I was told I should document our journey with the van here. Mike and I purchased our 1999 Ford E-150 in March 2014 at a gas station in Carver, MA. It had 86k miles on it, but needed a fair amount of work. Mike talked the owner down to $2400, I went to the ATM, and then we went to dinner to celebrate and write out a plan.
Van in my parents' driveway the night we bought it, dwarfing my dad's truck
Mike's first sketch of how we wanted the interior. Notice how he drew me robbing him of his body heat.
After a couple bumps in the road we finally got the van checked out by an honest mechanic and got the thing mechanically sound. Our next task was to remove the seats behind the driver and front passenger. It only took 6-7 hours, 10 Sawzall blades, and some sort of socket gun hooked up to a compressor. Mike brought it to his Sunday job today to clean the carpeting before he frames out the bed.
Mike screwed in some test boards to the things (I can't think of what they're called!) we left attached to the floor when we removed the seats.
Next up is the bed, kitchen, and misc small modifications.
T-minus 136 days until the road trip!