#vanlife

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

August 3, 2019 By Joe Bauer Leave a Comment

On our way to visit friends in Hayward WI we realized the Apostle Islands were not far off our path (and looked SO COOL!!!). So, of course, we decided to swing by for a few days and explore the sea caves.

The Apostle Islands are near the town of Bayfield which was definitely winding down for the season. This worked to our advantage as it allowed us to snag a sweet campsite at Dalrymple Park for two nights with a view of Lake Superior. #winner

Sportsmobile sprinter van looking at Lake Superior

The Sea Caves (attempt #1)

As our objective was to explore the sea caves, we booked a kayaking tour for the following day. But unfortunately our tour was cancelled due to high winds.

The strange thing about this was that the person telling us not to kayak was located in Florida. And there were other groups heading out. And it wasn’t really windy at all.

Due to the strange cancellation our tour guide (Eli) felt bad, and instead took us out to see the Red Cliffs. Which were quite awesome!

The water on this side of the lake was super calm and it was a really fun afternoon of paddling. The Cliffs were neat and you were actually able to kayak under a few of them!

Along the way we passed over an old steamboat wreck. It’s is so close to the surface of the water you can reach down and touch it! That was super cool! And on the return paddle the water was even more clear so we could paddle up and down the main frame of the boat.

Joe and Emily Kayaking under a Red Cliff arch

After the paddle we kept in touch with our guide Eli to see if we could get out to the sea caves the following day. With his help and some research we discovered a different company that was confident in getting out to the caves.

The Sea Caves (attempt #2)

Before heading out we did brief half day of work prior to meeting up with our new guides for the sea cave tour. They gave us a not so brief safety lesson and we were off!

This time there were some definite waves on the lake! Nothing too scary, but it did make for quite an adventure! And WAY bigger than the day before when we were sidelined. There were even people on the tour that were taking Dramamine, if that tells you anything…

The caves were really neat, but unfortunately due to the wind and waves we were unable to explore them as much as would have been awesome. But we were able to kayak into a few notches and through a sea arch, so not all was lost!

While we were happy we made the side trip to the Apostle Islands I think there was a lot more to see around the caves and the area in general. We will definitely have to head back sometime to explore more. And would recommend that you do so as well!

Links for planing your trip

Trek & Trail for kayaking tours (that actually went out)
Dalrymple Park is where we camped

If you have any questions about planning our anything else just let us know.

Momentum Vans Sprinter Builds

July 27, 2019 By Joe Bauer Leave a Comment

Momentum Vans

Momentum Vans is a family owned company out of Arlington WA. It’s run by Brian, Brianna, and Dave (father of Brian) Wright.

The Story Begins

Our original intention was to get the Sportsmobile Pop Top installed and then do the rest of the build out ourselves.

But we encountered a HUGE blessing!

Around the time that we were about to start buying the electrical components… both Emily and I started making more money. Quite a bit more money!

And when we started thinking about it, it made more sense for us to keep doing what was making us money, and pay a professional to do our van build.

Otherwise we were two people trying to build a van to live in full time, with zero experience. But, what could go wrong…

Perfect Timing

Well, at around this (exact) time my brother randomly (on a boat dock) met this great couple named Brian & Brianna Wright.

Guess what…

It turns out that Brian, Brianna, and Brian’s dad (Dave) had built out a couple of Sprinter vans (including their own), and were thinking of starting a van build company.

So, my brother tells me that he just met this great couple (who might start building vans) that I needed to talk to.

And after a handful of conversations with Brian (and sitting down over a couple beers) we signed up to be Momentum Vans second van build.

During our conversations we were very impressed with the knowledge and direction that Brian (and his team) provided. In fact, the professionalism was much higher than all of the other van companies that we’d considered, and these guys didn’t even have a real company yet (at that point).

The Process

When we started talking with Momentum Vans (Brian) we had an idea of the layout that we wanted, but pretty much nothing else.

