The story of The Van

I love this van. It's so cool and nostalgic, with the stripes and the velour and wood, the wheels and the curtains. I've gotten tons of random compliments from people, from dads who used to drive one to cute girls who wish they had the Van Life.and its been a rock solid chariot from which I have travelled 30,000 miles across the US. It's simple, comfortable, durable, and it gets plenty good mileage for what it is. I wouldnt change a thing.

I hate this goddamn van. It is such a piece of shit, it's 30 years old, its falling apart, the plastic is crumbling, the paint is burnt, the chassis is dissolving to the point where I've spent 30+ hours replacing pieces of the unibody to keep it safe. Not to mention I've had to replace basically every mechanical component outside of the main driveline. Every time I touch it something breaks. I would drive it into a lake in ten seconds if I could afford to replace it.

This is the homepage for everything to do with one of the most important vehicles I have ever owned, my 1995 Chevrolet Astro Van Chariot Conversion.

this van and i are pals. we have gone on many adventures. it is falling apart, dissolving slowly as the mercy of road salt, and i, the welder, have been long engaged in the sisyphusian task of putting metal back where it has disappeared. the van longs for the junkyard, but we still have much to do

I rescued this van from a certain fate, the kid I bought it from was planning on using it as a work van for doing asphalt. It wouldve been such a shame to fill such a cool van with monster cans, Kwik Trip sandwich wrappers, and globs of tar. Instead, it has been to 28 states, from Key West to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. This is a good final story for a van that was pretty much on death row.


Here is the Origin Story of the Van: What it is, how I got it, what I built and what I had to fix.

Origin Story

Road Trips

  • Florida
  • Colorado
  • Pennsylvania
  • PNW
  • Oregon