Stealth Van Camping in the City (San Diego)

I'm Ron Burgundy. Stay classy, San Diego. How's it going everybody? I'm Nikki Delventhal and this is my dog Camper Delventhal. We lived in a Prius full-time for three years, but now we're in a 4x4 Sprinter. And we're here to take you along on the wild ride. So fasten up your seatbelts and let's have some fun. Don't forget, if you like what you see, like, subscribe, comment, share with your friends, and turn on notifications. Camper and I would be so thankful. On last week's episode, Camper and I begin our day exploring the nature around the camp spot we stayed at the evening before. After some movement, we begin our drive from Tahoe to San Diego. And on the way, we stop at some amazing places. We check out a new bakery and make it to one of my favorite camp spots for the long drive south. Here we do some relaxing, explore the beautiful rock formations, and go on an epic hike. And we finally make it to San Diego where we're doing some major upgrades on our van. Good morning. What you got there, Camp? My little destroyer. I'm so proud of you, Camper. Good morning, you guys. Oh, it's an early one. So we've been camping out at the shop for a few days now. Every day, we wake up at 7 a.m., they roll it into the garage, and we hang out and do our thing. And then at night, they come roll it back out, and we sleep. And today is the last day. Let me tell you, I'm getting a little stir crazy. But we should be done in just a few hours. So conveniently, they have laundry and all that stuff. So we are going to do some errands while we wait for them to finish up our van. Yeah. Let's check out what's going on in here. So we have right over here, yours truly, my man, Jesse, doing all this awesome work. He's putting in locking differentials. So excited about that. That makes the van a true 4x4. More skid plates, then upgraded brakes. Oh, I'm so stoked. First class service. We're even charging up the house battery. Oh, hello. I'm here for my two-year review. Well, yes, I'm so glad you asked for it. I love the proactive manner. Honestly, I'm just here for more bones, maybe more food. And, you know, it would be kind of nice if you brought a lady dog around sometimes. Well, Camper Donovan, you have been doing outstanding, let me tell you, superb work. But we're going to need you to step it up for the camera a little bit more. You know, there's other dogs out there who are really trying to make it. And I feel like you're not giving us all of you. This is crap. Look at me. I'm a star. It's true. We're nothing without you. Good job. Great job. Good thing I'm used to fitting into tight places like Priuses. Don't quit your day job. All right, how's she sounding? How's she looking? Brakes are good. Ready to take her? Camper's eager. All right, let's load her back up. Oh yeah, everything went flying. At least the brakes work. All right, we're in San Diego. So what is the most San Diego thing to do? Hit the dog beach. Oh no, I'm not going to lie. I'm a little anxious about all the people and all the parking and I think it'll be fine. It's three o'clock on a Friday. What's the worst thing that could happen? To the beach. Boop. What's up, beaches? We made it to the dog beach. I'm so excited to check it out. And in case you didn't know, so San Diego is like a hub for van lifers. So many are here this time of year. So it's really exciting to see all the different vans and know that there's so many people around who are thinking just like you are. But for now, we're going to have some fun on the beach. You ready, camp? Yeah, obviously he is. Look at him. Let's go. No shoes. Love this. Truly nothing makes me happier than when my dog is happy. Look at him. I'm not really sure if I'm ready for all the sand that's about to partake in my van. Maybe I should wipe them off a little bit. Yeah, we're going to do that first. So camper jumped in the water after these girls and he got so sandy. Oh, wow. Oh, God. Oh, God. Okay. There we go. All right, camp, you ready to find a place to sleep? Are you kidding? I'm already sleeping. Look at me. That was so much fun, you guys. But the sun is going down in a few hours, which means it is time to find a place to camp for the night. And since we're in San Diego and there are so many van life friends here, tonight we are going to go camp with our buddy Chad. So let's go find him. Now we got to find a sprinter van that