Building the ultimate adventure-mobile with Steve Rokks
A part of our series, Freelance Lifestyle: The good, the difficult, the successes and failures that come with working as a freelancer
By Elizabeth Erickson, August 2015
Novelist Roman Payne once wrote, “I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.”
Too many of us settle into our routine and quickly forget to seek out adventure. So it’s inspiring when you see someone who is going after adventure well and living life to the fullest.
Husband and wife photographer-duo Steve and Ashley Rokks are two such people. Steve is sort of a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-many, but their newest project is gorgeous and makes me want to pack my bags and travel!
The couple spend a lot of time on the road working and enjoying life. But they found that travel was too cumbersome the normal way where they’d often fly to a destination, rent a car, eat out, get a campsite or hotel, and rack up quite a bill. They purchased an RV and used it for a little while, but it was just too big and guzzled way too much gas so they started looking at alternative options. That’s when they decided to create something a little special.
The Rokks amazingly took an old Sprinter van and completely turned it into a masterpiece for their wandering adventures. They named him “Theodore the Sprinter Van” and they’ve been documenting their “Vanderlost” adventures in the most gorgeous way.
Here’s what the van was like before Steve got his hands on it:
“The Sprinter allows us to live much more simply on the road,” said Steve. “[We] have the maneuverability we need, and have the comforts of home — including a working office! We needed to be able to accommodate children as well for when the whole family came on the road, so that fed into the design process.”
They made a list and realized they needed a place to sleep, live, cook, and work. They were sure to include storage for camera gear, climbing gear, clothes, food, and lots of space for baby gear and diapers for their 9-month-old son Fitzgerald.
The favorite spot to travel for the couple, their infant son Fitzgerald, and their 11-year-old son Jackson? Yosemite National Park. In fact, they’re there for a month right now and plan on spending all of next summer there and exploring a few other natural and epic places including: Glacier, Zion, Acadia, and the Grand Canyon at the top of their list.
Steve built out the van by himself. The design, the details, the electrical, the plumbing, the engine work — everything. He came up with a completely custom design and executed it beautifully; from electrical schematics to plumbing plans to structural additions.
Steve and Ashley spent an enormous amount of time talking through the details. Steve jokes that Ashley took a cargo van and turned it into the Four Seasons with all of her requests. And to that she says, “good!” It took Steve 47 days to build from the time he purchased the old van until they did a test run in the wild. Their 11-year-old son, Jackson helped out the most and it was the perfect father/son project. Steve’s dad was a constant support for advice and insight as well. Otherwise, besides the occasional friend or uncle who would stop by, Steve built it solo in the midst of a hot Texas summer.
Here’s some crazy facts about their amazing project:
- Nails through fingers from a nail gun while building the van: 1
- Mosquitos killed in first night test run of van: 2,547
- Shirts destroyed with burn holes from welding: 1
- Number of times gashes in fingers had to be closed up with crazy glue: 2
- Linear feet of planking in the van: 340 ft
- Times Ashley said “but if we crashed/rolled…” when talking about the design: 592
J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote in The Lord Of The Rings, “Not all those who wander are lost…” and in the case of the Rokks and their Vanderlost, it really is true.
To follow their adventures, check out their blog or on Instagram.
Written by Elizabeth Erickson, originally posted here
