My RAM Promaster High Top
I’ve learned a great deal while traveling throughout America; this great nation we call home. Most of this traveling has been in the 2 camper vans I’ve owned during these travels. I enjoy sharing my adventures when I write my blog. Some of what I’ve learned is quite basic while other things are more complex. But all in all, I continue to learn. I still don’t have all the answers, but I try to answer my reader’s questions about van life and travel as timely and accurately as I can.
Allow me to digress a moment.
I’ve always loved being outdoors and camping at every opportunity. When I was just a youngster growing up on our farm, I used to sleep in a tent in our yard and pretend to be in some far away backwoods camping alone. After school, I joined the military and while in basic training. I was one of the few who loved the long marches and sleeping in tents. To me it was just another big adventure. After the military, I began raising my family and always looked forward to taking my wife and kids camping. We started in tents and moved to pop-up campers and then to travel trailers.
Life got busy and kids went off to school and I got away from camping, but the great outdoors and camping never left my mind.
Fast forward to retirement.
When I retired, I purchased a motor home. It seemed practical at the time, after all, I’m getting older and the thought of sleeping on the cold, hard and sometimes wet ground in a tent was not too appealing. The excitement of the motor home lasted about 6 months. I’m primarily a solo traveler and after a few months and several trips, I realized that the motor home was just too big and too expensive to drive around the country. I found myself staying overnight in RV Parks and this was just not camping to me.
I felt the need to get something smaller and more practical, yet not wanting to go back to a tent and I didn’t want to tow a travel trailer around. I did a ton of research on YouTube over the course of a few months and found hundreds of videos about van dwellers and van living. I knew that some folks lived and traveled in vans but had no idea the size of this movement until my research.I decided on the small Dodge RAM Promaster City.
My RAM Promaster City
I found a company in Colorado Springs, CO that specialized in building camping kits for this vehicle and it’s big brother; the RAM Promaster High Top van. I bought the Promaster City and found it to be a wonderful little van that got me about 27 mpg on the road as opposed to 9 in my motor home. I headed out for Colorado Springs and had the company install the camping kit. A few hours later I was in the Rocky Mountains, putting that van through a trial run. I absolutely loved it. Great driving van, great camping kit and loved camping out of it.
Fast forward a year.
After a year of camping all over this country, I was beginning to feel just a bit cramped in the RAM Promaster City. I was unable to stand erect and had to cook outdoors, otherwise I loved it. I began to think of the larger RAM Promaster High Top van. I found an eager buyer for my Promaster City van and purchased a new RAM Promaster cargo van. Instead of driving to Colorado and having a kit installed in my RAM cargo van, I decided to build it out myself.
My son, my son-in-law and I got to work and built out my van to a very comfortable van to travel and live in. It’s like a tiny home on wheels. In addition to fully insulating the van, we installed new flooring, walls and ceiling and a very comfortable bed. Installed a MaxxAir Fan and an AGM, Deep Cycle House Battery and a 1000 watt inverter for all my electrical needs when off grid. I bought a portable solar kit to charge my house battery when I’m off grid. I also bought a Dometic refrigerator that pulls very few amps and a porta-potti.I installed a cabinet with a sink and faucet and have a water supply from a 6 gallon tank installed under my sink. I also have another 6 gallon tank for catching grey water from the sink. I found a great little portable shower on Amazon that is fantastic.
My portable shower
It has it’s own battery and can be charged by my house battery. When boondocking for several days, I fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and my portable shower fits inside the bucket and I hang the shower head over an open door or tree branch or whatever and turn it on for a nice shower. When the weather is inclement I can cook inside. I can stand erect and move about as there is plenty of room. I have finally found the perfect vehicle for my van life.
Since buying my RAM Promaster Van, I have been out on 2 small, 3-4 day and night trips and the van performed flawlessly. I am now preparing for a lengthy trip from my home in Georgia to the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona where I will camp for free on BLM Land for the winter. I was there the past 2 winters in my smaller van and met a lot of snow birds from the frozen north enjoying themselves in the warm Arizona sunshine.They travel there in all types of vehicles, from cars and trucks to minivans to the larger vans to big motor homes.
I’m loving my freedom as I travel and enjoy life!
“If you liked this article, please follow me. I’ll be bringing you more good quality content in the weeks to come.”
Until next time…
