The past twelve months have seen only a few changes/modifications to Clifford the Big Red Van. The larger focus for me personally has been to get out at least once a month, even if it was only for a single night.
You can link back to the previous four years of annual updates from my review last year. Since November of last year, there has been one major (finally) update with the Espar gas heater being added in November of 2024. Adding the heater allowed me to target that twelve straight months goal with relative ease.
Along with the heater I added the cab partition to minimize the area being heated. Keep in mind that these partitions come as standard with all new Wayfarer Vans installs. Back in 2020 when we purchased our van, it was considered an add-on.
While not disappointed with the two 100w solar panels we had on the roof, I took advantage of a killer sale on some Renogy 200w solar panels and doubled our input to 400w total. Even sold the two 100w panels to basically break even on the project.
As a #vanbassador for Wayfarer Vans I had the opportunity to show Clifford at two van shows. One in Oregon and the other in Washington. Both were super fun weekends. The weather was a little blah (rainy) for day one of the Oregon event which meant it started out kind of slow , but the Washington event in Enumclaw was two full days of constant chit chat with people interested in a conversion van. That was a lot of talking over two days.
While at the Oregon event, the folks from Unaka Gear Co stopped by and noticed I had installed one of their racks. They sent me a free fairing about a week later. So, a HUGE thank you to them for that!
The only other modification I made this year was to install an LED light bar on the front of the van. This was totally a “why the hell not” project. I used it on my last trip when I got the the campground in the pitch black. Really lights up the campground loop, making finding my site # pretty easy. There are so many videos out there on how to do this project. I have to say it was one of the easier post-buildout modifications I have done. Other than crawling under the van to zip tie the wire harness to the frame of the van it really wasn’t overly complicated. Heck, I’d even offer to help people out with this one if they asked
I watched a couple videos of how to route the wiring harness from inside the van to the engine compartment. You have to remove a small rubber grommet that pops out with a screwdriver. One thing none of the videos mentioned was what I thought was super obvious. Cut a small hole in the grommet and run your wires through it. Then reinsert the grommet. Super simple and keeps the wires from rubbing against bare metal.
TRIPS
But, as mentioned above, the real goal of 2025 was to spend at least one night a month in the van. I almost had this accomplished in 2024 but got sick in late September of 2024 which knocked me out for a couple weeks and before I knew it, October had come and gone and my streak had been broken.
- November 2024 – 1 night at Stub Stewart State Park testing out heater
- December 2024 – 1 night at Champoeg State Park
- January 2025 – 1 night at Cape Lookout SP, visit to Tillamook Creamery & Jacobsen Salt
- February 2025 – 1 night back at Stub, in the snow
- March 2025 – 1 night at Beachside CG in Waldport, OR
- April 2025 – 2 nights at Deschutes State Park (turning into an annual trip)
- May 2025 – Week long camping at Suttle Lake and rental house in Sisters, OR
- June 2025 – Week long trip, van expo and eastern Oregon
- July 2025 – 1 night in the van so I could hike South Sister
- August 20205 – 1 night at Reehers Camp for some mountain biking action
- September 2025 – 2 nights in Enumclaw WA at the Adventure Van Expo
- two nights at Shadow Bay CG on Waldo Lake
- October 2025 – 1 night (supposed to be 2) Silver Falls State Park to mountain bike
- Friend got injured mountain biking, had to be taken to hospital
So approximately twenty six nights in the van over twelve months. A couple of those trips were less than forty minutes from home and others took us over six hours away. Day trips for biking were not uncommon either.
I’m not sure what the winter of 2025 has in store for us. Maybe an overnight or weekend somewhere in “The Valley”. Will play it by ear for now. I already have plans to return to Cape Lookout in January of 2026 though. Not necessarily going to try for twelve consecutive months again, I would like to get in a weeklong bike tour at some point, those plans are in early development phases right now.
Remaining projects?
There are not many remaining tweaks to be made to Clifford. I may add a second roof rack mounted light bar above the back doors. We already have a 7″ LED above the slider.
There isn’t much else I can think of that would either enhance our trips or add some useful functionality to the van. Going all the way back to 2020 and the bare bones van I drove back from Colorado……we would be totally fine if it had stayed like that. I am a tinkerer though and one of the beautiful things about the Wayfarer Vans setups is the ability to customize it and add things as the years go by.
I’d also really like to thank Wayfarer Vans for allowing me to be a Vanbassador for the previous twelve months. It has been a joy showing others why Mia and I are so stoked about owning this van.
Thanks for reading,
Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 