Adventure van time

After six years of not having a van, I decided to pull the trigger.

Welcome this 2018 Nissan NV2500 low roof to the adventures. I have yet to give this beast a name. One will come to me.

This is an adventure van. This is not a van I intend to live out of. I have a nice small house for that, thank you very much. This is a get to the mountains and chill, kinda ride. Head up, take a bike or a hike, and hang out until the sun goes down.

I was searching for a high roof, but after the last year sprinter-style vans are hard to find, and what people what for them is, frankly, a joke. I did find a Ford Transit 250 high roof in Denver for $15k, but with 300k miles? Sorry bud, you’ve been smoking too much weed. Look at how many people are trying to sell you 80s and 90s van for thousands of dollars.

The low roof pushes out the idea of being able to get the bikes and gear inside. The first order of business is getting a hitch and a rack on the back. The idea in my head is that there would still be enough room inside to stow the bikes if I thought the situation warranted it.

The great thing about the NV 2500 is that it is a giant box. Literally, it’s square inside. This low roof also has more headroom in the back than other low roof vans. It sort of looks like a truck with a box on the back.

I did get the V6 engine that I was looking for. Less power but better on gas. Truthfully, any van you get is going to suck gas. This van looks like a real beast. I would not want this thing behind me.

So one of the things that you are all going to have to suffer through is watching me build this out. It’s going to be a slow process. The car payment is the first that I have had in a few years. Grand dreams until you look at the price tag of what you want to do.

But really think minimalist. I told friends years ago that if I got another van the thing that I would box it out. Basically, make an insulated box. Have everything else easy to remove. So if you have to, presto, you have a real van again. Think floor, walls, ceiling, and a platform. Maybe toss a cabinet in there to stow stuff.

The list gets longer the more you think about it. Swivel seats in the front, canopy for shade, roof rack with a ladder off the side, off-road bumpers, the list gets expensive.

Just need to reel that back in a bit.