The Vehicles

The Van

Although the van is the latest addition, it's worth mentioning it before the other vehicles because it is our primary vehicle for our road-trips. Also, we customized it to our traveling needs, so I am going to talk the most about it. It is a 1993 GMC Vandura 2500 (with a Chevy grille). It has a 4.3 liter V6 engine which can be sluggish especially riding uphill. The smallish engine means that it gives 16-17 miles to the gallon, which suits us just fine.

It is also a short van, which means I can parallel park it in a space big enough to fit a full sized sedan. We were actually quite surprised to find that the van is shorter than any truck or large SUV. This makes it really convenient to take it anywhere.

The van came with two captain's chairs in the middle row, and a sofa/bed in the back row. The sofa/bed was not nearly big enough for Holly and me to be able to sleep on (I am 6' and Holly is 5'10"), so we did away with that. However, we only removed the bed, and not the frame that attached the bed to the van. We got a piece of plywood, some 2X4s, and made a bed attached to the frame on which the sofa/bed was bolted to earlier.

 We went to a local mattress place that made custom sized mattresses and ordered one that fit the bed. The captain's chairs in the middle row are easy to remove and install so we do not usually have them inside the van unless we have friends traveling with us. 

Next came the curtains. We bought full length home curtains and cut and hemmed them ourselves and attached them to the van using velcro. We can roll them up when not in use using velcro straps. It's an easy and convenient set up. 

With this set up, we started traveling in the van. However, the first time we camped in the van, we realized that opening the little sliding windows was not enough to keep us cool on hot nights. So the next investment was for a portable AC unit. We got an 8000 BTU Frigidaire. It came with an exhaust hose that I was able to attach to one of the sliding windows. The setup works pretty well and now we can just get a campsite with an electric hookup and we are good.

Before I forget, I should also mention that having the bed meant that we also had some storage area under it where we can keep stuff like camping chairs, tools, a foldable table, and other odds and ends that are needed when you are camping.

Overall the van has been a success. It is small enough to be taken everywhere, big enough to provide a comfortable sleeping/changing area and it takes us less than five minutes to back into a campsite, unfold the curtains, hook up the AC. But more importantly, that's the time it takes up to pack up and leave!

The Car

Before the van, we used to travel in our 2000 Nissan Maxima. It has a powerful 3 liter engine and is big and spacious and comfortable for traveling long distances. It has taken us to so many far off destinations without any problems. It has enough room to pack tents, sleeping bags, and all the supplies that one would need for a camping trip. It truly is a workhorse.

The Motorcycle

Meet Rusty. Yeah I named my motorcycle, deal with it :D. 2007 Yamaha Roadstar 1700. Another workhorse. It has been with me since 2012. It has done many many many miles. I have done almost the entire east coast on this bike. It is powerful enough to carry all my gear, and even with a passenger, it is big enough to have room to tie your stuff down. I hope to travel more with Rusty and post some good rides on this blog.