Maiden Voyage
Well, my first real trip in the van has been completed, and I’ve had a chance to digest the events. I’m going to stop short of calling it a total success, but I did enjoy it and feel like I’ve gotten a taste of what life on the road will be like.
I had three weeks in Colorado planned: One week mountain biking in Keystone with a couple friends, the next at my cousin’s wedding in Winter Park, and finally an open week to explore and start to get the taste of van life. The trip started with a mad scramble to get the van in usable shape, followed by a long drive straight through to Colorado. The first week biking at Keystone was a blast, but also slightly terrifying. Downhill mountain biking is a ton of fun, but the consequences of a mistake can be very high.
Bike maintenance setup
In the rush to get on the road I hadn’t had time to diagnose and fix a plugged up Diesel Particulate Filter on the vehicle, and was just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. The van was our only vehicle during the mountain biking trip, so we did a fair amount of running around the area with it. It did ok, but performance was noticeably degraded in the mountains. Our last day out there, the three of us piled in with our gear to head for the airport. The route to Denver from that area starts with a long climb up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. As soon as we pulled onto the interstate I could tell the van seemed more sluggish than normal. After a few miles of climbing, we were really struggling to maintain any type of decent speed, and it was clear that something was wrong. I was keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, which was holding steady, but I decided to pull off and give it a rest after a few minutes. All of us being engineers and car guys, we of course started poking around seeing if we could detect anything out of the ordinary. There was definitely a light burning smell, but things seemed normal otherwise. I started it up again and let it idle a minute, we started getting some smoke out the tailpipe, then I heard alarming shouts from the back of the vehicle “OFF OFF, SHUT IT OFF NOW”! Apparently we were shooting flames out of the tailpipe.
We quickly noticed that the plugged DPF was glowing red hot, and seemed in danger of starting the vehicle on fire! We grabbed our critical items and set them outside on the side of the road, then crossed our fingers. A fire extinguisher would be a good thing to have on hand, I mused. I also decided that it was probably worth it to put full coverage insurance on the van, seeing as how it would soon be my home… hopefully. Luckily it cooled off without issue, and I silently thanked the engineers who placed heat shields in the right places. Ok, time to just call the tow truck, we decided.
I had it towed to a dealer in Denver, who spent some time investigating the issue and produced the following diagnosis. The DPF isn’t regenerating, probably because of a broken flex pipe in the exhaust. The EGR cooler also seems plugged and needs to be disassembled and cleaned. Total cost: $6819! Um, no. I politely declined the repairs, and the technician was kind enough to share his opinion that it was probably safe and ok to drive back to Wisconsin, as long as I avoided mountain driving.
Prior to the breakdown, I had planned to stay in the mountains the week after the wedding to do some exploring and get my first real taste of traveling in the van. Up to that point, I’d only slept in it one night and that was while on the road on the way out. I reluctantly accepted that I’d just have to explore the flatlands of Nebraska on the way back instead of the Colorado Mountains. I looked up what was involved in the repairs, and it didn’t look that bad. Fairly involved, but not that complicated. There were a few specialty tools required, so I had them shipped to me in Colorado so I’d have what I needed if it came down to doing an emergency repair somewhere. I wasn’t sure how the vehicle was going to behave or whether I’d be able to make it all the way back, but I did know that I sure as hell wasn’t about to spend $7K to have it fixed!
The wedding was incredible, and a ton of fun. They got married in the mountains near Winter Park at a great outdoor venue owned by the Groom’s family! Everything came together, and it was truly a fantastic time. I always really enjoy hanging out with all the family, and it had been a number of years since we’d gotten together. Eventually the week came to an end, and I hitched a ride back into Denver to pick up the van.
It felt good to be behind the wheel again after a week of having to borrow cars and bum rides everywhere. First stop, the hardware store for a fire extinguisher! The van seemed to be running well enough, so I decided to take the more scenic route back to Wisconsin through the Black Hills of South Dakota. I got on the highway and headed North, disappointed to be watching the Rockies fade into the distance. The first day’s drive was uneventful, aside from a few hills where I definitely noticed the lack of power. I made it to Wind Cave National Park for what would be my first proper night camping in the van.
