Indiana Dunes, the most confusing park in the country! Not officially, but let me attempt to break this down for you:

Indiana Dunes State Park was established in 1925 to protect this beautiful area along Lake Michigan.
The Dunes Nature Preserve is contained entirely within the State Park, and presumably established in 1925 as well, although I cannot find a source.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was established in 1966, completely surrounding the State Park and substantially increasing the protected area.
In 1974, the park was established a U.S. National Natural Landmark.
And finally, in February of 2019, the National Lakeshore was upgraded to become the Indiana Dunes National Park, the nations 61st national park.

For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to 'Indiana Dunes State Park Nature Preserve Natural Landmark National Park', simply as Indiana Dunes. Good job Indiana, for really making the most of your single National Park.

Back on track:

We wanted to go somewhere wintery for this holiday season. The last two years we've found ourselves in Asheville this time of year, and while we absolutely love Asheville and the surrounding mountains, we were looking for someplace a little different  (and snowier) this year. Snowy van camping sounds wonderful in theory, but I did have my concerns (it is an 8,000 pound, rear wheel drive van, after all). We were looking closely at the Finger Lakes region of New York and the Leelanau peninsula area of Michigan. The average weather in both areas is remarkably similar, and both are chock full of wineries, Harvest Hosts, and hiking options. Then, in perfect 2020 fashion, COVID stifled our plans. New York has a mandatory 2 week quarantine period, so that option was out entirely. Michigan has no quarantine, but they also have no 'dine-in' permitted, which means no wine tastings; not the end of the world, but not ideal when going to wine country. To make matters worse, northern Michigan was predicting 4-8 inches of snow over the couple days we'd be there, and that was quite a bit more than I wanted to tackle in LishVan. Next Option...
Indiana Dunes was the only National Park within 500 miles of us that we had yet to visit, and the weather was looking perfect! I found no Harvest Hosts nearby, but a park campground was open, nearly empty, and in the center of all the hiking trails. Since the shower houses were closed for the season, they discount the camping rate substantially. This was perfect for us! I booked a corner site that backed up to a ravine and even provided electrical hook-up! I built the van to function with or without shore power, and this would be the first time we've ever stayed somewhere we could plug in. I added an electric coffee maker and an electric heater to our normal packing list to make the most of this new-to-us power!
We headed out the morning of New Years Eve, and arrived early afternoon. We parked the van, plugged it in, fired up the heater, and headed out for our first hike.

We hiked a few miles this first afternoon, including the hardest hike in the park, the Three Dune Challenge. It was far from challenging to us fitness buffs, but I could see how it may be tougher for some soft city folk. Just kidding (kinda), the three sand dunes have steep climbs in soft sand that will each get you breathing hard, and each provide wonderful views of Lake Michigan. After a mile and a half or so, you can head back towards the start or down to the beach. We headed down to the beach to continue hiking till sunset. Since the park is just across the line into the Central time zone, the sun sets painfully early. This made for quite the challenge on New Years Eve. We briefly entertained the idea of staying up till midnight, before deciding that entertaining ourselves for more than 7 hours after dark was simply not worth it. We had wine and dinner, and crashed for the night.
Staying up till midnight would be cool and all, but spending New Years camping in our van at a national park was plenty cool for us!

We woke up to some threatening weather, but we managed to get a morning hike in before the precipitation started. Another great hike, out in the woods/marshland and back on the beach, brought us back to the van just as the rain began. It was to turn to snow in the evening, but most of the day was unfortunately expected to be rain/wintery mix. Being New Years Day, we had planned to head to town to watch some football anyway, so it worked in our favor.
Unfortunately, what didn't work in our favor was the game we wanted to watch didn't start till 8pm. I had read a noon start time, but upon arriving at the restaurant, I learned that was wrong. The only thing I can think of is when I googled OSU-Clemson Game Time, the first link that populated showed last seasons game details. We watched the Cincinnati bowl game instead. Almost as disappointing as the wrong game, was the restaurant we were in was a bit of a bust. Did you know smoking is still allowed inside in Indiana? We didn't. The place smelled of an ash tray, and in general was just mediocre. Can't win them all. 
We headed a bit up the road to a (much much nicer) brewery for another drink and a little more football. It was still raining so heading back to the van wasn't ideal, but it was New Years Day, in freezing rain, in COVID times, so our options were somewhat limited!
We watched the beginning of the next game, and eventually headed back to the van before it got dark. The rain turned to snow, so we headed out for a night hike along the beach. It was pitch black (5pm!) and snowing, so we dawned all our gear and headlamps and headed out. We walked for a couple hours up and down the beach opposite direction from our last hikes, and had a wonderful time! 

We awoke to a couple inches of fresh snow, and a snowman in front of our neighboring campervan! Worth mentioning, during our stay at the Indiana Dunes Campground, there were 3 of us campervans in a row! It was a beautiful sight, and I regret not getting a great picture of the scene. Despite being in a line, we were each quite a ways apart. There were only a couple other campers in the entire area, and surprisingly, a handful of tents! 
We finished our coffee and hit the trail as quick as we could to enjoy the fresh snow. This was to be our longest hike, so we headed through the woods and marshland about four miles. For a couple miles, we were the first footprints on the path with the exception of a pair of coyotes that had meandered this way not long before us. Our turn around point was the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair Century of Progress Architectural District. 5 homes from the fair were relocated to the shore of Lake Michigan by a developer, and later taken over by the National Park Service. Any interesting detail to note, in order to afford the needed restorations, the National Park has allowed private citizens to pay for the restorations, in exchange for a 50 year lease of each property.

After our hike, we showered and packed up to head east. We took the long way home, and headed north just a bit to stop at a Winery/Brewery/Restuaruant Harvest Host in Michigan. We haven't had the van in that state up north yet, so figured we'd check one more box off our many to-do lists while on this trip. Our stop was Lucky Girls Brewing in Paw Paw, Michigan. What a great place! They had a great beer and wine list, including a couple house made ciders and even a mead option. The menu was a sort of tex-mex blend of tacos, smoked meats, chilis, and sandwiches. We shared a heap of house-smoked wings, pulled pork, and brisket, as well as a few steak tacos. Everything we tried was wonderful. The owner and staff were welcoming and enjoyable, and we will definitely visit again. It snowed another inch overnight, so our drive home the next day was simply beautiful.

We were back to off-grid living in Michigan, with our diesel furnace and propane stove, but everything worked perfectly and we enjoyed a toasty night, fresh coffee in the morning, and an easy drive home in.

