SprinterWild 2015 Mercedes-Benz build and open road adventures!

[montanawild]

Hello! My name is Leslie Gaines and I'm a documentary film producer and Goal Zero Solar sales representative. I started this thread earlier today but it was in the wrong spot on the forum. I've gotten some nice responses so far and as someone suggested I'm just starting fresh on the Camper Van thread.

Over the years I've built and travelled around North America and Mexico in several different campers. In the late 70's I owned a Holiday Rambler travel trailer, a few Airstreams from the 60's and 70's, a barely used Unimog 140L that I custom built, a Ford F-250 diesel with a Four-Wheel Camper Keystone, a 2012 Toyota Tundra with the same Four-Wheel Camper, a 2006 E-350 Sportsmobile van and now finally my dream van, a 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4x4 that I'm currently building into my full time home on the open road.

Today, I'm embarking on my new adventure--sharing the story of my van build and some of the people I've met along the back roads of the United States and Mexico. This van has been a dream of mine for a long time and it's now a reality. I hope readers will learn something from my mistakes and experiences and be inspired to build their dream camper.

 

[montanawild]

Mercedes-Benz of Seattle Dealer Experience

I purchased my Sprinter 4 x 4 from Mercedes-Benz of Seattle. My sales professional was Keith Donaldson and if you are in the NW and want to purchase a Sprinter Keith was an amazing sales person to work with. From the time I walked into the door and saw what was to become my SprinterWild van the process was seamless and stress free. Usually stress free is not something that comes with buying a $57,600 van. They offered me a great trade-in value on my 2012 Tundra and I picked up my van two days later after it was throughly prepped. Keith even helped me remove my Yakima kayak bars and ARB air compressor that will eventually be mounted on my new van. He put me in contact with All-Van near the Seattle-Tacoma airport where I purchased and installed an industrial steel and aluminum shelf system so I could travel for the fall season on my way to Florida. I would highly recommend the Seattle dealership.

 

[montanawild]

Too Much Stuff

Having owned a Ford E-350 Sportsmobile van with a regular length body I knew in advance that I had way too much stuff for my van. At the dealership I took a few hours to move all of my stuff into the van and it looked like a caravan of folks abandoning stuff on the side of the Oregon Trail. If you want to read a great book and have the time I'd suggest picking up the recently published book, "The Oregon Trail" by Rinker Buck. It's a fascinating read and will hopefully inspire you to explore the trail and it's huge impact on America and the spread west in the late 1840's. Rinker has another book, "Flight of Passage" about flying across the United States from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles in a tiny Piper Cub with his brother. They are a very adventurous family. Here is a picture of the first time I saw my Sprinter and how it looked once I unloaded all of the collection of things I had in the Tundra!

 

[marshal]

can't wait to see. i saw before in your other thread that you were unfamiliar with photo bucket. its just a photo hosting website, photobucket.com. just go over and make an account and you can upload your photos. you share them here by copy and pasting the links that have the

brackets at either end of the URL. they also have a mobile application for your smart phone if you so desire.

 

[trailsurfer]

Looking forward to following this thread. Good luck with the build. We are loving our 2015 SMB Sprinter with a pop top.