I've dreamed of having a sportsmobile for about 10 years now but don't make a lot so it's always been a ways out of my budget.
My journey started about 5 years ago when I decided to get rid of most of my stuff and pack the rest up into a beat up old cargo that I found on craigslist and use it to escape from Kentucky to the beach in southern California.
I cried the first time my feet touched the sand in Huntington Beach. I knew I was home.
I'd worked as a tech support guy in a cubicle and also had my own failed software business in the past and I knew I didn't want to be stuck inside staring at a screen the rest of my life.
Once here I got a job as a valet at a hospitable and worked there long enough to save up enough money to buy a 2013 e-250 that I could be proud of and work on fixing up to make as close as I could to being like a sportsmobile.
I don't make much but with the money I saved living in my van I was slowly able to fix it up over the years.
I built out the inside with a bed and storage and put new rims and tires on the outside. My van was getting very respectable.
I loved my van and was proud of what I'd built. People would compliment me all the time.
You could find me at the beach almost every day going body surfing or taking a nap in the back.
Life was really starting to get good.
I planned on keeping this van the rest of my life.
For my birthday I decided to go explore Sequoia National Park and see the giant trees. I love going on adventures and my van was the perfect companion.
So I hike around all day on my birthday and while driving back I decide to treat myself for my birthday and get a hotel.
Book a room at the Hilton, check in around 9pm.
Sleep in a real bed for the first time about a year.
Wake up around 9 to check out and when I walk in the parking lot there's nothing there. No Van.
It's just gone. As if it never existed.
My van and everything I own gone.
All I had left was a pair of board shorts, a t-shirt, flip-flops, tooth brush and my drivers license and debit card.
Everything else I own in the whole world had been stolen.
Called police, they didn't much care.
Rode a bus back to Huntington Beach and waited till the next day till I could get a rental car.
Bought some new pants, shoes, socks, underwear, blanket, and am now sleeping in the back of the rental car.
Needless to say I'm devastated.
I'm glad I had full coverage on it so at least I'll be able get some money back to put towards something. I still owed $8,000 on it so it won't be much.
All my personal belongings like my birth certificate, passport, high school diploma, etc.. were all stolen so I'm trying to get ahead of the upcoming identity theft.
This has been the 2nd worst week of my life.
Anyway, R.I.P. to MegaVan the greatest van to ever roam the earth, sure enough.
If I'm ever able to get back on my feet and get another van I'm going to get a lowjack system and use the club on the steering wheel. I should have done that on this one. Lesson learned.
Here's a pic I took in Quartsite AZ earlier this year at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.
R.I.P. in peace old friend.
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