I’m Getting That Feeling
Installment 6.
It’s here, the feeling of impending adventure and planning for everything to come. For those of you that have already been here you may have gotten used to it or maybe you never lost the sense of anticipation for the next adventure. I will naively hope that I will be forever in the latter, we’ll see.
I went to Sportsmobile a little over a week ago (week before the 4th of July) to confirm my final design (hmmm… dangerous phrase, when will it be final, on delivery?) and drop off my deposit check - oh and see my van. So first things first, must see the van.
It was actually exciting to walk through the van assembly area on the way to see
my van for the first time. It’s been a long time since I have gotten this excited about a new vehicle, it just gets harder and harder to get old codgers excited. Part of the reason I was excited about seeing our van was that I haven’t seen a van the color of ours since the one we saw here at SMB months ago. We had picked the “pebble grey” exterior color since we wanted to be low key and will be trying for a more rugged look, kind of like the “Outside Van” stuff but with a little more subtle approach (translation: cheap). It reminded me of how hard it was to get a realistic idea of what the different colors offered were really like. Looking at color samples on a computer monitor could have shifted them all over the place. Getting a factory printed brochure might be better but have you ever tried to get a hold of one? Note: MBZ finally did send me one but it was a 2010 Freightliner catalog. Well the color we selected won’t get it remembered for anything other than how unmemorable it is so it’s perfect for us. Anyway… I thought that the 3500 series dual rear wheels would also aid in the rugged look as well as provide increased load capacity (and are part of the package that promises to take care of my handling concerns). Well the dual rear wheels look nice but the front wheels look kind of spindly and don’t fill out the wheel wells, not exactly what I expected. I wonder if the skinny wheels will effect handling? Maybe one of you with a 3500 can comment. Those front tires (all of them for that matter) are only 215/85-R16, the standard 2500 tires are 245/75-R16. I guess I can upgrade to a larger front tire width later but I can’t get too wide since the rims are only 16 x 5.5” (2500s are 16 x 6.5”). I also thought the mud and snow tires I ordered would look more rugged but it really didn’t work that way – they have huge freakin’ snowflakes all over the side and normal looking tread. Oh well, at least they will likely wear more rapidly than standard tires and I plan on moving quickly to new tires anyway (we are planning for Alaska next year, hopefully, and want more rugged off road oriented tires by then). The van looks kind of anemic right now but that will change soon enough. Adding in the windows will help, as will loading it up as it should drop it a bit on its suspension, how much I don’t know. Speaking of windows… upon returning home and looking at the pictures I took I noticed that the windows in back and on the sliding door looked very lightly tinted, not at all like the ones shown on the website or what I had seen in the shop. I spoke to my salesman and he said that the windows as they are now won’t match the window tint on the windows to be added so they will tint them to match, this is apparently routine but had not been included up to this point. I don’t remember seeing any dark window tint options from the factory for cargo vans but you might want to look into this anyway. Darker glass is more durable than window tint. Edit: I did see some options for tinted windows but did not see one that I thought applied to the 3500. This is one of the problems with me digging into all of the factory options lists meant for the dealers to use and not the general public, I may have informed myself into mis-information. Anyway… Looking around inside I am still amazed at how little you get for your money in these rigs, I guess that’s the cargo part of the van equation. I found some factory accessory plastic replacement dash panels that look like fake wood or a shinier silver paint to break up the monotony of the dash. Might give that a try. At least it’s better than the cheesy wood veneer that was rippling and buckling on the Roadtrek dashes I saw (Roadtrek salesman: gee, I’ve never seen that before, Me: yeah pal, it’s the same on all three on the floor right now…). The interior is nice and simple, ripe for improvement. I hate to see all of those empty switch locations filled with blanks on the dash, just looks tacky. Looks like I’ll have some projects for some time to come. I’ll put some pictures of the van as it looks now in my gallery.
It took all of 10 minutes to sit down and finalize the design and quote. The previous design meeting was very complete and I had been re-reviewing the pricing the previous week. What took some time was the going back and forth to completed vans on the floor and those still in assembly looking at various options that I wanted to confirm. This was so helpful that I consider it to be a critical part of the process, especially for my nitpicky personality. I was shown a van in assembly that had a kind of a tan insert in the otherwise black seats. The look reminded me of a Volkswagen CC and I really liked that combination, kind of classic and yet modern.
Their tan is more of a light yellowish tan than an orangish tan like you would see in a British car. We also decided to go with that same tan in vinyl for trim around the windows, headers, etc… The rest of the interior is more brown, with the cherry wood color and edging, so instead of the light grey trim we had originally selected we made the change to tan and hope it will not be trendy or look dingy in the long run. What was convenient was the salesman taking high quality pictures on the spot and sending them to my wife for her review while we spoke to her on the phone. I made the final interior color scheme changes and gave the gentleman my 20% deposit and we were good. It’s now about as real as it can get.
