Mia and I are celebrating our fourth full year of owning Clifford the Big Red Van. It has honestly been a total blast with this van. Unlike some of the bigger projects in years one and two, the past twelve months have seen us only do a few minor tweaks. Year one, two and three were some bigger projects and “making it our own” after the base Wayfarer Van Walter kit was installed. House battery, Kilmat, more wool insulation, puck lights, etc where all the things we did in the first three years.

I had been contemplating building a smaller version of the wheelie box on the passenger side of the van. However, another local Wayfarian was selling theirs for a killer deal. It saved me time and was barely more expensive than what the lumber for my original project was going to cost, so easy decision made.

We’ve been using the front half to put the dog food/snack bag and groceries for trips. It also allows us to leave Codi in the van for a short amount of time and keep his prying nose out of the bags that used to just sit on the floor that we’d have to move to the bed or kitchen.

The second project was adding two 100watt solar panels to the roof to top off our house battery when parked at campgrounds. So far it has been sufficient for how we use the van, but there is a fairly large likelihood that I will be upgrading to two 200watt panels sometime in the next two years.

This was kind of a fun project and helped me learn a bit more about the subject of van house batteries.

For me personally, the goal of 2024 was to get out in the van at least one weekend a month. After a wet and cold winter here in the PNW, I started to chip away at that goal with two trips in March & April, May trip to Alsea Falls, June up to Washington, July to race my mountain bike down in Bend. August was a solo mountain bike trip to Mt Hood area and also my Oregon Coast trip with Codi while Mia was back in New Hampshire. September, we made it to Suttle Lake for our annual fall camping closeout at Link Creek CG. I missed October for a trip after coming down with The Plague (some non-covid related respiratory illness) that has been sweeping through my office for the past two months.

The final, and often talked about, project of a gasoline heater is scheduled for installation for Mid November. This should greatly expand the winter trips. With a little bit of luck I am hoping for a test run the weekend before Thanksgiving. I think this will finally close out the modifications to the van too. We’ve got it fairly well dialed for how we use it, be it camping trips or just day use trips.

Lastly, Mia and I were also lucky enough to be one of those chosen to be Vanbassadors for Wayfarer Vans for the next twelve months. I hope to spread the stoke of #vanlife, but in the realistic fashion of two people who have full time jobs. If the last 48 months have proven anything to the two of us, it is that trips don’t need to be “epic”. A nice weekend exploring a new area within a few hours of home or a place we’ve been a dozen times is always worth the effort.

Thanks for reading,
-Pete