I got something I’ve wanted for years and years! A camper van! I’m a camper van guy now!
It’s a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and even more technically a Winnebago Revel.
I scoured Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and RV-specific sites for a long time drooling over these things. I’ve rented a half dozen of them on Ourdoorsy over the years. I’ve borrowed friends. So I feel like I knew what I wanted and I knew the specific price range I could go, so it took a little while to find it.
Ultimately one that came up on Craigslist led back to one sitting on the lot at a local spot called Just Used Cars.
I liked the size of it. Just a normal length, not “extended”. Plenty of height to stand up in. I like that it’s an actual Sprinter base because of it’s nice poise/stance compared to other van bases. Also it’s 4WD and has good ground clearance which. That wasn’t a requirement for me, but this will make me trust it driving in the winter and up to Mt. Bachelor and such, which will be really nice. Although funnily enough, I’ve already gotten it stuck once out in Pacific City at the beach — even in 4WD Low and using the traction boards on the roof. Sand is rough.
I like the tan color as well. Maybe I’ll get some cool decal or have an artist paint the side or something someday.
I wasn’t specifically looking for a Winnebago Revel, but that’s just how those roll, and honestly, the Winnebago name sounds nice to me. Long history making campers, obviously.
The interest rate on this thing was horrible. It’s 8 or 9% or something. It doesn’t really matter, as my plan is to pay it off in the next few months. My thinking is that it will do great things for my credit score this way. We’ll see. I co-signed for a “normal” new car just recently, and that rate was 3%, which seems fine/good.
I started writing a bunch more little stories about the van. I’ve been using it and thinking about it and working on it a ton, so there is a bunch to say. But I think I’ll break those out into smaller blog posts as I go!
One quick one: after I bought it, the dealership called and told me the previous owner wanted to talk to me. I approved them giving him my phone number, we chatted, and he came over to see the van. I was able to return to him some things that belonged to him tucked away into crannies all over the van. He was a nice guy who just really really wanted the new owner to understand it. All the little details about how it worked and where you can put things and quirks and whatnot. We spent a few hours going over things. I really appreciated that, and it shows how attached some people can get to these homes-on-wheels.