Cabinet Build 3.0

Third van, third time making cabinets. After pulling up the piece of linoleum laid down by the PO, my father, I found that there was a fair bit of mold and water damage to the original cabinets. The leak was coming in sliding middle window, above the kitchenette, and was running inside the wall and under the flooring. At that point I knew it was time for a full renovation. Gutted the interior, had the […]

Read more

A Clean Slate

I think I should lead off with the fact that this is my third van. Three times now I have emptied the interior of a Vanagon and built something I thought to be more functional. This third van, however, came to me as an ASI Riviera that you may remember hearing about in this post. As such, it was already built out as a camper – complete with sink, stove, fridge, and even a thermostat-controlled […]

Read more

A Vanagon, Are You Sure?

I’m not proud of the fact that I have a Pinterest account, or of the amount of time I spend looking at expedition vehicles on it. Let’s just say it is more than I feel is healthy. Hours of my life have been spent falling down the rabbit hole of what ifs. The long list of which rig and why. The figuring of how much I could sell my van for and how far that […]

Read more

Where To Spend ALL The Money

I have spent a needless amount of time thinking about my van, just as a general statement. My previous two vans were tin-tops, i.e. no pop-top. So the idea of a high top conversion was always on my radar. Well, I now have an ASI Riviera, which has the vertical type pop-top, as opposed to the angled Westfalia version. The upside is that it has a low profile when not in use, and then simply […]

Read more
1984 VW Vanagon ASI Riviera

Continuous Camper’s New Camper

It was not the way anyone envisioned. It was a sad chain of events that resulted in a dramatic change of vans. Sometimes that is the way change comes about, a blink of an eye, a flash, an explosion – or in this case a thrown rod. During my 2012 Vanagon trip, Vanagon 1.0, my Father joined me for a one month re-enactment of a trip him and I had done when I was about […]

Read more

The Small World of Living Small

Last night, prompted by a recent engine failure and subsequent upgrade, Damon of NRWSTR put together a beer and vans get together here in Portland. In just a matter of day or two, we came out of the woodwork and descended upon HUB brewing – rolling in deep with about 8 vans and one Sunrader (bound.for.nowhere‘s new rig.) While hanging out with these folks, it reminded me of how small and amazing this community is. […]

Read more

Awning + Vanagon, A Winning Combo

To start, I was not paid by ARB, or anyone else, to post this. As of a couple weeks ago, the Vanagon now has an ARB awning mounted to the side, along with some new racking up top. Here in the Portland area it seems that every other car has one of these mounted to its roof, and I really wasn’t sure if it was all that useful or just simply an easy bolt on […]

Read more

Solar Power

There are two major aspects of living in a Vanagon that appealed to me. One, the shear adventure of being able to roam as desired. The second is the freedom of living simply. The past year I had lived in a tiny house I helped build in Terrebonne Oregon, and at 240 square foot, the place felt quite a bit bigger than necessary. The next logical step, take it to the road and move into […]

Read more

Not a matter of if, but when

If you have been following along, my last post So you think you want a Vanagon huh?, addressed the romanticized concept of vanlife – specifically in a regards to the VW Vanagon. These vans are, at their newest, 25 years old and are all wearing out.  Mine and my dad’s are no different. While my van is suffering through snow and sub-freezing temperatures back in Bend Oregon, not to mention an engine transplant, I am […]

Read more