Colorado Van Life 2016 Camping Expedition
This is a video about my 3-month Colorado van camping expedition in the Summer of 2016.
The goal was simple, save a lot of money and have a great Summer, so I bought a 1985 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton van from a family member for $500.00 plus 35-hours of traded labor. Then I gutted it and turned it into a camper. I also stopped drinking for the Summer, which is a significant expense for many who work in food and beverage industry as I do.
My creature comforts included a queen-sized bed and mattress, A/C power, a cooler, which I thought had a drain installed, a large car-top carrier, several drawers for storage, a badass battery and a jumper box.
I spent about two-weeks working on the van, getting it mechanically sound for the road and building the interior into a comfortable shelter.
At first, I was pretty concerned about taking my makeshift motorhome on a long-distance trip, but by the time I sold it, I was driving over mountain passes and making road trips to remote mountain locations. In fact, I recently got a message from its current owner, who is now in Birmingham, Alabama with the van.
It was a challenge for a few days finding nice spots where I could legally camp, but it didn't take long before I had free, legal campsites in Breckenridge, Keystone, and Vail, Colorado. And shortly after, I had found where to consistently receive 5-bars of 4g mobile service in each location!
I was a little surprised how easy it was to live without most of the things that we are used to in the Western world. The sacrifice of things like a TV and bathroom were outweighed by the benefits of not paying rent, living in some of the most beautiful locations in America, and having a type of freedom that I had never really considered before.
A nice unintended consequence of living in my transportation is that I was never late to work or any scheduled engagements for the entire Summer. This was because I would usually arrive early and take care of whatever preparations I needed to right in my van.
A little hack I had going on was that I worked full-time as a bartender in Vail. Because of the magnitude of the location I worked at, I had a locker room with a shower. My now fiancee also lived one town to the East, about 30-miles over a mountain pass, which provided some extra options for showers and lodging.
One routine that I got into was taking 10-15 minutes to clean and organize the van daily.
A downfall of living in such a small space is that it can get messy really easily, but as long as you keep on top of it, cleaning such a small space is easy as well.
This was probably the best Summer of my life thus far, and the money saved from taking three-months off of paying rent and drinking alcohol saved me between $3,000 and $4,000. Now, I drink very little. Like I just needed a short break to realize how little I desire to spend money on something that is detrimental to my health and fitness goals. I still desire alcohol, but when I'm asked if I want to buy a drink at the bar now, I genuinely do not feel like it many times, and that's alright with me.
Words cannot eloquently describe the experience of living in a stealth camper that can go anywhere and park anywhere. For me, the sense of liberation the van gave me was calming and soothing.
I used to dream of living on a sail boat, traveling islands because of the views I could call my back yard. I found so many cool places to camp with locations and views that can't be described.
I know that many of the locations I found will be shut down in years to come due to over-use and under appreciation of the national forest and Bureau Of Land Management spaces. Therefore, I'm not going to disclose the camping locations I found... Finding my camp sites was part of the journey. Just don't spend any more nights than absolutely necessary in WalMart or truck stop parking lots.
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Article by Mike Gamache