The good news is that Brian knew all of the questions to ask. He led us to making the decisions that made all of the difference in how our van functions and looks.

Van layout that we knew we wanted from looking at a bunch of Sportsmobile van builds. — This is one of the images that we showed Brian of what we wanted

It’s pretty amazing because with minimal info… like…
– We like bamboo cabinet fronts
– A corian countertop would be cool
And a few other thing about flooring and walls… Momentum Vans took over and built an absolutely beautiful product.

They built us something even better than we had imagined!

Side note: During the building process the Momentum team we so good about checking in, and letting us know how things were going. We even had a situation where we wanted the pop top work to be done by a certified Sportsmobile shop, so Brian drove the van over 1.5 hours each way just to get a small hole drilled in the pop top for our solar system by Kent/Auburn RV.

Another side note: If you’re thinking of working with Momentum Vans… Now days you can see a bunch of vans that they have built (including ours) to know exactly what their work looks like. It’s fantastic!

Van Delivery Day!

After over 2 months without our van, we were told our van was ready to pick up!

And the really cool thing about this was… This meant that our full time living in the van was about to begin :-). A journey/goal that began about 3 years prior to that day, included being on the Car Matchmaker TV show (Cross Fit Campers), and looking at so many different vans/RVs/campers/etc. that we were practically experts.

When we arrived to pickup our van we were blown away!

Delivery day at Momentum Vans for Emily, Joe and Pilot — Delivery Day

I’m an incredible advocate for trying your best in everything you do. And I look to work with people who have the same way of thinking.

Well, when the reveal day was upon us… I can’t really say more than… I was blown away!

The presentation, the cleanliness, the little things that we didn’t expect… holy smokes did Momentum Vans do a great job building out our van!

Every little detail was thought of, and done at a high quality. From the flooring to the custom corian shower enclosure, to the bamboo doors, cabinet fronts, and finish work… It was stunning!

Oh, and (did I mention) their level of communication is the highest in the industry by at least a mile! Seriously, send an email to a few of the other big named van build companies and see what you get. Then email Momentum Vans to see how it should be.

The Finished Build

The best way for you to really see our complete van build is through this video. We created this to take you through each of the vans amenities.

Getting Your Own Van Built

Start by checking out the Momentum Vans website and Instagram. If you like what you see (which I’m not sure how you couldn’t), use their contact form on their website and get the process started.

PS Still in the van over a year later…

After using our van FULL TIME for almost 1.5 years we still couldn’t be happier with what Momentum Vans built for us! So much so, that we’ve gone back to them to install the Agile Offroad RIP suspension kit, which we would HIGHLY recommend that you get from the start.

Our van after the Momentum Vans Agile Offroad RIP kit install — With Agile Offroad RIP Suspension Kit

And we continue to communicate with them regularly and call them friends.

We often dream about building out another 4×4 Sprinter Van. If that happens we will 100% be having Momentum Vans handle the build.

For a boatload more pictures of the van make sure you’re following us on Instagram and reading our blog.

Pit Stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

July 23, 2019 By Joe Bauer Leave a Comment

Our adventures in Theodore Roosevelt National Park!

I’ll be honest with you… when mapping our route, I totally forgot about Theodore Roosevelt National Park. So, in our rough plan I had us leaving the Badlands and driving east across South Dakota. Oops!

I’m not sure when I remembered but we knew we would be able to easily tweak our plan and instead head Northwest from the Badlands and hit the park before driving east on I-94 across basically the entire state of North Dakota. It was a LONG day!

When leaving the Badlands, we stopped in Rapid City for some food and then continued on for an hour or so before finding BLM land on the Belle Fourche Reservoir for the night.

The sportsmobile sprinter van at our campsite at Belle Fourche — Belle Fourche Reservoir

Just as a heads up, this is a great place if you are looking for a free camping spot between the two parks (or in general). It’s not far off the freeway, they have a ton of space for available spots and even had a pit toilet.