We hiked every trail in the campground area and walked more than 6 miles of the beach. We had an absolutely wonderful time at 'Indiana Dunes State Park Nature Preserve Natural Landmark National Park'. I can't help but think that may be greatly helped by the season/weather. I can only imagine the place can get quite busy in the warmer months, and I don't think the 'plus side' of being able to swim would outweigh the negatives of crowds and a busy campground. For a family vacation, perhaps the summer is the time to go, but for our purposes of escaping the day to day and hiking new areas, the winter worked wonderfully, and a long weekend was the perfect amount of time. 

The theme of of the year: Covid-Cancelled. Family Thanksgivings were, of course, Covid-Cancelled. Frustrating, for sure, but that opened the long weekend up for another social distanced activity; camping! Mammoth Cave National Park has been on our to-do list for years. It's the second closest (roughly) National Park to our home, yet we had never been! The park remained open, albeit on a very limited basis. That was good enough for us! We packed up the van and headed out mid morning, arriving mid afternoon. We parked and got changed, and headed off for our 2 hour cave tour. Normally I would opt for the absolute longest, most extreme tour available (that's how I roll), but during these crazy times, we'll take what we can get. The 2 hour 'historic' tour is all that was permitted, so we gladly accepted! 

It was an enjoyable afternoon tour, and had me excited to come back some day when I can do more!

We had some extra time so we added an extra couple miles to our tour by hiking around the visitors center, before heading back to the van. The weather was quite nice, so I went to the camp store to buy a bundle of firewood. This was the first time we've staying in a true campground and had a campfire in our van! Unfortunately, the park's firewood is some ridiculous eco-friendly wood/wax pretend logs. Is this the most unfortunate looking campfire you've ever seen, or what?

Regardless, we enjoyed being outside near our pitiful fire for an hour or so... but then it was time for Thanksgiving!!!

As this was Thanksgiving day, we weren't going to go without the grand dinner! Alicia prepared everything ahead of time and packaged our dinners up in Pyrex dishes so we could simply pop them into the camp oven. About 20 minutes or so in the oven and we were enjoying Vansgiving Dinner! I haven't gotten as far as installing our swivel seats and removable table, but the bed worked just fine as our not-so-formal dining room this time!

We spent half of the next day hiking all the available trails around Mammoth Cave. Unfortunately, the National Park is split in half by the Green River and the ferry crossing was closed. That kept us limited, but the weather was perfect, so we enjoyed what we could. Even more reason to come back some day!

After that we headed east towards Berea Kentucky, home of The Pinnacles, arguably the greatest hike in the state! We weren't planning on hiking again till the morning, so we were able to take our time this afternoon. We couldn't drive through the heart of Kentucky without stopping at a distillery. Wilderness Trail Distillery was aptly named, near our route, and proved to be the perfect stop! We enjoyed the tasting and bought a bottle to support them through these tough times.

We stayed at a Harvest Host near Lexington this evening. Wildside Winery would be a great spot for a Harvest Host member enjoying the Bourbon Trail or hiking the hills in the area. They have a wonderful outdoor space, and plenty of room for campers. I believe there were 4 other campers here with us, including one other campervan. After enjoying a wine tasting on their patio, we retreated to the van for VansGiving dinner round 2!

The next morning we walked the grounds of the winery while enjoying our coffee before heading south to Berea for our hike. The parking area was huge, and while the park was not, they managed to create a great trail system. The full out and back trail, including the offshoots to overlooks, would be about a 10 mile hike with substantial elevation change. This was intended to be a relaxing trip (post Colorado!), so we hiked about half of the trail system and plan to be back someday. At only about 3 hours from home and 1 hour from Red River Gorge, this is an area we visit somewhat frequently. There is also great kayaking nearby (and distilleries), so we're no strangers to these parts. Summary: The Pinnacles of Berea Hike is a great hike for those looking for a hilly 5-10 miles with countless overlooks.

After our half day on the trails, we headed north towards home. We were torn whether to go all the way this afternoon, or stop for one more night. The drive wouldn't have been difficult in the least, but the alternative was to stop exactly halfway home at another winery for an evening of wine tastings. The choice was obvious.
We headed towards Meranda-Nixon winery, just over the Ohio River on US-62. We happened to have timed it right, and they were hosting their annual barrel tasting event. They were hesitant to accept a camper this evening because of the event, but once they understood we were in a 'small' van, they welcomed us to join. The owners and staff were wonderful, the event was a riot, and the wine was great. We did a standard bottle tasting first, and the wine was some of our favorite in Ohio (not too sweet!), then we made our way to the event space where we were permitted to join in the barrel tasting event. The wine samples, pulled out of the barrels surrounding us, were absolutely wonderful! 
​A great time was had by all!

We were a little slow to start the next morning, but not too bad off. We made coffee, and headed the last 2 hours home.

The trip was nothing crazy, but we checked off a new National Park, a new Ohio Harvest Host, and the 'best hike in Kentucky'. It was a great way to spend a long weekend!

Our grand fall plan for 2020 was cancelled, along with everything else, because of this wretched virus. Alas, that is what allowed us (or caused us) to buy this van in the first place, but it also is causing us to rethink our fall trip. A van adventure was now a necessity, and we had two directions in mind. We could head northeast, to the Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire area. Neither of us have been past upstate New York, and we've heard so many wonderful things. Or we could head west. Alicia has never seen the Rocky Mountains, and I've never been in any of the area National Parks. It seemed like such an ideal place for a big van trip, we opted to head that way. The good news was, with absolutely no reservations at all, we could change our plan entirely if the weather or anything else made it look beneficial.

The weather was looking good, and the plan was a go! 

I spent the weeks leading up to the trip working away in the van, adding the furnace for the chilly nights, adding the countertop and backsplash (rather than the plain plywood that had been installed previously), and adding stereo. Lots of other small things, and a little paint progress, and we were good to go!

We hadn't truly tested the furnace, nor had we tested any of our accessories at altitude, but what better way to test these things than to head into the mountains on the brink of winter, and hope for the best!

I laid out a painfully detailed plan, knowing that if we only got to do half of it, we would still have a great trip. With the shrinking daylight hours, I was hoping to keep our biological clocks on Eastern Time Zone. I would much prefer getting up and rolling out early, so we have plenty of daylight in the afternoon to find a campsite and relax. Other advantages were, the morning weather in the mountains is often better than the afternoon weather, and we were often having dinner during happy hour!

I cleaned out the van of residual building dust and parts, and we loaded it down for travel. Since we opted out of bikes or kayaks for this trip, we actually had tons of space. We packed clothes and hiking gear to be comfortable in just about any weather you could imagine. We filled the water tank with 30 gallons of sink/shower water, and brought 6 gallons of drinking water and enough food for daily breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and for a few days of dinner. The goal was to eat dinner at a local restaurant every day, but if we were running late in the day, I wanted to be able to head straight to camp and cook our own dinner.

We left Columbus bright and early, and made our first stop at the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis. We took the obligatory pictures, walked through the visitors center, and had tacos for lunch. After the couple hour break, we moved on to Kansas City for a BBQ dinner.