Setting up camp in a van essentially just involves finding a suitable spot and parking. It was awesome to not have to deal with a tent, not have to inflate sleeping pads and put out bedding, not have to do anything except put up curtains really. That’s one feature that I’ll be very glad to have finished. My temporary solution was to put blankets / sheets over the windows and hold them up with magnets. This worked ok, but took too long, and I was always losing magnets! Not having enough properly sized blankets didn’t help either.
That evening I took a short walk on a nature trail and found a nice vista that was perfect for watching a distant lightning storm out over the plains. As I sat there, I felt for the first time like I could really relax and just appreciate the moment. I’d been running around with things to do and places to be for the past couple weeks, and it was nice to finally be on my own without any real agenda for at least a few days. I turned in early that night and slept like a baby – apparently the wedding festivities had taken a bit out of me.
Biking the Needles Highway
Over the next few days as I slowly made my way back to Wisconsin, I really enjoyed the freedom, flexibility, and simplicity the style of travel afforded me. It was difficult to get a sense of what it’s really going to be like when I’m in the van full time from the few days I actually spent in it and the vehicle’s far from finished condition. Details like having dedicated storage spaces, permanent curtains, and running water will make a huge difference. There are a few memories that stand out though, which make me think I’m going to enjoy van life.
During the drive back through South Dakota, I encountered a severe thunderstorm and some tornado warnings. Rather than worry about driving in the heavy rains and potentially dangerous weather, I opted to just find a good spot to park and watch the storm. A small crossroad perched on a high plain looked promising, and I pulled off along the side of the sparsely traveled gravel road. The most severe weather seemed to be a ways to the North, so I felt pretty comfortable hanging out where I was. It was great not having to worry about being behind schedule, and having the flexibility to just sit for an hour and a half watching the sky morph from the angry churning of the impending storm to dark heavy rain clouds to a light encouraging pink as the system rolled across the plains.
Watching the storm sweep over the landscape
That night I camped in Badlands National Park at a primitive camping area without dedicated sites. On the way there, I pulled off the dirt road at one of the many viewpoints overlooking the rugged landscape. The storm clouds were still clearing out, but there was clear sky to the west and the sun looked likely to emerge for a short time before falling behind the Black Hills. Rather than having to worry about getting to the campground, finding a suitable spot, and setting up a camp in the dark, I was able to relax and wait for the setting sun to break through the clouds, knowing that all I needed to do after was get to camp and park. The simplicity of pulling into the campground and being ready to climb into bed 5 minutes later was fantastic, and is something I really look forward to more of.
Low sun over the Badlands
Closer to home making my way through Minnesota, another spontaneous detour yielded a very memorable evening. Driving along the interstate shortly after stopping for a quick run, the sun was getting low and the cornfields were becoming drenched in that soft warm evening glow. I found myself in the middle of a sprawling windfarm, and the slow rhythmic rotation of the lines of turbines stretching for miles through rolling fields was too good not to stop and appreciate. I pulled off and headed down a rural road to find a good spot to park and take in the landscape. After a few quick photo ops, I turned down a smaller gravel road and found a seldom used field access path that seemed the perfect place to post up and relax.
I climbed on top of the van for a good vantage point, and surveyed the peaceful evening. Cornfields stretching as far as the eye could see, punctuated with row after row of towering turbines. State of the art modern energy generation casually coexisting with an agricultural staple thousands of years old. I caught the sunset and watched the green landscape fade to black before climbing back in the van to put on a few more miles for the day.
Peaceful Minnesota wind farm
The next day I covered the last few familiar hours, happy to have made it back and not found myself stranded or out thousands of dollars in repair work. The short time I spent traveling back from Colorado was the closest thing to life on the road that I’ve had yet. I definitely came up with a few features and additions that I plan to incorporate into the van, but for the most part I think I’ll be happy with the build the way I’ve planned it. While the trip didn’t go exactly as intended I still enjoyed it, and more importantly I found my first taste of life on the road to be exciting. I’m very much looking forward to later this summer when the van is finished and I can start enjoying the lifestyle full-time!
Windmills at dusk