My girl and I have chosen to raise our children differently. Maybe it’s from the eternal wanderings of our youth. Or maybe our eternal restlessness, where we can’t make up our damn minds on anything. But above all, it’s about providing a thoroughly robust experience for our children where we allow them to play. Really hard. At every single outdoor pursuit imagineable: surfing, riding snow, mountain biking. Hunting. Fishing.
And so, we have an eternal dream of living out of a van. Three hundred and sixty five days a year, roaming western North America in search of waves, rapids and snow. Wait. Shut the front door. That’s my dream. We all know that’s a really tough lifestyle to sustain. And vans can be expensive to run and outfit.
Well, this dude from Boise, Idaho, Chris Cook, came up with a radical idea: rent vans that are kitted out like Alex Honnold’s ride, or the van your hero lives in when he trips down the Baja to Scorpion Bay. Or the guy in the parking lot, sleeping in the heated ride waiting for the first chair to start crawling up the mountain on a powder day.
Wandervans is a genius idea. Cook runs Ford vans with the same engines as an F150 pickup truck so they’re incredible to drive. And outfits them with queen bunkbeds, a full kitchen, solar shower, cooking stoves, lamps and every camping supply you could think of. Cook is a serious mountain biker so his rides also come with one of the most bomb-proof bike racks on the planet that fits up to six steeds—you know, in case you need to run a downhill shuttle for a set of pals.
We picked up one of Cook’s vans in Boise and drove it 10 hours east over the Continental Divide into Colorado for a camp trip where we could use it to visit friends—i.e. more kids to play with. I kept it at 82 mph the whole way and the thing gets radical gas mileage (I never spent more than $62 on a tank).
And it sleeps so comfy: we had the groms share a bed while we used another for ourselves. ‘Cozy as mate.’ With rubber floors, the thing is simple to clean out—even though Cook’s service takes care of that so you don’t have to.
One classic moment: We were visiting a ranch in Colorado’s rugged Routt County where a beautiful river ran through the pristine property. I knew the fishing was pretty good so I snuck out and threw a panther martin in the stream. Wham! For ten minutes I fought this whale of a trout before getting it in. We ate pink-meated fish that night, cooked over a camp fire next to the van. This after a 25-mile mountain bike ride. ‘Living the dream’ to say the least. And, pardon the cliché double-down if you will, memories to last a lifetime, for certain.
Cook is expanding his business to Seattle, Portland and Salt Lake City for 2017. So you can use his vans to explore any number of climbing, biking, surfing or snow-riding options. Van options start at $95 per day with different sleeping setups. Completely affordable to share with buddies or family. And the cleanup is easy. Many lust to wander this world. Cook’s business makes it a whole lot easier.
Find out more at Wandervans.com
