Thanks for the warm welcome.
Why no lift? 1. I'm a lousy mechanic and a lift kit would tempt me to go places where I'd break things and be really stuck. I'll use the van as a base camp and then hike, run, or ride my mountain bike, Yamaha XT225, or Montesa trials bike on the harder trails. 2. They look great, but I'm I believer in urban camouflage and stealth camping. At a trail head, which car would you break into looking for goodies? The lifted 4X4 Astro, with big fancy tires, heavy duty bumper, winch, gear racks, and a million cool stickers all over it, or a plain looking, soccer mom van, sunshades in the windows, "my kids an honor student" stickers, and maybe even a strategically placed fake "used" diaper baking in the sun? 3. I don't have 2" to spare in the garage where I'll be living in Colorado Springs.
The Alaska Highway. I've driven it 6 times so far, and twice on the Cassiar Highway. 3 x Astro, 3 x Dodge Dakota, 2 x Kawasaki Concours. It's not the adventure it used to be. It's hard to keep your speed down below 70mph. The only bad section is the frost heaves through Kluane National Park....about 100 miles between Destruction Bay, YT and the Alaska Border, 40-50mph max. Even the Cassiar Highway is completely paved now. I had no problems riding it on my Concours. Unfortunately, I've never had the time to explore during the trip. I've always been in a hurry to cover as many miles as possible. It takes between 5-6 days for me to drive from Colorado Springs to Anchorage. The trip is beautiful, but you sort of become numb after 3600 miles of beautiful. In about 4-5 years, after I finish my van conversion, I'd like to take the whole summer to mosey up the Alaska Highway (1 month), see friends, revisit old stomping grounds, explore areas I didn't get a chance when I lived here,...just generally bop around Alaska (2 months), and then mosey back down the Cassiar Highway and explore more of British Columbia (1-2months).
Future Plans for the Astro:
1. Remove the platform/bed and the middle seat
2. Remove headliner and paneling, insert more insulation, reinstall headliner/paneling. Maybe figure out something to insulate the floor, too
3. Bolt locking storage boxes through the floor from behind the drivers seat all the way to the back doors (welding boxes work well 1.5'x2.5' and 12" tall), a folded futon mattress makes a couch by day, unfolded, a bed by night.
4. Swivel passenger seat!
5. Install AGM batteries, isolator and inverter, microwave, hot pot, LED lights, Cyber Accoustic surround sound computer speakers (get the ones that run on 12V and only draw 1-2 amps).
6. Install Espar diesel heater.
7. Curtains
8. Satellite Radio!
(I'll probably think of more as soon as I post this.)
I've already done a conversion of a '97 Astro AWD Cargo van about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, I bought an abused ex Fed-Ex van. I bailed on the project before I was finished, but I still have most of the parts. My career then took a couple of interesting turns over the last decade and prevented me from getting back to it. But I'm free now
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2003 Astro AWD, Timbren SES (front and rear), temporary rear platform/bed for camping.
