After our twirl around California and a few other trips in the Jeep Molly and I wanted to explore different vehicles to travel in. I got online and found outdoorsy.com a website that rents out travel vehicles, trailers, and overland rigs. I wanted to see what all the hype was around the Mercedes sprinter van. I found a guy in San Diego who was renting out his black Sprinter with a basic buildout. He removed all the rear seats, installed a bed platform and a decked system on the inside. On the outside he had a roof rack, awning, and side ladder. Spartan and pretty much what I would build if I had one. 

We decided to head up 395 for some camping, snowboarding, hot tubbing, and good loving. As soon as I picked the van up from San Diego I instantly saw why the sprinter is so popular for travelers, and families. They have a ton of space, and are really easy to drive. I was concerned that as soon as Molly drove it I would have to sell a kidney to figure out how to pay for one.

We had a fun day on the mountain then decided to head south to explore the beautiful area off 395. Our goal was get a good soak in at one of the hot springs, then find a camp spot for the night.

After watching the sunset we went and found some BLM land to camp on and see what this Van Life stuff was all about. As the temperature fell we headed for the van to cook dinner and relax. It was awesome. Being able to stand up, get out of the elements, cook, eat, and having a heater are such luxuries.

After dinner we made a fire, had some whiskey, listened to music and got silly. After we ran out of firewood, we didn’t want to stop dancing and this might be what solidified Van Life for me. We just got in the van and kept the tunes pumping and danced the night away, drinking, laughing, without another sole around.

We woke up and scored another great day of riding at Mammoth. Camped that night under Mt. Whitney and instead of heading home we decided to keep going right on to Joshua Tree. Having a van made things pretty easy and I see the appeal. I’m not selling a kidney though so the search for a bigger travel vehicle continues.