We stayed the night at a wonderful Harvest Host Winery just west of Kansas City. We pulled in late, but they still gave us the complete wine tasting experience. The wine varied from classic, to funky, to spicy (jalapeno wine!). The tasting experience was wonderful, and the camping was top notch; they are on many acres, and he placed us back in a grass field near trees. We unfortunately didn't take any pictures, as it was after dark by the time we finished our wine and still dark when we headed out the next morning. Z&M Twisted Vines Winery and Vineyard was perfect for us!

The second day was nearly 700 miles, but the destination for the night was in the heart of the mountains, so with excitement (and Joe Rogan Podcasts), we blasted the miles away. We stopped in the town of Gunnison, Colorado for dinner at the High Alpine Brewery and Restaurant. The food was great, but we were now at nearly 8,000' elevation, so we were holding ourselves to 1 drink max.
We camped for the night at Lake Fork Campground on the Gunnison river, 1400 miles west of Columbus, but only 50 miles from our hike for the next day.

Day 3 is our first day to hike and enjoy Colorado! We made it! Hooray!

The plan had us starting in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This park is lower elevation than the rest of our trip, so I thought it would be a good way to get acclimated. We chose to hike to the Green Mountain summit via the North Vista trail. At 7 miles, it's one of the longer hikes in this park, but not bad by any means. Elevation goes from around 7500' to just over 8500'. We hiked along the rim of the canyon, and then up a bit into the mountains adjacent. Hiking to the bottom of the canyon is quite difficult, and only allowed with a special permit. It would have been a bit much for us on this trip, but I bet the experience would have been spectacular.

By sticking to Ohio time, we comfortably started the hike just after sunrise and wrapped up right around mid-day. This allowed us to take the scenic route from Gunnison over Cottonwood Pass, the highest paved pass in the state. We stopped at the top for a quick half mile hike to a lookout. This was our first taste of alpine elevation, at over 12,000'. We also were able to hike (albeit, for just a bit) on the Continental Divide Trail, as well as the Colorado Trail. We headed back down to Buena Vista at about 9000', where we had a great dinner at House Rock Kitchen. We headed just up the road to a free camping area nearby and called it an early night.

The next day we headed to the nearby Mount Antero trailhead, in hopes of hiking to Cronin Peak. Some bad information online lead us to a Jeep & ATV road at the trail head. We parked at the base and began hiking, but it was 3 miles into the hike we learned the official hike didn't even start until the other end of this Jeep road. Needless to say, the hike was going to be extremely ambitious, even without an extra 4 miles at each end. We opted for an easier 'low route' once we actually made the trail head. We were still rewarded with beautiful views, and we managed to hike from about 9000' up to around 11,000', which was a great level for hiking day 2.

After this hike, we headed a bit north to the highest elevation city in the USA, Leadville. We grabbed dinner at the Tennessee Pass Café, and managed to fill our water tank at the local water 'plant' (tiny building along the highway with a hose spigot out front). We headed south again to find a camping spot at the Twin Lakes Reservoir, a little lower in elevation. We found a wonderful spot overlooking the reservoir, and pulled out our chairs for an hour or so of winding down while the sun set.

It was time to start summitting some mountains! This day's hike had us making it to the top of Uneva Peak, a 12,500 foot mountain just off I-70. The hike is a bit under 7 miles, but the majority is above tree line, so it was a new experience entirely! This hike was one of our favorites of the trip. The trailhead was huge with nice bathrooms, the start of the hike was in a perfect sub-alpine forest, then the middle half was around a large almost caldera like ring to the summit and back down. Alicia quickly learned how difficult hiking hills could be, while over 12,000 feet. 

After our hike we headed to Breckenridge for an afternoon on the town. We walked up and down the main streets, and enjoyed dinner at Breckenridge Brewing. We left with plenty of time to find camp, but we struck out one time after another. We headed to two separate areas with free camping, but both were full up with other vans or campers. We headed back to an overnight parking lot in the town of Breckenridge, but found it to have several warning signs about overnight parking only, no camping or "sleeping in vehicles". Having wasted nearly two hours trying to find a spot, the sun was setting, and it was finally time to make the call every RV driver must make at some point... we headed 15 minutes north, to stay in the Walmart parking lot.
We were not loving the idea, but it actually worked out perfectly fine. We also took this opportunity to stock up on some more essentials: Drinking water, tissues, etc. We arrived just after dark, and parked near the only other RV in the lot. We buttoned everything up, and slept just fine. We decided the Walmart parking lot wasn't the place to hang out, so rather than making coffee and breakfast there in the morning, we headed about 15 minutes up the road to a scenic overlook. We saw several other RV's and vans camping there when we left, they all must have arrived after us.

We made coffee and breakfast at an overlook while watching the sun begin to rise over Dillon Reservoir, before heading up to Loveland Pass to start our next mountain hike.
Having summited a peak over 12,000 feet the day before, this day we were striving for a 13,000' peak. The goal was to summit Sniktau Mountain, a shorter but higher hike near Loveland Ski Area. The hike started above the tree line, so we didn't get to enjoy any of the forest like the day before. The hike also had not one, but TWO false summits, so just like a cartoon, as you push hard up the hill to the top, you look up, only to see there is an entirely new hill, to an entirely new peak just in front of you. Regardless, we pushed on and eventually made it to the official summit! The elevation made hiking up hill surprisingly slow going, but it wasn't a particularly difficult hike, and we enjoyed the views the entire way. The most memorable part of this hike, as we made it about to the halfway point, a hiker that seemingly appeared out of nowhere heading downhill started shouting with joy! We looked up and there was a paraglider flying off the summit of the mountain! We learned that the guy coming down had bailed because of the wind, but his friend stayed on the summit hoping to take flight if the wind broke. As it turns out, he caught a break and was able to make the leap. As his friend watched with joy, and we watched awe-struck, this guy beneath his small parachute seemed to fly hundreds of feet up as he was creeping away from the summit and over the massive valley ahead of him. We chatted up the hiker for quite a bit about his parachute, flight time, and how often they fly. Everything you would want to ask someone who jumps off mountain summits for fun with a parachute, we got to chat with this guy about. We all watched for probably 10 minutes as his buddy drifted into the next valley, and out of our sight. It was a surreal experience; apparently was so unique I didn't even think to take a picture. 

