Craig and Marlene Connor have always been campers. For years, they traveled in their pickup truck with a camper shell that flipped open into a fabric-sided tent over the cab. They would camp in the mountains or take longer road trips and stay in campgrounds along the way.

Their setup worked well for them. But eventually, they started wondering how well it would work in the years ahead. Climbing in and out of an elevated sleeping area wasn’t getting any easier. A rainy night meant dealing with a wet tent the next morning, which could really dampen their excitement to get out more often (pun intended). And every stop involved packing the truck, moving everything around to sleep, and packing it all away again. They even had a name for that never-ending camp chore: “the campground shuffle.”

“We’re getting a little older,” Craig said. He knew that if they wanted to keep camping, something about their setup would eventually need to change.

A camper van had been in the back of their minds for years, but it always seemed like an idea for later. Eventually, after talking with their financial advisor, the question became pretty simple: What were they waiting for?

So they started looking.

Finding Their Next Rig

Craig and Marlene weren’t interested in a traditional RV. They wanted something simple that would be as easy to drive as their truck. They went to RV shows, walked through campgrounds checking out other people’s setups, researched vans online, and eventually narrowed their search to a Ford Transit camper van.

While visiting family in Colorado, they made a stop in Colorado Springs to check out Wayfarer Vans. They quickly realized they had found what they were looking for: a comfortable place to sleep, plenty of room for their gear (without the dreaded shuffle), and a simple setup that could keep them camping for years to come.

From Camping Trips to Road Trips

Before the van, most of their trips revolved around camping. They’d pick a destination, drive there, set up camp, and stay awhile.

With the van, they’ve discovered the freedom of the road and much longer trips.

“We go camping in it, but it’s also this road trip vehicle, which we didn’t have before,” Craig said. “There’s a lot more freedom for us.”

In the short year and a half they’ve had their van, they’ve already logged more than 37,000 miles, including three big, multi-week trips.

Last fall, they dubbed one of those adventures their “Family, Fall Foliage, Food and Friends Tour.” From their home in Arizona, they traveled through the Midwest, made their way to Maine, headed down the East Coast, and eventually looped back through the Southeast.

“I had never been to the East Coast,” Marlene said. “And the whole trip was a dream.”

Some stops were planned around visits with family and friends, but they left plenty of room to see what they found along the way. They hiked, explored the coast, visited Niagara Falls, and rarely passed up a good museum.

They managed to hit three Hall of Fames along the way: the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio; the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts; and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

And while they enjoyed the big-name attractions, one of their favorite unplanned stops came in Laurel, Mississippi, where they spent the night through Harvest Hosts at a World War II museum. What started as simply a place to park for the night turned into something much more memorable when they were treated to a private tour of the museum on a day it was closed to the public.

A Second Home on Wheels

As the van has made extended road trips easier, it has also started changing how Craig and Marlene think about retirement.

They live in southern Arizona, where sticking around for the hottest part of the year isn’t exactly appealing. Now that they have the van, they don’t have to.

“We’re going to be gone next summer,” Craig said. “Why spend the whole summer at home, when home can come with you?”

Craig had always liked the idea of owning a cabin in the woods, and the van has given him his own version of one.

“I have a cabin. I have a beach house. I have a place in the city. I have a second home on wheels.”

They enjoy spending time in their “second home” so much that it has even changed how they visit family and friends along the way. When someone offers up a guest room, Craig and Marlene are usually happy to turn it down. Everything they need is already in the van, so instead of hauling bags into someone’s house for the night, they park outside and sleep in their own space.

“If they want to stay up late, that’s fine,” Marlene said. “We’re going to the van and going to bed.”

Making Room for the Unexpected

Being able to change plans on the fly has become one of their favorite parts of traveling in the van. Sometimes that means discovering a town they never expected to visit. Other times, it means changing course because of wildfires or smoke. Wherever they end up, they know they’ll have a comfortable place to sleep when they get there.

Last summer in Yellowstone, they found out just how valuable that could be.

Craig and Marlene were settled into their van at a campground in the national park when a bison wandered over near their neighbors’ campsite. Their neighbors had left after setting up their tent, and while they were gone, the bison started rolling around in the dirt nearby.

Then it got up and went after the tent.

Craig and Marlene watched the whole thing unfold from inside their Wilford.

“I am so glad we’re in this van,” Craig remembered thinking.

No Plans to Slow Down

Craig and Marlene are in their 60s and 70s, and they’re just getting started on their adventures.

On one of their trips, they met another camper van couple in Arizona. The husband was in his late 80s, they were on their third van, and they were still active and traveling to Mexico every year.

When asked if they plan to keep traveling as long as they can, there isn’t a moment of hesitation before they both say, “Oh, yeah!”

Their Wayfarer hasn’t changed what they love doing. They still camp, hike and travel to new places. It’s just made all of it easier.

They wanted an easier way to camp and ended up with something more: a road-trip vehicle, a cabin, a beach house, a place to take a nap on the side of the road, and a second home that can go wherever they want to go next.”