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We bought our van (2020 Sprinter 2500 4×4 170”) in September 2020, built it out over 10 months, and hit the road in July 2021. Here are some of the upgrades and fixes we’ve made two years in.

Mattress

We started with a 6” memory foam mattress and cut it for cushions to be able to convert the bedroom to a dining room. We basically chase the sun, so we always eat outside. We’ve converted to table mode twice.

After two years, the memory foam seemed to remember me a bit too well and I wanted to add some more cushion. I added a 4” memory foam mattress and was able to buy it in a Olympic Queen size (68” x 80”) which is the exact size of our bed. (You can also buy sheets in this size.) I just had to trim the back corners a bit to fit the mattress. Table mode would be tricky at this point, but we can live without it to have max comfort while sleeping.

Shaker Doors

As we approached the end of our lease in 2021, the finish work on the van became a bit rushed. To save time all the cabinet doors and drawer fronts were just slabs of plywood. I redid every door this summer (22 in all!) in the Shaker style. I think it’s a great upgrade for the look of the van.

I redid the spacing on the center stack of the kitchen drawers. I’d initially done the top three drawers as the same height with a very tall bottom drawer. Well, as it turns out, a super tall drawer is a lot of wasted space. The bottom three drawers are now the same height while the top one matches the drawers on either side.

We have a few inches of space in front of the sink that just had a panel in front of it. I made it a door (with hinges and a latch) and added a flip tray for sponges, scrubbers and such.

The cabinet under the sink is a tall space. We nested a drawer under the sink (with a notch for the drain) and store spices there.

I added a shelf on the right side of the sink opening to effectively double the surface space things can sit on. It also holds the dish and hand soap containers (we have two pumps over the sink). We’d originally used a zip tie to hold those in place but we still had a couple of spills. Ironically, a spill of concentrated soap is a real mess to clean up.

Our original towel holder was a really simple arm. The towels would spin and unroll while driving. We’d wrap the towels with a bungee, but I eventually replaced it ($15) with one that keeps the towels from spinning.

We have a TV mounted on an extendable arm on the wall and quickly learned that the TV would come off the wall while driving. A couple of eye hooks and a bungee cord hold it in place while we’re driving.

Latches

We upgraded latches everywhere. I initially used soft close drawer slides which are insufficient to hold shut a drawer with any amount of weight when you turn the van. The top drawer of the dresser was the biggest problem. We store our two burner induction stovetop there so it’s heavy and higher up in the van. After flying open enough times a drawer slide will break. It’s easy to replace, but it’s $20 and you have to find a matching drawer slide. I added a latch as best I could, but it wasn’t perfect. We replaced drawer slides twice while on the road.

We now have two latches on each drawer (one on each side) and haven’t had a drawer fly open since adding them.

We added the same latches to each upper cabinet. Our previous latches also weren’t always strong enough. We added a small handhold to open each upper cabinet (a simple router cut). We also ditched gas struts and went to manual lifts. The gas struts warped our original doors (again, just plywood) so I simplified.

Electrical system

We have 5 100 Amp hour Lithium Ion batteries and a 3000 watt inverter. When I first tested the completed install, the system would tip over at about 2100 watts. I thought that might be a limitation of the batteries but wasn’t too concerned. Our biggest power draws were the water heater (pulls about 1700 watts) and a coffee maker (a luxury that pulls about 1900 watts max). They could run so it was good enough. Over time, however, the capacity started dropping. It tipped over one day when I was boiling water for coffee (using about 900 watts on the induction stove) and added 90 watts to the load while grinding coffee beans.

With some consultation, I was told to look for a loose wire. I spent several hours carefully deconstructing the system and found a loose crimp on one of the black 2/0 wires (a stranded wire with a diameter about the size of a dime). I’d used a hydraulic crimper during the build and it was a huge pain to get the crimps nice and tight. I was advised to just get a manual crimper for about $25. It’s like a guillotine and you just bang the crimp tight with a hammer. I was skeptical it would work, but after putting the system back together it pulled about 2400 watts. Better than ever!

In year two, we had another slow degradation in capacity. I pulled things apart again and this time redid every crimp with the manual crimper. It now pulls the full 3000 watts. So something else was always a bit loose, and the vibration from driving down the road was making things worse over time. Hopefully the better crimping has resolved this for good.

