Road Trip

So we got his van, not just a run of the mill type van but a diesel Mercedes Sprinter 4×4 high roof extended cab, the longest tallest Mercedes currently makes.  As our ski season ended on April first at Wolf Creek we departed Pagosa Springs on April 7th and spent several days in Denver getting ready for our planned van road trip. The month prior to our departure from Pagosa I had insulated the van with Thinsulate, made a custom platform for a queen size bed out of an aluminum ATV ramp with a bunk below for Hoku. I also installed a chair for her as the van only came with drivers and front passenger seats.

First on the list while in Denver was the installation of a 100 amp AGM auxiliary battery. This battery would be used to power some interior LED lights along with our Eberspacher Espar Airtronic D2 diesel heater which I had installed back in Feb. but had yet to fire up due to the fact that it needed a 12V source of power and I didn’t want to use the engine battery.

The process required tapping into the 12V power coming from the engines 200amp alternator. The 12V power from the alternator leads to a 150amp fuse into a Blue Sea Systems 12V DC charging relay which works either automatically or with the option to manually isolate our house battery from the staring battery. This is nice so we don’t drain down the starting battery which would prevent us from starting the engine. From the relay the power goes thru a 100amp Mega fuse to the new battery which I located under the passenger seat. Eventually I will install solar panels, an inverter-charger and Li-ion batteries for our house use.

Once the bed was in I finished up our “garage” which is located under our bed. I made custom racks which can hold 4 bikes, tools, grill and assorted “stuff”. Most of the things I’ve been doing to the van are somewhat temporary.  Before drilling a bunch of holes in the van our plan is to find out what works and what doesn’t during the next several weeks.

While in Denver, (thank you Lawrence and Kathy) I also finished up installing our shower/bathroom combination. I framed the bathroom with schedule 40 PVC and used a concrete mixing tub as the basin. I ran a small hose from the basin out the back which will drain the tub. We also have a small porta potti for #1 and 2 which fits nicely in the basin. For showers we’ll use a solar shower hung from the PVC, (Katie and I spent an entire winter in a cabin next to Keystone Resort in Colorado using a 5 gallon solar shower to take showers, much nicer than baby wipes). We also picked up our DJI Mavic Pro drone which I’ll discuss in a later post.

With the forecast calling for snow we decided it was time to leave Denver and head west to the desert. So on the morning of April 12th, actually it was the afternoon by the time we left, we headed west on I-70 with a detour crossing the over the continental divide on 11,990 ft high Loveland Pass. As sunset approached we got off I-70 at Rabbit Valley exit #2 and spent night #1 in the van.

The following day we drove thru Castle Valley stopping in Moab for a mt. bike ride.

After finishing the ride we drove south for three hours to camp at one of my favorite sites, Muley Point. The camp site overlooks the Goose-necks of the San Juan river.

Our next stops; Navajo National Monument in Arizona then on to the Grand Canyon.