This was a shorter hike, it didn't necessarily feel like it, and perhaps we were feeling a bit worn out from the trip in general, but we were back to the van earlier than most days. We headed in the right direction for the evening, and stopped by a great little mechanics shop. We were having a bit of an issue with the van; one not quite worth mentioning in this story of how amazing our vacation was, but regardless, with available free time, I made the call to swing by a shop in the tiny town of Silver Plume, Colorado, to have them look at my fuel filter. It was leaking a bit of fuel, and they decided it should be replaced and tightened down with new bolts. The conversation went someting like this:
Them: We can't get the part till the morning.
Me: That's fine, I just need to find a place to sleep.
Them: There's a great free camping area 5 minutes up the road!
Me: Phenomenal!!! Then we just need to find something to do tomorrow while you work on it.
Them: There's a great hiking trail walking distance from here. It's right next to the coffee shop!

Needless to say, it worked out, just about best case scenario!

We camped just 5 minutes away from the shop, and I got a chance to meet some local guys that were hanging out in the camping area. One lived in a cabin next to the spot, and referred to himself as the unofficial camp leader. The other lived in truck camper, and would bounce between nearby areas. They were both old timers, although I bet they were not quite as old as they looked. Living a mountain life like those two, with the thin dry air and bright sun, can lead to more rapid aging. They had a mini bar setup on the back bumper of the truck camper and were smoking and sharing stories, much like I'm sure they do daily, or at least weekly. They invited us to join them, and I bet they would've talked the night away had we allowed it. We managed to get back to our van as the sun was setting, but not without hearing about the blizzard of 2003, which dropped 6 feet of snow on this area over the span of only 2 days. 

We tried to sleep in a bit the next morning, and dropped the van back off at the shop just after they opened. We walked up the road to the coffee bar, where we learned the barista is looking at moving to Ohio! Apparently she's traveled a fair bit, and is now looking for somewhere to buy some property and settle down for the long haul. I personally would have a hard time moving from Colorado to Ohio, but the cost of living (and property) is tough to beat.
I should mention, the town of Silver Plume is about as close to a ghost town as you can get. In addition to the auto shop and coffee shop, I believe the only other business in town are a head shop and a saloon. There are only a few streets, and all were dirt. The town seems precariously perched at the base of some very steep mountains. It's a bit hard to believe that a slide or avalanche hasn't wiped the whole place off the face of the Earth over the past nearly 150 years of it's existence. 

As expected, this place was once a booming mine town, and the remains of the abandoned mine are accessible via a 5 mile hike up the mountain. Ruins are visible through the entire hike, and views of the town and the valley are endless. We didn't explore much, but in reading about the area, it sounds like the more you look the more history you can find. The hike ends at a monument for the original mine owner Clifford Griffin.

We arrived back to find the van ready and waiting for us! The shop was kind enough to let us fill up our water tank while we were there, and we were on our way north! 
I bought an entrance ticket to Rocky Mountain National Park for this afternoon, not knowing whether we would actually have time to visit or not. I knew the next day would be our big national park hike, and I doubted we would want to take the time to see the visitors center after a day of hiking in the mountains. It worked out well that we made it into the park with plenty of time to see the Alpine Visitors Center, hike to the nearby overlook, and then get back out to the closest free camping area outside the park. We could see a nearby wildfire from the overlook, and passed a couple small moose on our drive. We had another van issue at the campground, but I was able to fix it at the site. This was by far our most beautiful camp site, and I'm sure the stars would have been spectacular as well, but because of the van issue, we didn't even think to take pictures until it was too dark. Despite some extra stress, we were able to get to sleep reasonably quick so we could get into the park as early as possible the next morning.

The next morning we were up as early as possible so we could make some coffee and sandwiches and get to the trailhead. We were in the park just after 6am, and it was surprising how many cars were already parked at the various trailheads. We found a small elk standing in the middle of the road on our drive in, which was quite startling on the still-quite-dark drive.
We were on the trail just after sunrise, which is ideal for parking and crowds, but also provides for much more comfortable hiking, as the winds (and wildfire smoke) tend to pickup substantially in the afternoon.
This hike had us starting in a beautiful forest around 10,000 feet, and climbing up till we were well above the tree line. We had spectacular views the entire way, but the elevation and lingering smoke made for a slow going hike. We only saw a handful of others the entire way, and we reached the 12,800 foot summit of Mount Ida around noon. A light haze of smoke was noticeable, but it didn't become much of a nuisance until we were half way back down, when the wind and smoke picked up substantially. We made it back to the van around 2pm.

On our way out of the park, we saw numerous elk, deer, and pronghorns!

I'll fast forward the end here, because nobody cares about a long drive home! Long story short, we left Rocky Mountain National Park, with plans of visiting the park town of Estes Park. Unfortunately we were exhausted, and the town was completely packed, as it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. A city and crowds didn't sound too appealing, so we passed right through and headed for Denver. Someday we will be back, and we'll plan to spend a little more time enjoying some of these beautiful mountain towns. I have incredibly fond memories of an evening in Durango Colorado from years ago, and I'm sure we could have a similarly great time in Breckenridge, or Estes Park, or one of numerous other cool spots around this great state, but this trip we were here to enjoy the mountains and our van.

We stayed in a Harvest Host in Denver. We arrived too late for a wine tasting, but that worked alright with us, as we made a quick dinner and crashed.

We hit the road first thing in the morning, and the 600 miles to Kansas City went by reasonably quick and painless. We stayed at a Harvest Host on the east side of town this time, and it was wonderful! Arcadian Moon Winery and Brewery had an absolutely beautiful property, that was plenty large for us and the 4 other campers there that night. They even stayed open late since they had so many campers, so despite our arriving around closing time, they happily made us a great dinner and let us do a wine tasting while it was cooking. They were wonderful!

The next day was another 600 miles, and we pulled in the driveway around 6pm with Chipotle in hand!

The next day I was able to fix the fuel filter issue that almost stopped us in our tracks before our Rocky Mountain hiking day, and I also adjusted the furnace to hopefully work better on the next trip.

We had wonderful weather, great (hard) hikes, and an overall great time! That being said, getting home and having a relaxing day to recoup was much needed!

I did an enormous amount of research for this van, and it seems only reasonable to document products we found to work out quite well. Part 1 will show items used in the van build itself, whereas part 2 will be stuff that makes van camping and travel more comfortable.

In no particular order, here are a list of products that I would buy all over again if I had to start from scratch.

After much deliberation, we selected the Thetford 565 Curve portable toilet. The unit is completely self contained, with a fresh water tank in the top, a waste water tank in the base, and even a toilet paper holder built in. We installed it in our 'wet bathroom' with a quick release base, so it can be popped out whenever we'd like more room to shower.
Some reviews state the electronic flush mechanism doesn't last forever, but it has held up just fine for our use so far. It feels like a regular toilet to use, and the waste tank seems to keep odors contained surprisingly well. It's also not particularly awful to empty, and lasts two people almost a week of regular use between dumps.

