Temporary Van Conversion

I know I haven't been on here in forever lol. Lots of life getting in the way of camping, but anyway...

We're nerds and we wanted to go see the solar eclipse. The path of totality is about 6 hrs away and everything... I mean everything, has been booked for weeks! Every camp ground, even the forest where dispersed camping is allowed says they're shutting the gates after a certain amount of cars.

We're brainstorming a van conversion that can be removed as needed. We have a Nissan NV passenger van. So what's the problem, right? Four car seats! Yeah we added another munchkin (2mo old on the 18th).

We are hoping all four will fit in the back row and take out the middle two rows; then we can roll out a sleeping bag in the middle. We saw plans for PVC bunk beds, so we would raise it enough for leg space and have that overlapping like a T shape.

The van has two AC plugs and we have a mini fridge, but I don't know if that would be feasible. Right now we're planning on stocking the yeti.

Any ideas on van conversions in general?


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Welcome back missyify. Congrats on the new family member. I wouldn't know where to start or what to tell you about van conversions. The pvc bed thing is good idea if it works out. Comfort is key when you have kids. The only things I can think of is pack plenty of food and snack stuff, something for kids to watch or play games incase traffic gets congested, pillows and blankets, some sort of Porta potty setup and utilize space. If you have a luggage rack then anything the outside elements won't destroy, tie and bungy it up there out of your way. We are only 3 hours from totality area here in Tennessee. This is a possible congestion picture for the area we are up in the upper right hand corner of the picture. There is 2 major interstates that run through Knoxville, and a 3rd one that runs south from new York empties on one of those interstates near Knoxville. I never thought about the bathroom issue until I started typing this to you. That could be big problem. Maybe stock up on something like depends or something, you know what I mean.

 

Ha yes. I'm debating on what kind of potty to get. The kids have one already since we visit my family about once a week. My daughter packs it in her backpack for hikes, bike and fishing trips. Never fails. We've even joked we'll miss the eclipse cause she'll have to poop.

Other than the potty issues, the kids are pretty good travelers. I just got them used Nintendo DSs, too because we won't be able to use the DVD player.

We keep our camping gear in a plastic tote, so it'll be on the back. We'd eventually like to have a rack on top... I wonder if we could pack a ladder to sit on top for the eclipse... it's pretty flat. Maybe I'll have my husband test it out lol.


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Congratulations again. I'm never sure what that means when it comes to a new addition to the family. But I hope it means blessings and joy!

Thank goodness for the inter net. There you will find all kinds of ideas as to changing vehicles into camp wheels. I've toyed with the idea of turning my van into a covered wagon but decided not to. I did take out two chairs enabling me [if it need be] put in a cot for sleeping. Other than that it serves as good space to bring all the camp stuff I need. Keeping in mind I'm by myself for the most part.

Great to see you online.

 

Definitely blessings and joy, he's a sweet little guy.


He's got Freddie Krueger claws like his slightly-older brother lol.

My mom actually converted her truck. Her co-workers call it the Zombie Apocalypse truck. My kids call it the snack truck.

Most people that I've seen do it definitely don't have as many kids, but we made a promise a long time ago that the kids wouldn't be an excuse for staying home lol. So far, they haven't hindered us. My oldest just started Kindergarten and we're homeschooling. It's definitely not easy, but always worth it. Especially when they're learning things of value besides concepts on a worksheet. I vaguely remember learning some plant parts and stuff in school, but it never stuck with me beyond that. My two oldest know how to identify certain plants and know what they're uses are and I'm teaching them about safe foraging. In fact my daughter and I are drawing our own plant journals.

Anyway, I went off on a tangent lol. I hope my kids see that we always find a way so they can find unconventional ways to work things out when they're adults.


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In fact we have blueberries and wild pokeberry on our property. I'm kinda worried about it so we cut it down when we see it, but I've definitely talked to my daughter about it. Especially since we've been looking for elderberry. I found some Hercules club, as well, so I always demonstrate how to ID plants and we go over the rules every time we work on our journals.


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Your post reminds me of my short vacation in Santa Rosa, California. I was invited to a mountain cabin for 2 nights stay. Every morning, I would wake up early to roam the place. There were sugar plums, the small ones that were so sweet. Aside from the wild apples that were sour, I also found a tall pear tree that has thorns. I threw a branch to get some pears. It was such a great experience for me in finding something to eat even if it was not a campsite.