Thursday, June 5, 2014

Van Life

So it's been nearly a year since I set up this blog and since then an amazing dream has come to fruition!  I have always wanted to take a road trip and see America.  It didn't seem possible for a while with my student debt and other commitments. Since I started repaying my student loans in February of 2009 I have been very serious about paying them off early. They have just hung over my head like a dirty secret.  I am proud to say that last month, 5 years and 3 months later, I have paid off all $40k (plus interest) of my student loans! About a year ago Mike and I started talking about taking this road trip, and with the end of my loans in sight we made a more concrete plan to hit the road in the Fall of 2014 for a 5 week journey. In March we found our vehicle, a 1999 Ford E-150 Conversion Van.
Mike talked the guy down to $2,400 and we sent it to the shop for a $1,700 surgery to hopefully avoid any potential issues driving through Texas.  Now we just have to convert the inside to a mini home!  We removed the seats ourselves over the course of 7 hours (shoot me), and Mike has plans to build a bed with storage underneath.
Mike also has plans for wrist surgery in 8 days so I'm hoping he can get the construction done so I can put together the mattress and other small conveniences like strategically placed Velcro strips while he's healing.

The general itinerary for this trip is South then West as far as Vegas.  We'll be spending a lot of time in Arizona (Grand Canyon, baby!) and seeing many of America's national parks.

Stay tuned for more!!