A kitchen faucet seems like a lower priority, but we use it constantly and I'm so happy I found one I love. This faucet has a stiff but flexible neck, so we can push it low in the sink to reduce splashing, or lift it high to wash larger items, and it even flexes out of the sink entirely if we need to fill a water jug. I found this one on amazon, and it looks and feels far higher quality than the price would imply. We like it so much, I'm planning to buy another for our home.

I wanted as large a refrigerator as we could squeeze beneath our countertop, but being highly energy efficient was also a priority. We landed on the TruckFridge TF130 AC/DC. Higher efficiency fridges exist (most often 'chest' style rather than upright with a door), but this one seemed to strike a great balance of size, convenience, and efficiency. The DC only version of this fridge would have worked fine for us, but the AC/DC model was on sale at the time of purchase, so I went with that upgraded model. The only time I use the AC feature is when we are loading the van for a trip, and I can plug it into my house to get the initial chill in the fridge without using batteries. After that, the fridge is entirely powered by our battery, which can last well over a week without any sort of charging. Generally we drive everyday, which recharges our battery completely in an hour or less. In the future I'd like to put a solar panel on our roof, which would power the fridge whenever the sun is shining. For what it's worth, the fridge uses about 4 amps when the compressor is running, and if we're not getting in the fridge, the compressor runs about 10-20% of the time.

Staying in the kitchen, we also love the CampChef Camping Oven. This oven uses no electricity, and heats with propane (either a small 1 pound tank attached to the back, or through an adapter to a larger propane tank. I have it plumbed to our large propane tank in the back for long term use. Some people make the oven removable so you can use it outside the van during hot weather. Ours is not removable, but it does have a fan and vent to help reduce the heat inside. It also has a air intake in the back to feed the burners with plenty of fresh air and eliminate any worry of poor combustion, carbon monoxide, or other 'confined space' worries. That being said, the oven is made for use outside, so do you own research and make your own decision if you are willing to use it inside a van. I installed a CO detector very nearby just in case something were to go wrong, but we have used the oven many time, even up to 10,000 feet above sea level, and have never had an issue, or registered any CO at all. 

We installed a microwave as well, but we need to plug into power or run a generator to use it, so we have found the camping oven to be far more useable for our camping style. It is a bit slower to heat our food, but the propane seems to last quite awhile, so it has yet to be an issue.

The stove has worked well for us also. I do wish the grate was a little finer, and perhaps one burner was smaller, but in the end, it seems to be the best option available. We use is with a stovetop percolator to make fresh coffee every morning. Again, no issues whatsoever up to 10,000 feet.

A safety item that absolutely should be mentioned is the Smoke and CO combination detector we selected. As we have two propane appliances as well as a diesel engine and furnace, all within a very small space (that we plan to sleep in!), I knew a combo detector was a necessity, but I didn't know if I should just grab one off a shelf or find something more specific.
In the end I found a great combo detector on Amazon, which I've ended up loving! Not only does it function like any other detector (screeching alarm when in danger), it also has an LCD screen that displays any detectable carbon monoxide. I loved the idea of this screen, because it meant we could notice and adjust to CO levels, long before they become dangerous and an alarm sounds causing panic.

The detector served it's purpose on one of our first trips when my diesel furnace exhaust was inadvertently getting inside the van. With no odor or reason to believe anything was wrong, the blinking numbers increasing caught my eye, and I was able to adjust our roof vent from blowing air out (causing a vacuum that was pulling in the exhaust), to pulling fresh air in, which cleared out the exhaust in no time and eliminated the problem. It was an easy and quick fix with no harm done, but had we not had this particular CO detector, we would have had no idea of an issue until it started screaming at us.

As smoke tends to raise and carbon monoxide tends to sink, I purchase and installed two of these detectors; one low and towards the rear, and one high and towards the front. Two is overkill, but I absolutely do not want to die in my sleep in my camper van. 

We have a handful of ways we find a campsite for the night, and looking for a campground is generally our last resort. Campgrounds are often busy, expensive, and against the highway. The advantage of course is, campgrounds often have electric hookups, and water/dump stations. Lucky for us, we almost never need those hookups, so the cost is rarely worth it.

Campendium has a handy and free app, in which you can search for specific criterium (such as 'free').

Freecampsites.net is a more difficult to use website (on a phone at least), but has a wonderful collection of free places to sleep for the night.

The majority of these free areas are in national forests where dispersed or roadside camping is almost always permitted. They will also often list rest areas and Walmarts (and similar) that allow overnight stays.

Both of these services were helpful when we were traveling through Colorado, and public land (with free camping areas) was plentiful. Closer to home, public land becomes sparse, and high dollar (often busy and/or close to the highway) campgrounds are often the only option. I found two pay services that helped keep us away from the busy campground scene.

'Boondockers Welcome' is a service which, after paying your annual fee, connects you with people all over the country who wouldn't mind you parking on their property for a night. You must have a self contained RV (not needing any hookups or restrooms), but the annual fee is fairly reasonable. I searched a few locations we were planning to travel, and found many of the overnight options were in driveways or very near homes. This wasn't the experience we were going for, so we opted against this service.

'Harvest Host' is and annually paid service similar to Boondockers Welcome, only rather than private residences these are businesses. The idea started with farms, as they often have plenty of land for RV overnighters, but expanded to wineries, breweries, distilleries, and attractions.

For an annual fee, you get an app and website to put you in touch with thousands of cool places to stay. They do ask that you make a purchase from the location if possible, but that isn't a problem for us. If it is a winery or brewery, we often buy a tasting and generally a bottle of our favorite. Many of the locations have a restaurant on site, which means we come come, have drinks and dinner, and spend the night on the property. This has worked absolutely wonderful on a couple of our trips, and we've even spent several weekend around Ohio doing quick overnight trips to wineries and breweries nearby for quick escapes from daily life.

One feature we've found about our Ohio wineries and breweries is they often have live music on the weekends. This adds the the experience of a quick weekend getaway tremendously, and only costs us the cost of dinner, drinks, and a little bit of gas. It's extremely tough to beat!

I foresee us keeping our Harvest Host membership for years to come, and trying to check off all the cool locations around our home on weekend trips as well as utilizing the local spots as much as we can while traveling. It seems every time I log on to the app, the amount of hosts increases.

As of this writing, we've stayed at 12 Harvest Hosts in 6 states. Some of our locations have been better than others, but we've never had a regrettable stay. Almost always there is at least one other camper, but we've always had plenty of space.

LishVAN Lives!
My previous July plans of backpacking in the Grand Canyon were regrettably cancelled, but that opened up the possibility of taking LishVAN out for her first real adventure. I quit messing around with carpentry and details, and focused on getting the van completely functional over the several weeks leading up to our trip. The electrical system was more or less together, but I hadn't even begun the propane or water systems. I worked relentlessly, but pulled it off and we managed to hit the road Saturday morning before the 4th for our week long shake-down run. Sure, there was hardly any paint on the walls and I hadn't even installed a counter-top, but the bed was in, the bathroom was complete, and the kitchen was 100% functional; good enough!!!

