since we will be doing this full time for the foreseeable future.

 

[Grayminno]

Love your notes, Gray. Welcome to the forum!

Welcome, Welcome!! So much you can learn here, everyone is great. Good luck on your search for your ride!

Love your post it notes, I am also addicted to them.

Love the post-it setup. It looks just like the bulletin boards/white boards you see in cop shows on TV, only smaller and more portable. Perfect for van life!

Bienvenidos...Noob here too, I dig ur notes. All the creativity here is impressive.

Thank you all so much for your encouraging words and comments on the post it notes haha I have so much fun with them! I'm excited to start getting to know people here! Sorry for my snail's pace responses I'm always out and going haha

 

[Grayminno]

Spoiler

Welcome Gray... even if you don’t find the van of your dreams in the next couple months. Or do and don’t have it set up...
San Diego isn’t terribly far from Quartzsite Az... January here there is the RTR beginning with a W (women’s) RTR I believe the 7th. People will be gathering, connecting and sharing. RTR = Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
Guessing you’d meet the right group for your interests. Sounds like you have a big scattered family. But with enough post it notes, you’ll have a well put together route with plenty to see and do. Hopping off the interstate and traveling the more back or side roads you’ll run across some great things you’d never see otherwise. Enjoy, and safe travels!

Thank you so much! That sounds like a really good time and start place for me, I might be in the area and would love to meet up with them!
I hope to grow my family more as I meet people along the way

 

[Grayminno]

Spoiler

Hi. I to are new to going to gatherings. I have camped have lived in trailer as travel work. But would like to head south this winter. Interested in finding some others to learn the desert ropes from. Have scamp trailer for this adventure. Starts?!?!

A few have been mentioned here, I really liked the idea of meeting up at the one in NV in January

 

[Grayminno]

Spoiler

Welcome to the Van Living Forum.



How familiar this sounds....driving the same route frequently without taking side trips to see and experience interesting places. I guess when one is working and their time is limited such that they have to fall into that way of traveling. But once with the luxury of free time one can take those roads less traveled to encounter variety previously unavailable to them.

There are a couple of links to websites below in my signature lines. The bottom one is a portal of info for traveling to offer as much comfort, convenience, and safety
as I could list. In the list of links, at the upper left side there is a topic for "Trip Planning" websites. Some of these will offer you to enter your starting point and where you want to end up. Then, it will ask how far off the route you are willing to travel to see interesting sites. When you enter your request it will find things along the route for you automatically. You can even use the "Google Map" in this to take a virtual tour using the orange "pegman" feature to see if it is interesting enough to plan to see it. This can save a lot of time,
travel, fuel, and mileage on your rig. A lot of us use the 2-2-2 system of travel so part of one of the 2 days in camp can be devoted to this virtual travel in planning the intinerary when you go back on the road. (with the price of fuel as it is now this can make Van life more stimulating and enjoyable.

Good Luck & all the best.

Thank you so much for the links and the tip on the google map! I hope to find some beautiful mountain views and waterfalls! That is always my favorite part of the trip, passing by a cliffside waterfall!

 

[Grayminno]

Spoiler

Hello Gray,

I'll try to answer to the best of my ability how we did it. I understand that this might not be for everyone nor in the best interest of everyones budget. But this is how we ended going the route we did.

I retired as a Professional FF at 48. My wife is going to retire at the same age because we don't want to be in the position of me being 70 and her being 65 and not being able to enjoy the things that we would like to do "right now". We chose a 2022 Mercedes Benz 4WD Sprinter and it is converted with every single option you could want for off grid / on grid living. We plan to do this full time until we either can't do it anymore or we decide that we have had enough. But it will allow us to go to all of the places we have wanted to go and see out West with no timeframe in mind. Granted, our van cost upwards of $170,000 and I understand that is a lot of money. And there are many people that do it for way less money. But we wanted a new Mercedes 4WD and for 2023 Mercedes is switching to an all new engine and AWD powertrain. AWD will not work for us. We "must" have 4WD. So if someone wants a new 4WD Mercedes Sprinter, there are a very limited supply of them left and once they are gone, they are gone for good (unless you look on the used market which we weren't willing to do).