The next morning we headed into the tiny town of Belle Fourche and went to a super cute coffee shop – The Green Bean Coffee shop.

At that point we had about three hours left to drive, so we hit the road.
But, two hours into the drive we needed to move our butts, so we pulled into the next town, found their high school and unloaded our weights and bars in the parking lot.

After an hour of lifting and a quick metcon (high intensity workout) we shoved everything back in the van and set off on the final hour of driving.
Shortly after we started driving we noticed some intensely dark clouds ahead of us and we could tell we were driving into some weather.

A few minutes later we had a crazy ten minutes of driving in severe rain and wind! The van was a-rocking, it was intense and I was very happy that Joe was driving, I think I would have pulled over.

after driving through a massive rain storm in north dakota — After making it through the storm

We had a quick stop at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center for a sticker purchase and to ask about camping.

At that point we realized we had driven into a National Park on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. When you’re constantly on the road you lose track of things (like the date). Luckily, the ranger was super helpful and gave us a number of options for camping, so we headed into the town of Madera to check it out.

Badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park after a rain storm

Finding Camping

After walking around the town we grabbed a quick bite to eat at The Farmhouse before driving out to a forest service campground.

It was full, very full! Crapola! Now what…

We had looked at some of the other options the ranger had given us and many were full or very pricey.

So, as a last resort, we decided to check out Scoria Pit (sounds dreamy right?), which was recommended by fellow full timer (or friend Will) and was listed on freecamping.com.

Pulling down the dirt road toward Scoria Pit, we realized the land was super close to the Petrified Forest Loop Trail which was recommended to us by the folks at MicroAdventureFamily, and something we really wanted to run.

At Scoria Pit there were only a few camping spots. And one was taken by a large fifth wheel, and the other by a small station wagon.

But, luck was on our side and the station wagon, owned by Norah and her travel buddy Lou the dog, were happy to share their site. Score!

Norah was just passing through on her way home to Portland and was a very interesting person. The people you meet on the road are just fantastic! That’s worth it all by itself.

Despite the name (Scoria Pit), the area was beautiful!

Our camp spot sat a top a hill and overlooked Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the National Grassland.

That night we witnessed a beautiful sunset and an eerie lightning storm off in the distance before settling in with a movie. Creature comforts!

The internet connection here was also spot on and we were able to work for a few hours Sunday morning before heading over to the trailhead.

Petrified Forest Loop

After both of us completely bonking on our run through the Badlands National Park on Friday, we were both apprehensive about how this run would feel, but we geared up and headed out for the 10.4 mile Petrified Forest Loop.

Petrified Forest trees from our run — Petrified Forest

About a mile and a half in we went through the first section of the Petrified Forest, and if you have never seen a petrified tree it is pretty interesting.

They look just like old dead tree stumps and logs, but upon a closer inspection they are rocks and even have crystals! It’s quite amazing!

Crystalized petrified logs on the petrified forest loop trail

The next 6 miles or so were prairie running, where we only saw one buffalo and a handful of people, but we had some nice views of the badlands in the park.

Emily running through the grasslands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

At around mile 8 you re-enter another part of the petrified forest. There were more trees in this section so we took our time here making sure we got a good look at everything!

Joe hanging out in Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the petrified forest loop

Both of us were pleased that this run felt a million times better than Friday (in Badlands National Park), it must have been the heat that made Friday so rough!

We finished our 10.4 miles and set off for a luxury night in a hotel! GASP! We were proud to realize we had not stayed in a hotel since the end of May!

Petrified logs in Theodore Roosevelt National Park during our run

Our visit to the area ended with a quick overnight in Dickinson, ND which involved working, a Harry Potter marathon on TV, a hot tub, Qdoba, and full size showers!

Next up, we continue East to Moorhead, MN to see our friend Karla for a few days before a quick trip home to Seattle for a long weekend (via airplane).