Plumbing

We discovered a leak in the plumbing after about 18 months. I found some water on the slider door step and assumed there was a leak with the sink. I checked everything and couldn’t find a problem so I chalked it up to some water splashing out of the sink. But when it showed up again a couple of days later I investigated further.

I got into the plumbing compartment and found a puddle under the water pump. The water had traveled all the way under the subfloor of the van to the slider door step. Yikes! Around the water pumpis the only part of the plumbing system that isn’t PEX. It’s vinyl tubing with clamps, and it was the only part that leaked when I tested the system after first installing it. It turns out you can over tighten clamps. I also learned that warming up the vinyl tubing with a heat gun before clamping helps sets the clamp.

There were multiple clamps in that area. I checked them all and made sure they were tight. I redid a few threaded connections around the pump with fresh putty but the leak persisted. The pump came with a strainer and it unfortunately cracked as I unscrewed it while further deconstructing the system. Maybe it was fortunate because that’s when I discovered that the plastic cap on the strainer was loose. We filter any water that we put in the van, so the strainer was redundant. I put the system back together without the strainer and it’s been dry since.

Fridge

After a couple of months on the road, we found a small puddle in front of the fridge. The fridge was lukewarm when we opened it. Some of the ice in the ice box had melted and leaked, and the compressor was off and wouldn’t restart.

I called Isotherm and troubleshooting involved pulling the fridge out and hot wiring the compressor to bypass the thermostat. It turned on. I then learned that you can reset the thermostat on the fridge by turning it all the way down (or up?) until it clicks. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD THING TO TRY BEFOR PULLING THE FRIDGE ALL THE WAY OUT AND HOT WIRING THE COMPRESSOR! After the thermostat reset it started up again just fine. While reviewing the manual and troubleshooting, I realized that I hadn’t provided adequate ventilation for the fridge. If I had to guess, the fridge overheated, the compressor shut down, ice started melting and got the thermostat wet, and the fridge wouldn’t restart until we reset the thermostat. I cut a hole in the cabinetry by the compressor to add ventilation. We haven’t had any subsequent issues with the compressor.

After a year or so, the fridge really started to stink, and a thorough wipe down wasn’t enough to remove the odor. We defrosted the fridge and ice box. The ice box took a while – it had over an inch of ice built up around it. We now keep an eye on this and defrost every few months.

Organization

I added some drawer dividers this summer to keep things in their place. We now have slots for mugs and glasses (which otherwise chatter as you drive down the road), silverware, and various other things. We’ve added some internal shelves to cabinets to maximize horizontal space. And I’m addicted to buying the little plastic bins at hardware stores for a few bucks each. Loose stuff? Not any more!

We put a tension towel rod in the bathroom but the tension would give out after a few hours of driving. A few bucks at a hardware store for some cups to hold the rod solved that problem.

I wired the van with regular USB ports (hello 2020!) but we’ve since needed more USB-C ports. I added a simple plug insert with two USB-C ports to a 12V plug which we have in the kitchen backsplash.

The last little things I’ll mention is the welcome mat that we added to the slider step. We just bought a cheap one and cut it in half. It helps with wet/muddy/sandy shoes.

If any fellow #vanlifers have read this far, feel free to reach out with questions or for specifics on any of the gadgets I’ve described in this post. We get most stuff off amazon.

We spent the summer in Portland house-sitting for friends as we have every summer while we’ve been on the road. The weather is near perfect and it’s great to reconnect with friends and recharge in a familiar place. We’re now accepting invitations for summer 2024 house-sits! Kidding, sort of. We actually had to turn down a few this summer 🙂

Our plans are always flexible, but here’s what we’ve penciled in for the coming months.

Seattle 9/17-25

Sunriver, OR 9/25-28

Heber City, UT 9/30-10/4 (with a night in Boise on the way)

Denver 10/6-9 (with a night somewhere in the Rockies on the way)

Omaha 10/9

Chicago 10/10-17

Cleveland 10/18-21

Midway, KY 10/21-10/25

Somewhere in the southeast for a few days (Nashville? Huntsville? Birmingham?)

New Orleans 10/30 – ???

Then we’ll head to Texas for some time in Houston, Austin and Port Bolivar. We’ll likely do Thanksgiving at Leena’s cousin’s place in Austin.

