60+ year old thread.

@Travlr You just gave up the secret. Until now, not many people knew that the Loneliest Road extended coast to coast.

 

Here's a shot from my most recent trip down the Loneliest Road:

 

Beautiful picture. I’ve driven the loneliest road (hwy 50) dozens of times. Beautiful but lonely and desolate. I thoroughly enjoy driving Nevada’s lonely remote roads.

 

@Travlr I loved my Ford Transit, High Roof, Extra Long.

Challenge was the rear shock mounts came way below the axle, so if soft sand it was like a boat anchor being dropped. I was scared to death off-road, as I was convinced we would flop over on its side. I sold it (miss it) and got the Tacoma. My daughter is 5'1" so she could sleep easily on the floor between the front and rear seats (a ton of room up there for coolers, backpacks, and sleeping bags. I had a simple chest that flipped up and was my sleeping platform, bins with all the camping gear inside the chest.

T65 Fridge (front opening) 12V and a microwave 120V were upfront of the chest.
https://truckfridge.com/products/tf65-12v (They are now $765, it was $450 five years ago. Ouch).

I didn't like cooking in there, but the microwave was suitable for boiling water for drip coffee.

Get something like an EcoFlow power station, Lithium battery, which can be charged via solar, vehicle 12V, or 120V (shore power).

Skip black water tanks (what a mess and hassle, but look at the cassette toilet as emergency use only as 5 gallon needs to be dumped every two days; or a composting toilet. Solids go into the composting side, small fan vents odors outside of the van; urine goes into a small bottle (discrete to dump at a rest stop). I can shower using two 20 oz squirt water bottles. Half to get wet and lather up, full to rinse with. About every four days nice to have a real shower (campground or cheap hotel).

Recommended Composting Toilet: Nature's Head—2.2-gallon urine tank (uh, two days for me!). Solids is 6 gallons, which seemed to last a month.

Transit had a 250A Alternator with dual batteries to handle the fridge, fan, and CPAP. Victron charger and battery monitor. EcoFlow is much simpler and cheaper than putting everything together.

With the trailer I am looking at, I'd drive trails rated 1 to 3; out of 5. Easy (Forest Road) to Moderate (glad I have rockers and skid plates). Lock and Roll hitch allows a lot of movement back there, making it harder to steal the trailer if I am off hiking.

Warning in California, there are many "no overnight camping" signs posted—discrete roof van/vent. Floor vents (bug screens) to fresh air from under the van (another near the fridge) with gate valves to close once you get moving is an excellent way to keep things stealth. Super dark window tent and black-out curtain behind the front seats help. I joked about painting a generic Church Choir Group sign on the sides. Stealth camp by parking in a church or hotel parking lot; no one bothers you. With my van having solid sides, I'd stealth camp in industrial lots. Freight Expeditors are common; hence it just blended in that setting.




Edit: It was a cargo van as delivered. I added seat rails, floor enforcement, and seats out of the Transit Passenger van to convert it to a "Crew Van." Ford sells that configuration (single sliding door) but they got a ton of inquiries about "dual sliding crew vans" as people spotted me cross country. Found the driver-side grab handles out of Ford's Brazil parts bin, brought them back, and installed them. Guys in Detroit went crazy (rear grab handles are a Peterbilt item). Van was unique! "Tardis" was an appropriate name.

 

wow!

 

Shit. The word is out.

 

Thanks for all the info. We considered a tall van but we didn't want to throw a lot of money at this until we test out what we're doing. I wish I still had access to copart sales to buy a totaled van. It's ridiculous how they will total a vehicle for minor damage.
We got a chest type fridge, and will look into the ecoflow. That sounds like a good idea.
And no black water tank for us. We already have a portable toilet for the little trailer and will use it.
I doubt we will go anywhere we have to worry about off-roading.

How did you handle air conditioning? Just the vents? LOL, we've also talked about a sign on the side to deter attention. Something that sounds like it wouldn't have tools to steal but could blend in as a service van. Still thinking on that one. Sewer clean-out? Pest control? The church thing might attract people we don't want to meet.

 

https://www.ecoflow.com/us/wave-portable-air-conditioner $1500; larger battery to get it to run for 8 hours.

It's a battery-powered AC. I'm a huge skeptic, but the feedback was for a tiny house (300 sq ft, well insulated), and it worked nicely. Overkill for a van, but that means a lower-duty cycle and a longer battery life. Friends who have boondock rigs have given good feedback on the units.

