The Remodel

We are rebuilding and remodeling a 1966 Streamline Duke on the road

The Family

Willi Software Engineer, also known as Chaos and that for good reason. Master of everything up to 85%, then it's done. Progress daily is required, may be interpreted freely (finishing up that Ben&Jerrys counts as progress). Green tea all day every day, reason why we have a pot of wet tea leaves moving around the kitchen all day (I may still drink that second brew). Stupid shit ideas at its best, up to anything that involves backflips, bikes and/or challenge accepted situations. Always has a never-ending list of ideas, wishes and upgrades available. Main driver without any sense of orientation. Night owl, dreamer, introvert at its best. Favorite Sentence: If nothing's for sure, anything can happen.
Julia Main Navigator and photographic memory. Chocolate and Coffee for life. Main writer, just because she's Type A and actually sees a to-do-list as something to-do. Night owl and book-loving introvert. Did I mention coffee? Not adventurous at all and on this trip because she didn't realize what she got into. Owner of the beat-up camera that's responsible for all the pictures. Baking means therapy means those muffins tell you that something isn't right. Mainly responsible for those last 15%. Favorite Sentence: I need sleep and/or coffee.
Emmi Main Noise-maker and wild card, social butterfly at its best. Only one who is really awake at 7am. Producer of 90% of all drawings in this household, proud owner of Junior Ranger Badges and a Mountain Goat. She's a character, a wild child, but she'll tell you she wants to go to princess school. A babbling tornado of all the things. Always looking out for her little brother, until he's on her side of the room. Favorite Sentence: Why, Papa?
Samson Youngest family member, almost 3 years. Born on the road, the most content toddler until he finds out that you tried to not take his entire rock selection to the next campspot. Hates hair cuts more than he loves food, and that says something. Tried a frontflip on his bike out of the trailer, and then tried it again. Hit his head in almost every state we were in. Lover of water and swimming. Favorite Sentence: Elefantastisch! (Elephantastic)
Cody We thought we were done with traveling, and then we weren't, but we got a dog in the meantime. Toddler puppy through and through, even after almost 2 years. He will sniff your butt and he won't stop. Once you show him love he will jump on you and love you fiercely. Fierce protector from all kinds of dangers, including turkeys and ducks. Oh, ducks are his nemesis. Secretly thinks he's a human but knows damn well he shouldn't be sleeping on the bed. Destroyer of seatbelts.
#66

Our Family Van Layout / Home

February 21, 2021 0 n/a

I feel like after 6+ years of living tiny and nomadically as a family, plus 6 months of living in a speed-built van, we went into the build with a pretty good idea of what we want and need with the layout, and what doesn’t work for us. And especially where we didn’t want to compromise (hello there, poop room).  We had hig...
#61

Van Bathroom/Poop Room

September 6, 2020 0 n/a

Yes, we do have a bathroom/poop room in our van. It was one of the nonnegotiable items when we decided on building a van for a future home. So many reasons, the main ones: everywhere we go we find poop and toilet paper remains and there’s no reason to add to it. And two, we have kids. I have no need whatsoever to go outside at th...
#55

Why we love our tiny wood stove

December 13, 2019 0 n/a

First of all: look at this beauty. What is not to love about a classic cast iron tiny wood stove? But we’ll, it ain’t about the look obviously, looks won’t keep us warm in 2 degree F weather.  So how are we faring with that tiny wood stove about a year in and several weeks of subfreezing temperatures? It’s awesome! ...
#54

Why we decided on a tiny wood stove

December 13, 2019 0 n/a

When we started the renovation Marcel came up with the idea of using a tiny wood stove as a heating source for our new trailer. Naturally, I told him that is weird and I don’t want that. But I couldn’t come up with a better idea, because all other options we’ve tried and they did.not.work for us.  The most obvious heati...
#51

The three week Sprinter van built

September 24, 2019 0 n/a

Our priority for this built wasn’t that picture perfect home that presents well in pictures but a) won’t withstand two little kids and a dog for longer than a week and b) will take time off our six month trip that we’d rather spend watching reindeer in northern Norway than building a pretty van. And, naturally, we’d rather spe...
#50

Current status as of April 2019

March 22, 2019 0 n/a

It’s about time his blog got an update of where we are - about once a year it seems. I’ll probably maybe eventually do a recap of the last year, but for now we hopped continents and will be exploring Europe for the better part of the year. And since the shiny trailer didn’t make it in the cargo hold (yes, we seriously considered shi...