Weekly Update 01: Trying To Find a Van and Building Our Website

14 February 2022 - 20 February 2022

Welcome to the first ever weekly update. This is the section of our website where you can come to find casual updates about what we’ve been up to. In the future, these articles may be paired with vlogs, but for now text is all we’ve got.

When 2022 started, Isabelle and I were sure we would be headed to Iowa City in the fall for her to enroll in school. Following some reflection and thinking, she realized school might not be the right move for her.

Full-time travel is something we’ve been thinking about for a while now, and it feels like it’s time to take the plunge. Not doing it now might mean we never do, so it feels more important than ever to buy a van and start the process of planning for our future as full-time travelers.

Pictured: Our view from the Chicago hotel we stayed in before going to look at the 2002 Ford Econoline

Last week we took a weekend trip with Isabelle’s parents to take a look at a van for sale in Chicago. At the time, we thought we would buy a used van with fewer than 150,000 miles to start our journey, and our budget was looking to be about $5,000 for the van, $10,000 for the conversion.

When we met the guy to look at the van, I immediately loved the windows. Installing windows was something I was nervous about, and the 2002 Ford Econoline conversion van we were looking at had plenty of windows with little venting areas if you wanted to open them and let in some air.

The night before we went to look at the van, I did research into what exactly to look for when buying a used vehicle. The first thing I saw was to check the frame of the vehicle, which may require getting on the ground, but it’s worth it. Right away I knelt down and took some pictures of the van we went to see, and it was clear the frame was rusted through.

Pictured: Rusted-through frame of our potential 2002 Ford Econoline

When taking the van for a test drive, it was clear it wasn’t in good enough shape to go out on the road for any amount of time. The transmission nearly dropped to the road as we merged onto the highway. The brakes and engine both made startling sounds. The van was already a no-go with the rusted frame, but the additional issues made it an obvious money-hole.

We thanked the guy for letting us take a look at it and made the long drive home to Iowa. I couldn’t help being disappointed, as it was my dream starter van.

Isabelle and I agreed a cheaper beginning to van life was in order, to make sure it was something we liked enough to sink money into. That meant buying a used, cheap van and building it the best we could the first time around. We also wanted to gain experience in building before investing in a nicer van.

After getting back, I began looking through additional listings for vans. Our dream-van-turned-wrong had put a sour taste in my mouth, and I started to wonder if it might be better to buy something a little newer.

I began looking into used Ford Transits and Ram ProMasters, only to find that used models were listed for as much as or more than brand new vans. Again and again I found 2017-2020 vans listed for $50,000 or more.

That’s the state of the market right now, with the shortage of materials making it difficult for manufacturers to keep up with the demand. Currently, we’re considering purchasing a new Transit or Promaster to begin our van life journey, but it’s still up in the air.

Currently, our lease is set to end in August. My sister lives with us and will graduate high school in May, so we’re hoping our land lord will agree to let us out of the lease in June. The goal is to purchase a van and begin converting it. January 2023 is our goal for when we can set out and begin our full-time travel.

This week we started working on the website. The plan is to provide quality travel information for people who want to visit cool places and try good food. This week we visited Hyper Energy Bar and posted our first article/review for a food place. We have a full-time schedule for trying out places around where we live, and we plan to beef up the website and work more on our road trip plans.