Second van trip was a wild success. I decided to do another on nighter with Sara down at Cape Disappointment state park in southern Washington on the coast. The views were amazing - especially the sunset on the first evening, which had the most incredible color spectrum. The van setup worked soo much better as well - still a couple of things to optimize, but we were much more comfortable.
Here are some pictures and videos from the sunset on the first day:
We stayed in the van that night - hand full of optimizations I figured were mostly around where to put things so they weren’t in the way. Removing the second bucket chair was super helpful - there was tons of space under the floor to store things like kitchen gear, car stuff, vacuum, and electronics. I also started storing clothes under Sara’s seat, which is great for the day and it’s easy enough to move to the front seat when it’s time to go to sleep at night. I was surprised at how much more comfortable the foam mattress was and at how much length we had in the van - Oakley (our dog) was not up in our space at all. It will be tight when Angela comes along, but do-able. For just Sara and I, it was quite comfortable.
Here’s a quick tour of “lounging” mode:
And some pictures of the van in “sleep” mode:
We went on a longer hike the next day. My phone dies halfway through so my track didn’t work and I didn’t get a lot of pictures.
The big thing I’m excited for on the next trip is to make a cool video using my gopro and then edit some music and stuff into it. I’m also excited to figure out window coverings and make the back feel even more homely when sleeping.