Most of the time, I was happy with the vents (I had found those window vents in Germany, good thing the transit door were the same size). A few nights, it was hot a humid, and I needed to bail into a hotel. Sadly hotels have gotten expensive. I can still find $80 specials in the middle of nowhere but I worry about bugs. I'd grab a change of clothes for the truck, hang those up for the morning, and bag what I was wearing so no hitchhikers joined me on the road. Bike touring days, two pairs of shirts/shorts. Jump in the shower, lather clothes, strip off and rinse clothes, and have the previous set (dried out) to wear. Three pairs of wool socks, one of which could double as emergency mittens. I pack light.

On the Ford Transit, Unibody. Front suspension hangs off the subframe for the engine/transmission. Strange setup, but any frame damage tweaks those suspension points and it never tracks straight. A friend had one damaged when transported to the dealer, and it took forever to figure it out. Hence the E350 is much more robust for "overland," the Transit shouldn't go off-roading.

 

We drove it across Nevada a couple years ago. Filled the tank in every town. Don't leave town without it.
Austin had a great gem shop.
Eureka, I think, had a great newspaper museum.
Awesome colors of the desert.

 

Always good to be mindful of your gas gauge! Not good however, to get gas at every single opportunity on the lonesome road. I remember one time headed east after a side trip to the Arches, literally coasted into a place (over the border before Grand Junction), that had a couple gas pumps, both with rusty padlocks, I had no choice. Two fuel filters and two tanks of gas later, my engine finally decided to run smoothly again. That wouldn’t happen so easy with a modern car, my engine then was a Ford Flathead.

 

True.
We stayed at a place in Gallup, NM years ago. Paid and went to the room.
Water was brown. Lights hanging from the ceiling. Etc.
Called the office.
Went to the office.
No one there.

 

Heading out of Tonopah Nevada and heading east toward St. George in Southern Utah there was a sign that got my attention, it said - No Gas Or Services Next 178 Miles. They weren’t kidding. There was nothing but desert and range land the entire 178 miles. We’d not see another vehicle sometimes for 20 to 30 minutes. No houses, just nothing. And areas with no cell service. If you break down and in a no cell area you are screwed. When we finally came to a little town , I mean little town there was only one tiny gas station with one island and 2 pumps. And of course the bathroom was out of order. It wasn’t highway 50 but I don’t remember the highway number. It’s a little intimidating knowing that there is nothing, zero, zilch for 178 miles. When I travel places like that I am always prepared to handle just about any event that comes along. But I still enjoy driving places like that.

 

I was on a road trip from SLC to Seattle through Nevada and Oregon. One of the places our route took was through Denio Nevada, supposed to be on the list of the most remote places in the U.S. at that time. We were traveling in an early '70s Dodge truck and the alternator went south before we got to Denio. We limped in on battery and found out there was nothing except an abandoned junk yard and a dive restaurant. Nothing to do but take our chances and try to make it the rest of the way on the battery into Oregon. We made it, and who knows by what hair?

The junk yard in Denio was full of fun stuff. I've always wanted to go back and see if it's still there. American LaFrance fire engines, early fifties telephone trucks, an ancient motor home built on a Model A duelly truck, straight eight cars.

 

Sounds familiar. Was the swimming pool half full of old mattresses?

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!!

 

Good Saturday Morning Folks

 

Morning all:

Of course, see that all too often and year after year!

 

Possible.
It was next to a Ramada or other nice hotel. We wanted to support local. Now we laugh.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Sue! Well, yesterday was just as windy as Thursday here, so I just worked on transferring the phone all afternoon. Mulch today tho!

Rock and Roll days. Somewhere in a Nevada desert, with a rental box truck full of equipment. Passed one of those "no service for many miles" signs. Woke up my partner - "Did you fill BOTH tanks last stop?" "zzzzzz, pretty sure, zzzzzz".
Sputter and coasted to a stop about 4 am. I almost made it, gas was only 3 miles away. We set out walking, and in a while, we see a tiny spec of light long way off the road. Must be a house. Pretty soon, guy walking up a dirt trail meets us on the highway. "Where did you come from?" Points to the speck of light. "You live out there?" "I like things quiet" OK, we walk to gas station in silence....
Can't RENT or borrow a can, have to buy an overpriced two gallon can - like we can go anywhere else! Station has astroturf on the islands, and the wrecker is a custom painted chrome splendored thing. No ride though. Walk back to truck and fill.
We make it to the gas station, fill up the truck, and George puts the can under the rears, and runs over it.
There sure are a lot of stars out there!

 

Yep. US50 is busier than ever these days. About 50mi. E. of Cincinnati was rebuilt last summer. Long time since any work has been done on it, around here. Tried to follow the progress on state website, but it's never up to date. It's a dream drive now.