I bought an old Ford E150 Club wagon for a $1000. We felt too cramped in our Subaru Outback. My friend and mechanic suggested that we buy a heavy duty vehicle as we were killing the Subie.
The Ford van had only a 85k on the clock, but I am assuming that it got some heavy use as I had to replace the ball joints, tie rods, and drag link. We have drove over 26k on since we bought the van in 2012 and it's only had 1 break down-a cracked radiator that I mis-diagnosed as a leaky hose. It set up back only $250 to have it repaired on the road on the 4th of July weekend near Glacier National Park.
We set it up as a
sleeper van with platform bed in the rear cargo area and another platform bed that folds over rear bench seat. I used electrical conduit piping for the legs.
Being a former engineer, I like to plan the details of the trip and then bounce ideas off the family while traveling. I used to reserve camping sites and cabins months in advance and my wife said to scrap all the planning and enjoy the trip moment by moment.
This summer, while on a trip to Canada, my boys said they wanted to see the 4th of July fireworks in the States. This was not part of my plan as I planned on entering Victoria Island in Canada around July 1. I did a few mental calculations and decided to drive all the way to Glacier National Park in Montana instead. My wife never bothers to read a map or concern herself with the details. This probably added another 1000 miles to the trip. She sleeps half the time while driving, so no worries.
After the radiator failure in Kalispell, Montana, we were informed that all the fireworks shows west of Glacier National Park were suspended. I called around and found out that the KOA campground on the west side of the park was still having a show. We drover over Road Going To Sun Road and enjoyed a beautiful fireworks show in the comforts of our camper van.
I let my kids bring nerf guns, biodegradable AirSoft BBs, card games, books, and a bunch of other junk to make the trip fun.
My wife loves visiting thrift stores in small towns. We usually spend an hour or two every day shopping at thrift stores and my 2 boys just love it! It's cheap entertainment on the road and we sometimes come back with some good bargains. I found an almost new Champion Juicer for $40 on our last camping trip.
We also enjoying visiting and exploring old historic towns. My route planning takes us through remote little villages. We often find farm fresh eggs, raw milk, and fruit picking by taking the Road Less Traveled.
How We Save Money On Camping Trips
We love to cook and eat on the road. We carry stacking RubberMaid bins filled with rice, spices, sauces, and eating utensils.
I bought a 62 liter ARB Fridge/Freezer and connected it to a separate battery. We filled it with frozen burger, cheese, steaks, tortillas, and a whole lot more before our 3 1/2 week camping trip. We hardly had to buy food on our trip and we ate well. We spent $800 for the fridge and use it at home as a second deep freezer. It will take a few years to justify the cost of not having to buy ice every 5 days. It's hard to count the cost of all the food that went bad because the ice melted. We save money by not eating out.
We cook on a Coleman 2 burner dual fuel stove. Our go to cooking gear is are a cast iron griddle, stainless steel wok, and a 12 quart stainless steel pressure cooker.
We enjoy dispersed camping in the national forests. It's easy to find free campsites by pulling off well maintained national forest roads. We find sites that look previously occupied. Sometimes we find campsites that are larger than most national park campgrounds.
When we want to drive some miles to our next destination, we pull into Walmart for the night. This is not my favorite method. It's a means to end and more comfortable than a cheap hotel as we sleep on luxury foam and air mattresses.
My wife still enjoys the creature comforts of flush toilets and hot showers every few days. We look for inexpensive public or private campgrounds that offer showers. The best campground that we found for $10 a night including hot showers is the Oregon State Parks
Deshutes River Recreation Area. You drive your vehicle on lush grass and camp right next to the Deschutes River. Some folks complain about the trains running periodically all night. I like the sound of the trains rumbling on the tracks and the beeping horn.
While car camping in Canada this summer, I bought a book titled "Camp For Free in BC". It's a detailed book detailing free Ministry Of Forest Campgrounds. The descriptions and directions to the campsites were a little outdated as many of the roads lacked signs. The author makes up for this by giving you miles/km to guide you to the campgrounds. The book told us how to take our vehicle on British Columbia's free ferry across Arrow Head Lake. There is also a free ferry that crosses Kootenay Lake.
Since we wanted to make the most of Canada's national park system, we used this book for camping while on our way to the parks. The exchange rate was so favorable this year that we willingly shelled out $15 for amazing campgrounds that included cooking shelters larger than most cabins. Sometimes the cooking shelters included electricity.