Freewheeling: The Adventure Begins

Greg is making one of his dreams come true.

Here it is:

How jealous are you?!

Yep, Greg has been coveting others’ Sprinter Vans for several years now and he finally found one that met all his needs (including price — and they ain’t cheap no matter how you look at it). He has been doing a nationwide search of eBay and Craigslist for over a year and was lucky enough to find this one just outside of Sacramento.

I got to take ‘er out for a very short joy ride last week! My car is a VW Cabrio so Greg predicted that it would take me a few backs-and-forths to get it out of our tight driveway, but I did it the first time! Not wanting to risk the van or my car or our neighbors’ cars, I didn’t even attempt getting it back into our driveway and opted to park it a half-block away on a long stretch of curb.

This year’s winter project is to transform this box of tin into “Base Camp.” G has very detailed plans (his Visio diagrams are password-protected) that will pimp this ride into mobile living quarters.

Admittedly, I was reluctant at first. My only experience with a “recreational vehicle” is the 35-foot luxury behemoth his parents own that seems entirely excessive for our needs. Are we really going to be a three-car family? (answer: not for long, I should prepare to part with the Cabrio) Where will we park it? (answer: thank goodness for a 70-foot long driveway) What kind of mileage does it get? (answer: 21-23 mpg, and it’s diesel so we can use biofuel)

Once Greg showed me his grand plans and expertly explained all of its customized features, I was sold. We really cringe at spending money on hotels when traveling to races or when camping isn’t an option. DISCLAIMER: we do take hotel-based vacations, too. I love a road trip and there’s a certain amount of freedom by traveling with everything we need. Greg did a great job with the Element (remember the Death Ride?), so I am confident that this will be even better –AND this will accommodate a couple of additional passengers as well.

I’ll keep you updated as we go. This promises to be a fun process to watch!