After quite a bit of waffling, we decided to head east to Shenandoah National Park and follow the mountains south for a few days before landing in South Carolina to meet with some family. We've been to this entire area before, but never for hiking. We wanted to stay in the mountains, in hopes of finding cooler weather so we didn't have to deal with powering our AC. We also bought an annual National Park Pass again this year, and I'm committed to getting my moneys worth out of it.

We bought a membership to Harvest Hosts for this trip as well, and I feel we've already got our moneys worth out of that. I'll do an entire separate blog post about HH, but in short, I feel it's the best kept secret in RV-ing. We paid something like $60 for the yearly membership, and in turn, get to stay at thousands of locations around the country for free. The catches; there are no hookups or bathrooms (these are not campgrounds, just places to park overnight), most require a a little planning (24 hour call-ahead), and all request that you purchase something from your host. The enormous upside: many of these places are wineries, breweries, distilleries, farmers markets, and/or restaurants, and we're aloud to spend the night, for free! Our first four nights of this trip were at Harvest Host locations, and each night worked out wonderfully.

Full of water and gas, we left on Saturday morning for our long drive day east. Our host for the evening was just outside the National Park in the rolling hills near the Virginia-West Virginia boarder. They did not have a restaurant on site, so we stopped at a local place on our way to pickup dinner for later. We arrived an hour or two before they closed, and parked in the back corner of the lot against rolling hills of apple trees with larger mountains in the distance. Showalter's Orchard, home of Old Hill Hard Cider is an apple orchard, cidery, greenhouse, event venue, and of course, Harvest Host. The place was beautiful, and the hard ciders were great! I do not enjoy sweet ciders, but they had several that were very tasty, including an excellent one that was aged in bourbon barrels and quite high proof. We tried a few, and ended up buying a bottle to drink with dinner later. We hung out and enjoyed the location until they closed, and slowly headed back towards the van. Eventually everyone left, and we had the place about to ourselves. If it was cooler, they had a fire pit and I'm sure we could have enjoyed a campfire. One other camper was staying here this evening, but they were parked in the other corner of the parking lot. We hung out and chatted with the them for some time, and eventually headed back to our corner. The propane oven reheated our dinners remarkably well, and we devoured a couple great burgers while enjoying the to-go cider. We had a big hike planned for the next day, so we turned in relatively early.

That became a trend for this trip. Harvest Host locations would like you to arrive before closing; often between 5 and 7pm. This can be a bit of a challenge if, like us, you're planning hiking 10+ miles a day, and drive a couple hours. For us, that equated to early bed times, and some EARLY departures. It worked out well, but is a bit of a departure from what is considered normal vacation behavior!

Worth mentioning, we packed the fridge with plenty of food to make sandwiches for breakfasts and lunches, as well as a couple gallons of drinking water. The water in our tank was fine to drink, but it was nice to always have a stash of cold water (the water in the tank is not near as cold as water from a tap at home).

Day two started with an early departure and an hour drive to the trailhead of Whiteoak Canyon in Shennandoah National Park. The hike was roughly 10 miles following a powerful creek up a canyon with numerous waterfalls. The feature of this trail is the swimming holes and waterfalls, which filled up with people relatively early so it wasn't our favorite hike. When I'm in the mountains, I prefer hikes with overlooks and views. One thing we noticed was this relatively large trail head parking area would not have handled a vehicle/camper any larger than our van, but a ranger helped us squeeze into a front spot, and we were on our way.

An hour drive away from the trail head brought us to Sunflower Cottage Herb Farm and Backroom Brewery. Our second Harvest Host stay was a brewery, herb farm, and restaurant near Front Royal, Virginia. We arrived and got parked back behind the greenhouses; the view wasn't quite as perfect as the previous nights rolling hills, but the location and parking spot was just fine. We each showered (first time in the van!!!) and headed in for beer tastings and some great BBQ. We had a relaxing evening and an early bedtime; the next day would be another big hike.

We woke up with the sun, and headed towards the trail head as early as we could. This was the hike I was most excited about, but was a bit worried the parking lot would be busy if we didn't arrive bright and early. Apparently crowds are quite common here, so the parking area was huge. They even had bus/rv parking spots. Thankfully, their were only a handful of cars already here when we arrived.
​The Old Rag Mountain Loop is one of the most popular and most challenging hikes in the National Park. Around 10 miles long, the hike goes up about 2300 feet, and traverses a very rocky ridge line with plenty of rock scrambling. Having hiked Grandfather mountain and Angels Landing, I knew I absolutely love the challenge and experience of rock scrambles, especially when rewarded with views. The Old Rag Mountain Loop did not disappoint! This was, without a doubt, the most technically difficult hike Alicia has ever done. But she did it!!! The trail goes up and over several rock edges easily 5' high, and down into one particularly memorable crevasse that was easily 7' straight down a rock shelf. At one point you have to jump over a crack in the rock that was about 2 foot wide. Not a physically difficult task, but it was a mental challenge, as the gap was easily 20 foot deep. The views along the ridge were nothing short of spectacular. The second half of the hike is more or less a gravel path back to the parking area through the woods. It's quite relaxing, and welcome after having ascended 2300 feet, and climbed over boulders for the past several miles.
We both loved this hike, and would highly recommend it to anyone adventurous enough to be tempted to give it a go.

After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we headed south towards Roanoke. We stayed just outside of town at our third Harvest Host: Franklin County Distilleries. The distillery was right off a main state highway, so our campsite was the least scenic of the trip, but it was convenient, and we were in the back of the parking lot against a small stream. Apparently Franklin County Virginia has an extremely 'rich' history of moonshine, and this distillery paid homage to that. Again, we grabbed a couple quick showers before heading in to check the place out. Unfortunately, most of their drinks are flavored vodkas, and having just spent the day sweating under the sun, they weren't hitting the spot for us. Honestly, I'm not sure if anything other than water would have hit the spot this particular afternoon. We did have some great BBQ, and had a good time enjoying the moonshine memorabilia and conversation with the employees. This evening was quite humid and the heat just wasn't letting up, so it was not our best night. Our roof fan works phenomenally well at pushing the heat out of the van once the sun goes down, but only if the temperature begins to drop outside. This was the only time we wished we could run the AC, but we chose not to drag along a generator on this  trip. Eventually it cooled enough that we could get to sleep.

Day 4 was originally going to be a hike to the picturesque McAfee Knob on the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately, we needed half a day for the camper, and the shortest route was around 8 miles. Instead, we headed to Carvins Cove Nature Reserve, which is just on the edge of town, and nearly across the street from the camping store. We hiked around 6 miles this morning, and enjoyed a few overlooks. For the most part, the area seemed built for mountain bikes more than hiking, so the trails weren't anything to write home about. To be fair, we merely scratched the surface of the park, and the fact that it is one of the largest city parks in the country is very cool.

