Post pics of your first time out.

[ShuttlePilot]

Greetings everyone. New vans, or sometimes new to us used vans. It always lifts my mood when someone with a new to them van posts a photo of their very first trip. I get all reminiscent of the first trip in my van. It was definitely a honeymoon time with van travel and for some of us a few year ago. I was wondering if it would be fun to start a topic of post a photo of your very first trip in your van. Maybe a way to remember a time before all those improvement projects and money spent happened. I was thinking not necessarily the driveway pic of holding the pink slip but more the first time out in the wild. Old timers feel free to dig up those grainy photos and have fun.

I'll start.


Maybe not what you were expecting. This was January 2010 in Slab City,CA. BTW I'm standing farthest right in blue. A friend of a friend built an amazing homestead (kind of hard to describe) there and invited us there for an event he called Mullets n' Bullets. Like I said he (Charles Russell) was a friend of a friend so I hadn't met him yet and I had never been to Slab City, CA before either. I had just picked up my van from the previous owner earlier that week. When this picture was taken I barley owned it with a hand written receipt and a temporary title. At the time it made sense to cut the sleeves off my shirt, pack the riffle in a van I barley own and head out for my first time at the Slabs. Oh what adventures were to come.


Enjoy
-Eric

[daveb]

Before I got my plates I took the van to Sequoia NP . I'd never been there before and being it's so close to Sportsmobile, it was a good shakedown run. After that I did a few nearby 4x4 trails to check out the vans ability. I got half way up one of the trails when a wire harness came loose and blew a hole in the radiator. Fun trying to get back to the trailhead . Filling the radiator from the vans water tank by myself was a challenge but I did get it out of there. It was my first tow back to the shop. A few weeks later after SMB made repairs I returned to finish the Briceburg Road with a buddy of mine Sometimes called the Burma Grade Trail, I finally gave the 4x4 a workout. I spent several weekends driving to the Merced River Recreation area where one end of the trail starts and explored places around Yosemite. Sure has been a great lifestyle investment!

[CaptainVo]

Maiden voyage heading home from LA to Spokane. Long beautiful drive up the Big Sur coast line and then up through Bend OR.

[accrete]

: ) Greetings, fun idea for a thread.

While we did not go "Camping" during this photo op, I did take it out for the first official adventure. . . we didn't have to drive to far as this was taken about five miles from our place on the Oregon Coast off the beach at Fort Stevens State Park. This was after delivery from Van Specialties putting on the fiberine top and a few other goodies. We purchased the van a couple months before this shot was taken as a stock chevy cargo express.



Thom

PS...it's had a few tweeks since then ; )

[BajaSportsmobile]

My first time out I wore a pink chiffon... never mind.

Sorry I back in Baja... too many Margaritas.

[86Scotty]

[gcvt]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

HA! I love that movie. The Family Truckster.


I think this was my first trip in my stolen '97 van...Ocean Cove, CA...



Then we camped at Laguna Seca Raceway in our '03 replacement van...



And here's what the '03 looks like now...

[accrete]

Originally Posted by gcvt

...Then we camped at Laguna Seca Raceway in our '03 replacement van...

Great campsite by the raceway. I should look into doing that sometime. My dad and I used to go watch the midget and similar races nearly every year back in the day I had my Honda 600 coupe.

(example image from the web, same color I had in college ~1975~)


: ) Thom

[PNWVAN]

First road trip to Hood River, OR. 7 bikes and 7 riders, one coolant leak in the hard line near rear heater core. Quick bypass of the leak and back to riding bikes.

[dig255]

the day I picked it up.
never be that shiny again.