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In The Beginning

It was during our trip to Kansas that we decided to purchase a van and convert it to a camper. It was mind blowing that we hadn't came up with the clever idea until then. Kansas, as you might know, is windy. Those tornadoes don't just come from thin air! (Well, they do... But there is always wind involved.) As we were bucking a gnarly headwind on the way back to Indiana (also infamously windy) chugging along racking up a whopping 11 miles to the gallon, we started brainstorming better ways of traveling long distance. From Battle Ground, Indiana to Emporia, Kansas was about 12 hours. This would be our furthest camper pull yet. While having the camper during the weekend was a godsend, tugging it to and fro was not. 
We talked about upgrading to a driveable camper, but those are $100k. We talked about just tent camping like we did in the good ole days, but we kind of like a little comfort during race weekends. How can we still have the comfort of the camper, but not pull a camper?
My God... A Van! 
And so we started planning. And talking. And planning. And thinking out loud. And we sold the camper. And we started looking at vans. We knew that a Mercedes was out of our budget. Dodge would work, but we were drawn to the Ford. And so we started looking for one. Our wish list was easy:
High Roof
Slider door with window
Back windows
Back up camera
Cruise control
And after about a month of light searching, we found it. 
Big Red!
Big Red. Our newest family member. Home away from home. Our adventure van. After some minor work from the dealership, she came home. Big Red was formerly an appliance repair van and had some unwanted additions that we had to take care of before she came home. She had a lift on the back door, which I assume was for ease of getting heavy appliances in and out. She also had huge cabinets and a divider in her that we had to remove. Not too mention the window guards. 
Big Red hails from New York and according to all of the gas receipts in the glove box, has been all over the New England area. 
We have big plans for this beauty. We will build her up ourselves, recruiting friends with knowledge if needed. She will hold a platform bed, a mini kitchen with cabinets, a microwave and refrigerator. She will have enough space for two mountain bikes (or road bikes), hiking gear, tools, and quite possibly a motorcycle. A full on camper van, if you will. DIY. On a serious budget. Here are some photos of her as of today. Follow along as we build her up and head out on our adventures!
Our first adventure will be this weekend as we head over to Springfield, Illinois for the flattrack races. 
We headed into town for some supplies to build a make shift bed.. Maiden Voyage!

View from outside the slider door

Looking forward

Looking backwards

What a beauty!




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