The Van

Many people have asked us about "the van". Well, a few pictures are worth a few thousand words... But first, a few thousand words: The van is a 1999 Ford E-350 Super Duty extended bed with a Quigley 4-wheel drive conversion. The company that does all the rest of the conversion is called Sportsmobile. If you're interested in more information, they have a good web site at www.sportsmobile.com. If you end up buying one, you must tell Alan, the owner, that Jack Hill sent you their way. For each Sportsmobile I help sell, I get a substantial kick-back and I can use the money!

These were all taken on December 22, 2000, in the middle of our cul-de-sac. Above are side, back and front views. We opted for heavy-duty bumpers. In the back, the spare tire and utility basket both swing out to allow the rear doors to open. We use the utility basket to carry fire wood, leveling blocks, extra water and other bulky and/or messy stuff like that. The front bumper sports a Warn winch, a utility tool, a couple Hella off-road lights and a Hi-lift jack, which is needed for tire changing due to the increased height of the vehicle. You can probably guess by the license plate that I'm a Penn State Nittany Lion fan. It's my alma mater and my nephew is currently a freshman there. (See the Penn State page.)

With the top popped, there's plenty of head room for me to stand up and walk around inside the van. Of course, I can't walk very far but at least I don't conk my head. The top is easy to pop due to the clever spring mechanism which counter-weights to load. We added a Yakima roof rack and basket for extra storage on top.

The photo on the left shows the kitchen area (I guess that should be "galley" on a boat this size). It has a 10 gallon fresh water tank, a 4 c.f. fridge and a two-burner propane stove. The middle photo shows the back seat up and the right photo shows it down. This is where we sleep. It is actually pretty comfortable and plenty long enough for me. Notice additional PSU paraphernalia.

Looking forward from the back seat, you can get in idea of the size of the main area. The seat on the right, the passenger seat, turns completely around to face the rear. When we're camping we place the porta-potti between the front seats with the cover on it. It makes a good side table if you don't think about what it is. The middle photo shows the galley area with the slide out pantry slid out. The right photo shows the upper bunk in the lowered position. If you look closely you can see that it has two sections. The forward section attaches to the pop top so it's out of the way when not in use.

The last photo is of Pedro, our guardian angel, who has led us across the country and back, losing his hat along the way. He's been pummeled with bugs at 80 miles an hour. He's braved pouring rain. He probably got bit by skeeters in North Carolina like we did. He's pretty dirty now, but he's still on the job.