Your van needs may not match up with what "we" wanted and I completely understand. That is just the route we chose since we will be doing this full time for the foreseeable future.

I did look into sprinters, they are a bit out of my budget even used, but, I'm in my early 30s and like to fix things so an older vehicle that has been converted seems to be the best option for me. I would love to hear how you designed and used your space, what ended up being must haves and what did you think you needed that maybe ended up being not so important?

 

[RearViewMirror]

I did look into sprinters, they are a bit out of my budget even used, but, I'm in my early 30s and like to fix things so an older vehicle that has been converted seems to be the best option for me. I would love to hear how you designed and used your space, what ended up being must haves and what did you think you needed that maybe ended up being not so important?

Hello Gray

Our "must haves" dealt mostly with having a true 4WD. As I mentioned in the post you quoted, Mercedes will be switching over to a new powertrain and an AWD system for 2023 and that just won't work "for us". I understand that we spent a lot of money that you really don't "have" to spend. Mercedes are expensive no doubt. But we wanted a new vehicle not a used one. We didn't plan on purchasing one until we were getting ready to sell our house in the spring. But... By that time, there would have been a slim to none chance of us being able to secure a new 4WD chassis. All of the upfitters that have a stock of 4WD chassis will most likely have sold out of the 4WD chassis by then. You can not order a 4WD chassis from Mercedes now since they have switched over to the AWD chassis for production. So once all of the stock of 4WD chassis are gone, they are gone for good.

Our second must have delt with the power system in the van. We wanted as much power as we could for being able to stay off grid for a certain period of time. This was a little bit tricky. We ended up with a 48V - 210 aH 10.2KW Lithium Ion battery, a 3500W inverter, a 2nd 48V alternator dedicated to lithium battery, and 200 watts of roof-mounted solar panels. Even though this van has a very large Lithium Ion battery and will run the vast majority of what we have in the van for a long period of time since "most" of the items we have in the van run off of a 12V system, we realized that we will be chasing weather quite often. There are only two things in the van that actually run off of the inverter. All of the 110 outlets in the van (and whatever we plug into them) and the diesel heater we have installed for cold nights. We quickly learned that solar in nice to have, but solar only does so much no matter how many panels you have on top of the van. There are so many variables with how long you can make your power last off grid that it's almost too much to go into. Everything depends on the climate that you are in at a certain time, how well the van is insulated, and your personal comfort level. Hence the "chasing weather thing". I've come to realize that we will most likely have to buy a small Honda generator if we want to stay off grid for a longer period of time depending on the climate and the power needs for the van.

The way we have the van set up inside was to have as much storage as possible. Storage in such a small space is a premium. And no matter what, you can only put so much storage in a van this size. There is a give and take for what you want in a van. We wanted a wet bath with a shower and a cassette toilet for those times we will be off grid. The kitchen has a induction cooktop, DC refrigerator, and a stainless steel sink which flows into a grey water tank (along with the shower). The bed is slightly smaller than a queen size bed but I'm 6' tall and weigh 180lbs and my wife is 5' tall and weighs 100 lbs. So it will work fine "for us". We have a flarespace on both sides of the van so we can sleep in a East / West configuration.

The Mercedes Sprinter that we chose has every available option in the cab. I realize this is completely unneeded. But we wanted the full size MBUX system, leather chairs with the power adjustable memory seating, all of the safety features that could be offered, etc... Again, I understand the path we chose is not for everyone. You most certainly can do this with much less money than we spent. And I would encourage going that route if it fits your needs. But we went this route since we will be living in the van full time for the foreseeable future. And being in such a small space, we wanted the all the items mentioned inside the van for convenience purposes.