We’ll head to Mexico sometime in early December and make our way to Oaxaca. We plan to be there until at least early February and will then start heading northwest up the western coast of mainland Mexico. We’ll spend some time in Puerto Vallarta and La Peñita when we get there (March?) like we have the last two years. It’s nice to have friends to meet up with!

Please reach out if you think our paths may cross! We can be flexible so if you decide anywhere in Oaxaca in January sounds good, let us know. We’ll take time out from exploring the amazing cuisine and margaritas to connect!

Judy Miller passed away peacefully on Thursday while surrounded by family in Lexington, KY. She is survived by her brother Brian and his wife Anne, her brother Scott and his wife Julie, her son David, his wife Lori, and grandchildren Avery, Drew and Scott, and her son Drew and his wife Leena.

Judy was born to Ralph and Jean Congleton in Denver, CO. She grew up in Lexington, KY and graduated from Henry Clay High School. She attended Hood College before transferring to Temple where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and then her Masters of Education. She taught English in Cherry Hill, NJ and Greensboro, NC until shortly before her son David was born in 1971. I followed in 1972.

Mom went back to work when David and I were in junior high. She worked at National Charities Information Bureau researching and rating charities. She then moved into banking, earning her Certified Financial Planner credential and becoming a CitiGold executive. Later, she would start her own practice as a financial planner, focusing on families preparing to pay for college for their children. She coupled this with consultation on selecting a school, the college application process (great to have a former English teacher giving feedback on those essays!), financial aid applications, and pursuing scholarship opportunities. She also read applications for UC Berkeley to learn the other side of the equation. She moved to Medford, OR in the early 2000s and worked as a real estate agent for several years before retiring.

Mom called David “Tiger” and me “Bear” when we were young. I don’t know the origin of Tiger, but I was born with a full head of hair which made her think “I’m having a bear!” as I was born. It had been years since I heard it but I remember the last time she used it. She visited me in Chicago when I was in my early 20s and attended a softball game of mine. She yelled “way to go Bear!” as I rounded third and came in to score.

Mom did so much to support David and me growing up. A teacher at heart, she always helped with our schoolwork. She was often a lot tougher to please than our teachers! When we put in a pool, she got her lifeguard certification. She shuttled us around to countless after-school activities.

Mom taught us personal finance lessons from an early age. We had our first checking and savings accounts around 4th/5th grade. In 6th/7th grade, we were given a large allowance – over $100/month! But it came with a catch: we had to pay for all of our incidental expenses. Clothes, shoes (sneakers!), haircuts, movies, eating out with our friends, etc. She taught us early how to manage a budget. I saved diligently for almost a year to buy my first set of golf clubs in 8th grade and mom later admitted that it was really hard not to give me the remaining balance after I’d saved for 6+ months. Soon after, she co-signed on our first credit cards, but warned us to pay the balance in full every month. I’ve only failed to do that once in my life. David let me know he’s only failed to do so twice.

Mom loved organizing things and coming up with creative and custom solutions. We didn’t have space for a sewing room growing up so she made an upstairs hallway closet into her sewing “room.” Everything had its place and it unfolded like a Transformers toy. Her brother Brian, an architect, was impressed with the closet and used the ideas in its design later in some of his work. Mom sewed lots of our childhood clothes and came through with some amazing Halloween costumes. She also did plenty of counted cross stitch projects over the years.

We had a 5th-wheel pop-up camper and spent many weekends camping. There was a custom-built chuck box (portable cabinet) with a spot for everything. Meals were premade and vacuum sealed. Some just needed to be dropped into hot water to heat up before serving. Others, like flank steak, came out with an amazing marinade before being cooked on a grill.

While we’re on the topic of food, mom made fruitcakes based on a family recipe every year for the holidays. She mailed them all over the country to family and friends. In college, I learned that fruitcakes are a joke to most people. Like, oh, do you use that as a doorstop? Well, no. These aren’t bricks. They’re super moist. Want to know why? When they were finished, mom wrapped them in bourbon-soaked cheesecloth. There’s bourbon in the recipe too. Pure Kentucky, and no joke. Delicious.

Mom loved paddling and being on the water. We did many canoe trips on the Delaware, Toms River, and the Mullica and Batsto in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. The love of paddling and camping was combined for many overnight canoe-camping trips. Two kids, two adults, food, beverages, a tent, sleeping bags and everything else was packed into a single canoe for the trip. When David and I were old enough – maybe 11 and 12? – we graduated to our own canoe.

