Elvie – Our 4x4 Dually Sprinter Van
I saw a Sprinter adventure van for the first time at OuterBike in Moab, and immediately recognized it as the ideal alternative to living out of a Dodge minivan. I retired as an IT exec at an investment firm at 56 and had conjured up the crazy idea that I could ride all the epic mountain-biking trails in the West in a single summer. A foolish notion, I know, but it did lead me to Moab, and my first encounter with a Sprinter van.
Connie and I had met prior to my trip, and upon my return to Virginia, she joined me from her home in New Jersey. The next day, we purchased a 2012 two-wheel drive 144” Sprinter 2500 van. I built it out (I am a former boatbuilder from before my IT days, so vans were easy) as a mobile mountain bike garage with sleeping quarters, and it served this purpose admirably.
We traveled with this setup part-time for a couple of years before deciding to go full-time. To this end, on a single day in January, we got married, listed my condo for sale, and made a down payment on a 2015 two-wheel drive 170” Sprinter 3500 Super Single EB from Sportsmobile in Indiana. Two months later, we hit the road. The 144” wheel base van was a bit tight for full-timing, so we were pleased to move into the larger van, once it was finally completed, custom built for us, nine months later.
Over several years, we crossed the country multiple times in our second, larger van, visiting national parks and mountain-biking wherever there were trails to ride. As much as we enjoyed that van, we really wanted four-wheel drive to go deeper into the wilderness. So, we ordered our third van, a 2018 4x4 170” Sprinter 3500 EB from Sportsmobile in Austin, TX.
This van had dual rear wheels. Duals were not so much a choice. We needed a model 3500 for its carrying capacity, and the only option for a 4x4 van this size and weight was a dual-rear-wheel model.
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We are lifelong adventurers. I had been a serious climber and, for 15 years, an Outward Bound instructor/chief instructor, and Connie was a hardcore whitewater paddler. We met at the DirtFest mountain bike festival in May of 2012. Both of us were bound for other major adventures, Connie to the Arctic Ocean via canoe, me intending to ride all the epic western MTB trails.
We planned to ride the Tidewater Challenge MTB race upon our return in the fall, and Connie met me in Williamsburg, VA, the day after I returned from the West. Hurricane Sandy intervened, postponing the race for two weeks and preventing her return to NJ. By the end of those two weeks, the hook was set, and we have been together since. We traveled for five or six months at a whack for a couple of years, and on May 17, 2015, we rolled out for full-time life on the road.
The best way to follow us is to catch us rolling through your town and fall in behind. Be ready for a rough ride, as we have a penchant to follow sketchy two tracks that may catch our eye.
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