Hi all, I signed up for the forums because I am sure I will have questions in the next few weeks & months of working on my new van acquisition. I'm a solo guy in his 30s on the US east coast. I recently bought a 1997 Dodge 3500 extended passenger van with around 95,000 miles on it. It came from a nearby city's park and rec department and looks to be pretty well maintained. I'm nearly done with gutting the interior, so my build will start soon, and I'm slowly deciding what my exact plans will be.
I haven't been able to afford the absurd rental prices in my hometown the past few years, so have been trying to find alternative accomodations for a while now. Whether that was to be a yurt in the woods (I have access to some family property), a tiny house, a van, someone's shed they'd rent for cheap, or whatever, I haven't really cared and have been open to many possibilities. I was searching for vans recently and this one became available, so it looks like a van is what it will be for the foreseeable future! I've lived in cars, the back of my pickup truck, squats, the bushes, etc, all at various times in my life, so the general lifestyle isn't new to me.
I'm recovering from a lot of chronic illness in my life, and I hope this van will be a refuge from the mold/biotoxin and EMF sensitivities that have been causing me trouble, coinciding with a long tango with Lyme. I'm doing fairly well health-wise these days, but mitigating exposures to both mold and EMFs are big considerations in my ever-evolving plans. I'm thankfully no longer at a point where these things knock me out for days or weeks at a time.
Also, after traveling and moving around a lot, I think the next chapter of my life (say, one to several years) will be based more locally, so I'm not intending to drive this van all over the country. There are several interests I have now that are best pursued by staying in one spot. I've also learned from my time sleeping in the back of my Toyota Tacoma that I don't care for stealth camping, so I will probably be orienting myself to situations where I don't have to worry about that.
I can't wait to see where this goes!
I haven't been able to afford the absurd rental prices in my hometown the past few years, so have been trying to find alternative accomodations for a while now. Whether that was to be a yurt in the woods (I have access to some family property), a tiny house, a van, someone's shed they'd rent for cheap, or whatever, I haven't really cared and have been open to many possibilities. I was searching for vans recently and this one became available, so it looks like a van is what it will be for the foreseeable future! I've lived in cars, the back of my pickup truck, squats, the bushes, etc, all at various times in my life, so the general lifestyle isn't new to me.
I'm recovering from a lot of chronic illness in my life, and I hope this van will be a refuge from the mold/biotoxin and EMF sensitivities that have been causing me trouble, coinciding with a long tango with Lyme. I'm doing fairly well health-wise these days, but mitigating exposures to both mold and EMFs are big considerations in my ever-evolving plans. I'm thankfully no longer at a point where these things knock me out for days or weeks at a time.
Also, after traveling and moving around a lot, I think the next chapter of my life (say, one to several years) will be based more locally, so I'm not intending to drive this van all over the country. There are several interests I have now that are best pursued by staying in one spot. I've also learned from my time sleeping in the back of my Toyota Tacoma that I don't care for stealth camping, so I will probably be orienting myself to situations where I don't have to worry about that.
I can't wait to see where this goes!