While we were young, mom read somewhere that kids who attended summer camp for a month (as opposed to just one or two weeks) were more successful in college. While I can’t speak to the veracity of the claim, I loved the month-long trips to summer camp on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire. I’m happy to say that college went well for both me and David.

Mom loved remodeling homes and had a keen eye for what a space could become. The most mom remodel project ever was in her Medford home. Sure, she did a large remodel and changed most of the layout of the home in the first year she was there. But this came a few years later. She was never happy with the dining room. She had a large buffet (a piece her father had custom built) and the dining room table and chairs made for a tight squeeze when she had a table full of guests. So she bumped out the dining room wall about two feet (it still fit under the eave of the roof) for a five foot section to better fit the buffet. Even she had to laugh that she spent about $10k to add 10 square feet.

Mom loved dogs and had Sunny then Miska then Lexi. Lexi is now the undisputed leader of the pack (of three dogs!) at her brother Scott’s.

Mom moved back to Lexington in the fall of 2021 and lived in an assisted living facility. They shared with me that over the Holidays they made cards for local hospital patients. The participating residents were given paper and colored markers and glue and glitter and other craft items for the cards along with suggested messages. Mom spent her time helping everyone else make their cards, making sure they knew what to do. She was so busy teaching the class that she didn’t even make her own card! Mom really was a teacher until the end. Thanks Mom.

We took a break from #vanlife for five weeks in Europe starting in late August. Willie stayed with my aunt and uncle in Kentucky while the van stayed at Leena’s parents in Illinois. We flew to Lisbon and spent a couple of days enjoying the city. Leena introduced me to my first Aperol Spritz.

We rented a car and headed south to the Algarve where we enjoyed beach days, hiking, and the gorgeous scenery. We got to spend a day with our friends Brian and Jen in Faro and saw the in-progress renovation of the house they recently purchased. The house will be ready in October.

Next up: Valencia, Spain. We loved Valencia and it’s now at the top of our list for a potential future home base in Europe. Valencia is a city of about 800,000 residents. We loved the size, we loved the walkability, it was clean and safe, and the waters of the Mediterranean were a bit over 80 degrees. (The Atlantic only reaches the high 60s in Portugal.) The Spanish was also very easy to understand, which is not the case in every part of Spain. Barcelona and Girona, for example, prefer Catalan and will often communicate in English rather than Spanish.

We took in a La Liga game. Valencia netted three goals in an electric opening 20 minutes to break out of an early-season scoring drought. The first two were beautiful. They cruised to a 5-1 win.

We took a train to Girona. It has a beautiful old town, a huge city wall, and lots of churches who stagger their clocks to not ring the hour at the same time. So, lots of church bells around the top of the hour.

We next flew to Florence and spent some time exploring the Tuscan countryside. It took a lot of work, but we found good wine, good food, lovely hilltop towns and castles, and a few good views.

We stayed in Siena for a few nights and climbed the tower.

We headed to the coast for a couple of nights in Piombino. We took a ferry for a day on Elba. The island now has more meaning to me than just crossword fill.

We spent three nights in stunning Florence. The Duomo is a remarkable engineering feat. It was started in 1420 and completed in 1436. It remains the largest dome of its kind in the world.

We took the high-speed rail from Florence to Rome. Ugh, USA, get some high-speed rail. Seriously. We spent four nights in Rome and put in many miles walking to see so many historical landmarks.

The Aperol Spritz became a daily refresher. We called them ”spritz-stops” to give us a break from walking all over Rome. Leena ventured into the Cynar spritz – not as sweet as Aperol.

For many years, Italy has been #1 on my list of countries to visit for the first time. And it did not disappoint! The food was amazing.. How is cacio e pepe not a staple in the US? It’s great to order the house wine everywhere and get consistently good (not great) wine. Almost all of it is Sangiovese. The bottle with dinner tonight? 10 Euro. Sure, service usually lacked urgency. But we seldom had a schedule. We did get rushed out of a table in Florence when they had a dozen folks waiting. No problem.

