Van Life: Part Two
As many of you already know…we came back from SE Asia on April 1, and began to plan our next adventures. We have always planned no more than a few weeks in the future. We’ve always done hours of research, blogs, travel tour itineraries, FB and IG pages; there’s just so much information to be found. Our next destination was to be Alaska and Canada.
While sitting in our hotel room in Bali, we began our research and found it very depressing how much it might cost to: A) rent a car or B) rent a van or motor coach. We had just about put the whole idea to bed when we thought about Andrew, the best man at our wedding and a wholesale car dealer in California. ‘Why not’, we thought, ask Andrew if we could browse the auctions and buy a van! It sounded like a great idea and no sooner did we ask, a Sprinter van showed up at an auction in LA, that was exactly what we were hoping for.
It was extremely low priced for what it was, a stock Revel 4×4 with 3,000 miles. After much research, phone calls at 2am Bali time, we decided to go for it, and bought the van. The auction had announced that it was stuck in 4wd low and would need to be towed to the dealer. Still under factory warranty, we decided the risk was small that a 3,000 mile Sprinter would have any major issues caused by improper use, so we scheduled an appointment with the dealer. Turned out to be user error, got her out of 4wd low by pushing a button.
Chris decided that she was going to fly to Los Angeles and drive the van back, and so 2 days after arriving back to Salt Lake, she was back on a plane and driving the van back. I would stay behind and manage our house/pet sit in Salt Lake City.
We spent the next 2 months making small but expensive modifications to the van. Suspension, sound system, bed mattress, additional storage boxes and additional water tank. We took her out a few times to the desert to make sure to work out any kinks and get a “feel” for how the space was set up for living. We finished our last house /pet sit, and loaded up the van, and set out for Canada and Alaska.
It was nice to be back on the road again. Back in a van and free. The only thing was we were basically driving through Canada and Alaska during high season and in a few places had to make reservations for camping. This does the very thing we try never to do…put us on a time schedule. We had to be in Haines Alaska by July 10th for an epoch river trip down the Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers than run the border between Canada and Alaska.
We got a bit of a late start. The van was loaded up, fluids checked, water tank full, plenty of groceries and “add water food” and clothes to cover heat to icy cold. Things had found their place in the van, all systems were go, so off we went…but we didn’t get far.
Cruising up the freeway, about 2 hours into our trip, outside of Idaho Falls, in the middle of soy beans and wheat fields, the van decided to throw a bunch of codes, the dashboard told us to pull over and shut off the engine immediately! So we did. We got out and put some reflective triangles behind the van. Bummed out, sitting on the side of the road, we called Mercedes roadside assistance and sat in the heat of the blazing evening sun waiting for a tow…back to where we came from.
I had deduced just from looking under the van that the serpentine belt, the main belt that drives all the charging and engine cooling, had shredded. The van only had less than 6,000 miles and was barely 2 years old?!? It turned out to be a warranty issue and 6 days later, we were back on the road.
Running days behind schedule we hit the road, again a late start, and boogied north. Nice thing about traveling in a van, you are completely self contained, so you can find a dirt road and follow it until you find a glorious secluded clearing, pull in, and go to sleep. That’s exactly what we did after 5 hours of driving, the last 2 with the sun glaring through the smashed bug guts on the window.
Day two: we woke to the early morning sun, warming the chilled night air. There was a huge lake outside our doors with families of Canadian geese strutting around its banks and little goslings splashing at the edge of the water. A lone cottonwood trees stood stately in the middle of the field. Just us and the geese. We took off after a bit of food and turning the van back around for travel. This requires making the bed so it can be raised up to the ceiling and freeing up the “closet” or “garage”, where our clothes and gear are stacked and organized neatly. The front two seats swivel to allow extra space and seating while parked. Window covering removed and stowed away. Counter tops cleared and cabinets doors closed and latched.
The next four hours we drove along the Beaverhead Mountains and the Bitterroot. Our destination was Whitefish Montana, to visit some dear friends that also enjoy van travel. We actually met them when we had our dealership. They owned a 2003 VW Westfalia and needed to sell it to buy and build new Sprinter conversion vans. Salt Lake Imports, or “The girls”, as we were known, came up in their search. We sold their van in a flash and became close friends.
We pulled into Whitefish at just around 6:30. Our friend suggested we go to the town square for some local live music and the food trucks, I just relished the thought of sitting in the grass, barefoot grounding myself back into the earth. Van life is usually a bit more relaxing, but with loosing 6 days we had ground to cover and fast. Our visit was short but we caught up in her kids and the sale of the house, her new business and our recent, year long EU and SE Asia trip. We still had an hour of driving to get to the border town of Eureka.
June 26, 2024, we crossed the Canadian border.
Two Travelin' Chicas... 