In early June, the transmission on my first van went kaput, and among a myriad of other issues that would need to be addressed, it was better to just abandon it and get a new van altogether.
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If you remember from this post in early June, my first van gave up on me. But with 267,000 miles and trucking me around the US literally six times in a year, who can blame it? Although I wish it had happened during all the issues in Oregon back in May, because it would have saved me a solid $5,000 of maintenance that, two weeks later, was a waste of time and money.
Oh well. Necessity forced me to move on, and arguably for the better.
The search was on
I looked at and test drove vans for a week in Phoenix before heading to a pre-scheduled trip in Pennsylvania, and even still looking at vans online there, nothing was popping out that was in a reasonable price range combined with a reasonable mileage.
The 2015 Ford Transit Connect Passenger van I’d converted into a camper van in July 2025 had 235,000 miles when I purchased it for $5,300 after taxes and fees. Having now experienced a transmission failure, I knew I needed a van with far fewer miles that I could more easily maintain. Larger would be preferred, but I wasn’t setting my sights too high.
More than two weeks after searching, a van popped up that hadn’t been in any of my previous searches, despite being listed for five weeks, a 2000 Chevy Express 2500 Cargo van with only 173,000 miles being sold for $4,200.
- Price? One of the cheapest I’d been looking at.
- Size? DOUBLE my previous van.
- Mileage? Amazing for a 26-year-old work vehicle. Plus, lots of recent maintenance.
It was one of those “too good to be true, let’s exercise extreme caution” scenarios. Absolutely no way a large van, this cheap, in that condition, could possibly be on the market.
A quick message, and that same evening, I met up with the guy for a test drive.
Some way, some how, the van was exactly as described, with all the maintenance. It ran well, drove well, looked fine for my needs with no major issues to speak of and nothing costly in the short term.
It was the one.
The conversion
I converted my previous van in 8 days at the height of summer in Phoenix last year. Shoutout to my friends for putting up with me building a van yet again in their side yard this year, and to the neighbors who pitched in to help with tools and equipment and ideas to.
I’m optimistic, and went into this build with the idea that I’d get it to a point where I could start living out of it in three or four days.
Emphasis on optimistic.
Of course that wasn’t the case, but if you follow me on Instagram, you saw all my daily progress updates every morning.
I’ve seen a few people online who’ve done their van conversions in a few weeks, but I’ve also seen people who have spent a year or two on the conversion, and some of them give up and sell it away.
I did this second build in 13 days. The Phoenix heat is one hell of a motivator.
Here’s the deal: I needed to get back on the road so I could teach astronomy and start making money again. The last stretch of time I’d been doing sidewalk astronomy was in San Diego back in April. Then I had my California & Oregon road trip in May, followed by six days in Sedona before my first van went kaput.
Phoenix was hot; most days, the temperature was 110 degrees, but time was of the essence. And as I said about the first conversion, I could either work at night and take two months to finish, or I can blast my way through and get it done in a week or two.
Taking regular breaks and drinking more water than you’d think possible (you sweat gallons in this heat, so you gotta drink gallons), I pulled it off.
In both builds, I noticed progress seemed slow for days; you spend tons of time cleaning, measuring, making runs to hardware stores, eating and drinking and cooling off. It slogs along with very little visual progress for like…3-5 days.
Then you cross a line. Suddenly the invisible 2D work transitions into visible 3D work. Posts go up, walls go up, frames go up. There’s PROOF of progress, and it feels wonderful.
And then it stops again. You get the big stuff out of the way, and the little things take over: adjustments, brackets, lots of screws, paneling, little fixtures, hooks, priming and sealing the wood, etc. The kinds of things that slow you way down again for days on end.
It was Day 11 when I felt like progress was being made again. I added my bed, put up lights, a front curtain, finished the major storage areas, and started the closet. When those shelves went up on Day 13…when that final door went up on the third closet…a wave of relief hit me.
It. Was. Over.
It’s not finished-finished. There’s still more I want to do to pretty it up and seal some things over and add another shelf in one of the storage areas. But it’s livable. It’s functional for what I need it to do.
I had zero space in the first van. My bed took up the entire rear of the van, with my fridge, battery, solar, pantry, clothes (in a suitcase), microwave, and alllllllll my telescope equipment stuffed under the bed, organized, of course, but not practical. Not easy to access. Vanlife in that Ford Transit Connect gave me a sense of freedom I’d never felt before, but the trade-off with struggling to access everything under the bed was not a long-term situation.
Maybe that’s where the Universe intervened, gave me that final road trip from San Diego to northern Oregon and back to Phoenix, and THEN killed the van. The transmission could have–should have–gone out during those two weeks. I should have been stranded far from Arizona, far from my friends in Phoenix and nowhere near my PNW friends. Yep, it died in the one place where help was within reach, and where I could easily sell it off for cash.
As a result, I have a van that’s twice as big, where I have so much more room, with countertops, closets, and custom, slotted storage for all my telescope equipment that has already made my return to sidewalk astronomy so much easier than I think it has ever been. Quite literally life-changing ease-of-access to my telescope and signage and equipment with these dedicated compartments.
As someone who has been doing this for eight years, and nearly two of those full-time on the road, I cannot emphasize just how perfect having this arrangement is. The epitome of my storage wish list.
I’m back in Sedona until the end of July, hosting sidewalk astronomy and private stargazing tours every night until I venture up to Idaho for a family vacation, then to Missoula, Montana for a couple weeks of sidewalk astro before trekking across to Mount Hood in Oregon for my friends’ wedding that I’m also presenting astronomy at.
The wildfire in Sedona is currently 70% contained, and while the western canyon trails and the entire Oak Creek Canyon are still closed, the entire rest of Sedona is open and waiting to be explored. Come this way, and if you find me, let’s explore the night sky together.
This world is beautiful.
Alex
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