If you’ve been with us since the beginning you might have noticed a slight shift in some of our most recent photos. Somehow through some act of hocus pocus our big red adventure van has morphed into a sleek dark gray dream machine. No, you’re eyes are not deceiving you. That van is sleek, it’s shiny, and it’s most definitely brand new!
So let’s make some introductions. Hello world, this is Johnny Utah. Johnny, is a van built for adventurers, designed to be entirely independent of your typical needs of a standard conversion van or RV. From the very first moment we saw him, we knew it was love.
Quick Facts About The New Van:
- Make: 2016 Winnebago
- Model:Travato 59 G ( They also make a 59k, cute- but it didn’t work for us)
- Engine:
- Mileage: 1,500 When we picked him up in Gulf Breeze, Florida. 5,000 Currently- we’ve been having some fun!
- Length: 21 feet
- Total Square Footage: About 80. This is a rough estimate, we really haven’t done the math!
- Sleeps: Up to 4, but you’d have to really, really like your guests to squeeze 2 more people in.
- Power Sources: Shore power ( 30 amps), 100 watt solar panels on roof, LP gas tank, cabin battery ( Bonus: cabin battery charges off of our solar, so we’re almost always charged up), Generator for emergency power needs-we used this to run the AC during our Key West trip to keep the doggie cool.
- Creature Comforts: Truma Combi Furnace System- gives us on demand hot water, keeps the van cozy when it’s chilly out and it can run off of any of our power sources. AC unit mounted on the roof, with only about 80 square feet to cool the van gets cold fast.
- Adventure Add On’s: Roof ladder, Bike rack for two, Kayak racks on the roof, that conveniently enough also hold the paddleboards fairly snuggly with some finagling ( thats a word, right?)
Want the full tour, we’d love to give you one! Full video tour hitting the blog very soon! In the meantime check-out Winnebago’s website all about the Travato. Careful, falling in love may be a side effect!
It’s not that we didn’t love Roxanne, we more than do- there’s just something about creating something from nothing with your own two hands, BUT ( damn it, there is always a but), when you start making plans and using big words like “Alaska” your rinky dink red van with almost 200,000 miles on it starts looking a little scary. But good news! We couldn’t just let our very first adventure van waste away- she’s gotten a new life, and new job, and is still adventuring! A story for another post!
Got van questions? We’ve got answers! Been to Alaska, been anywhere? Taken a great American road trip already? Fill us in, what do we need to know? What should we be planning for?