Out with the old, in with the new!

THE BEGINNING!

The time leading up to hitting the road was filled with a lot of chaos. I was finishing up PA school, studying for my graduate exam and then studying even more for my national board exam. Joey was wrapping up 7 years at Intel, and to top it all off we were selling Joey's big investment- his home! 

I took my board exam August 22nd and Joey finished his last day of work the 20th. We wanted to leave in two weeks or less, and had an entire house that had been lived in for 6 years to empty, clean, and update before taking off. Our plan was to quickly clean everything out, then update all of the bathroom fixtures, paint the exterior, paint the interior, and create a new backyard landscape. Everyone thought it would take us 4 weeks or more, but we were determined to get in as much Alpine rock as possible and this kept up very motivated- we finished in the 2 weeks we had planned!... Big thanks to Jaron for quickly painting the exterior and Brent Perkins (our realtor) for completely re-doing our backyard single-handedly!

So we kicked off the trip by making a beeline straight for Lone Pine, Ca to take on Mount Whitney... more on that later. 

We have had the 6 month trip in mind for over a year. We knew we wanted to travel internationally or stay in the states. Our passion for Alpine rock grew and Joey's incessant searching for a home on wheels brought us to this beaut- a converted 4x4 wilderness ambulance with enough storage for all our extracurricular activities. 

Exploring dead ends, mountain passes, and mysterious dirt roads leading to amazing camp sites/scenery was one thing we needed our home to do.

When we bought the Ambo there were a few things we wanted to add:

1. Larger bed- we like our space

2. Sick back-splash- we like to pretend we are fancy

3. Furnace for those cold mornings and nights- Joey's job is to keep me warm ✅

4. 42 gallon water tank- we want to be off the grid as long as possible

5. Water filtration- drinkmowater as Joey likes to say 😜

6. Extra propane tank- can't randomly run out of propane when we are ice climbing!

7. INSULATION- we want to chase the snow!

8. Extra batteries- From 230Ah to 460 Ah

9. HOT SHOWERS!- Duhhhh....

This next photo shows where most of Joey and his dad spent their time... The water box! This area contains our new 42 gallon tank, gray water tank, water pump, furnace, and quick connect water/propane fittings for our hot water shower. Behind the tank is a 3 filtration system, with an incoming filter and 2 outgoing carbon filters.

Let us know if you have any questions about the Ambo!