When we sold Woody, we did it with the plan of one day upgrading to a full camper van which we could drive to amazing places, sleep inside of and be as self sufficient as possible. We have been researching and searching for the perfect van for years! We have watched countless Youtube videos about building our own and have searched thousand of sites looking for her. We have been squirreling away money to use for a down payment and were on track to pull the trigger in early Spring 2021. However, COVID-19 accelerated that plan quite a bit. The fact that we have not left the house since March and we had to skip two of our big vacations, helped us save a ton of money and made us ready now!
Our intense searching found a beautiful 2019 Ram Promaster 1500. She came with 200W of Solar. 400amp hours of battery (Non Lithium however, so 200 usable.) A Dometic 12v chest refrigerator, Natures Head composting toilet, 2 burner stove, 2200w inverter, Dimmable LED lights. The cherry on top she was located in Temecula, CA (about 15 minutes away from Ryan's parent's house) We had already been planning a trip down to see Ryan's Dad over Father's Day Weekend. While we were down there, we met with the seller and fell in love! The next few weeks Ryan worked on getting financing and insurance set up and finally on the weekend of July 4th we ventured back down to pick her up!
We decided to take the scenic route home and drove up Hwy 1. As we got to know her, we decided on a name, Ember, which means spark or burning low. We love campfires and she will take us on many adventures with many campfires. While technically the color ember is supposed to be an orange-ish red, we thought it sounded cool and went with her charcoal coloring. Ember is also a gender neutral name, however, as most ships and vessels are traditionally referred to as female, She is one badass bitch! She has a lot of power, comfort and strength.
The greatest part about the van is that when we get tired and don't want to drive anymore, we just pull over and sleep (next to the ocean with the waves crashing on the cliffs and amazing moon rises throughout the night). Not to mention the ease of bathroom breaks!!
As soon as we got home, we added some of our own personal touches (Ryan is obsessed with everything he plans to "upgrade") and started planning our first trip. Where should we go? Oregon of course!
With the COVID closures, things were a little trickier to plan than they should be but we found and booked some really great campsites that were open. We could have just left it up to chance and stopped when we found pretty spots, but we really like having campfires and therefore we need actual campsites. We packed up our food in our fridge, packed enough toilet paper to make it through the week, packed our masks and loaded up all of our water. With all of our supplies set, we really did not need to interact with anyone along the way. As I have said before, camping is Social Distancing on purpose.
We headed up the coast and stayed our first night in the Avenue of Giants at Hidden Springs Campground. Among the giant redwood trees, this place was beautiful!
The next morning, we made some coffee and hit the road. When we got hungry, we pulled over and cooked up some breakfast. It really is so convenient. We headed north through the Redwoods National Park and into Oregon!
The second night, we camped at Humbug Mountain State Park. It was a cute campground with good spacing between sites and had a lot of trees and annoying birds. :) The next morning, we continued heading North and stopped in the adorable town of Bandon, OR. We made some breakfast next to the harbor and watched the seals do their morning barking.
Night three was spent at William M. Tugman State Park. This one was great! Plenty of space between sites with tall bushes and trees separating everyone. The winds were pretty crazy that afternoon but the lake at the state park was hopping. We skipped it that evening and decided to visit the lake in the morning when everyone else was still asleep.
The next campsite was only about 30 minutes away from Tugman SP so we decided to make Tuesday be an adventure day! We drove up the coast, through the Oregon Dunes and to the town of Tillamook. Known for their cheese and ice cream we were hoping to visit the creamery and celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary with some delicious treats. However....COVID :( They were open but were not allowing people inside. So the line for the food court was about an hour long. We decided to skip it and just eat some Tillamook ice cream from the convenient store near by. It was just as delectable and we were able to eat it while sitting at a look out point with an amazing view. We worked off the ice cream with a walk on the beach and camped that night at South Beach State Park with the sound of the waves in the background.
The original plan had us swinging inland and heading East to the Umpqua River Valley for the next few nights. We discovered this place a few years ago and fell in love. It is the most majestic and beautiful valley ever! However, a quick check of the weather reports showed us that we should put that plan on hold and stick to the coast. It was a high of 65 at the beach and a high of 95 in the valley. Again, the joy of the van...easy to change plans. We just pulled over in a parking lot, hooked up Ryan's phone as a wifi hotspot, canceled the inland campsites and rebooked some campsite along the coast for the rest of the trip. This meant we had more time to explore the beautiful views along the 101.
Night five brought us to Sunset Bay State Park near Coos Bay, OR. It was beautiful. It is known for having amazing sunsets (hence the name) but the fog was so thick that evening we did not get a view of that. We did however, have some slight rain overnight which was awesome in the van. We were dry and the sound of it hitting the roof was great. This campground was one of our favorites. It had huge ferns, lush green tree giants and a cute little creek running through it. The people camping around us were a little less than awesome but once the rain started they quieted down.
The next day, we said good-bye to Oregon, swung by Arch Rocks for one last mini hike and headed back south into Northern California. We spent one last night at Hidden Springs Campground (back to where we started) and enjoyed a great night among the giant redwood trees.
We wrapped up our trip with a trip over the Golden Gate Bridge. Another benefit of the van and not a trailer, the toll on the bridge only costs $8.00 and not $25 for extra axles!
All in all, we have learned that we LOVE Ember and can't wait for all of the adventures she will take us on. Here are a few photos of her interior and the aspects that help make her so great! And a short demo video to show you what she can do!
