Great Outdoors

Beyond the Tent

by Pam LeBlanc

Two hours into what started out as a blissful night’s sleep in my camper van, parked at a park in the prickly desert of Southwest Texas, I woke up, confused about who was flicking the lights on and off.

It turns out Mother Nature had hit the switch.

First came nonstop lightning. A few minutes later the winds whipped up. By the time raindrops started pelting the metal skin of Vincent VanGo, the name I bestowed upon my customized AWD Fort Transit, I began to wonder if I should make a dash for the sturdy-looking restroom at Seminole Canyon State Park.

In the end, Vincent weathered the storm. I lost an hour’s sleep, but the experience reminded me, once again, of the advantages of driving around in a rolling adventure vehicle. My tent would not have fared so well.

Don’t get me wrong. My camper van will never replace my portable fabric shelter. I love sleeping in a tent so much that I’ve occasionally pitched one in my own backyard, just so I could wake up, zip open the flaps and pretend I was in the wilderness.

It’ll never take the place of backpacking adventures, either. My days tromping the John Muir Trail, the High Sierra Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail in California turned me into an adventure junkie, and I still need a fix now and then.

But the camper van fills a different need, and its appeal lies in its functionality. I spend a lot of time exploring the nooks and crannies of Texas. I can hop in Vincent, turn the key and head anywhere the roads take me. I don’t need a hotel reservation, and I can work from my van, which my husband outfitted with a flip-down desk for writing and working.

We bought our van two and a half years ago. A company in Colorado called Wayfarer kitted it out how we wanted, with a bed, cabinets, ceiling vent fan, indoor mounts, storage boxes to stash gear, a heater, and a kitchen area with counter space and a “sink” that runs on a refillable container of water.

We skipped the toilet (we’ve got a Home Depot bucket and attached seat for emergencies) and added a few luxuries of our own: A small refrigerator by Dometic, the world’s cushiest mattress from Hest, a small portable burner powered by a can of butane and a battery bank to run everything.

I ordered a customized Vincent VanGo name sticker, and we were ready to roll.

Then it got hot. While our camper van has air conditioning like any other vehicle, we can’t run it while the vehicle is parked. Try sleeping in a closed vehicle on a hot summer day in Texas.
That problem evaporated this past summer, when my husband, Chris, cut a hole in the roof and installed an air conditioner. With the option to
plug in if we stay at a campground with hookups, our camping season has expanded.

It’s like driving up in a pre-pitched tent with a pre-made cook fire, an unrolled sleeping bag and chilled drinks at the ready. And when the weather hits, it doesn’t matter.