It started with a dream...

It started with a dream, then we made it happen. 

We bought a little red, 4 wheel drive pickup, with 135,000 miles on it for $4,000. It was dinged up, the upholstry was ripped, it only had a tape deck...it was perfect. Ryan custom built out the back for sleeping and storage, I made curtains and we traveled and camped in the back of our little red truck countless times. To date, the truck has over 200,000 (rough) miles on it and is goin strong.

Somewhere in Baja..

Then we had kids and bought a house. A three-seater truck wasn't working for us anymore and we needed the truck bed for home improvements etc. So we took the camper part apart and now we use it around the house.  

Pretty soon we were having those discussions that almost all my friends with (multiple) kids have...

Tent or Trailer? Van or SUV? 5 seats or 8?

Enter...the CamperVan

They offer the upgraded convience of a trailer and the seats to bring friends.

No, I don't mean this kind. 

Honestly, I'm too prideful to be seen picking my kids up from school in this. Plus, I want my kids to have friends and I don't know if parents would let their kids get in this van.

Actually, I don't know if these vans are even allowed to lurk wait outside schools looking for kids.

Then there's the classic California VW.

As surfers, Ryan and I love the "stlye points" that the VW Campervans have. They have great seat layouts and a ton of cool ammenities. However, they have a terrible reputation for breaking down and being expensive to fix (you can only buy their parts from special dealers). Not ok in our world. We want vacation to stay vacation, and we don't want to worry about our car breaking down.

Then there's this...

 It's the Sportsmobile. Built in the body of a full sized van (your choice of several vehicle types), it's been called the "Ultimate Adventure Vehicle." This would be our car of choice. When outfitted, you can rig it to be a sleeper, have a 4 wheel drive, stove, fridge, sofas, tables, whatever you want. The problem with this? The price tag. Think $30,000 to $110,000+, used.  No Thank You. 

That started the dream.

The Sportsmobile is often built on the Ford E150-350 van body. These vans are full sized, they carry 8 to 15 people, and they get from 12-18 miles per gallon. They are reported to be lasting in the 200,000-300,000 mile range. They're dependable, inexpensive and easy to fix, when necessary. We have dreamed of getting one and outfitting it to be our poor man's version of a Sportsmobile.

Now we're making it happen. 

Yesterday, we bought a Ford E150 8 passenger van in perfect condition with 100,000 miles, racks and a tow package, for a measely $6,000! Here it is.

The goal?

 To create a camping car that will make camping even easier and more fun, and to have a car for special occasions so we can take our kids, friends, and family in it. It's kind of like our family-version  of our little-red-truck dream.

Check out the trunk space with 8 seats in it! Think, two bench seats w storage against the sides and a table that converts down to a bed in the middle...

 Probably one of my favorite parts about this is Ryan and I dreaming together. We are now in the process of dreaming up interior layouts and adventures to have together with our kids and our new van.

It started with a dream, and now we're making it happen...again ; ).