looks just like ours. Find the matching sprinter van. Oh, I think that's him. Chad, find the matching sprinter van. We have matching sprinters. It's like we're totally twins. Secretly, not so secretly. I said, Chad, what did you do to your van? I'm going to do it. Yeah. I'm coming in. Chad! What up? I'm so happy to see you. So good to see you too. Oh, man. You got a sick van. So cute. Thanks. Living the van life, ladies and gentlemen. Living the van life. In case you guys didn't know, Chad actually is my off-road inspiration. He just went up to the Arctic in this baby. Yep. Freaking badass. He does some wild stuff. So we're going to see a lot more of Chad because he's going to teach us how to be like Chad. This is sick. I love this. Well, let me grab a camper real quick. Yeah. All right, guys, we've got some hospitality here. What are we going to bring to Chad's van? A bottle of wine that's been in here for six months. Shh, don't tell him. I have no idea if it tastes good, if it's a good or bad thing that it gets hot and fanny pack. Right? I feel like when you're on the water, it's only natural to have a drink with your buddies. I'm feeling very theatrical and very pumped up that I'm with friends. God, I love friends. Friends are the best. I feel like Buddy Organic. I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, I know. I had a bartending job once for three months and I got fired. Really? I was so bad at it. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, it's not that bad. Let's make a bet. Okay. How many bachelorette parties tonight? At least one. One? I'm going to go two. Okay. My guess is they're on their first date and this guy's trying to show off, but doesn't realize that he totally screwed up by leaving her in the dust. And they're never going to see each other again. Oh, he might redeem himself. We've got our first bachelorette party. Looks like Nikki might be in the lead after all after this one. All right. It's only been 10 minutes of scoping out all the fun. We've already got one bachelorette party and a date gone bad. All right. Exhibit A, we got another bachelor party. What does that mean? I don't know. What does that mean? I win. Oh, you win. You're like, shut up. I'm going to get into warm clothes because it's starting to get cold and then we're going to make some dinner. We're going to go through both of our fridges and we're going to see what we can come up with. But Chad's got a sick cooking setup and I cannot wait to show you. But first we got to change. Bob in the lead. Shirley is picking up the speed from behind, but Joan is not gonna make it. All right, you guys, it's dinner time. Oh yeah. All right. What are we thinking for dinner tonight? You want me to grab any of my stuff? Nikki, I've seen the way you cook. I got this. One of my favorite things is an outdoor cooking area and Chad's got a sick one. Yeah. You know, this was honestly the last bit of my van that I built. It was completely a last minute idea and it turns out it's actually my favorite part of the whole entire van build. Very important that while the cook is cooking, the dancer is dancing. Putting everybody in a good mood. This is very true. Definitely got to have the high kicks for 30 minutes. I've used this truck before. All right, Chad. Cavity check. How easily you can entertain yourself. It's perfect. Isn't that great though? That's part of living on the road. Solo is learning how to entertain yourself. Oh yeah. I've been doing this since I popped out the womb, honey. Oh my goodness. It looks so good. All right. We got six minutes to go. What are we going to do in six minutes? We're going to drink one. You want to have a dance party? Yeah, we probably should have a dance party. Okay, dance party. Get pumped up. You're like a professional. Cheers. This is amazing. Thank you, chef. You're welcome. Anytime. Thanks for coming to hang out. Look at that. Wine, dinner, and fireworks via SeaWorld. That's right. Somebody throw Shamu back in the ocean. Camper, they're doing wheelies. All right, Camper and Chad. Bedtime. Adios. Goodnight. Buenas noches. Thanks for an amazing dinner. You bet. Night, everybody. Good morning, good boy. Wow. Look at that view. Making the bed. We're so good at making the bed. Making the bed. I love making my bed. Chad. Chad. Good morning. Morning. How are you? Fantastic. Your first successful night of urban stealth camping in San Diego. Thank