our new van life (4x4 sprinter build)
Wow...it's like I took a (long) hiatus from the interweb or something...
How exactly do i provide an update for a year and half?? Yikes.
Maybe its best if i start a new thread, or maybe this is simply the furthest possible stretch of "and beyond" in the thread title... not sure.
In a nutshell... we're still out there convinced we can make this full time travel and nomadic living thing work longterm and refuse to believe anything else (we've now passed the 5.5year mark on the road and arent looking to plant roots anytime soon)!! :wings:
Okay...details
We outfitted our 2016 sprintervan (4x4 2500 high roof) with a temporary camper setup to test our build plans and lived in it for almost a year or so making sure we knew what we wanted long term. That temporary setup ended up sticking for that long only because we moved in (making it really difficult to finish).
We tested that system hard driving around BC and Alberta for a few seasons and logging almost 15k miles on the back roads and crown lands...
trying to see as much and get as lost as we could in the new rig and with our new ability to get further out than most.
Certainly one of if not the best summers we can remember, yet somehow our list of things/place to see and do in the PNW keep getting longer rather simply checking items off the list.
We also parted with E the bus. Never formally listed E for sale on normal listings but through word of mouth found a family who seemed a good fit and would make sure E was still finding adventure and seeing trails rather than rusting out in a garage somewhere. Sad to part ways and see that chapter close, but have to admit that standing upright in the sprinter and all the places it takes us (without breaking down every 3rd day) have made the transition easier than i would have imagined.
Last october we finally went forward with the full build, after a year of me trying to redesign every last component in an attempt at engineering the system in a way that it was mostly plug and play (uses only factory holes and bolts rather than turning the van into swiss cheese via screws) so we could remove it as needed for upgrades, enhancements, etc...but also so we could easily use it as a template for future builds as needed.
After 2 months in the shop we called it (mostly) done and took off for an epic winter road trip thanks to our having purchased the mountain collective pass. Odd for us to not be heading south and rather assumed we would only survive a week or two but ended up having one of the best winters (despite a few weeks figuring out the vans' systems in temps as low as -28F. Gulp.
All in, our winter included about 7000miles, 16 different resorts, about 40days on the slopes and tons of days hopping around from mountain to mountain and hotspring to hotspring (not bad for a couple of self-professed beach bums)!
Since then we've just been doing more of the same.
Living in the van, stealth camping about 80% of our time and drifting to whatever fun event our friends have going on, or whatever place we decide to check off the list that day/week/month. Started a few businesses that mostly fill my creative side but also occasionally add to the travel fund.
If anyone wants more detail...just ask. Or, do a bit of reading up on the blog i guess. While i haven't been at good at updating there as often as i would like either, i di do a pretty good job or wrapping up each year around the holidays, for at least a bit of a quicker read.
http://www.thedangerz.com/category/year-in-review/
Ill try to do a better job moving forward of making updates here... but for the most part i update every few days on instagram... simply because its the easiest thing for us to do from pretty much anywhere.
https://www.instagram.com/thedangerz/