We did have a funny (to us) experience in Rome. After an hour’s walk to start the day at the Spanish steps, we next had a half-hour walk to the Colosseum. We had some time to kill before our ticket (sold for a specific entry time), so we stopped in a little Trattoria with outdoor seating. We were seated and ordered two Aperol Spritz – spritz stop! These were delivered and we were asked for our lunch order (it was about 12:30p). We declined to order food. ”This is a restaurant, not a bar” we were told by a very annoyed waiter. Without missing a beat, Leena replied ”Do you want us to leave?” We hadn’t touched the drinks. He was trying to shame us into ordering some food, but we’d had a big breakfast at 9:30 at the hotel. He just grabbed the place settings and left in a huff. So we had our drink, paid quickly, and moved along.

Road trip! I suppose everything’s been a road trip since we moved into the van. You got me there.

We headed to the border on 10 January at the Laredo Colombia Solidarity International Bridge just west of Laredo. Our research indicated that it was an easy place to cross – not busy and hassle free. We needed to get our visas and a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the van. We paid for our visas and got the forms for the TIP. However, the inspectors refused to inspect our van. It wasn’t clear why, and the agents who’d arranged our visas shrugged and said it was at their discretion. They told us to head to Laredo to cross. We went back across the bridge into the US, where the US Border Patrol agents thought it was strange that they refused our entry.

Half an hour later we crossed at Laredo. The van inspection and payment took about 90 minutes. The inspector took lots of photos and reviewed the van’s title and registration in detail. We almost hit a snag at the end when they noted the forms were from the Colombia crossing. We explained that we’d been their earlier that morning and had been refused inspection. With that, they took payment and sent us on our way just a few minutes past noon.

Fortunately, we’d built in plenty of time for the crossing and only had about three hours to drive to our first stop, Potrero Chico. It’s a climbing destination, and though we don’t climb, it was easy to find a camp site to park the van and the dirt road leaving town into the mountains made for a picturesque hike.

We drove south the next day to Ciudad Victoria and had a glamorous evening of takeout and parking at a gas station and convenience store. It was basically an informal truck stop, well lit, and free. Sometimes there’s not much between point A and B so you make the best of it.

On Day 3 we drove about four hours to the town of Colonia el Meco. Cascada el Meco is just off the main road.

Cascada el Salto is another 10 minutes up the road. It was dry while we were there, but absolutely stunning. We watched a tour group rappel one at a time down the dry face of the waterfall into a waiting kayak (paddled by a guide) who took them across the pool to where we were.

Willie enjoyed romping around the rock outcroppings.

The view looking downstream. I called to Willie to get him to look at the camera and he took off running to me.

The next day was three hours of driving on sometimes very rough roads (we only covered about 100 kilometers). The reward included Cascada de Minas Viejas, accessible by descending over 300 steps (and then of course climbing them on the way out).

The final stop of the day was Puente de Dios, a cenote with water entering via a beautiful cascade.

There’s a lovely spot for a float just upstream from the cenote.

We stayed the night in Tamasopo by parking in a local’s yard for 50 pesos (about $2.50). It only took 20 minutes the next day to make it to the toll road. (Toll roads are much higher quality with speed limits as high as 110 kilometers/hour.) We stopped for the night in San Luis Potosí. We explored the city, walking for a couple of hours around the historic center.

The last day was four final hours of driving, mostly on toll roads, bringing us to Guadalajara. We have an apartment for a month. It’s on the 14th floor giving us a great view of the city.

The neighborhood is very walkable with plenty of restaurants and bars to explore! Every establishment checks for vaccination status and does a temperature check upon entry, and almost all have outdoor seating. We only dine outdoors. Mexico’s current Covid numbers are less than 10% (per capita) when compared to the US.

We plan to get back on the road in late February: Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, Los Mochis > ferry > La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santa, Loreto, Ensenada, Guadalupe, Tijuana. We’ll cross into the US sometime in late May or June and work our way north up the west coast to Portland.

From Maine, we headed south down the eastern seaboard as far as the Raleigh-Durham area, then northwest to Lexington.

We stayed with Keith and Naomi in Connecticut. They were some of our first and best friends during our San Francisco stint (99-01). Another SF friend who moved back east, Stacey, joined for a cookout while we were there. We also connected with Xander and met his wife Mara and daughters Roosevelt and Maple.

Keith and I played Shennecossett, a gem of a Donald Ross design. The 16th green is very nice.

We stopped through New Jersey and stayed with my brother Dave and Lori. Some old high school friends Colin and Pete joined one night for some burgers and beer.

