Claire VanGo

The question of Claire’s namesake comes up a fair bit. Poeple always want to know how I chose the name Claire and why it fits for my van.

It’s simple the name comes from a character in the movie Wedding Crashers. In the movie, Claire is a character who is beautiful and independant. She is stuck in a place where she is questioning the decisions in front of her. Part of the reason I bought the van was because I had a bunch of quesitons about how I lived my life. I’m hoping the adventures I have with Claire will help me better understand my life.

Oh, and the van is pretty, like the character in the movie.

When I was a kid my family moved around a bit. We lived in CT, PA, KY and then back to CT again. We spent a couple summers on a boat in RI while parents handled the move between states. While my brothers and I were seperated by years, interests, and social cirlces, we found a way to coexist. We weren’t close, but we were never too far apart.

As an adult, I feel like I’ve missed something something by moving the west coast. I’ve missed opportunity to be closer to my family. I’ve missed the opportunity to see my brothers grow to be men. I know I will be missing much as they begin to start families and I’m 3000 miles away.

When my youngest brother told me I was going to be uncle, I felt emmense joy and also sadness because this was a transition in stage of life for him. I haven’t been around since he got out of the marines. I’ve never been close to him as an adult.

When the middle brother told me several weeks later that they were expecting, I realized that both of the relationships with my brothers were about to change.

I thought of the things I wish I had done with my brothers. I thought of the times I missed the most. My first thought was the long annoying road trips we used to take. From our home in Connecticut to skiing in VT. That time we traveled all the way to Maine, to visit our best friends the Beckers. At the time, these were painful experiences, but looking back on it, these were times where we learned about each other. One brother would pick the first CD we would listen to, another the next. Spencer got us into listening to the entire Harry Potter series on tape.

We learned a lot about each other on the road, stuck in a metal box for hours at a time.

These memories inspired my crazy idea:

Buy a van, build it out, and travel with them before they had their first children.

I’m a firm believer that I learn about myself and others on the road. This is the story of me, trying to learn about my brothers and myself on the open road.

 

Claire Vango is the name of my newest project. I’m taking a Sprinter 4×4 and converting it into a camping van. Over the next couple of months I will discuss how, with much help, I put together this van. Will do my best to answer any questions I can about the van build out. There is a lot of knowledge gained in this process and hopefully my experience will help you do yours even better.