After our morning hike we headed to Gander RV and Outdoors. I had read online they provided free dumping and water refills. We had also accumulated a small list of items we wanted to pick-up, after having spent a few days trying out the van. We quickly learned a couple lessons here; this was definitely not the store to grab a few necessities. Example: Alicia needed another pair of socks for hiking. We found some in their closeout bin: $17, for one pair of socks, nice socks, but, $17 on closeout. They also pushed back when I asked about water. Now I know, call ahead, even if it says free water fill online. Eventually I was able to fill up the fresh water and empty our fancy little cartridge toilet.

For reference, we had taken three showers each and washed our dishes every day, and probably had enough water for one more day of showers and dishes. Also, the toilet was not reading near full yet. I think, once we become more efficient, we could live for about 5 days on our own water supply showering every day. Not bad at all, you know, for a van.

Eventually we were on our way once more, heading south towards North Carolina. Thistle Meadow Winery was just over the boarder in Laurel Springs, NC. We grabbed a couple wood fired pizzas on the way as the winery didn't have a restaurant on site, but we made it in plenty of time for a full tasting. The setting was lovely, and we parked out near a small stream. It rained nearly our entire drive here, but cleared up as soon as we arrived. After our tasting, we bought a bottle, and enjoyed the front porch till they closed up. We headed back to our van and heated up our pizzas while working on the bottle of wine. This evening was noticeably cooler, and it managed to stay dry for us the entire night.

Our final hiking day was going to be a good one! We had to head back across the boarder into Virginia to get to Grayson Highlands State Park. This area came highly recommended, but I knew very little about it other than what I read when I researched which hike we wanted to take. I chose the Massie Gap to Mount Rogers Summit trail, an 8.5 mile out-and-back hike that was nothing short of spectacular. With a starting elevation over 4300 feet, it was quite cool when we arrived in the early morning. This was a welcome change, but we left the van with some ominous clouds in the distance. Despite some worry early on, the weather was phenomenal for us.

The hike took us through a large area with wild ponies. Yes, wild ponies, which were introduced to the area in the 70's to maintain the grassy balds. The hike also goes over a couple enjoyable rock scrambles up to some wonderful views. Eventually we were hiking on the Appalachian Trail towards Mount Rogers. We passed many many AT campsites, and even one camping shelter-house. We split from the AT to hike to the summit, which is a landscape far more reminiscent of something from the Pacific Northwest than anything that should be in Virginia. The summit is very cool, but the hike to and from is the highlight of this route, with endless views for most of the hike. 

After the hike back to the van (with many more ponies and views), we had several thousand feet to descend on switchback roads, and then a few hour drive south to my families home in South Carolina where we would stay for the remainder of our trip.

​

As always, we had a great stay in Greenville, SC. We managed to get an enjoyable bike ride in on their Swamp Rabbit Trail, we visited staples like the Mast General Store and Swamp Rabbit Cafe, and we even saw fireworks! 

We found a couple items that needed tweaking in the van build, but absolutely nothing significant or worrisome. One engine annoyance that had been an issue in the past didn't magically resolve itself like I had hoped, so we need some diagnosing. After that I will be adding a vent to the shower drain system to speed up the draining, and keeping moving forward with the build. 

Hooray! First big adventure is in the bag!

So we bought this big huge ridiculous monster of a cargo van! It's a 2011 Freightliner/Mercedes Sprinter; long wheel base, tall roof, and empty inside! Lot's of planning, an obscene amount of amazon deliveries, followed by LOTS of man hours (and a few lady hours), and now it's looking more like this:

Like a glutton for punishment, I worked on it before work, after work, and all weekend long for a couple months to get it up and running. It's far from done, but it is functional... Extremely functional! Inside shower, toilet, water heater, sink, oven, stove, refrigerator, cabinets, bed, lights, fan, microwave, AC, etc. 

Like a bad millennial though, I didn't document every moment and keep you all abreast of the process. Sorry. I'd rather build a van and travel than make videos and posts. So now I'm playing catch-up. I took the pictures, now I'm simply trying to get the posts online for all to enjoy. I apologize that this blog is lacking and late; it'll soon be full, and once caught up, I can add adventures and progress as they happen.

For now, enjoy these pictures, and keep an eye below as I add new posts.

Placeholder! More to come!

For the water system in the Sprinter, we had a few basic requirements:

• Internal Water tank and lines
• Self-Contained Toilet
• Inside Shower
• Kitchen Sink

For all our water tanks, I used ClassACustoms.com; they seemed to have the best selection and very reasonable prices. I wanted the water tank and all the lines to be within the insulated van, so it would be more usable in the winter. The drain lines and drain tanks are beneath the van, but we can add RV Antifreeze to those tanks and they should be functional below freezing. We ended up with a 33 gallon water tank within the van, mounted just over the rear tire on the right side. When full, this tank is around 275 pounds, not an insignificant number at all! Because the water tank is mounted reasonably high, the water fill had to be even higher. It ended up being just below the rear bunk window. This was an unfortunate consequence to the location of my water tank, but I still believe I would do it this same way again given the opportunity.
Leaving the tank, the water goes through a sediment filter, and into a SeaFlow 33 pump. The pump pushes 3.3 gallons per minute at 45 PSI, and is very quiet. After the pump, I added a SeaFlow accumulator tank to smooth out the water pressure, and then a large whole house water filter. After the filter, the water hose Tee's, with one line splitting into the cold water lines, and the other going into the water heater. Up to this point all of the water lines are 1/2" braided vinyl tubing. After the splits, I used 3/8" PEX tubing to run to the shower and sink. I wanted to use as small of lines as possible to the devices themselves, to conserve water, and allow hot water to arrive quicker. The 3/8" PEX still allows for plenty of pressue, yet holds about half as much water, resulting in hot water arriving in half the time.

I purchased a Foruee propane instant water heater for my setup. It is more or less an off-brand of the more common CampLux or Thermomate, but has great reviews, plenty of safe-guards built in, and had the spec's I was looking for. I wanted the smallest water heater I could buy, both to be more efficient (with water and propane) but also to be as safe as possible installed within the van. The unit is made to be used outside, so for now, we are opening the rear door when using it for any longer duration. I plan to install a permanent vent and fan for it in the rear door before winter (when it will get more use). I have installed a CO detector very near the unit just in case.

I do not think the propane instant water heater is the best option available, but I do think it's the best value, and worked out the best for us at this time. I love the IsoTemp Spa water heaters which have a tank, heat exchanger, and electric element. They're still not flawless but they use engine coolant to heat up the water tank, effectively giving you "free" hot water just by driving. The problem is your hot water supply is limited (unless plugged into a 120v outlet), and the unit costs about 5x more than a propane instant water heater.


