coolfeet
Mark Keeler
Last January I started planning a family cross country trip in my newly acquired E350 PSD with 780,000 mile on the clock. I replaced worn out items like ball joints, brakes, camber bushings, and all all the filters. Everything was ready to go except for the AC when I left the end of May. I stopped at my buddy Dan's house at 10 PM at night while on the way to Death Valley National Park to fill up my AC with 5 lbs of R134 A.
Here is the van Ford E350 van. This is my beautiful wife after a nice nap at Death Valley National Park.
It's a basic bare bones Ford E350 extended van that sleeps 4 people in total comfort. It does not look like a sleeper van. We can pull in just about anywhere and blend in with surroundings. I added a 160 watt solar panel to an old Thule roof rack. I have a 62 quart ARB fridge/freezer powered by a sealed AGM 80 ah Life Line battery connected to both the solar panel and alternator via a CTEK D250 S battery charger/isolater.
I used to plan every day down to campsites. This does not work for our family as we like the freedom to switch destinations on a moments notice. Death Valley National Park was on my radar but only if the weather was cool. Seems like God was on our side as it was in the 50's when we left the Bay Area. We camped legally in our van at California rest stop and it was one of the coldest nights on the entire camping trip.
We arrived at Death Valley early Friday morning and was a cool 80 degrees. It probably got no hotter than 90 degrees. My kids broke out their folding razor scooters and zoomed around the campground making use of the heavy winds to propel them around the campground loop. Later, they switched to flying a helicopter until a neighboring camper advised my boys it's illegal to fly "drones" after he was slapped with a $300 fine for flying one at the park entrance. Turns out scooters are also illegal!
My wife is a bargain shopper and surprised us with organic gluten free frozen pizzas for dinner that she baked in her folding Coleman oven. Everything seems to taste better on camping trips. Frozen pizza washed down with a cold IPA hit the spot. My wife brings enough food to feed a family of eight and packs every nook and cranny of the van with cooking arsenal that includes a 12 quart Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, an assortment of grains, dozens of spices, home made freeze dried meals, fresh fruits and veggies, dozens of eggs, frozen beef, lamb, chicken, and fish. She packs an assortment of cheese, wine, hard cider, chips, nuts, and other snack food. Even with all this eating, I usually loose weight on camping trips because we stay active.
Death valley is always beautiful. We enjoyed driving around the park for a few hours Saturday morning until it started getting too hot for us Bay Area dwellers.
Here are my 2 boys, Josiah and Zachary at Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley. Always makes me wonder why the best places are named after the Devil. I like names like Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. I just chuckle knowing the Creator needs no credit as it's apparent and clearly seen.
We drove straight to the outskirts of Zion National Park and stealth camped in a beauitful campsite next to creek on BLM land. Several other campers were adjacent to us and found the campsite using GPS coordinates. I used the GPS coordinates in my brain by remember the area from a previous visit.
I have been visiting Zion National Park every few years since 1980 and I never get tired of the amazing scenery. Checkerboard Mesa always makes me stand in awe of God's beautiful creation. He is the original Painter Of Light.
After only 3 days days on the road, I was feeling really good about everything that we had seen. All four of us agreed that if this were our final destination and had to turn back home, it was still an amazing trip. With 33 more day left to see the country, we were ecstatic. The day went by at a slow but interesting pace as we were never in a hurry.
This was on our way to the North Eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Hardly saw any vehicles on the road. Eastern Absaroka mountains. Pilot Peak in the back ground.
Here is the van Ford E350 van. This is my beautiful wife after a nice nap at Death Valley National Park.
It's a basic bare bones Ford E350 extended van that sleeps 4 people in total comfort. It does not look like a sleeper van. We can pull in just about anywhere and blend in with surroundings. I added a 160 watt solar panel to an old Thule roof rack. I have a 62 quart ARB fridge/freezer powered by a sealed AGM 80 ah Life Line battery connected to both the solar panel and alternator via a CTEK D250 S battery charger/isolater.
I used to plan every day down to campsites. This does not work for our family as we like the freedom to switch destinations on a moments notice. Death Valley National Park was on my radar but only if the weather was cool. Seems like God was on our side as it was in the 50's when we left the Bay Area. We camped legally in our van at California rest stop and it was one of the coldest nights on the entire camping trip.
We arrived at Death Valley early Friday morning and was a cool 80 degrees. It probably got no hotter than 90 degrees. My kids broke out their folding razor scooters and zoomed around the campground making use of the heavy winds to propel them around the campground loop. Later, they switched to flying a helicopter until a neighboring camper advised my boys it's illegal to fly "drones" after he was slapped with a $300 fine for flying one at the park entrance. Turns out scooters are also illegal!
My wife is a bargain shopper and surprised us with organic gluten free frozen pizzas for dinner that she baked in her folding Coleman oven. Everything seems to taste better on camping trips. Frozen pizza washed down with a cold IPA hit the spot. My wife brings enough food to feed a family of eight and packs every nook and cranny of the van with cooking arsenal that includes a 12 quart Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, an assortment of grains, dozens of spices, home made freeze dried meals, fresh fruits and veggies, dozens of eggs, frozen beef, lamb, chicken, and fish. She packs an assortment of cheese, wine, hard cider, chips, nuts, and other snack food. Even with all this eating, I usually loose weight on camping trips because we stay active.
Death valley is always beautiful. We enjoyed driving around the park for a few hours Saturday morning until it started getting too hot for us Bay Area dwellers.
Here are my 2 boys, Josiah and Zachary at Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley. Always makes me wonder why the best places are named after the Devil. I like names like Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. I just chuckle knowing the Creator needs no credit as it's apparent and clearly seen.
We drove straight to the outskirts of Zion National Park and stealth camped in a beauitful campsite next to creek on BLM land. Several other campers were adjacent to us and found the campsite using GPS coordinates. I used the GPS coordinates in my brain by remember the area from a previous visit.
I have been visiting Zion National Park every few years since 1980 and I never get tired of the amazing scenery. Checkerboard Mesa always makes me stand in awe of God's beautiful creation. He is the original Painter Of Light.
After only 3 days days on the road, I was feeling really good about everything that we had seen. All four of us agreed that if this were our final destination and had to turn back home, it was still an amazing trip. With 33 more day left to see the country, we were ecstatic. The day went by at a slow but interesting pace as we were never in a hurry.
This was on our way to the North Eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Hardly saw any vehicles on the road. Eastern Absaroka mountains. Pilot Peak in the back ground.
Last edited: