Dundee

I name all of my vehicles and my 2014 Toyota Tundra is called Mobi after Mobi Dick as my truck is a big white truck. Dundee got its name because I am going on a drive about like Crocodile Dundee in the movie went on a walk about.

Dundee was purchased in 2019 and is a Freightliner 170 long Sprinter van. If Mobi was not taken it may have been called Mobi due to Dundee being white and is very long, 22ft. Dundee was purchased as a cargo van from Tag Truck Center in Memphis, TN and driven home on the day after Thanksgiving in 2019.

The original plan was to build out Dundee in early Spring of 2020 into an RV allowing me a place to be dry, charge my electronics, cook, clean my dishes and sleep while on the long journey seeing National Parks. Covid shut the trip down and the construction was delayed a few weeks into late Spring since there was not a necessity of having it done before the end of April. Construction for a majority of the van took about 4 weeks working 6 days a week. Note, my construction skills were not used for over 30 years and I was a bit rusty. Additionally, I had to purchase tools and saws to complete the buildout. More on the actual build out on Building Dundee page.

June 2019, I started out on my journey in Mobi with my Coleman six man easy up tent.  I also had a Coleman two burner stove and a Yeti cooler.  I have to say the the Yeti allowed me to save tons of money on ice as the ice would keep in the cooler for a few days, more on the Yeti later.  In 2019, I was able to visit 12 National Parks.  My big trip was to begin in April 2020 but Covid put a damper on that trip causing me to cancel the six month trip I had scheduled.

During my trip in 2019, while in Cuyahoga Valley it started to rain and it rained two inches in one hour. The tent pad I placed my tent was flooded when the rain was over. There was a need to place a drain in the pad allowing the excess water to run off allowing me to not sleep in water. When the water was drained the pad became a damp place for my tent but I was able to sleep and was dry. Next stop was Shenandoah National Park and all of my electronic devices needed to be charged one day.  I had only a single option of using the car’s battery for charging my electronics.  My second issue that I needed to fix for the longer journey.  A suitcase solar panel and battery pack was the idea. The following park was the Great Smoky Mountains and once again it started to rain. The rain this time was not a major downpour but a steady rain on and off for the next 5 days. My tent and EzUp tent over the picnic table started to leak so nothing was able to stay dry. This got me thinking that the dry space was mandatory now not just something to think about. I then decided that an RV would be better for me over a trailer being pulled by Mobi. I contacted Tag and Dundee was ordered.