I read quite a bit about different types of toilets, and ended up with the Thetford Porta Potti Curve. The unit looks and feels like a standard toilet, but is completely self contained and quick release.


...more to come...

I enjoy electrical work, so this phase of the build was something I was looking forward to. It did require some serious pre-planning, as well as some very hard decisions. I opted to use the space above the left rear wheel to house the electrical components. This cavity has room for 3 large batteries, a 2000w Inverter/Charger, a Smart Charger, and my fuse box and circuit breakers. It is also very near my switch panel, which is just above this cavity near the kitchen.
Most of my wiring was to be run through cabinetry, so I was lucky enough not to need to run too much before insulation and paneling.

Systems:
1) 12V DC: Battery, charging, wiring, and devices

2) 120V AC: Powering, wiring, and devices

3) Solar Panels and Generators


12 Volt DC:
This is the standard electrical system in automobiles to power the lights, engine, etc. For my van build, I've added a second 12V system. This allows me to use the camper as much as I want, without ever risking draining the starting battery and stranding us.

Choosing a battery is one of the most difficult decisions I had to make. Lead-acid is cheap but extremely heavy, needs vented, requires maintenance and has a relatively short life span. Sealed lead (AGM) is more expensive, just as heavy, but requires less maintenance and doesn't need vented. They also last a little longer. Lithium is the future; it is far less weight, more versatile, longer lasting, and more powerful.
I had chosen the mid-range AGM battery, but while shopping brands, I was convinced to splurge on Lithium. The single Ohmmu 150AH Lithium battery I landed on has the same useable power as three 100AH AGM batteries and weighs around 30 pounds, while AGM would be well over 150 pounds. The Lithium should also last twice as long, and allows for faster charging and discharging.

For my 'phase 1' charging system, I installed a Renogy DCC50S DC-DC Smart Charger with MPPT. This unit is the interconnect between the engine (and engine battery) and my camper lithium battery. When I start the van, the charger waits approximately 15 seconds for the alternator to recharge the starter battery, and then begins to allow the alternator to charge the camper battery as well. The smart charger adjust voltage and amperage to optimize the charging for the specific type of battery, which helps with charging and battery life span. The unit pulls up to 50 amps from the alternator, but reduces the pull as the battery gets closer to full. With a built in MPPT charger, the unit also has inputs for solar panels, which it uses to charge the camper battery as well. The unit will also use the solar panels to trickle charge the starter battery if the voltage begins to drop due to not being driven. Solar panels will likely be my electrical system phase 2. For now, this smart charger is the only method I have installed to charge my battery. Our intention with the van is to drive it every day we're using it, either to travel, or even simply to hiking trail heads or lakes. With that in mind, the smart charger is ideal. If we were planning to park and live in the van without driving every day, we would need to add another charging system (Either solar or 120v AC). In testing, one afternoon and night of living in the camper uses between 10% and 15% of our battery, which is then completely recharged in under 1 hour of drive time. 

Wiring for 12 volt DC gets a little tricky, and I used THIS wire gauge calculator quite a bit. Lower voltage power requires higher amperage to accomplish the same task, as higher amperage draw requires thicker wire! Not something you normally think about in automotive setups, but once you begin to think about charging batteries or power inverters, amperage draw becomes a real concern. I bought a large spool of 14 gauge In-Wall Speaker Wire for the majority of my low voltage devices. This wire is wrapped in a white sheath, providing a very clean look, as well as an extra layer of protection against rubbing through. My main charging power is run through a 4 gauge wire. When the engine is charging at the full 50 amps, this wire gets warm.This isn't necessarily an issue, but it is a sign of wasting power. In hind sight, I wish I has run 2 or 0 gauge wire for this span. My charger and battery are near the back of the van, so no question the distance (around 22 feet of wire) is playing a role in the inefficiency. I did run 0 gauge ground wire to future proof the setup, planning ahead for when I add additional charging systems.

Almost all the devices I've added in the camper are 12 volt DC. Our intention is to be able to live off the battery, without requiring an inverter, generator, or plugging in. With that in mind, there are only two devices I've installed that will currently only work if we plug in; the rooftop AC/Heater, and the Microwave. Everything else runs off the battery including the lights, MaxxAir roof fan, USB ports, and the water pump/heater.


120 Volt AC:
This is standard household power, and I've added a plug to the back bumper so I can use an extension cord and plug the van into a normal power outlet whenever I'd like. By plugging the van in, we can run the rooftop AC/Heater and microwave. The refrigerator I bought, while is extremely efficient running off the battery, will also automatically switch to household power if it senses 120V becoming available. In phase 3 of my elecrical system, I'll be adding an Inverter/Charger, which will also charge my lithium battery whenever I plug the van in to a household outlet.

I opted for 10 gauge wiring for the main power feed. This is overkill, but I had it leftover from a previous project, and don't ever want to have to redo this wiring. I ran 10-3 wire through a water-tight conduit from the back bumper 'power inlet' up to a 20 amp GFCI outlet in the kitchen area. From the protected outlet, the 10-3 wire continues up to the rooftop AC/Heater, while more standard 14 gauge wire continues to the microwave and refrigerator. I had originally considered extra outlets inside and outside the van, but eventually decided that we simply don't plan to use many 120 volt devices. 

I did purchase an extremely heavy duty 10 gauge extension cord to always keep in the van. Again, this is most likely overkill, but as I had to buy a cord for the van, I wanted to buy the best I could. The cord powers the AC perfectly.


Solar Panels and Generators:
Phase 2 of the electrical system will be adding solar panels. The Renogy charger I have installed can handle up to 600 watts of solar panels, and my roof has enough square footage to fit about 550 watts. It would be far easier, and a bit less expensive to go down to 450 watts, and I'm leaning that direction. With our lights on full, the refrigerator running, and our fan on max power, we're still using less than half that amount of power. Ignoring the rooftop AC and microwave, 450 watts of solar would power us indefinitely, even considering the inefficiencies of peak times of day or shade. I plan to install 3 HQST brand 150w solar panels, with 10 gauge wiring from the roof down to the Renogy charger.

As far as a generator is concerned, the only purpose would be to run the AC or Microwave, neither of which we are considering a necessity. Our goal is to not need a generator, and we do not plan to carry one with us for most trips. That being said, I have tested a Honda EU2000i generator, and it powered our rooftop AC without issue. On the occasional trip where we know it will not cool off at night, we may bring one along just to be able to run the AC for a bit before bed. If we know we will need to run the AC all night, we will likely choose to stay at a campground with a power outlet. If I were to purchase a generator, I would look for a used Honda EU2000i, or purchase a new Predator 2000.

​Pictures to come!