We saw some of Leena’s family – her uncle and aunt Ashwin and Urvashi as well as her cousins Tanvi and Rahul. A friend from our STATS days, Heather, recently moved from LA to New Jersey. We spent a night with her family playing card games with the kids.

Next up was the Washington D.C. area where we stayed with Adam and Carolyn. Here we are enjoying tapas.

Our stop through Richmond was interrupted by a tremendous downpour. We spent about an hour huddled under an overpass shivering. I finally decided to make a run for it to the van nearly a mile away. I was immediately soaked, and running in the rain in flip flops isn’t so easy, but the van had towels and fresh clothes. I dried off, changed, and drove back to Leena and Willie just as the rain stopped. There was some local flooding from the unexpected deluge.

We stopped at High Point University to meet my nephew (and namesake) Drew where we enjoyed his campus tour followed by some barbecue.

We reconnected with Mike and Lisa in Durham, friends we met at a safari camp in Kenya in 2013. Lisa is a coronavirus researcher at UNC, so while we tried not to make every moment of conversation all about the pandemic, we covered lots of ground. Get your vaccinations and boosters everyone! We also saw Robert, who managed Leena during her Chockstone stint (and best boss she ever had).

We stayed three nights in Asheville and really loved it. It sounded like a place we’d like and it sure delivered. Great craft beer, amazing food, and a super-friendly vibe. Who knew you could get Indian street food from a James Beard winning chef! (Leena knew, of course!)

If you ever have a chance to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, I highly recommend it. We were about a month before the fall colors would be in full force, but we drove it on a beautiful sunny day. We drove south from Asheville to the end (or, technically, a few miles from the end to ensure we avoided a low overpass). There are loads of scenic area pull offs plus some easy side hikes.

We headed north towards Kentucky. A stop in Gatlinsburg was disappointing. Leena had been there in ~1984 with her family and remembered a lovely mountain town. Now it’s just a massive tourist trap. We had lunch and drove off.

We held a family reunion (my mom’s side) at Cumberland Falls also around 1984 and it’s still a lovely spot.

My mother recently moved from Arizona back to Lexington, KY, where she grew up. We arrived a couple of weeks later to help her settle in. We stayed with my uncle Scott and Julie and their four (!) dogs Rosie, Lexi, Chooch and Woody. Willie loved it!

Sunrise in Midway (yeah, I sometimes wake up way too early).

Finally, Willie has some advice for everyone!

The first major leg of #vanlife took us from Oregon to Maine. Let’s look at some highlights.

Our first stop was Manzanita on the Oregon coast for a family reunion of the Dad/Jan side of the family. We did some family photos on the beach one day but all I have is a test shot with my nephews Drew (l) and Scott (r).

That was a nice “soft landing” for our van adventure. All we really did was drive the van out and stay in the rental house for the week. But the van did provide lots of handy items during our stay. Like a colander on pasta night. The highlight was on surf-and-turf night when the lament wishing we’d gotten some cocktail sauce was answered. Oh, we have some in the van.

We next headed to Sunriver in central Oregon and stayed with our friends Ray and Lorraine. We hiked up a butte near their house and enjoyed views of the dense forest.

Willie and Kola enjoyed the hike.

We stopped in Boise for a hot night and then spent another hot night in Twin Falls. Shoshone Falls is stunning.

We next stopped in Heber City, Utah (just outside Park City) and stayed with Anissia and her partner Drew. Some shots from a hike:

We spent a day in Salt Lake City where we found our favorite beer of the trip: the lime Pilsner by Uinta Brewing. Who knew you’d find such good beer in Utah? The Great Salt Lake:

Next up was a night in Dinosaur National Monument. We tested out our Verizon data setup and were able to live stream the final of the Gold Cup (US vs Mexico; US won 1-0 with a goal in the 117th minute). A few views from the next day as rain clouds gathered (and soon delivered).

We stayed in Denver with my high school friend Jen and her family. I lived in Littleton for about eight months in 1984 and got hooked on golf that summer. I returned to Arrowhead Golf Course, set in the same stunning granite outcroppings as the famous Red Rocks amphitheater.

I stopped by my old neighborhood and played the South Suburban 9-hole par 3 course, my first regular loops. It was just like I remembered. The 8th (below) was tricky for a 12-year old who couldn’t carry a ball to the green. Now it’s just a 9-iron.

