144 vs 170 Wheelbase: Which is Best for You

CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO

The Crested Butte area has over 750 miles of trails and if you’re ready to pedal at altitude you will find the most picturesque high-alpine trails of the USA.

When the riding is done for the day, you’ll enjoy exploring the quaint western mountain town for delicious food and drinks.

Paid campgrounds book up fast in this area so we suggest getting off the grid and exploring Gunnison National Forest where you can find plenty of free dispersed camping. Our fave is Washington Gulch Road dispersed camping. Remember to leave no trace, and if you want more information on the area you can always talk to the Forest Service who are very helpful.

Learn More>

LIVING LARGE WITH LIMITED SPACE (AKA IN YOUR VAN)

Van life is full of adventures, travel and spontaneity. But when space is limited and your home in on wheels, staying organized becomes utmost important to maximizing the lifestyle and the adventures. When you’re constantly having trouble finding where you put things, or when your van space is cluttered and there just doesn’t seem to be enough space for everything, life can get messy and frustrating. Streamlining and simplifying are keys to staying happy and organized.

Moving into a tiny space can have its challenges, but there are tricks to making your small space work for you. We caught up with Kate Field of WeRollWithIt to see how she and Levi keep tidy while living full time in their overland TOURIG, Bruce Banner.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SIMPLIFYING IN YOUR CAMPER VAN

The first thing to think about when moving into a camper van whether full time or for a short trip is: ‘do I really need that?’ The longer we spend on the road the more I find myself happy with less. I look for versatility in everything from the clothes I wear to the gadgets I have in the kitchen. Everything on board needs a home. We can’t leave things lying around while we off-road so if it doesn’t fit in a cabinet or a storage bag it has to go! Be ruthless. Challenge yourself to only keep things that have multiple functions. Soon you’ll love the simplicity of living with less.

STAYING ORGANIZED IN YOUR VAN

Speaking of things not lying around: we use a lot of TOURIG Bunker Bags for storage and it’s incredible how much they hold. We have two on the seat boxes. One Bunker Bag holds all the dogs’ play toys. (This is cute because the dogs will go to their pocket and pick a toy to play with.) The other Bunker Bag holds flip flops and a small brush which we use to sweep the floor.

In the bedroom area we both use TOURIG Medium Bunker Bags to keep our socks and underwear stored. Another tip for the small space: if it’s something you need to use everyday make sure it’s accessible or you will drive yourself crazy. That’s why the pockets help so much because things can be easily accesible on the wall of the van but still out of the way.

Up front we have the TOURIG Covert Pocket Door Set (one on the passenger and one on driver side front door) and the Covert Stash Visors (one on each visor above the front seats). We work a lot as we drive so these pockets are great for holding chargers, external drives, cameras, memory cards, and anything else we need to get at regularly from the driver’s seat. The Covert Stash Visor also has divider pockets for your wallet and vehicle paperwork.

Tip: keep essentials in the same spot every day. It’s easy to get excited about the adventure but when you arrive at that perfect camp spot always remember to put your keys, wallet, and phone in the same spot before you jump out and bask in nature’s glory – that way you won’t ever lose the essentials.

Bonus tip: If you’re a bit of a green thumb I have a sneaky tip for you. The TOURIG Canteen Cache makes a great plant holder! I put a plastic cup in the cache and leave an inch of water in the bottom. Then in the plants pot I use a string which threads out the base drain holes of the pot and will soak up water when needed to keep your travel plant happy.

In the garage we use TOURIG’s Large Bunker Bags on each door and also on the sides of the water house. The Large Bunker Bags hold everything we need for filling water or using the hose downs.

Tip: keep like items grouped together. If you will use it for water, keep it near the water box, if it’s an air accessory, keep it near the air chuck.

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT TOURIG’S BUNKER SERIES STORAGE BAGS

What we love about TOURIG’s storage solutions is that they’re durable, lightweight, functional, and easy to use.Their low-profile design allows them to lay flat against the wall when they’re not being used, and their expandable design allows them to hold a ton of gear!  They’re quality products made in Minnesota (in the United States) by Knight Vision Development, established by one of the original founders of Granite Gear, a high end backpacking company. To see the full line of storage bags, click here. 

KEEPING YOUR CAMPER VAN CLEAN

Here’s something you won’t learn about van life from beautiful instagram images but I’m here to tell you: the floor always needs sweeping! All that adventure seems to somehow stick to your feet and gets trampled into the van. If you have pets or kids, all the more so. But don’t be deterred, that small floorspace takes just seconds to clean! I keep a small brush to sweep everything out and I usually do that on arrival at a new spot and also each night before bed. Another super handy tool for corners or tight spaces is a Milwaulkee M12 cordless vacuum. It uses 12V rechargeable batteries and is a great small item with plenty of suction power.

