The Barney-mobile. Bugslayer. JUCY Van. 

Our chariot/shelter for the road trip was a Dodge Grand Caravan converted into a campervan. Bakpak Dave (aka BakPak Travel Guide) helped us secure this bright, lime green/purple "Trailblazer" for a pretty legit rate- his whole thing is "no hidden costs"- so it's fixed going through him vs. the RV company directly, and it came with a bonus set of bedding ($50 savings, woo) that I used the entire trip. Since I was floating around homelessly until I leave the country, I didn't have bedding to carry with me.

We probably would've preferred the "Mavericks," which is an artsy Ford E-150 convert from Escape Campervans. Surprise! Don't book things last minute. The early bird gets the Mavericks. 
BM = for burners/festival goers
So now for the nitty gritty...
THE GOOD

• Bed is easy to fold out and is somewhat comfortable
• Gas was affordable: it cost ~50/tank and we filled it once before each destination. Not bad, considering we would go driving for 14 hours in a sitting at times...
• SAVINGS! The front desk person was surprised at our discounted rate. Going through JUCY directly would have cost around 2k+, we got it at ~1700! OW OWWW!  PROTIP: booking JUCY earlier in the year is cheaper due to summer demand. 
• Pull-out table within the van- helpful in super hot, unshaded areas, or in cold weather (BM)
• Amenities: Comes with small fridge, utensils, dishes, cooking utensils (BM​) 
• You can connect your AUX cord to play all of the techno (no other genres, though, sorry)
• Handled well in rainy and snowy weather
• The "Penthouse" pops up into a super sturdy tent, has a zipper on the inside that can help block dust (BM)
• Lots of small compartments to stick your stuff/easy access (BM)
• Blinds to block the sun (BM)
• Easy to drive; I haven't driven in two years, and ended up driving ~4k miles in two weeks. It was juuuust fine. It actually managed to cross through volcanic terrain and high grass. Probably should have paid attention to the "high clearance vehicles only" sign, but I mean, we lived.

THE BAD

• Pick-up location says "JUCY San Francisco" but is actually in San Leandro
• Storage situation... Since we were on the go, we didn't want to leave all of our stuff out (this won't really be an issue for festival campers) so we'd have to rearrange the car every time we prepared for bed. We had two suitcases, a sleeping bag, two backpacks, and a camping chair which took up most of the space in the back-- not sure how this van would work for more than two people... We ended up stuffing the Penthouse with our luggage at night. 
• The blinds had suction cups that refused to work
• Sleeping arrangements... Tyler is 6'2" and felt pretty cramped length-wise
• Some buttons didn't work (i.e. automatic door opener)
• Stove fail... with both stoves (BM)
• TomTom comes with extra cost, which seemed like a good idea for non-service areas, but it 1) was set to direct in German  2) wouldn't pull up the points of interest we wanted
• No shower or bathroom so we relied on renting a hotel/motel every couple of days which added to the cost. Gas station bathrooms helped on the road, and we didn't have to hold anything for too long. 

THE UGLY

• lol have you seen the car

​

​Like most ideas, it all started with a $5 margarita at one of my favorite San Francisco dive bars, Uptown. I was sitting with two of the best folks and hashing out plans for the ultimate Southwest road trip. But also like most ideas, life got in the way (breakups, workaholism, etc.) and my dream died... UNTIL NOW, fast forward two years: a good pal of mine coincidentally had enough of his job and decided to quit at the same time I burned out from mine! So naturally, I tricked him into spending two weeks straight with me. After a month of sort of hashing plans out, we hit the road in the Barney-mobile (Jucy Van). 

The Itinerary: 
Tyler and I are parks and rec people. We majored in it, he worked for the National Parks System, we like trees. My funemployment plans included seeing as many national parks as possible before running off to Southeast Asia (because who knows when we wake up one day and we're watering plants with Gatorade, or the world is on fire). We decided to even out the trip by soaking up some forest and ending in the desert, so it transitioned from the ultimate Southwest road trip, to an aggressive Pacific Northwest/Rocky Mountain escapade. We had more of an overview of where we wanted to go, instead of secured plans. It would be hard and stressful to commit to destinations. 
PROTIP: NPS offers an "America the Beautiful" annual pass for $80, that allows one car/two person entrance to any national parks. Some places were $20pp, so it's worth it if you're visiting more than one spot!
*underlined are places we actually made it to*

​OREGON
Crater Lake, Terwilliger (Cougar) Hot Springs, Portland, John Day Fossil Beds/Painted Hills, Agate Beach

WASHINGTON
Olympic National Park, Seattle, Puget Sound

IDAHO
Hells Canyon and (the inescapable) Snake River, Shoshone Falls, Boise, Craters of the Moon

WYOMING
Yellowstone, Grand Teton, 

UTAH
Salt Lake City, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches,  Havasu Falls

ARIZONA
Antelope Canyon (you need to book a tour for this), Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend

BACK 2 CALI
Joshua Tree, Salvation Mountain, home

NEVADA (substituted for CA destinations)
Las Vegas, Hoover Dam