It all started in the Fall of 2020, after we had left New York City with daughter Hannah and her family and moved to Los Angeles because of an opportunity with her job.  We had been care-giving grandparents while in Brooklyn, and would continue that in LA.  Housing is so expensive there that we all opted to share one large house rather than rent two smaller places.  We started our multi-generational house share June 1, 2020, in the midst of COVID quarantine and isolation recommendations.  It was a quiet summer and our big, shady backyard made the isolation bearable.  Hannah and Darian worked from home.  Dave and I watched the kids during the work day, ordered groceries for delivery, and cooked dinner.  It was calm and comfortable and we felt so fortunate to watch these grandchildren grow and develop at close hand.

So, in Fall 2020, our daily rhythm was well established.  And then one day I said,  "Let's rent one of those converted camper vans and take a camping trip in December when Hannah and Darian have a work break during Christmas.  They won't need us then, and we'll have a couple of weeks to travel."  

After researching rental vans I discovered a small company called Traveler's Autobarn that rented fairly basic  converted vans with no extra fees for mileage.  That "unlimited mileage" sealed the deal and we booked a van for travel in December.  We booked it for a full week and planned a camping excursion to the Mojave Desert, Death Valley, and the Valley of Fire in southearn Nevada.

We learned some important things on that trip--like a portable potty is essential, an uninsulated van gets COLD on December nights, and that carrying adequate water and propane make travel easier.  We really enjoyed that trip.  We have always loved to camp, and our decade of living off-grid in the Nevada desert while our kids were young made us unafraid of living without conventional services.

After the trip, we were excited about getting some kind of travel/camping vehicle of our own and we began researching such vehicles.  We considered Class C and Class B+ motor homes--too large and low-clearance.  We wanted to be able to drive on unpaved roads with possible rutting and washboarding.  We needed a vehicle that could handle where we wanted to go.  Then we considered pickup truck/camper combinations.  After a while we realized that the campers themselves are expensive and we would need a heavy-duty truck that could carry the weight of the camper plus handle the kinds of roads we wanted to travel.  It all added up to way too much money.

Meanwhile, we began seriously saving money toward our goal to buy something that would allow us to follow our camping dream.  As we went deep down the YouTube rabbit hole on nomadic life, we realized that a converted van would be just the thing.  So we began an exhaustive search for a good, used van with low mileage that we could purchase and still have money left over to build out the interior so that it was a comfortable and efficient "super tiny home on wheels."

By early August 2021 we had the money and had found the van.  We were so excited!  We bought a 2006 E350 Ford 15 passenger van with 92,000 miles.  It was perfect!  Now we began visualizing in more detail what we would do with such a vehicle.  The lease on the LA house would be up for renewal June 1, 2022, so we told Hannah and Darian that at that point we would be moving on to a new life adventure.

A company in LA called Fiberine is one of only a few companies who install after-market high-tops on vans.  We added a high-top so that we could stand up in the van.  We talked to them in late August and discovered that the earliest we could schedule the installation was the following February, so we went ahead and ordered the 24 inch top with 4 foot screened windows on both sides.  It was expensive, but we felt it was essential for the livability of the van.

We continued to save money and eventually purchased a 10x10 screen house/tent to sleep in during the summer heat or to cook and eat in when in high bug/mosquito situations.  We bought, or were gifted with, other "camping" essentials--cots and sleeping pads for the tent, sleeping bags, bag liners, propane stove, oven to use with said stove, wool blankets, camp chairs, solar cooker, 5 gallon water jugs, folding camp table, collapsible dish pans, and various other small items.  Our plan was to begin the adventure with summer style outdoor car camping while we continued to save money for our interior build-out come the end of October, 2022.  We wanted to be fully insulated by the time winter camping began.  Of course, all the YouTube videos we watched had given us tons of ideas on what we wanted to do with our build, but we were running a strictly "pay-as-you-go" operation, so many things were going to have to wait until our savings could handle the cost.

As we moved into 2022, Dave took out all the passenger seats, the headliner, and the carpeting.  Once the new top was on, he built a bed platform in the rear and outfitted the van with rudimentary storage above one end of the bed, under the bed, and in the nose of the van.  Then we booked a week of van maintenance with our reliable mechanic, Alfonso, whose shop is in Monterey, CA.

Turned out our jumping-off date was moved up from June 1, 2022, to May 14.  Hannah and Darian had a summer house/cat sitting opportunity in South Lake Tahoe, so they and the kids would be leaving LA for the summer in mid-May.  That meant we were free to leave LA at the same time.  Coincidentally, Darian's brother, Kit, who also lives in South Lake Tahoe, needed a house/dog sitter for 3 weeks in late May through mid-June.  Dave and I agreed to take on the task.  

By this time we had named the van Endeavor (like the space shuttle, big and white).  On May 14 we said goodbye to LA and headed for Monterey to take Endeavor to his shop appointment.  We spent that week visiting with other of our kids and grandkids, as well as sorting through son Rory's garage where he had graciously allowed us to store some of our "stuff" years before when we left Monterey for Brooklyn, NY.  I am happy to say that this time we actually discarded some of that "stuff" and left Rory's garage with a little more elbow room.  At the end of that week we headed to South Lake Tahoe to fulfill the house/dog sitting agreement.  My journaling, which follows, begins on that day.