Van Gear/Build
Momentum Vans
Brian and his team at Momentum Vans are a big part of the reason we’ve been able to do #vanlife so successfully. They built us an amazingly high quality van, and have also been there along the way to be a calm voice of reason when we do things like… freeze our water pump and need to replace it in the Home Depot parking lot. You can checkout our full van build (including video walkthrough) here.
BIKES!!!! 🙂
We are fully mountain bike obsessed these days, and spend most of our time driving or flying to ride new trails around the world! Checkout our YouTube channel to see where we’ve been lately!
Click here for EVERYTHING about our bikes!
Favorite Mountain Bike Trails
At this point our favorite mountain biking trail list is pretty long. But not to worry! We have a whole article dedicated to “Our Favorite Mountain Bike Trails“.
Join US on a Mountain Bike Trip!!!
Our next out of country mountain bike adventure will be with ActivExpedition to Ecuador AND Colombia from Dec 1-8th 2024. You can find all the trip information here, and feel free to reach out to us with questions!
Van MUST HAVES
Strawfoot Window Covers
These are a MUST for every person that plans to spend the night in their Mercedes Sprinter Van!!! The offer complete coverage, are magnetic (expect windshield), and the people who run Strawfoot are incredible nice and helpful!
2007-2018 Sprinter Vans here (they also have other models)
Battery Maintainer
NOCO Genius2 (Amazon) – With these newer vans the electrical systems (for the van, not the house) can pull a lot of power EVEN WHEN PARKED. That’s when the NOCO Genius2 comes to the rescue. If you are parked for a long time (1 or more weeks), and on shore power, you simply plug this into your van/car battery and you’re set for as long as you want to stay. *This can also work by drawing power from your house batteries if you have enough renewable power to do so.
Favorite Campgrounds
Telluride City Campground – Telluride CO
Fireside Resort – Jackson WY
Steamboat Springs KOA – Steamboat Springs CO
Dark Sky RV – Kanab UT
Hells Canyon Park – Hells Canyon ID
Favorite Ski/Snowboard
Resorts
Steamboat Springs Resort – Steamboat Springs CO
Grand Targhee Resort – Alta WY
Aspen Snowmass – Aspen CO
Copper Mountain Resort – Frisco CO
Snowbird Resort – Snowbird UT
We love these ski/snowboard resorts for many reasons. Including snow conditions, access for van lifers, crowds, places to work nearby, and overall feel (#coolness).
Make sure you checkout our post on camping near IKON Pass Ski Resorts. For you snow chasers!
Snowboarding Gear
Emily
Snowboard: Hel YES.
Bindings: RIDE
Boots: Burton Felix with Toaster Liners
Jacket: Patagonia Snowbelle (EVO)
Pants: The North Face A-CAD FUTURELIGHT™ Bibs
Joe
Snowboard: LibTech T. Rice Pro
Bindings: Union Atlas
Boots: Burton Ion
Jacket: Buron [ak] GORE‑TEX Cyclic
Pants: Outdoor Research Bibs
Our Favorite National Parks
Big Bend National Park – Website
US Virgin Islands National Park – Website – Blog Post
Grand Teton National Park – Website – Blog Post
Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park – Website
Gates of the Arctic National Park – Website
Instant Pot
The Instant Pot has possibly been the BEST thing that we’ve done to make Van Life easier and healthier.
This goes hand in hand with Trader Joe’s! We buy the pre marinated meats with sweet potatoes (or rice) and veggies, cook up all of our lunches and dinners for the week, and store in Tupperware in the fridge. No spending extra money on eating out. No getting overly hungry when you can’t find a place to eat. No eating junk! A lot of our Instant Pot recipes can be found on Joe’s fitness blog by clicking here.
Workout Gear
Rogue Fitness Dumbbells
When living in a van full time, you’d be amazed how much you can do with just 2 dumbbells. I have 2 and Emily has 2, and we are in fantastic shape doing The Get Better Project workouts (our workout program).
Rogue Fitness Kettlebells
Just slightly behind dumbbells as the most small and effective workout tool is the kettlebell. If you know your strength you can get one kettlebell that will work for dozens of highly effective, fitness producing workouts!
Clothing
Patagonia Nano Air
We both have multiple of these. As do our brother-in-law/sister (in-law). They are the coziest, comfiest, most versatile, nicest looking jackets we’ve ever had!
If you need something to wear to a casual dinner, snuggle in on a Sunday afternoon, or layer on the mountain… these are the BEST for all of that! Full review here
Pants
Joe’s dislike for jeans has lead him to wearing workout clothes constantly, but he recently found these Kuhl Renegade pants that feel like lounge pants, but are super comfortable, water resistant, and look great when workout clothes aren’t appropriate! 😉
Wow, these became my favorite one pant travel pants the first time I put them on! They fit my skinny waist well enough to not need a belt, and, guess what, they aren’t too tight on my quads. Having the waist and quads fit at the same time is unheard of! Lastly, these pants are stretchy and comfy enough for an all day airport extravaganza or a workout when you just need to move and don’t want to change (this has happened).
In the constant search for the best jogger for #vanlife, Emily found these Bliss Jogger’s. They fit great, are super comfy, and hold up to the wear and tear of living on the road!
Affiliate Disclosure
(Disclosure: Please note that these are an affiliate links, which means that we do earn a commission – at no extra cost to you – Thanks! If you have any questions about it, please let me know.)