coolfeet
Mark Keeler
Our family of four is gearing up for a 5 week adventure from California to Kentucky & back. My kids are 13 and 15. It's 11th year of family camping road trips and each year gets better. We started camping in a 1991 Honda Accord wagon. Moved on to a 1999 Subaru Outback wagon the next year and eventually converted a 1998 E150 to a stealth camping van.
Last August we picked up a Ford extended 2004 E350 6.0 PSD. I built folding platform beds that enable us to all sleep comfortably. The van is a plan white airport shuttle and blends into every area for stealth sleeping. It looks like a church if parked near a church, looks like working man's van if parked in an industrial park. Nothing beats hiding in plain view.
The kids are excited about the "Big Trip". I bought them new scooters, Airsoft pistols, speed loaders, and miniature drones for the trip. My wife picked several vintage board games at thrift stores to play at night.
Since we are leaving the end of May, I told the boys I will take them snow tubing because most of the high mountain passes are still closed in California due to snow. We are almost guaranteed snow.
Here is a rough sketch of our planned route. My 82 year old parents live in Minnesota and plan on visiting them. They live outside the Minneapolis area near Lake Minnetonka. The fishing is great as it's stocked with Walleye. Plenty of pan fish like blue gill and sun fish that are easy to catch and good eating.
Planned Destinations:
Bryce Canyon National Park.
Zion National Park.
Buffalo National River, Arkansas
Ozark Mountains.
Great Smokey Mountains National Park
Creation Museum.
Minnetonka, Minnesota (my home town).
Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
Mount Rushmore National Monument, South Dakota.
Devils Tower National Monument.
Grand Tetons.
Yellowstone.
Kirkham Hot Springs, Idaho.
I have been working on the van since last September making it road worthy. Final preventive maintenance upgrades on the Ford 6.0 being completed by local Ford Master Tech.
Just finished varnishing the folding bed for the front of vehicle. Here's a shot of it drying in the back yard.
I have a 160 W Solar panel ready for installation on the roof.
I have a 12 volt battery box with a CTEK D250 S for charging the battery and connecting the solar panel.
I hope to remove the limo tinted windows from our E150 and swap them with the larger van. The windows on the Ford vans easily pop out. But if I get too close to departure, I may pay someone to limo tint the front pop out windows and and black out the rear windows with reflectix.
Last August we picked up a Ford extended 2004 E350 6.0 PSD. I built folding platform beds that enable us to all sleep comfortably. The van is a plan white airport shuttle and blends into every area for stealth sleeping. It looks like a church if parked near a church, looks like working man's van if parked in an industrial park. Nothing beats hiding in plain view.
The kids are excited about the "Big Trip". I bought them new scooters, Airsoft pistols, speed loaders, and miniature drones for the trip. My wife picked several vintage board games at thrift stores to play at night.
Since we are leaving the end of May, I told the boys I will take them snow tubing because most of the high mountain passes are still closed in California due to snow. We are almost guaranteed snow.
Here is a rough sketch of our planned route. My 82 year old parents live in Minnesota and plan on visiting them. They live outside the Minneapolis area near Lake Minnetonka. The fishing is great as it's stocked with Walleye. Plenty of pan fish like blue gill and sun fish that are easy to catch and good eating.
Planned Destinations:
Bryce Canyon National Park.
Zion National Park.
Buffalo National River, Arkansas
Ozark Mountains.
Great Smokey Mountains National Park
Creation Museum.
Minnetonka, Minnesota (my home town).
Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
Mount Rushmore National Monument, South Dakota.
Devils Tower National Monument.
Grand Tetons.
Yellowstone.
Kirkham Hot Springs, Idaho.
I have been working on the van since last September making it road worthy. Final preventive maintenance upgrades on the Ford 6.0 being completed by local Ford Master Tech.
Just finished varnishing the folding bed for the front of vehicle. Here's a shot of it drying in the back yard.
I have a 160 W Solar panel ready for installation on the roof.
I have a 12 volt battery box with a CTEK D250 S for charging the battery and connecting the solar panel.
I hope to remove the limo tinted windows from our E150 and swap them with the larger van. The windows on the Ford vans easily pop out. But if I get too close to departure, I may pay someone to limo tint the front pop out windows and and black out the rear windows with reflectix.
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