We stopped at Scotts Bluff National Monument and did a lovely hike to the top that included a cool tunnel through the bluff. The bluff is a remnant of harder stone that remained after flooding in the area (at the end of the ice age I think?).

Among many exciting options along the road in Nebraska is Carhenge, a version of Stonehenge made of old cars.

We couldn’t miss the tallest waterfall in Nebraska, Smith Falls.

We stopped through Chicago for a week and caught up with Leena’s family and some friends. Willie loved the Montrose Beach dog park. We caught up with my sophomore/senior year roommate Eric, his wife Tracey (freshman year dorm mate), and their daughter Payton.

We headed north and stopped to see Lambeau field.

Next up was a few days at Laura’s on Drummond Island where she has a lovely spot with a sand beach on Lake Huron. The sunsets were pretty good.

We headed north to the border crossing at Sault Ste. Marie with a plan to head through Canada on our way to Maine. We had our vaccination records, current passports, and Willie’s documents. But we didn’t know we also needed a negative Covid test from the previous 72 hours. We quickly learned that the nearest test was 2 hours away and that they weren’t guaranteeing results in 72 hours. (The lack of a national testing infrastructure for Covid is just one of the ways our leadership has completely failed during the pandemic.)

We turned around and headed south, spending the night in Bay City Michigan. We called our friends Kathleen and Kelley who live outside Cleveland and were lucky enough to spend a couple of nights catching up with them.

We continued east and camped on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York. After a day of wine tasting and another night camping, we went to Lake Champlain and camped a bit south of Burlington.

The lake tour continued with a night at Rangeley Lake before we drove through to Bar Harbor, Maine and found a campsite a few miles from the entrance to Acadia National Park.

Bar Harbor was lovely and the park was as good as advertised.

We finished up the van build in July and hit the road. Well, “finished” is too strong a word since there will always be tinkering and details, but here are some pictures on how it turned out.

Here’s a look from just inside the passenger-side sliding door. The van is in bench mode with its table in the middle.

From a little further back you can see the bathroom. It’s a wet room (shower) with a composting toilet. It has a 15-gallon grey water tank underneath but no sewage tank. The composting toilet has separate sections for #1 which you empty as needed and #2 which is composted into dirt and can be thrown out with regular trash.

Here’s how it looks with the bed made up. The bed is between queen and king size. It’s 68” wide (a queen is 60” and a king is 72”) and 78” long (queens and kings are 80” long). Fortunately there’s a bedding size called Olympic Queen which is 68”x80” so the fitted sheet fits very well.

Here’s a look from the back of the van. You can see the TV which has a mount that lets us pull it off the wall and turn it towards the bed/couch. Leena got us a data plan with a personal hotspot that lets us stream data provided we have 2 to 3 bars of reception (on Verizon). It’s worked great so far. The first time we tried it was the Gold Cup final between the USMNT and Mexico. Live sports while camping at Dinosaur National Monument was pretty sweet. As was the 1-0 win with a goal in the 117th minute.

The upper drawer of the dresser on the left was built that size to hold the two-burner induction stovetop. We pull that out and cook on the dresser top (after pivoting the TV to the side) while keeping the kitchen counter open for ingredients, prep, and cleanup.

The two units in the ceiling are a Fresair air conditioner (really a swamp cooler) over the foot of the bed and a vent fan further forward by the bathroom and kitchen. The swamp cooler works best in low humidity but at a minimum provides lots of air movement.

The closet behind the driver’s seat provides a little space for hanging a few items.

I’m about four months into the van build and feel like I recently passed the halfway point. I started with insulation, then put in the rear benches.

The U-bench serves as a seating area (a table will be mounted) and converts to a bed. You can also see upper cabinets installed on the driver’s side. A matching set will go on the passenger side. The refrigerator in the foreground is where it will permanently live but I haven’t yet built the kitchen cabinet.

Bed conversion:

The passenger side of the bench houses the electrical system. I have the batteries connected to an inverter with shore power charging. I’ve run 12V DC circuits and 120V A/C circuits. We will be connecting solar panels and the van alternator to give us three power sources.

The driver’s side houses the plumbing for the shower and kitchen sink. I have a 33 gallon freshwater tank, a pump and a water heater.

I’ve also framed in the shower. The bathroom will also have a compostable toilet.

A big thanks to dad for helping out on many days of the build and to my sister Vicky and brother-in-law Jon for use of their barn (out of the elements!) and shop.