MAKING SPACE FOR ALL YOUR GEAR IN THE VAN

 We like to have plenty of toys on board to explore the outdoors. But how do we fit them all? Again, it’s about making smart choices and picking gear that will stow away and stay organized.

Choose Inflatable Options

For water fun we use an inflatable Rover from Bote Boards. It’s a skiff; it’s a dingy; it’s a tender; it’s a motorized inflatable paddle board. It’s a BOTE…in a bag. Inflatable products are great for van life because they pack up and slide into the garage easily.

Fitting Bikes on Board

We also have two CAB Motorworks EMX bikes on board. Although I love dirt bikes, they take up a lot of space and weight. With these full throttle e-bikes we can go just as fast (top speeds of 50 mph) and the 200 mile range is more than enough to wear us out. All this, plus the ability to charge right from the van’s house power system and no need to carry additional fuel. Our two e-bikes fit nicely into our rear storage garage with Rocky Mount’s bike mount system.

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF VAN LIFE

The most important thing to remember about these tiny adventure homes on wheels is that we don’t live in them, we live out of them! By simpliflying the number of things you bring, and having a designated home for everything, you can make van life more organized and more fun.

GETTING THE MOST DEPENDABLE WIFI AND CELL RECEPTION ON THE ROAD

While we all love using our vans to get away from the grind, sometimes we still need to be connected. If you’ve heard about the benefits of having a cell phone signal booster in your rig but want to know more about what they are, how they work, and which cell boosters are going to be the best for van life, we’ve got you covered.

 After we review what they are and how they work, we’ll share with you the models that we’ve found most reliable for our customers like WeRollWithIt. For van lifers like WeRollWithIt, who run their creative agency from on board, (learn more about WeRollWithIt here) having fast, reliable internet and cell reception is important.

WHAT IS A CELL PHONE SIGNAL BOOSTER?

If you’re finding yourself often in need of a stronger cell phone signal when you’re on the road, a cell phone signal booster (also known as a cell phone repeater) might be the solution for you. Cell phone signal boosters work to strengthen cell phone receptions in a home, or in a vehicle like a TOURIG, putting an end to those frustrating dropped calls, hard-to-hear calls and slow internet speeds. They will boost receptions across all carriers like Verizon, Sprinter, AT&T and T-Mobile and all network speeds like 3G, 4G and LTE.

DOES A CELL PHONE SIGNAL BOOSTER ACTUALLY WORK? AND HOW?

Cell phone signal boosters work by taking weak cellular connections and essentially boosting them. Understanding the basic construction of the device makes it easier to understand how it works. The outside antenna on the device works to capture the weak cellular signal on your phone. The amplifier then takes that weak signal and boosts it up to 32X, and then the inside antenna redirects the stronger signal to your phone so that you can use it.

THE BEST CELL PHONE SIGNAL BOOSTERS FOR VAN LIFE

We’ve tested a bunch of different boosters over the years and know that not all are created equal. We’ve had great experiences with some and not so great with others. In order to save you the hassle of buying a set up that doesn’t fit your needs, we wanted to share some of our recommendations based on what we’ve found to be the best cell phone signal boosters for working on the road.

CELL PHONE BOOSTERS WE RECOMMEND

1) weBoost 4G-X OTR

weBoost cell phone boosters work great in vans, trucks, rv’s and other motorized vehicles. The company was the first to design signal boosters and have come out with some great boosters for different uses. We’ve had the best luck with the weBoost 4G-X OTR, which is their model designed for trucks (that works just as great for vans). WIth the right positioning, it can give an additional 2-3 bars of reception, and it will work on multiple cellular devices and for multiple users at the same time, so you can boost signals on your phone and your laptop, or your phone and someone else’s phone, all at the same time. We’ve also found it to be great for using in more remote and rural areas, because its amplifier is designed to reach cell towers that are up to 33% farther away than other models can reach.

2) Rhino Rack Aerial Folding Bracket

WeRollWithIt recommends using The Rhino folding bracket along with the Drive 4G-X OTR. This allows for the super large truck antenna to flip up quickly when needed and lay flat across a roof rack when driving.

3) SureCall Fusion 2Go 3.0 RV

The other cell phone signal booster we recommend is a SureCall booster; it’s a slightly lower price point and has a smaller antenna so you don’t need to flip it up and down for use. SureCall is ready to go all the time. Much like the weBoost this device will amplify any available cell signal in the area. It’ll boost cellular connections from all the same carriers as weBoost, and also works on multiple devices and with multiple users. It’s meant to be hardwired or plugged into a cigarette lighter. TOURIG will hardwire this device behind a wall panel of your van so the device itself is hidden and you can easily turn it on or off by flipping a switch. We’ve had the best luck with the Fusion 2Go 3.0 RV, which is most comparable to the weBoost 4G-X OTR.