A Girl Lands Her Van

This post is more of a sneak preview of a work in progress. There's really not much to show yet, but I'm so obsessed excited that I couldn't wait. My gypsy side has long been drawn to romanticized visions of road trips in VW campers. So far, an Impala is the roomiest vehicle I've managed to traverse the country in.

But I'm nothing if not persistent. With a just a touch of practicality. Eventually, I had to admit that I would never have it in me to care for a VW. I don't have a mechanical side. Or patience. Or that kind of cash. However, with this epiphany, a new traveling dream was born: Converting a van into a mini-RV. I ruled out pop-ups, because it still means airing something out after a rainy camping trip (might as well be an oversized tent). And hauling any trailer would raise my stress factor too high to enjoy the drive. Ditto for full-sized campers. Luckily, with a little ingenuity, conversion vans offer a compromise. The rear benches fold into BEDS. Well, bed-like structures that could benefit from being longer and plusher. Like so...

Oh yes I did! After a year of on-and-off looking on CL, I took the plunge. With winter here, I wasn't even searching. Till out of the blue Kevin sent me a few links of vans for sale on CL. Which of course meant I had to take a peek at what else was out there. And lo and behold, there she was! In all her green glory-- a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 with Mark III high-top conversion package. For only $2,500. With only 75,000 miles. THEN it turns out the owner works near my house, so it was easy to check out. THEN it turns out that he and Kevin used to work together, and that the guy was my son's friend's drum teacher. Clearly, she was meant to be mine. 

While I've spent the last week drooling over camper van renos (who knew van dwelling was so huge??), we won't make much progress until it warms up. However, Kevin made one of the most crucial pieces today: a 65" x 16" platform that I'll cover in foam and slide behind the bench. This will extend the bed space enough that we can *hopefully* sleep peacefully together. 

The ends are hinged so that:

1. When folded, the platform will slide right out. Otherwise, it's wider than the door frame and could be a hassle.
2. We can store items below, and still access. The van is huge, but only until we start putting stuff in it. Organization will be everything!

He also reinforced the platform underneath in case anybody sits on it. While that's not the purpose, I figure it's pretty much inevitable. I ordered a lot of supplies online today; does that count as progress too? Of course, given that it was 9 degrees this morning, we have a bit of time before we'll be ready to camp, even with the new "camper."

(This is Big Sheila parked at the end of my friend's street. I was staging it to take pics so I could list it for rent on Just Share It. Note to self: Visit my friend more often. What a view!)