NEW VAN!!! Last January, we sold our 158 wb Sprinter Van project to seek new adventures.
What kind of adventures? We didn’t really know. It just seemed a change was due.
We tried a few snow and surf trips car camping, and tent camping. The continual setup and teardown was a bit more challenging now, with a toddler and pup in tow. The time we were suppose to be enjoying was starting to just feel like work. We needed something more permanent for our adventuring.
Since we love to try new things, we spent the next few solid months researching the idea of building a cargo trailer into a camper. We seriously almost purchased an empty cargo trailer on 3 occasions.
We took a couple short travels via airplane. With the cost of 3 full price tickets, renting a car, and finding accommodations, we’d have to cut our adventures short. And then, we couldn’t travel with the Pup either. She’s 9 now, a flight would probably stress her out more then I was willing to chance.
But, even though we were still managing to make adventure a part of our life, there was a constant whisper of ‘somethings missing’.
The freedom to see and do things at a moments notice wasn’t as attainable as it had been with the van.
Fast forward a year (almost to the date!) …. it was an unlikely sunny winter day. I took our little one to a messy fun art class. I sipped a lavender latte on the back porch while Little Fyn painted walls, squished muddy clay, and glued buttons to whatever her heart desired. My phone buzzed, and I glanced down at an ad for a Sprinter Van. . . . .
A while back The Husband came across a tool called IFTTT (if this then that). It is a free web-based service used to create chains of simple conditional statements, called applets. From a craigslist stand point, you can use this to receive ads immediately as they post, when all of your specific conditions are met. For example, “2004-2006 Sprinter Van under 200k under $10,000”.
An ad for a Sprinter Van had just popped up on his email, and it was perfect. And by perfect, I mean, perfect potential.
My phone rang.
It’s 3 hours away, we should go, when do you get home?
A few months back, a similar situation had fallen in our lap. But by the time we were packed with snacks, our little one, the dog, and entertainment for a road trip, that van had been sold. The disappointment was real, and we did not want to let that happen again.
I answered.
On my way back now. Set it up with the seller, and offer a deposit to hold the van. Let’s go get it!
I drove back to the house, and quickly unpacked and repacked the truck. Within 15 min, we were all in and on the road.
3.5 hours and one bathroom break stop later. We pulled into a residential concrete jungle. There it was, in all its adventure promising glory. A 2005 140 wb high top sprinter van.
This van had a couple extra features. Such as a full workman’s rack, that we could care less about. And an inside door to separate the cab from the back cargo, that I was originally thinking we’d teammate out immediately.
A couple feet shorter than our first 158 wb Sprinter Van, and a couple 100 thousand miles less. But otherwise, this 140 wb Sprinter Van was much the same as our first Van.
The same familiar shotty white paint with a few rust spots. The same broken grill, cracked dash, and wonky bumper. The same bald tires, and dirty worn seats. And that same musty and otherwise disgusting empty interior cargo space.
We were trying to hide our excitement.
I secretly ran a Car Facts report, while the Husband took her for a test ride. The report looked good. No accidents or major work, and all regular maintenance seemed to have been completed on a regular schedule. We would discover 3 pages of fix-it codes later, but all that was to be expected at this year and price point.
With private party sales, we naturally never pay the asking price. We threw out some numbers, did the hum and ha dance with the seller, and came to an agreement.
Papers signed, money exchanged, and the deal was done.
We bought back into the Vanlife. The wanderlust wheels turned in our minds. So many possibilities for our adventuring future. A new chapter was about to start, and yet, it almost felt like we had never really left the Vanlife. Or, maybe, it had never really left us.
Adventures to be continued …..
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