you for the guidance. Namaste. We're going rollerblading and one wheeling to find some coffee. I like this idea. San Diego morning adventure. Probably not in pajamas, so we'll change first. Be right back. Who's ready to go blading? I am so excited right now. Rollerblading is my favorite thing to do in the world. I don't get to do it enough and I got these blades from the 80s for sure. I'm so excited and I just can't fight it. I'm putting a harness on Camper and he's gonna pull the crap out of me and we're gonna go so fast and Chad can't keep up and it's gonna be great. All right, you guys ready to take this for a test spin? Camper Delventhal. Oh god, I'm a little rusty here. Rusty like my shoelaces. Look at that. That's rust on the shoelaces. You guys ready for an adventure? Let's go get some coffee. Let's roll, mother truckers. Come on, Camp. Pick it up. Pick up the speed. Shopping cart. Oh, Camper, you remember this? Oh, Camper. We're on a morning roll, not a morning stroll. Get it? That's awesome. That's good, right? That's really awesome. That's cute. Here we go to the worst coffee place on the planet, but it's convenient. Here we go. I'm Ron Burgundy. Stay classy, San Diego. I'm Veronica Corningstone. And you, what did she say? I'm Veronica Corningstone. Wow. Shows how good of an anchor she was. Chad, you guys ready to get back to the van? Let's do it. Heading back to the van. We'll see you over there. Home sweet homes. They do look really good next to each other. Camper and I were going so fast, and we accidentally hit a rough patch on one of the roads. It was basically like going off-roading. Just in case you were wondering, these blades are not meant for off-roading because now I've got a big old burn. I shouldn't have slapped it. That was so dumb. Let's go look at it and see if it's worth how dramatic I am about it. You guys, not so bad. Just some skin cells and a couple little blood holes. That's right, buddy. See you, buddy. Good camping with you. See you Monday. All right, sounds good. Have fun at the mountain. We will. Don't do anything I would do. It's not much. Bye, dude. See you later. All right, you guys. We are going to hit the road. I'm really excited about this. I love making new friends. There's a group of van lifers, as you will find all over San Diego. They invited Camper and I to go camp with them tonight. We've never met them before, but they seem like really cool people. We are headed an hour into the mountains to get a little change of scenery and make some friends. That's it. California gas price shake off and... Oh, I've lost one. All right, I see them right up here. We made it. Go say hi. Group hug. I'm so excited. Yay. Hi, everybody. Camper's going to judge who has the best van. Come on, Camper. Get in every van. Which one do you like the most? Camper, what do you think about this one? Are you van shopping? All right, we love Nikita's van. It is hot as balls. Where are we going? We are going to go find a water source. Some of the guys just put up a drone, found some over here. Let's go check it out. Don't worry. A month in, I just recovered from poison oak and my dog is rubbing all over it. Love it. Camper, don't touch anything else. Yeah, this is not a good idea. I'm going. Okay, so Camper just went all over poison oak and poison oak just flew all over me. So we're going back to shower and get poison oak off of us because I'm not getting that again. Okay. Home sweet home. Home sweet shower. All right, we are hurrying to shower this off. Oh, God. Dish soap. Let's pray it worked. All right, anything else that could possibly have poison oak in it is now in a bag for the nearest laundry. I don't care if it's wet. I don't care if it gets moldy. This oil is not touching me. I guess we'll dry off now. This is so funny. He's spraying everyone's tires with bug spray to keep them away. Wow. Thank you, sir. That's the one. Let me see. Oh my God. That's my favorite picture I think anyone's ever taken. Oh, she's back. Hello, Nikki and Camper Mystery Agency. We'll solve any crime by dinnertime. I don't know if I got it, but I was kind of panicking a little bit. I forgot my towel again, so I am forced to dry off with my shorts. Seriously, who put you in charge? You're always forgetting everything. Happy New Year! I wanted it to make a tooting sound, it didn't. New Year? It's like summertime out here. It can be any day you want it to be.