Blue View – Meet Blanche

Blanche looks just like this stock photo

If you’ve been following our blogs, you know that for the past few months, we’ve been looking for a replacement for Blue, whether it be a van, a cargo trailer we could upfit, a small camping trailer or whatever. Our first choice was to buy another van. We’ve pretty much given up on finding a completed van conversion that was set up just the way we wanted. Instead, while we’d be okay with starting a new upfit on an empty van, our real druthers would be to find a partial camper conversion that had the basics we could live with and use, then add to, modify and improve it as we had the time. It comes as no surprise that many people buy an empty van with the thought of converting it to the camper of their dreams. They do most of the initial work like insulating the walls, ceiling and floors, adding solar panels and a roof fan, batteries and charging circuitry, and maybe a bed, fridge and toilet… then somewhere along the line, the enthusiasm starts to wane and the van never gets finished. As long as the quality of the work and parts was reasonable, a partially completed van would work well for us. We could modify it to our liking and finish the job.

The daily routine for my quest to find the right van included checking CraigsList, Facebook Marketplace, RV Trader and VanLifeTrader in all the major metro areas around the country, looking for something that wasn’t too overpriced, with a reasonable number of miles on the odometer, and that would otherwise work for us. A couple times a week, I’d find something that looked good, but invariably either a bidding war would ensue, some major flaw would be discovered or someone would snap it up, sight unseen, before I even got a response from the seller. Until now…

Meet Blanche, our new (to us anyway) 2019 Ram Promaster van. She popped up on CraigsList in Denver a few days ago, and I immediately contacted the owner. After several texts and phone conversations with the owner, a review of a couple dozen photos and a look at the CarFax, she seemed to check most of the blocks on our wish list and we hopped on a plane and closed the deal. We’ll be driving her back to Las Vegas in between snowstorms.

Blanche’s backside looks like this

Blanche’s interior… a little rough but usable

We’ve already started a list of things we’d like to change with Blanche’s interior over time, but she does have most of the basics we need. At this point we know of three essentials we plan to add in the next couple of weeks: a heater, a toilet and some shelving. As soon as those are done, we plan to head out on a long road/camping trip and discover all the other things she’ll be needing.

I’ll give you the nickel tour next week. Stay tuned...