Vinny the Van

Written by Kathleen Morton.

The story of how this van came to be is a little crazy. For me, I didn't chose the van. The van chose me.

While looking on Craigslist, I stumbled upon a 1987 Toyota van with a pop top. I had seen the van before on Toyota forums. I asked the seller if I could come take a look at it, but in the back of my head, I thought I needed something with more room in the interior. When I met up with the seller, Christian, I told him about my ordeal (how I loved the van but had something else in mind). We agreed it would be fun for me to take it on trips and document the experience and at the end, help sell the van for more than its worth. I traveled in the van from Denver to Taos and back and out to California and back again. It was while I was in California that I fell in love with the van.

I knew I wanted to work with Aaron after I met him at summer Outdoor Retailer this year. Combined with Christian, who sold me the van we built this thing out solid. It features a charging system, refrigerator, pull-out kitchen, fold-out bed and plenty of storage. Everything was built with 1/2 and 3/4 ACX cabinet grade plywood. All boxes were built with biscuits, glued and nailed to avoid wasting space with framing. It was trimmed with cedar and reclaimed snow fencing from the wild Wyoming prairie lands.

Thank you to Aaron and Christian for giving me the home I dreamed about but never actually knew I wanted.