The project should take about 10 weeks so that puts the anticipated completion in mid-September. Still plenty of time for a trip to the Southwest this year – that’s a bonus we had not counted on! We’ll see how close the actual build schedule meets that target.
The excitement is here and the mind wants to turn its focus to trip planning and daydreaming. I know it’s obvious but it’s really sinking in that this van is also a motorhome so I thought that I’d better start thinking like an RV owner. I needed to understand more about what is out there and available for the RVer. I wanted RV focused information like trip route planning help, overnight camping options, all the special little necessities and conveniences, even insurance. I think that the Sportsmobile can pretty much go where most cars can go - but maybe that is not always the case… My common sense said that I should be fine for most of my desired destinations but wouldn’t it be fun to get more info and do some research while I waited for the rig to show up? Research is fun, right?
I have a lot of travel guides on places to go in the West and the Southwest but they focus mostly on four wheel drive and motorcycle touring. A lot of it still pertains but I wanted to know as much as I could find out about all of the other places I could now stay as a self-contained motorhome while understanding where I couldn’t or shouldn’t go.
There are so many guides for RV traveling that it boggles the mind. There is a guide for everything. Big guides like Woodall’s and little ones like the blog and guides from frugal-rv-travel.com. I saw that there were RV “campgrounds” that were really resorts for RV owners and the KOA sites that have become the basic standard. I also found out more about boondocking (camping in the boonies or at least away from established sites - look for those "dispersed" camping sites), usually free and usually with a view and less crowded. There really is an RV camping guide in some form for everyone and every mood in every part of the country from what I can tell. This is getting good. I have found civilized places to stay with hookups and all of the conveniences you could imagine near some of my favorite destinations and others I am still dreaming about. What is becoming very appealing to me is that I am finding a network of websites that openly discuss boondocking options. The places where I love to travel, like most of Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, and New Mexico, are just chock full of potential boondocking sites. The Sportsmobile will allow me to go and stay in the middle of the landscape that I used to pull over and only look at in the past. I had something like this in mind when I designed my Sportsmobile the way I did, I just didn't know that there was a whole segment of the RV travel world committed to it. As a person who grew up hiking, camping, sea kayak camping, whitewater boating, flatwater canoeing, and motorcycle touring this Sportsmobile is really appearing to be a natural extension and progression of what I have been doing all of my life. This type of motorhome is just so versatile, one day at the resort chumming it up with the martini crowd, the next swatting mosquitos where there are few other victims for them to share, and the next comfortably parked in front of the best burrito joint in San Jose. Okay, okay, back to the guides.
I purchased several e-books in the “A Frugal Shunpiker’s Guide” series to get me going and the daydreaming kicked into high gear. I liked these books because even if you are staying in established for-pay campgrounds there are a lot of recommendations for things to do in the area written in a narrative style and not a "sidebar" style. I am just now touching the surface of this whole industry of guides. I am not promoting the resources I am using but just giving you an example of what can be found and if I found them anyone can. I have also been following some Sportsmobile/travel oriented blogs like “TwoLost” which I found right here on this forum and “Advanture Trek” as examples. What I had missed, until recently, was how good the trip reports are on this very site. I am reading everything I can on this site now. What an incredible resource this site has been. What incredible travels some of the members have experienced! And I see that a lot of those trips are to the Southwest. Looking at all of the pictures posted by members in the posts and in their galleries make it hard to get anything done around here.
There is so much more about preparing for travel that I will expand on what I have stumbled upon in another post. There is a huge industry surrounding this whole RV travel thing with so many facets that it will take a long time to dig in and sort out what is useful and what is just flotsam and jetsom.
At this point I wouldn’t change a thing about the basic design of my van conversion. I have gone back and forth several times with my salesman, now project manager, as my build began this week. I got the final shop drawings for the floor plan and the upper cabinets plan and approved them. Everything is as originally intended and I understand even more about the build, little details. Believe it or not I ended up only adding upgraded flooring this week. I am proud of my discipline.
I really enjoyed seeing my van for the first time. Even though it looks unspectacular now I am sure it will be something special in a few weeks. I am glad I saw those lightly tinted windows now. I am glad that I spent some more time with the Sportsmobile folks and made my final design decisions while in the presence of real physical examples. I am glad that I did do all of that questioning and nitpicking and general harassing of the SMB staff in the past as it made the day to sign the paperwork a non-event.
I am still looking for nice and rugged looking steps (like hoop steps) and a front push bar so if you know of any recommendations please let me know.
This is exciting.