Thoughts After Living in My Van for Two Weeks

I’ve traveled almost 2,000 miles and lived in Mesa for almost two weeks. After traveling and camping with a series of towed campers during the past ten years, I’ve truly enjoyed the transition to a custom Sprinter van. Here are the highlights:

• My van has an Infinity Shower that allows you to enjoy a hot shower for literally as long as you like while only using approximately one gallon of the water in my 35 gallon water tank. How does it do this? It recirculates the heated water through a micron filter and a UV sterilizer. The water passes through a heat exchanger to maintain the temperature of the water as you shower. An added benefit is the water pressure—the water comes out of the shower head at a higher pressure than my shower at home. This system allows me to take a shower in my van every day without worrying about depleting my fresh water supply too quickly.

• I love having my home away from home with me all the time. This is so different from the experience I had with a towable RV. On a recent morning, I parked the van on the street near a restaurant in Las Cruces where I ate breakfast. After breakfast, rather than returning to my campsite to hook up my camper to my tow vehicle, I simply hopped in the van, brushed my teeth, opened Google Maps and typed in my next camping destination and hit the road!

• Driving Mesa is much less stressful than driving my RAM 2500 towing a 24’ camper. I spent money on the best suspension upgrade available for the Mercedes Sprinter and the result is a great handling van on and off-road. Of course, the Sprinter is tall and cross-winds are challenging, but I’m never in a hurry so I adjust my speed to the conditions I encounter. While I could drive Mesa at 75-80 mph on Interstate highways when the wind is calm, I see no reason to drive faster than 65 mph which is much more relaxing. Also, driving through construction zones with narrow lanes bordered by concrete barriers is much less nerve-racking in the van than it was towing my Kimberley.

• I really like the Scheel-Mann aftermarket seats in the van. Not only are the seats much more comfortable while driving, the driver’s seat is my main place to sit while in camp. Both seats swivel to face the back of the van and the lagun table is well-placed vis-a-vis the swiveled driver’s seat.

• The EcoFlow system has a great interface where you can monitor battery, fresh water, grey water, rate of charging from solar, shore power and the Sprinter’s alternator. You can also monitor how much electricity you are using with individual systems in the van. It’s very specific showing the watts each light is using and the watts used by every electrical device in the van.

• The Rixen system that provides heat, hot water, heated floors and also preheats the engine on cold mornings works flawlessly and seems to consume very little diesel fuel. The interface is also easy to understand and use. I like the system better than a similar system that I had in the Kimberley that also used diesel fuel to heat glycol for heat and hot water.

• Mesa has twice the battery storage that I had in the Kimberley. This gives me a lot of confidence and allows me to use all the electric devices and appliances without constantly worrying about battery levels. I can even run the air conditioner for hours without reducing the battery levels to an area of concern.

• A dishwasher in the van is a game changer. I usually eat 2 meals a day in the van. Past experience convinced me that washing and rinsing dishes consumed more water while camping than anything else. I can run the dishwasher every 2-4 days while using less water than I would washing and rinsing dishes by hand for one meal. And I don’t have dry dishes or take up counter space for a drain mat.

• Starlink is so nice to have. Great wireless connectivity no matter where you are. The whole Starlink experience in the van is far superior to the experience in the Kimberley. When I wanted to use the Starlink in the Kimberley, I had to unpack the router, the base for the satellite disn, the dish itself, the cords, etc. and set everything up. It usually took about 15 minutes. And because it used AC power and I had to turn on the inverter to use it. It used a lot of electricity so I didn’t leave it on all the time while in camp. The Starlink Mini system is permanently installed on the roof of Mesa and all I have to do to use it is to choose it on the EcoFlow monitor and turn it on. Then I connect to it in settings on my iPhone and that’s it. It also uses 12v DC power so I can leave it on all the time while in camp because it uses very little electricity. It’s really like using our wireless network at home.

• The time needed to set up camp and break camp with the van is significantly less than with a pickup towing a camper. I don’t miss the lengthy checklist for both setting up and breaking camp in the Kimberley. The process takes just a few minutes with the van and si much simpler.

• Heated Floors! What else is there to say about this other than how wonderful the heated floors feel on my bare feet!

• The Kimberley was a very high quality camper and the interior was luxurious and comfortable. But Mesa raises the bar substantially. I’m living in the equivalent of an ultra-luxury car/apartment in the Mesa. It’s absolutely beautiful, comfortable and luxurious.

• Are there some negatives? Of course there are. The biggest one is that I can’t just hop into my pickup and drive off leaving the Kimberley in “camping” mode. Every time I leave camp in the van, the van has to transition from camping to travel mode. But it really doesn’t take much time to get the van ready to go. The other disadvantage is that I’m living in a much smaller space in he van than I did in the Kimberley. As a solo traveler, this really doesn’t affect very much, but if I traveled with another person, I think I’d get annoyed by the tight space to move around in. If Mary traveled with me, I don’t think I would have chosen a Spriner van. I know couples manage, but I think a van is better suited to a solo traveler.